righteousnes and the blessednesse arising therefrom as well as we and the mediation of our Saviour being of that present efficacie that it tooke away sinne and brought in righteousnesse from the very beginning of the world it had vertue sufficient to free men from the penaltie of losse as well as from the penalty of sense and to bring them unto him in whose presence is fulnesse of joy as to deliver them from the place of torment where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth The first that ever assigned a resting place in Hell to the Fathers of the old Testament was as farre as wee can finde Marcion the heretick who determined that both kinde of rewards whether of torment or of refreshing was appointed in Hell for them that did obey the Law and the Prophets Wherein he was gainsayd by such as wrote against him not only for making that the place of their eternal rest but also for lodging them there at all and imagining that Abrahams bosome was any part of Hell This appeareth plainly by the disputation set out among the workes of Origen betwixt Marcus the Marcionite Adamantius the defender of the Catholicke cause who touching the parabolicall historie of the rich man Lazarus in the sixteenth of S. Luke are brought in reasoning after this maner MARCUS He saith that Aâ—raham is in hell and not in the kingdome of heaven ADAMANTIUS Reade whether he saytâ— that Abraham was in Hell MARC In that the rich man and he talked one to the other it appeareth that they were together ADAMANT That they talked one with another thou hearest but the great gulfe spoken of that thou hearest not For the middle space betwixt heaven and earth he calleth a gulfe MARC Can a man therefore see from earth unto heaven it is impossible Can any man lifting up his eyes behold from the earth or from hell rather see into heaven If not it is plain that a vally only was set betwixt them ADAMANT Bodily eyes use to see those things only that are neere but spirituall eyes reach farre and it is manifest that they who have here put off their body doe see one another with the eyes of their soule For marke how the Gospell doth say that he lifted up his eyes toward heaven one useth to lift them up and not toward the earth In like maner doth Tertullian also retort the same place of Scripture against Marcion and prove that it maketh a plaine difference betweene Hell and the bosome of Abraham For it affirmeth saith he both that a great deepe is interposed betwixt those regions and that it suffereth no passage from eyther side Neyther could the rich man have lifted up his eyes and that afarre off unlesse it had beene unto places above him and very farre above him by reason of the mightie distance betwixt that height and that depth Thus farre Tertullian who though he come short of Adamantius in making Abrahams bosome not to be any part of Heaven although no member at all of Hell yet doth he concurre with him in this that it is a place of blisse and a common receptacle wherein the soules of all the faithfull as well of the new as of the old Testament doe still remaine in expectation of the generall resurrection which quite marteth the Limbus Patrum of our Romanists and the journey which they fancie our Saviour to have taken for the fetching of the Fathers from thence With these two doth S. Augustin also ioyne in his 99. epistle to Euodius concerning whose iudgement herein I will not say the deceitfull but the exceeding partiall dealing of Cardinall Bellarmine can verie hardly be excused Although Augustin saith he in his 99. epistle do seeme to doubt whether the bosome of Abraham where the soules of the Fathers were in times past should be in Hell or somewhere else yet in the 20. booke of the Citie of God the 15. chapter he affirmeth that it was in Hell as all the rest of the Fathers have alwayes taught If S. Augustin in that epistle were of the minde as hee was indeed that Abrahams bosome was no part of Hell he was not the first inventer of that doctrine others taught it before him and opposed Marcion for teaching otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alone he went not two there were at least as we have seen that walked along with him in the same way But for that which he is said to have doubted off in one place and to have affirmed in another if the indifferent Reader will be pleased but to view both the places he shall easily discerne that the Cardinall looked not into these things with a single eye In his 99. epistle from that speech of Abraham Betweene you and us there is a great gulfe fixed he maketh this inference In these words it appeareth sufficiently as I thinke that the bosome of so great happinesse is not any part and member of Hell These seem unto the Cardinall to be the words of a doubtfull man with what words then when he is better resolved doth he affirme the matter With these forsooth If it do seem no absurditie to beleeve that the old Saincts which held the faith of Christ to come were in places most remote from the torments of the wicked but yet in Hell untill the blood of Christ and his descent into those places did deliver them truely from henceforth the good and faithfull who are redeemed with that price already shed know not Hell at all If satis ut opinor apparet it appeareth sufficiently as I thinke must import doubting and si non absurdé credi videtur if it doe seeme no absurditie to beleeve affirming I know not I must confesse what to make of mens speeches The truth is S. Augustin in handling this question discovereth himselfe to be neyther of the Iesuits temper nor beleefe He esteemed not this to be such an article of faith that they who agreed not therein must needs be held to be of different religions as he doth modestly propound the reasons which induced him to think that Abrahams bosome was no member of Hell so doth he not lightly reiect the opinion of those that thought otherwise but leaveth it still as a disputable point Whether that bosome of Abraham where the wicked rich man when he was in the torments of Hell did behold the poore man resting were eyther to be accounted by the name of Paradise or esteemed to appertaine unto Hell I cannot readily affirme saith he in one place and in another Whether Abraham were then at any certaine place in Hell we cannot certainly define and in his 12. book de Genesi ad literam I have not hitherto found and I doe yet inquire neyther doe I remember that the canonicall Scripture doth any where put Hell in the good part Now that the bosome of Abraham and that rest unto which the godly poore man was carried by the
and vve must pray to the Word of God his onely begotten and the first bornè of all creatures and we must intreat him that he as high Priest would present our prayer when it is come to him unto his God and our God unto his Father and the father of them that frame their life according to the word of God And whereas Celsus had further sayd that we must offer first fruits unto Angels and prayers as long as we live that we may finde them propitious unto us answere is returned by Origen in the name of the Christians that they held it rather fit to offer first fruits unto him which sayd Let the earth bring forth grasse the herbe yeelding seed and the fruite tree yeelding fruite after his kinde And to whom wee give the first fruites saith he to him also doe wee send our prayers having a great high Priest that is entred into the Heavens Iesus the Sonne of God and we hold fast this confession whiles we live having God favourable unto us and his onely begotten Sonne Iesus being manifested amongst us But if we have a desire unto a multitude whom we would willingly have to be favourable unto us we learne that thousand thousands stand by him and millions of millions minister unto him who beholding them that imitate their pietie towards God as if they were their kinsfolkes and friends helpe forward their salvation who call upon God and pray sincerely appearing also and thinking that they ought to doe service to them and as it were upon one watchword to set forth for the â—enefit and salvation of them that pray to God unto whom they themselves also pray For they are all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heires of salvation Thus farre Origen in his eight booke against Celsus to which for a conclusion we wil adde that place of the fift booke All prayers and supplications and intercessions and thankesgivings are to be sent up unto God the Lord of all by the high Priest who is above all Angels being the living Word and God For to call upon Angels we not comprehending the knowledge of them which is above the reach of man is not agreeable to reason And if by supposition it were granted that the knowledge of them which is wonderfull and secret might be comprehended this very knowledge declaring their nature unto us and the charge over which every one of them is set would not permit us to presume to pray unto any other but unto God the Lord over all who is aboundantly sufficient for all by our Saviour the Sonne of God Tertullian and Cyprian in the bookes which they purposely wrote concerning Prayer deliver no other doctrine but teach us to regulate all our prayers according unto that perfect patterne prescribed by our great Master wherein we are required to direct our petitions unto Our Father which is in heaven Matth. 6.9 Luk. 11.2 These things saith Tertullian in his Apologie for the Christians of his time I may not pray for from any other but from him of whom I know I shall obtayne them because both it is he who is alone able to give and I am he unto whom it appertayneth to obtayne that which is requested being 〈◊〉 servant who observe him alone who for his religion am killed who offer unto him a rich and great sacrifice which he himselfe hath commanded Prayer proceeding from a chaste body from an innocent soule from a holy spirit where he accounteth Prayer to be the chiefe sacrifice wherewith God is worshipped agreeably to that which Clemens Alexandrinus wrote at the same time We doe not without cause honour God by prayer and with righteousnesse send up this best and holyest sacrifice The direction given by Ignatius unto Virgins in this case is short and sweete Yee Virgins have Christ alone before your eyes and his Father in your prayers being inlightened by the Spirit for explication whereof that may be taken which we reade in the exposition of the Faith attributed unto S. Gregory of Neocaesarea Whosoever rightly prayeth unto God prayeth by the Sonne and whosoever commeth as he ought to doe commeth by Christ and to the Sonne he can not come without the holy Ghost Neyther is it to be passed over that one of the speciall arguments whereby the writers of this time do prove our Saviour Christ to bee truely God is taken from our praying unto him and his accepting of our petitions If Christ be onely man saith Novatianus how is he present being called upon every where seeing this is not the nature of man but of God that he can be present at every place If Christ be onely man why is a man called upon in our prayers as a mediatour seeing the invocation of a man is judged of no force to yeeld salvation If Christ be onely man why is there hope reposed in him seeing hope in man 〈◊〉 sayd to be cursed So is it noted by Origen that S. Paul in the beginning of the former epistle to the Corinthians where he saith With all that in every place call upon the Name of Iesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours 1. Corinth 1.2 doth thereby pronounce Iesus Christ whose Name is called upon to be God And if to call upon the Name of the Lord saith he and to adore God bee one and the selfe same thing as Christ is called upon so is he to be adored and as we do offer to God the Father first of all prayers 1. Tim. 2.1 so must we also to the Lord Iesus Christ and â—s wee doe offer supplications to the Father so doe we offer supplications also to the Sonne and as wee doe offer thankesgivings to God so doe we offer thankesgivings to our Saviour In like maner Athanasius disputing against the Arrians by that prayer which the Apostle maketh 1. Thessal 3.11 God himselfe and our Father and our Lord Iesus Christ direct our way unto you doth prove the unitie of the Father and the Sonne For no man saith he would pray to receive any thing from the Father and the Angels or from any of the other creatures neyther would any man say God and the Angell give thee this And whereas it might be objected that Iacob in the blessing that he gave unto Ephraim and Manasseh Genes 48.15 16. did use this forme of prayer The God which fed me from my youth unto this day The Angel which delivered me from all evills blesse those children which Cardinall Bellarmine placeth in the forefront of the forces he bringeth forth to establish the Invocation of Saints Athanasius answereth that he did not couple one of the created and naturall Angels with God that did create them nor omitting God that fed him did desire a blessing for his nephews from an Angel but saying Which delivered me from all evills hee did shew that it was not any of the created Angels but
blessed Virgin is superior to God and God himselfe is subject unto her in respect of the manhood which he assumed from her that howsoever she be subject unto God inasmuch as she is a creature yet is she said to be superior and preferred before him inasmuch as she is his mother Then men were put in minde that by sinning after Baptisme they seemed to contemne and despise the passion of Christ and so that no sinner doth deserve that Christ should any more make intercession for him to the Father without whose intercession none can be delivered eyther from the eternall punishment or the temporall nor from the fault which he hath voluntarily committed And therefore that it was necessary that Christ should constitute his welbeloved Mother a Mediatrix betwixt us and him and so in this our pilgrimage there is no other refuge left unto us in our tribulations and adversities but to have recourse unto the Virgin Mary our mediatrix that she would appease the wrath of her Sonne That as He is ascended into heaven to appeare in the sight of God for men Hebr. 9.24 so Shee ought to ascend thither to appeare in the sight of her Sonne for sinners that so mankinde might have alwayes before the face of God a Helpe like unto Christ for the procuring of his salvation That this Empresse is of so great authoritie in the palace of Heaven that it is lawfull to appeale unto her from any grievance all other intermediall Saints omitted for howsoever according to the Civill law the due meane must be observed in Appeales yet in her the style of the Canon law is observed wherein the Pope is appealed unto any intermediall whatsoever omitted That she is a Chancellour in the Court of heaven and giveth letters of mercy onely in this present life but for the soules that depart from hence unto some letters of pure graâ—e unto others of simple justice and unto some mixt of justice and grace For some say they were much devoted unto her and unto them shee giveth letters of pure grace whereby shee commandeth glory to be given them without any paine of Purgatorie Others were miserable sinners and not devoted to her and unto them she giveth letters of simple justice whereby shee commandeth that condigne punishment be taken of them Others were lukewarme and remisse in devotion and unto them she giveth letters of justice and grace together whereby shee commandeth that both favour be done unto them and yet some paine of Purgatorie bee inflicted upon them for their negligence and sluggishnesse And these things they say are signified in Queene Esther who wrote letters that the Iewes should be saved and the enemies should be killed and to the poore small giftes should be given Yea further also where King Assuerus did profer unto the said Esther even the halfe of his Kingdome Esth 5.3 thereby they say was signified that God bestowed halfe of his kingdome upon the blessed Virgin that having Iustice and Mercie as the chiefest goods of his Kingdome he retayned Iustice unto himselfe and granted mercie unto her therefore that if a man do finde himselfe aggrieved in the court of Gods justice he may appeale to the court of mercie of his mother shee being that throne of grace whereof the Apostle speaketh Hebr. 4.16 Let us goe boldly unto the throne of grace that we may receive mercie and finde grace to helpe in time of neede They tell us that it is for the ornament of an earthly kingdome that it should have both a King a Queene and therefore when any King hath not a wife his subjects often doe request him to take one Hereupon they say that the eternall King and omnipotent Emperor minding to adorne the kingdome of heaven above did frame this blessed Virgin to the end he might make her the Ladie and Empresse of his kingdome and empyre that the prophecie of David might be verified saying unto her in the Psalme Vpon thy right hand did stand the Queene in clothing of gold That she is an Empresse because she is the spouse of the eternall Emperor of whoÌ„ it is said Ioh. 3.29 He that hath the bride is the bridegrome and that when God did deliver unto her the empyre of the world and all the things contayned therein he sayd unto her that which wee reade in the first of the Aeneids His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono Imperium sine sine dedi That shee is the Empresse also of heaven and earth because she did beare the heavenly Emperour and therefore that shee can aske of him what she will and obtaine it that this was figured in the historie of the Kings where the mother of Salomon said unto him I desire one petition of thee doe not confounde my face for then should hee confound her face if he did denie that which she requested and that if in respect of her maternall jurisdicton she hath command of her Sonne vvho was subject unto her as vve reade Luke 2.51 then much more hath she command over all the creatures that are subject to her Sonne That this mightie God did as farre as he might make his Mother partner of his divine majestie and power giving unto her of old the soveraignetie both of celestiall things and mortall ordering at her pleasure as the patronage of men did require the earth the seas heaven and nature at her liking and by her bestowing upon mortall men his divine treasures and heavenly gifts So as all might understand that whatsoever doth flowe into the earth from that eternall and glorious fountayne of good things doth flowe by MARIE That she is constituted over every creature and whosoever boweth his knee unto Iesus doth fall downe also and supplicate unto his mother so that the glory of the Sonne may be judged not so much to be common with the Mother as to be the verie same That so great is her glorie that she exceedeth the nature of Angels and Men joyned together as farre in glorie as the circumference of the firmament exceedeth his center in magnitude when shee understandeth her selfe in her Sonne to be as his other selfe clothed with the Deitie That she being the mother of God doth assume unto her selfe oâ— the omnipotencie of her Sonne upon which she leaneth as much as shee pleaseth and that shee doth come before the golden altar of humane reconciliation not intreating onely but commanding a Mistresse not a mayde They tell us that the blessed Virgin her selfe appeared once unto Thomas Becket used this speech unto him Rejoyce and be glad and bee joyfull with mee because my glorie doth excell the dignitie and joy of all the Saints all the blessed spirits I alone have greater glorie than all the Angels and Saints together Rejoyce because that as the Sunne doth inlighten the day and the world so my brightnesse doth
more unlearned and unhappy If I bee not able to discover what feates the Divell wrought in that time of darkenesse wherin men were not so vigilant in marking his conveyances and such as might see somewhat were not so forward in writing bookes of their Observations must the infelicitie of that age wherein there was little learning and lesse writing yea which for want of Writers as Cardinal Baronius acknowledgeth hath been usually named the Obscure age must this I say inforce me to yeeld that the Divell brought in no tares all that while but let slip the opportunitie of so darke a night and slept himselfe for company There are other meanes left unto us whereby we may discerne the Tares brought in by the instruments of Satan from the good seed which was sowen by the Apostles of Christ beside this observation of times and seasons which will often faile vs. Ipsa doctrina eorum saith Tertullian cum Apostolicâ comparata ex diversitate contrarietate suâ pronuntiabit neque Apostoti alicujus auctoris esse neque Apostolici Their very doctrine it selfe being compared with the Apostolick by the diversitie and contrariety thereof will pronounce that it had for author neyther any Apostle nor any man Apostolicall For there cannot be a better prescription against Hereticall novelties then that which our Saviour Christ useth against the Pharisees From the beginning it vvas not so nor a better preservative against the infection of seducers that are crept in unawares then that which is prescribed by the Apostle Iude earnestly to contend for the faith vvhich vvas once delivered unto the Saints Now to the end we might know the certaintie of those things wherein the Saints were at the first instructed God hath provided that the memoriall thereof should be recorded in his owne Booke that it might remaine for the time to come for ever and ever He then who out of that Booke is able to demonstrate that the doctrine or practice now prevailing swarveth from that which was at first established in the Church by the Apostles of Christ doth as strongly prove that a change hath beene made in the middle times as if hee were able to nominate the place where the time when and the person by whom any such corruption was first brought in In the Apostles dayes when a man had examined himselfe hee was admitted unto the Lords Table there to eate of that bread and drinke of that cup as appeareth plainly 1. Cor. 11.28 In the Church of Rome at this day the people are indeed permitted to eate of the bread if bread they may call it but not allowed to drinke of the cup. Must all of us now shut our eyes and sing Sicut erat in principio nunc unlesse we be able to tell by whom and when this first institution was altered By S. Pauls order who would have all things done to edification Christians should pray with understanding and not in an unknowne language as may be seene in the fourteenth chapter of the same Epistle to the Corinthians The case is now so altered that the bringing in of a tongue not understood which hindred the edifying of Babel it selfe and scattered the builders thereof is accounted a good meanes to further the edifying of your Babel and to hold her followers together Is not this then a good ground to resolve a mans judgement that things are not now kept in that order wherin they were set at first by the Apostles although he be not able to point unto the first author of the disorder And as wee may thus discover innovations by having recourse unto the first and best times so may wee doe the like by comparing the state of things present with the middle times of the Church Thus I finde by the constant and approved practice of the auncient Church that all sorts of people men women and children had free libertic to reade the holy Scriptures I finde now the contrary among the Papists and shall I say for all this that they have not removed the bounds which were set by the Fathers because perhaps I cannot name the Pope that ventured to make the first inclosure of these commons of Gods people I heare S. Hierâ—me say Iudith Tobiae Macchabaeorum libros legit quidem Ecclesia sed eos inter Canonicas Scripturas non recipit The Church doth reade indeed the books of Iudith and Toby and the Macchabees but doth not receive them for Canonicall Scripture I see that at this day the Church of Rome receiveth them for such May not I then conclude that betwixt S. Hieromes time and ours there hath beene a change and that the Church of Rome now is not of the same judgement with the Church of God theâ— howsoever I cannot precisely lay downe the time wherein shee first thought her selfe to be wiser herein then her Forefathers But here our Adversary closeth with us and layeth downe a number of points held by them and denied by us which he undertaketh to make good as well by the expresse testimonies of the Fathers of the Primitive Church of Rome as also by good and certaine grounds out of the sacred Scriptures if the Fathers authoritie will not suffice Where if hee would change his order and give the sacred Scriptures the precedency hee should therein do more right to God the author of them who well deserveth to have audience in the first place and withall ease both himselfe and us of a needlesse labour in seeking any further authority to compose our differences For if he can produce as he beareth us in hand he can good and certaine grounds oâ—t of the sacred Scriptures for the points in controversie the matter is at an end he that will not rest satisfied with such evidences as these may if he please travaile further and speed worse Therefore as S. Augustine heretofore provoked the Donatists so provoke I him Auferantur chartae humanae sonent voces divinae ede mihi unam Scripturae vocem pro parte Donati Let humane vvritings be removed let Gods voyce sound bring mee onâ—e voyce of the Scripture for the part of Donatus Produce but one cleere testimony of the sacred Scripture for the Popes part and it shall suffice alledge what authority you list without Scripture and it cannot suffice Wee reverence indeed the ancient Fathers as it is fit we should and hold it our duety to rise up before the hoare head and to honour the person of the aged but still with reservation of the respect we owe to their Father and ours that Ancient of dayes the hayre of vvhose head is like the pure vvooll We may not forget the lesson which our great Master hath taught us Call no man your Father upon the earth for one is your Father which is in heaven Him therefore alone doe wee acknowledge for the Father of our Faith no other Father doe we know upon whose bare credite
calumniators and lyars or a Parrat likewise if hee be taught the words may aswel absolve as the Priest as if the speech were all the thing that here were to be considered and not the power where we are taught that the kingdome of God is not in word but in power Indeed if the Priests by their office brought nothing with them but the ministerie of the bare letter a Parrat peradventure might be taught to sound that letter as well as they but we beleeve that God hath made them able ministers of the New Testament not of the letter but of the spirit and that the Gospell ministred by them commeth unto us not in word onely but also in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance For God hath added a speciall beautie to the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace that howsoever others may bring glad tydings of good things to the penitent sinner as truely as they doe yet neyther can they doe it with the same authoritie neyther is it to be expected that they should doe it with such power such assurance and such full satisfaction to the afflicted conscience The speech of everie Christian we know should be employed to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers and a private brother in his place may deliver found doctrine reprehend vice exhort to righteousnesse verie commendably yet hath the Lord notwithstanding all this for the necessarie use of his Church appointed publicke officers to doe the same things and hath given unto them a peculiar power for edification wherein they may boast above others and in the due execution whereof God is pleased to make them instruments of ministring a more plentifull measure of grace unto their hearers then may be ordinarily looked for from others These men are appointed to bee of Gods high commission and therefore they may speake and exhort and rebuke with all authoritie· they are Gods Angels and Ambassadors for Christ and therefore in delivering their message are to be received as an Angel of God yea as Christ Iesus that looke how the Prophet Esay was comforted when the Angel said unto him Thine iniquitie is taken away and thy sinne purged and the poore woman in the Gospell when Iesus said unto her Thy sinnes are forgiven the like consolation doth the distressed sinner receive from the mouth of the Minister when hee hath compared the truth of Gods word faithfully delivered by him with the worke of Gods grace in his owne heart according to that of Elihu If there be an Angel or a messenger with him an Interpreter one of a thousand to declare unto man his righteousnesse then will God have mercy upon him and say Deliver him from going downe to the pit I have received a reconciliation For as it is the office of this messenger and interpreter to pray us in Christs stead that we would be reconciled to God so when wee have listened unto this motion and submitted our selves to the Gospell of peace it is a part of his office likewise to declare unto us in Christs stead that we are reconciled to God and in him Christ himselfe must bee acknowledged to speake who to us ward by this meanes is not weake but is mightie in us But our new Masters will not content themselves with such a ministeriall power of forgiving sinnes as hath beene spoken of unlesse we yeeld that they have authoritie so to doe properly directly and absolutely that is unlesse wee acknowledge that their high Priest sitteth in the Temple of God as God and all his creatures as so manie demi-gods under him For we must say if we will be drunke with the drunken that in this high Priest there is the fulnesse of all graces because hee alone giveth a full indulgence of all sinnes that this may agree unto him which we say of the chiefe prince our Lord that of his fulnesse all we have received Nay wee must acknowledge that the meanest in the whole armie of Priests that followeth this king of pride hath such fulnesse of power derived unto him for the opening and shutting of heaven before men that forgivenesse is denyed to them whom the Priest will not forgive and his Absolution on the other side is a sacramentall act which conferreth grace by the worke wrought that is as they expound it actively and immediately and instrumentally effecteth the grace of justification in such as receive it that as the winde doth extinguish the fire and dispell the clowdes so doth the Priests absolution scatter sinnes and make them to vanish away the sinner being thereby immediately acquitted before God howsoever that sound conversion of heart be wanting in him which otherwise would be requisite for a conditionall Absolution upon such termes as these If thou doest beleeve and repent as thou oughtest to doe is in these mens judgement to no purpose and can give no securitie to the penitent seeing it dependeth upon an uncertaine condition Have wee not then just cause to say unto them as Optatus did unto the Donatistes Nolite vobis Majestatis dominium vendicare Intrude not upon the royall prerogative of our Lord and Master No man may challenge this absolute power of the keyes but he that hath the key of David that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth hee to whom the Father hath given power over all flesh yea all power in heaven and in earth even the eternall Sonne of God who hath in his hands the keyes of death and is able to quicken whom he will The Ministers of the Gospell may not meddle with the matter of soveraignetie and thinke that they have power to proclaime warre or conclude peace betwixt God and man according to their owne discretion they must remember that they are Ambassadors for Christ and therefore in this treatie are to proceed according to the instructions which they have received from their soveraigne which if they doe transgresse they goe beyond their commission therein they doe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their authoritie for so much is plainly voyde The Bishop saith S. Gregory and the Fathers in the Councell of Aquisgran following him in loosing and binding those that are under his charge doth follow oftentimes the motions of his owne will and not the merit of the causes Whence it commeth to passe that he depriveth himselfe of this power of binding and loosing who doth exercise the same according to his owne will and not according to the manners of them which be subject unto him that is to say he maketh himselfe worthy to be deprived of that power which he hath thus abused as the Master of the Sentences and Semeca in his Glosse upon Gratian would have S. Gregories meaning to be expounded and pro tanto as hath
scholies upon the writer of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy wisheth us to marke that even before his time that doubt was questioned Among the questions wherein Dulcitius desired to be resolved by S. Augustin we finde this to be one Whether the offering that is made for the dead did avayle their soules any thing and that MANY did say to this that if herein any good were to be done after death how much rather should the soule it selfe obtaine ease for it selfe by it owne confessing of her sinnes there than that for the ease thereof an oblation should be procured by other men The like also is noted by Cyrill or rather Iohn Bishop of Ierusalem that he knew MANY who said thus What profite doth the soule get that goeth out of this world eyther with sinnes or not with sinnes if you make mention of it in prayer and by Anastasius Sinaita or Nicaenus Some doe doubt saying that the dead are not profited by the oblations that are made for them and long after them by Petrus Cluniacensis in his treatise against the followers of Peter Bruse in France That the good deeds of the living may profit the dead both these hereticks doe deny and some Catholicks also do seeme to doubt Nay in the West not the profite onely but the lawfulnesse also of these doings for the dead was called in question as partly may be collected by Boniface archbishop of Mentz his consulting with Pope Gregory about 730. yeares after the birth of our Saviour Whether it were lawfull to offer oblations for the dead which hee should have no reason to doe if no question had beene made thereof among the Germans and is plainly delivered by Hugo Etherianus about 1170. yeares after Christ in these words I know that many are deformed with vaine opinions thinking that the dead are not to be prayed for because that neither Christ nor the Apostles that succeeded him have intimated these things in the Scriptures But they are ignorant that there be many things and those exceeding necessary frequented by the holy Church the tradition whereof is not had in the Scriptures and yet they pertaine neverthelesse to the worship of God and obtaine great strength Whereby it may appeare that this practise wanted not opposition even then when in the Papacie it was advanced unto his greatest height And now is it high time that I should passe from this article unto the next following OF LIMBVS PATRVM And CHRISTS DESCENT INTO HELL HEre doth our Challenger undertake to prove against us not only that there is Limbus Patrum but that our Saviour also descended into Hell to deliver the ancient Fathers of the Old Testament because before his Passion none ever entred into Heaven That there was such a thing as Limbus Patrum I have heard it said but what it is now the Doctors varie yet agree all in this that Limbus it may well be but Limbus Patrum sure it is not Whether it were distinct from that place in which the infants that depart out of this life without baptisme are now beleeved to be received the Divines doe doubt neyther is there any thing to be rashly pronounced of so doubtfull a matter saith Maldonat the Iesuite The Dominican Friars that wrote against the Grecians at Constantinople in the yeare 1252 resolve that into this Limbus the holy Fathers before the comming of Christ did descend but now the children that depart vvithout baptisme are detained there so that in their iudgement that which was the Limbus of Fathers is now become the Limbus of Children The more common opinion is that these be two distinct places and that the one is appointed for unbaptized infants but the other now remayneth voide and so shall remaine that it may beare witnesse aswell of the justice as of the mercie of God If you demand how it came to be thus voyd emptied of the old inhabitants the answer is here given that our Saviour descended into Hell purposely â—o deliver from hence the ancient Fathers of the Old Testament But Hell is one thing I ween saith Tertullian and Abrahams bâ—some where the Fathers of the old Testament rested another neyther is it to be beleeved that the bosome of Abraham being the habitation of a secret kinde of rest was any part of Hell saith S. Augustin To say then that our Saviour descended into Hell to deliver the ancient Fathers of the old Testament out of Limbus Patrum would by this construction prove as strange a tale as if it had beene reported that Caesar made a voyage into Brittaine to set his friends at libertie in Greece Yea but before Christs Passion none ever entred into Heaven saith our Challenger The proposition that Cardinall Bellarmine taketh upon him to prove where he handleth this controversie is that the soules of the godly were not in Heaven before the Asâ—ension of Christ. Our Iesuite it seemeth considered here with himselfe that Christ had promised unto the penitent theefe upon the crosse that not before his ascension only but also before his resurrection even that day he should be with him in Paradise that is to say in the kingdome of heaven as the Cardinaâ—l himselfe doth prove both by the authoritie of S. Paul making Paradise and the third heaven to be the selfe same thing and by the testimony of the ancient expositors of the place This belike stuck somewhat in our Iesuites stomack who being loath to interpret this of his Limbus Patrum as others of that side had done and to maintaine that Paradise in stead of the third Heaven should signifie the third or the fourth Hell thought it best to shift the matter handsomely away by taking upon him to defend that not before Christs ascension least that of the Thiefe should crosse him but before his passion none ever entred into Heaven But if none before our Saviours Passion did ever enter into Heaven whither shall we say that Elias did enter The Scripture assureth us that he went up into heaven 2. Kings 2.11 of this Mattathias put his sonnes in mind upon his death-bedd that Elias being zealous and fervent for the law was taken up into heaven Elias and Moses both before the passion of Christ are described to be in glory Lazarus is carried by the Angells into a place of comfort and not of imprisonment in a word all the Fathers accounted themselves to be strangers and pilgrims in this earth seeking for a better countrey that is an heavenly as well as we doe and therefore having ended their pilgrimage they arrived at the country they sought for as well as wee They beleeved to be saved through the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ as well as we they lived by that faith as well as we they dyed in Christ as well as we they received remission of sinnes imputation of
torments which by Arator is thus more amply expressed in verse pavidis resplenduit umbris Pallida regna petens propriâ quem luce corruscum Non potuit fuscare chaeos fugere dolores Infernus tunc esse timet nullumque coërcens In se poena redit nova tortor ad otia languet Tartara moesta gemunt quia vincula cuncta quiescunt Mors ibi quid faceret quò vitae portitor ibat S. Augustine doth thus deliver his opinion touching this matter That Christs soule came unto those places wherein sinners are punished that hee might loose them from torments whom by his hidden justice he judged fit to be loosed is not without cause beleeved Neyther did our Saviour being dead for us scorne to visite those parts that hee might loose from thence such as hee could not bee ignorant according to his divine and secret justice were not to bee loosed But whether hee loosed all that hee found in those paines or some whom hee thought worthy of that benefit I yet enquire For that he was in hell and bestowed this benefit upon some that did lye in the paines thereof I doe not doubt Thus did S. Augustine write unto Euodias who inquired of him whether our Saviour loosed all from thence and emptied Hell which was in those dayes a great question and gave occasion to that speech of Gregory Nazianzen If hee descend into Hell goe thou downe with him namely in contemplation and meditation learne the mysteries of Christs doings there what the dispensation and what the reason was of his double descent to wit from heaven unto earth from earth unto hell whether at his appearing he simply saved all or there also such only as did beleeve What ClemeÌ„s Alexandrinus his opinion was herein every one knoweth that our Lord descended for no other cause into Hell but to preach the Gospell and that such as lived a good life before the time of the Gospell whether Iewes or Grecians although they were in hell and in durance yet hearing the voyce of our Lord eyther from himselfe immediatly or by the working of his Apostles were presently converted and did beleeve in a word that in Hell things were so ordred that eveÌ„ there all the soules having heard this preaching might eyther shew their repentance or acknowledge their punishment to be just because they did not beleeve Hereupon when Celsus the Philosopher made this objection concerning our Saviour Surely you will not say of him that when hee could not perswade those that were heere hee went unto Hell to perswade those that were there Origen the scholler of Clemens sticketh not to returne unto him this answere Whether he will or no wee say this that both being in the bodie hee did perswade not a few but so many that for the multitude of those that were perswaded by him he was layd in wayt for and after his soule was separated from his body hee had conference with soules separated from their bodies converting of them unto himselfe such as would or such as he discerned to bee more fit for reasons best knowne unto himselfe The like effect of Christs preaching in Hell is delivered by Anastasius Sinaita Iobius or Iovius Damascen Oecumenius Michael Glycas and his transcriber Theodorus Metochites Procopius saith that hee preached to the spirits that were in Hell restrayned in the prison house releasing them all from the bonds of necessity wherein he followeth S. Cyrill of Alexandria writing upon the same place that Christ went to preach to the spirits in Hell and appeared to them that were detayned in the prison house and freed them all fâ—om bonds and necessitie and paine and punishment The same S. Cyrill in his Paschall homilies affirmeth more directly that our Saviour entring into the lowermost dennes of Hell and preaching to the spirits that were there emptied that unsatiable denne of death spoyled Hell of spirits and having thus spoyled all Hell left the Divell there solitarie and alone For when Christ descended into Hell sayth Andronicus not onely the soules of the Saints were delivered from thence but all those that before did serve in the error of the Divell and the worship of idols being enriched with the knowledge of God obtayned salvation for which also they gave thankes praysing God Whereupon the author of one of the sermons upon the Ascension fathered upon S. Chrysostom bringeth in the Divell complayning that the sonne of Mary having taken away from him all those that were with him from the verie beginning had left him desolate whereas the true Chrysostom doth at large confute this fond opinion censuring the maintayners thereof as the bringers in of old wives conceytes and Iewish fables Yea Philastrius S. Augustin out of him doth brand such for hereticks whose testimonie also is urged by S. Gregory against George and Theodore two of the clergie of Constantinople who held in his time as many others did before and after them that our omnipotent Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ descending into Hell did save all those vvho there confessed him to be God and did deliver them from the paines that were due unto them and when Clement our countryman about 150. years after did renue that old error in Germanie that the sonne of God descending into Hell delivered from thence all such as that infernall prison did detayne beleevers and unbeleevers praysers of God and worshippers of idols the Romane Synod held by Pope Zacharie condemned him and his followers for it But to leave Clemens Scotus and to returne unto Clemens Alexandrinus at whom Philastrius may seeme to have aymed specially it is confessed by our Adversaries that he fell into this error partly being deceived with the superficiall consideration of the wordes of S. Petâ—r touching Christs preaching to the spirits in prison 1. Pet. 3.19 partly being deluded with the authority of Hermes the supposed scholler of S. Paul by whose dreames he was perswaded to beleeve that not onely Christ himselfe but his Apostles also did descend into Hell to preach there unto the dead to baptize them But touching the wordes of S. Peter is the maine doubt whether they are to bee referred unto Christs preaching by the ministerie of Noë unto the world of the ungodly or unto his owne immediate preaching to the spirits in Hell after his death upon the Crosse. For seeing it was the spirit of Christ which spake in the Prophets as S. Peter sheweth in this same Epistle and among them was Noë a preacher of righteousnesse as hee declareth in the next even as in S. Paul Christ is sayd to have come and preached to the Ephesians namely by his spirit in the mouth of his Apostles so likewise in S. Peter may he be sayd to have gone and preached to the old world by
honour and magnifie thee ô giver of life Thou wast put in the tombe being voluntarily made dead and didst emptie all the palaces of hell ô immortall King raysing up the dead with thy ResurrectioÌ„ Thou who spoyledst hell by thy buriall be mindfull of me Hitherto also belongeth that of Prudentius in his Apotheosis tumuloque inferna refringens Regna resurgentes secum jubet ire sepultos Coelum habitat terris intervenit abdita rumpit Tartara vera fides Deus est qui totus ubique est where in saying that our Saviour by his grave did break up the infernall kingdomes and commanded those that were buried to rise up with him he hath reference unto that part of the history of the Gospell wherein it is recorded that The graves were opened and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy citie and appeared unto many Matth. 27.52 53. upon which place S. Hilary writeth thus Inlightning the darkenesse of death and shining in the obscure places of Hell by the resurrection of the Saints that were seene at the present he tooke away the spoyles of death it selfe To the same effect writeth S. Ambrose also Neither did his sepulchre want a miracle For when he was anoynted by Ioseph and buried in his tombe by a new kinde of worke he that was dead himselfe did open the sepulchres of the dead His body indeed did lye in the grave but he himselfe being free among the dead did give libertie unto them that were placed in Hell dissolving the law of death For his flesh was in the tombe but his power did worke from heaven which may be a sufficient commentary upon that sentence which we reade in the Exposition of the Creed attributed unto S. Chrysostom He descended into Hell that there also he might not want a miracle For many bodies of the Saints arose with Christ. namely HELL rendring up the BODIES of the Saints alive againe as eyther the same or another author that goeth under the like name of Chrysostom doth elsewhere directly affirme which is a further confirmation of that which we have heard delivered by Ruffinus touching the exposition of the article of the Descent into Hell that the substance thereof seemeth to be the same with that of the Buriall for what other Hell can we imagin it to be but the Grave that thus receiveth and giveth up the bodies of men departed this life And hitherto also may bee referâ—ed that famous saying of Christs descending alone ascending with a multitude which we meet withall in foure severall places of antiquitie First in the hâ—ads of the sermon of Thaddaeus as they are reported by Eusebius out of the Syriack records of the citie of Edessa He was crucified and descended into Hades or Hell and brake the rampiere never broken before since the beginning and rose againe and raysed up with him those dead that had slept from the beginning and descended alone but ascended to his Father with a great multitude Secondly in the epistle of Ignatius unto the Trallians He was truly and not in opinion crucified and died those that were in heaven and in earth and under the earth beholding him those in heaven as the incorporeall natures those in earth to wit the Iewes and the Romanes and such men as were present at that time when the Lord was crucified those under the earth as the multitude that rose up together with the Lord for many bodies saith he of the Saints which slept arose the graves being opened And hee descended into Hades or Hell alone but returned with a multitude and brake the rampiere that had stood from the beginning and overthrew the partition thereof Thirdly in the disputation of Macarius Bishop of Ierusalem in the first generall Councell of Nice After death wee were carried into Hades or Hell Christ tooke upon him this also and descended voluntarily into it he was not detayned as wee but descended onely For hee was not subjected unto death but was the Lord of death And descending alone he returned with a multitude For he was that spirituall graine of wheat falling for us into the earth and dying in the flesh who by the power of his godhead raysed up the temple of his body according to the Scriptures which brought forth for fruite the Resurrection of all mankinde Fourthly in the Catechises of Cyrill Bishop of Ierusalem whose wordes are these I beleeve that Christ was raysed from the dead For of this I have many witnesses both out of the divine scriptures from the witnesse and operation even unto this day of him that rose againe of him I say that descended into Hades or Hell alone but asceÌ„ded with many For he did descend unto death many bodies of the Saints that slept were raised by him which resurrection he seemeth afterward to make common unto all the Saints that dyed before our Saviour All the righteous men saith he were delivered whom death had devoured For it became the proclaymed King to be the deliverer of those good proclaymers of him Then did every one of the righteous say O death where is thy victory ô Hell where is thy sting for the conqueror hath delivered us wherewith we may compare that saying of S. Chrysostom If it were a great matter that Lazarus being foure dayes dead should come forth much more that all they who were dead of old should appeare together alive which was a signe of the future resurrection For many bodies of the Saints which slept arose saith the text and these articles of the Confession of the Armenians According to his body which was dead he descended into the grave but according to his divinitie which did live he over came Hell in the meane time The third day he rose againe but withall raysâ—d up the soules or persons of the faithfull together with him and gave hope thereby that our bodies also should rise againe like unto him at his second comming Of those who arose with our Saviour from the Grave or as anciently they used to speake from Hell two there be whom the Fathers nominate in particular Adam and Iob. Of Iob S. Ambrose writeth in this maner Having heard what God had spoken in him and having understood by the holy Ghost that the Sonne of God was not onely to come into the earth but that he was also to descend into Hell to that he might rayse up the dead which was then done for a testimony of the present and an example of the future he turned himselfe unto the Lord and said O that thou wouldest keepe me in Hell that thou vvouldest hide me untill thy wrath be past and that thou wouldest appoint me a time in which thou wouldest remember me Iob. 14.13 in which wordes he affirmeth that Iob did prophecie that he should be raysed up at the passion of
sentence of Diphilus the old Comicall Poet. In Hades we resolve there are two pathes the one whereof is the way of the righteous the other of the wicked But as in this generall they agreed together both among themselves and with the truth so touching the particular situation of this Hádes and the speciall places whereunto these two sorts of soules were disposed and the state of things there a number of ridiculous fictions and fond conceits are to be found among them wherein they dissented as much from one another as they did from the truth it selfe So we see for example that the best soules are placed by some of them in the companie of their Gods in heaven by others in the Galaxias or milky circle by others beyond the Ocean and by others under the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet one Hádes notwithstanding was coÌ„monly thought to have received them all Plato relateth this as a sentence delivered by them who were the first ordayners of the Grecian Mysteries Whosoever goeth to Hádes not initiated and not cleansed shal lye in the mire but he that commeth thither purged and initiated shall dwell with the Gods So Zoroaster the great father of the Magi in the East is said to have used this entrance into his discourse touching the things of the other world These things wrote Zoroaster the sonne of Armenius by race a Pamphylian having beene dead in the warre which I learned of the Gods being in Hades as Clemens Alexandrinus relateth in the fifth booke of his Stromata where he also noteth that this Zoroaster is that Er the sonne of Armenius a Pamphylian of whom Plato writeth in the tenth booke of his Common-wealth that being slain in the warre he revived the twelfth day after and was sent backe as a messenger to report unto men here the things which he had heard and seene in the other world one part of whose relation was this that he saw certaine gulfes beneath in the earth and above in the heaven opposite one to the other and that the just were commanded by the Iudges that sate betwixt those gulfs to go to the right hand up toward Heaven but the wicked to the left hand and downeward which testimonie Eusebius bringeth in among many others to shew the consent that is betwixt Plato and the Hebrewes in matters that concerne the state of the world to come Next to Zoroaster commeth Pythagoras whose golden verses are concluded with this distich 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When thou shalt leave the body and come unto a free heaven thou shalt be an immortall God incorruptible and not subject to mortalitie any more So Epicharmus the scholler of Pythagoras If thou be godly in minde thou shalt suffer no evill when thou art dead thy spirit shall remaine above in heaven and Pindarus The soules of the ungodly flie under the heaven or under the earth in cruell torments under the unavoydable yoakes of evills but the soules of the godly dwelling in heaven doe prayse that great blessed one with songs and hymnes Ciâ—ero in his Tusculan questions alledgeth the testimony of Ennius approving the common fame that Romulus did lead his life in heaven with the Gods and in the sixth booke of his Common-wealth he bringeth in Scipio teaching that unto all them which preserve assist and enlarge their countrey there is a certaine place appointed in heavâ—n where they shall live blessed world without end Such a life saith he is the way to heaven and into the company of these who having lived and are now loosed from their body doe inhabite that place which thou seest pâ—inting to the Galaxiaes or milky circle whereof we reade thus also in Manilius An fortes animae dignatque nomina coelo Corporibus resoluta suis terraeque remissa Huc migrant ex orbe suumque habitantia coelum Aethereos vivunt annos mundoque fruuntur With Damascius the philosopher of Damascus this circle is the way of the soules that goe to the Hades in heaven Against whom Iohannes Philoponus doth reason thus from the etymologie of the word If they passe through the Galaxias or milky circle then this should be that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Hades that is in heaven and how can that be Hades which is so lightsome To which they that maintayned the other opinion would peradventure oppose that other common derivation of the word from the Dorick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to please or to delight or that which Plato doth deliver in the name of Socrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from seeing or knowing all good things For there did Socrates looke to finde such things as appeareth by that speech which Plato in his Dialogue of the Soule maketh him to use the same day that he was to depart out of this life The soule being an invisible thing goeth hence into such another noble and pure and invisible place to Hades in truth unto the good and wise God whither if God will my soule must presently goe which place is alledged by Eusebius to prove that in the things which concerne the immortalitie of the soule Plato doth differ in opinion nothing from Moses The tale also which Socrates there telleth of the pure land seated above in the pure heaven though it have a number of toyes added to it as tales use to have yet the foundation thereof both Eusebius and Origen doe judge to have beene taken from the speeches of the Prophets touching the land of promise and the heavenly Canaan and for the rest Origen referreth us to Platoes interpreters affirming that they who handle his writings more gravely doe expound this tale of his by way of allegory Such another tale doth the same philosoper relate in the Dialogue which he intituleth Gorgias shewing that among men he that leadeth his life righteously and holily shall when he is dead goe unto the Fortunate Ilands and dwell in all happinesse free from evills but he that leadeth it unrighteously and impiously shall goe unto the prison of punishment and just revenge which they call Tartarus which Theodoret bringeth in to prove that Plato did exactly beleeve that there were judgements to passe upon men in Hades For being conversant with the Hebrewes saith he in Aegypt he heard without doubt the oracles of the Prophets and taking some things from thence and mingling other things therewith out of the fables of the Greekes made up his discourses of these things Among which mixtures that which he hath of the Fortunate Ilands is reckoned by Theodoret for one whereof you may reade in Hesiod Pindarus Diodorus Siculus Plutarch and Iosephus also who treating of the diverse sectes that were among the Iewes sheweth that the Essenes borrowed this opinion of the placing of good mens soules in a certaine pleasant habitation beyond
the Ocean from the Grecians But the Pharisees as hee noteth elsewhere held that the place wherein both rewards were given to the good and punishments to the wicked was under the earth which as Origen doth declare to have been the common opinion of the Iewes so doth Lucian shew that it was the more vulgar opinion among the Grecians For among them the common multitude whom wise men saith he call simple people being perswaded of these things by Homer and Hesiod and such other fabulous authors and receiving their Poëms for a law tooke HADES to be a certaine deepe place under the earth The first originall of which conceite is by Cicero derived from hence The bodies falling into the ground and being covered with earth whence they are said to be interred men thought that the rest of the life of the dead was led under the earth upon which opinion of theirs saith he great errors did ensue which were increased by the Poës Others do imagine that the Poets herein had some relation to the sphericall situation of the world for the better understanding whereof these particulars following would be considered by them that have some knowledge in this kinde of learning First the materiall Spheres in ancient time were not made moveable in their sockets as they are now that they might bee set to any elevation of the Pole but were fixt to the elevation of XXXVI degrees which was the height of the Rhodian climat Secondly the Horizon which devided this Sphere through the middle and separated the visible part of the world from the invisible was commonly esteemed the utmost bound of the earth so that whatsoever was under that horizon was accounted to be under the earth for neyther the common people nor yet some of the learned Doctros uf the Church as Lactantius S. Augustine Procopius and others could be induced to beleeve that which our daily navigations finde now to bee most certaine that there should bee another southerne hemisphere of the earth inhabited by any Antipodes that did walke with their feete just opposite unto ours Thirdly the great Ocean was supposed to be the thing in nature which was answerable to this horizon in the Sphere Therefore it is observed by Strabo that Homer and by Theon Achilles Statius and others that Aratus and the rest of the Poets doe put the Ocean for the Horizon and thereupon where the astronomers say that the Sunne or the starres at their setting goe under the horizon the common phrase of the Poets is that they doe tingere se Oceano dive themselves into the Ocean for as they tooke the Earth to be but halfe a globe and not a whole one so they imagined that demye globe to be as it were a great mountaine or Iland seated in and invironed round about with the Ocean Thus the author of the booke de Mundo affirmeth that the whole world is one Iland compassed about with the Atlanticke sea and Dionysius Alexandrinus in the beginning of his Geography 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein he followed Eratosthenes as his expositor Eustathius there noteth who compareth also with this that place of Orpheus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereunto answereth that of Euphorion or as Achilles Statius citeth it of Neoptolemus Parianus in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this opinion of theirs the Fathers of the Church did the more readily entertayne because they thought it had ground from Psalm 24.2 and 136.6 and such other testimonies of holy Scripture That the whole earth saith Procopius Gazaeus doth subsist in the waters and that there is no part of it which is situated under us voyde and clear'd of waters I suppose it be knowne unto all For so doth the Scripture teach Who stretcheth out the earth upon the waters and againe Hee hath founded it upon the seas and prepared it upon the floods Neyther is it fit we should beleeve that any earth under us is inhabited opposite unto our part of the world The same collection is made by S. Hilary Chrysostom Caesarius and others Fourthly it was thought by the ancient heathen that the Ocean supplying the place of the Horizon did separate the visible world from the kingdome of Hades and therefore that such as went to Hádes or the world invisible to us must first passe the Ocean and that the pole Antarctick was seene by them there as the Arctick or North pole is by us here according to that of Virgil in his Georgicks Hic vertex nobis semper sublimis at illum Sub pedibus Styx atra videt manesque profundi Fiftly as they held that Hades was for situation placed from the center of the earth downeward so betwixt the beginning and the lowest part thereof they imagined as great a space to be interjected as there is betwixt Heaven and Earth So saith Apollodorus of Tartarus the dungeon of torment This is a darke place in Hades having as great a distance from the earth as the earth from the heaven and Hesiod in his Theogonia agreably to that which before we heard from Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is as farre beneath the earth as heaven is from the earth for thus equall is the distance from the earth unto darke Tartarus whereunto that of Virgil may be added in the â—ixt of the Aeneids tum Tartarus ipse Bis patet in praeceps tantum tenditque sub umbras Quantus ad aethereum coeli suspectus Olympum then Tartarus it selfe that sinke-hole steep Two times as low descends two times as headlong downright deep As heaven upright â—s hie that see how hye the heaven is over us when we looke upward to it the downright distance from thence to Tartarus should be twice as deepe againe for so wee must conceive the Poets meaning to bee if wee will make him to accord with the rest of his fellowes These observations I doubt not will be censured by many to savour of a needlesse and fruitelesse curiositie but the intelligent reader for all that will easily discâ—rne how hereby he may be led to understand in what sense the ancient both heathen and Christian writers did hold Hades to be under the earth and upon what ground For they did not meane thereby as the Schoolemen generally doe and as Tertullian sometime seemeth to imagine that it was contayned within the bowels of the earth but that it lay under the whole bulke thereof and occupied that whole space which we now finde to be taken up with the earth ayre and firmament of the southerne hemisphere the inhabitants of which infernall region and vast depth are thereupon affirmed by S. Hilary to be non intra terram sed infra terram not within the earth but beneath the earth And this proceeded
take for their Gods And here also out of Epiphanius we may further observe who were the masters or the mistresses rather for this was the womens heresie from whom our Romanists did first learne their Hyperdulîa or that transcendent kind of service wherewith they worship the Virgin Mary namely the Collyridians so called from the Collyrides or cakes which at a certaine time of the yeare they used to offer unto the blessed Virgin against whom Epiphanius doth thus oppose himselfe What Scripture hath delivered any thing concerning this Which of the Prophets have permitted a man to be worshipped that I may not say a woman For a choyse vessell she is indeed but yet a woman Let Mary be in honour but let the Father and the Sonne and the holy Ghost be worshipped let no man worship Mary This mysterie is appointed I doe not say for a woman nor yet for a man neyther but for God the Angels themselves are not capable of such kinde of glorifying Let none eate of this errour touching holy Mary for although the tree be beautifull yet is it not for meate and although Mary be most excellent and holy and to be honoured yet is she not to be worshipped The bodie of Mary was holy indeed but not God the Virgin indeed was a virgin and honourable but not given unto us for adoration but one that did her selfe worship him who was borne of her in the flesh and came from heaven out of the bosome of his Father Thus did this learned Father labour to cut the roots of this Idolatrous heresie when it first began to take hold of the feminine sexe animating all that were of masculine spirits to the extirpatiō therof in this maner Go to then ye servants of God let us put on a manlike mind and beat down the madnes of these women But when this disease afterwards had gotten a farther spredd and had once throughly seized upō men as wel as women it is a most wonderfull thing to consider into what extremitie this frenzie brake out after the time of Sathans loosing especially For then there wanted not such as would interprete that speech of the Angel unto the holy Virgin Haile full of grace the Lord is with thee of the equality of her Empire with her Sonnes as if it had beene said Even as he so thou also dost enjoy the same most excellent dignitie of ruling In the redundance and effusion of grace upon the creatures the Lords power and vvill is so accommodated unto thine that thou mayest seeme to be the first in that both diadem and tribunall The Lord is with thee not so much thou with the Lord as the Lord with thee in that function Then it was taught for good Divinitie that from the time wherein the Virgin mother did conceive in her wombe the Word of God she hath obtained such a kind of jurisdiction so to speake or authoritie in all the temporall procession of the holy Ghost that no creature hath obtained any grace or vertue from God but according to the dispensation of his holy mother that because she is the mother of the sonne of God who doth produce the holy Ghost therefore all the gifts vertues and graces of the holy Ghost are by her hands administred to whom she pleaseth when she pleaseth how she pleaseth and as much as she pleaseth That she hath singularly obtained of God this office from eternitie as her selfe doth testifie Proverb 8.23 I was ordained from everlasting namely a dispenser of celestiall graces and that in this respect Cantic 7.4 it is said of her Thy neck is as a tower of Yvorie because that as by the neck the vitall spirits do descend from the head into the bodie so by the Virgin the vitall graces are transmitted from Christ the head into his mysticall body the fulnesse of grace being in him as in the head from whence the influence cōmeth in her as in the necke through which it is transfused unto us so that take away the patronage of the Virgin you stop as i◠were the sinners breath that he is not able to live any lōger Then men stuck not to teach that unto her all power was given in heaven and in earth So that for heaven when our Saviour ascended thither this might be assigned for one reason among others why he left his mother behinde him least perhaps the court of Heaven might have beene in a doubt whom they should rather go to meet their Lord or their Lady for earth she may rightly apply unto her selfe that in the first of Ezra All the kingdomes of the earth hath the Lord given unto me and we may say unto her againe that in Tobi 14. Thy kingdome endureth for all ages and in the 144. or 145 Psalme Thy kingdome is a kingdome of all ages That howsoever she was the noblest person that was or ever should be in the world and of so great perfection that although she had not beene the mother of God she ought neverthelesse to have beene the Lady of the world yet according to the lawes whereby the world is governed by the right of inheritance she did deserve the principality and kingdome of this world That Christ never made any legacie of this Monarchy because that could not be done without the prejudice of his mother and he knew besides that the mother could make voyde the Testament of the sonne if it were made unto her prejudice And therefore that by all this it appeareth most evidently that Mary the mother of Iesus by right of inheritance hath the regall dominion over all that be under God That as many creatures doe serve the glorious Virgin Mary as serve the Trinitie namely all creatures whatsoever degree they hold among the things created whether they be spirituall as Angels or rationall as men or corporall as the Heavenly bodies or the Elements and all things that are in Heaven and in Earth whether they be the damned or the blessed all which being brought under the governement of God are subject likewise unto the glorious Virgin for asmuch as he who is the sonne of God and of the blessed Virgin being willing as it were to equall in some sort his Mothers soveraigntie unto the soveraignty of his Father even he who was God did serve his mother upon earth Whence Luke 2.51 it is written of the Virgin and glorious Ioseph He was subject unto them that as this proposition is true All things are subject to Gods command even the Virgin her selfe so this againe is true also All things are subject to the command of the Virgin even God himselfe that considering the blessed Virgin is the mother of God and God is her sonne and every sonne is naturally inferior to his mother and subject unto her and the mother hath preeminence and is superior to her sonne it therefore followeth that the
inlighten the whole celestiall world Rejoyce because the whole hoaste of heaven obeyeth me reverenceth and honoureth me Rejoyce because my Sonne is alwayes obedient unto me and my will and all my prayers he alwaies heareth or as others doe relate it The will of the blessed Trinitie and mine is one and the same and whatsoever doth please me the whole Trinitie with unspeakeable favour doth give consent unto Rejoyce because God doth alwayes at my pleasure reward my servitors in this world and in the world to come Rejoyce because I fit next to the holy Trinitie and am cloathed with my bodie glorified Rejoyce because I am certaine and sure that these my joyes shall alwayes stand and never be finished or â—ayle And whosoever by rejoycing with these spirituall joyes shall woâ—ship me in this world at the time of the depâ—rture of his soule out of the bodie he shall obtaine my presence and I will deliver his soule from the malignant enemies and present it in the sight of my Sonne that it may possesse joyes with me They tell us that manie many whoores for example that would not sinne on Saturday for the reverence of the Virgin whatsoever they did on the Lords day seeme to have the blessed Virgin in greater veneration than Christ her sonne moved thereunto out of simplicitie more than out of knowledge Yet that the Sonne of God doth beare with the simplicitie of these men and women because he is not ignorant that the honour of the mother doth redound to the childe Prov. 17.6 They argue further that if a Cardinall have this priviledge that if he put his cap upon the head of one that is ledd unto justice he is freed therby then by an argument drawn from the stronger the cloake of the blessed Virgin is able to deliver us froÌ„ all evil her mercy being so large that if she should see any man who did devoutly make her Crowne that is to say repeate the Rosarie or Chaplet of prayers made for her worship to be drawn unto punishmeÌ„t in the midst of a thousand Divels she would presently rescue him not permit that any one should have an evil end who did study revereÌ„tly to make her Crown They add moreover that for every of these Crownes a man shal obtaine 273758. dayes of Indulgence and that Pope Sixtus the fourth granted an indulgence of twelve thousand years for every time that a man in the state of grace should repeat this short orizon or salutation of the Virgin which by manie is inserted into her Crowne Hayle most holy Mary the mother of God the Queene of heaven the gate of Paradise the Ladie of the world Thou art a singular and pure virgin thou didst conceive Christ without sinne thou didst beare the creator and saviour of the world in whom I doe not doubt Deliver me from all evill and pray for my sinnes Amen In the Crowne composed by Bonaventure this is one of the orizons that is prescribed to be sayd O. Empresse and our most kinde Ladie by the authoritie of a mother command thy most beloved Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ that he would vouchsafe to lift up our mindes from the love of earthly things unto heavenly desires which is sutable unto that versicle which wee reade in the 35. Psalme of his Ladies Psalter Incline the countenance of God upon us compell him to have mercie upon sinners the harshenesse whereof our Romanists have a little qualified in some of their editions reading thus Incline the countenance of thy Sonne upon us compell him by thy praiers to have mercie upon us sinners The psalmes of this Psalter doe all of them begin as Davids doe but with this maine difference that where the Prophet in the one aymeth at the advancement of the honour of our Lord the Fryar in the other applieth all to the magnifying of the power and goodnesse of our Lady So in the first Psalme Blessed is the man quoth Bonaventure that loveth thy name O Virgin Marie thy grace shall comfort his soule in the others following Lady how are they multiplied that trouble me with thy tempest shalt thou persecute and scatter them Ladie suffer me not to be rebuked in the furie of God nor to bee judged in his wrath My Ladie in thee have I put my trust deliver me from mine enemies O Ladie In our Ladie put I my trust for the sweetenesse of the mercie of her name How long wilt thou forget me O Ladie and not deliver me in the day of tribulation Preserve me O Ladie for in thee have I put my trust and imparte unto me the droppes of thy grace I will love thee O Ladie of heaven and earth and I will call upon thy name among the nations The heavens declare thy glorie and the fragrance of thine oyntments is spread among the nations Heare us Ladie in the day of trouble and turne thy mercifull face unto our prayers Vnto thee O Lady have I lifted up my soule in the judgement of God by thy prayers I shall not be ashamed Iudge me Lady for I have departed from mine innocencie but because I will trust in thee I shall not be weakned In thee O Ladie have I put my trust let me never be confounded in thy favour receive me Blessed are they whose hearts doe love thee ô virgin Marie their sinnes by thee shall mercifully be washed away Lady judge those that hurt me and rise up against them and plead my cause Waiting have I waited for thy grace and thou hast done unto me according to the multitude of the mercie of thy name Lady thou art our refuge in all our necessities and the powerfull strength treading downe the enemie Have mercie upon me O Ladie who art called the mother of mercie and according to the bowels of thy mercies cleanse me from all mine iniquities Save me Ladie by thy name and deliver me from mine unrighteousnesse Have mercie upon me O Ladie have mercie upon me because my heart is prepared to search out thy will and in the shadow of thy wings will I rest Let Marie arise and let her enemies be scattered let them all be troaden downe under her feete In thee O Lady have I put my trust let me never be put to confusion deliver me in thy mercie and cause mee to escape Give the King thy judgement O God and thy mercie to the Queene his mother Lady the gentiles are come into the inheritance of God whom thou by thy merits hast confederated unto Christ. Thy mercies O Lady will I sing for ever God is the Lord of revenges but thou the mother of mercie dost bowe him to take pitie O come let us sing unto our Ladie let us make a joyfull noise to Mary our Queene that brings salvation O sing unto our Lady a new song for shee
hath done marveilous things O give thankes unto the Lord for he is good give thankes unto his mother for her mercie endureth for ever Lady despise not my prayse and vouchsafe to accept this Psalter vvhich is dedicated unto thee The Lord sayd unto our Lady sit thou my mother at my right hand They that trust in thee O mother of God shall not feare from the face of the enemie Except our Lady build the house of our heart the building thereof will not continue Blessed are all they who feare our Ladie and blessed are all they who know to doe thy will and thy good pleasure Out of the deepe have I cried unto thee O Ladie Ladie heare my voice Ladie remember David and all that call upon thy name O give thankes unto the Lord because he is good because by his most sweete mother the virgin Mary is his mercie given Blessed be thou O Ladie which teachest thy servants to warre and strengthenest them against the enemie and so the last Psalme is begun with Prayse our Ladie in her Saints prayse her in her vertues and miracles and ended accordingly with Omnis spiritus laudet Dominam nostram Let everie spirit or everie thing that hath breath prayse our Ladie To this we may adioyne the Psalter of the salutations of the Virgin framed by Iohn Peckham archbishop of Canterburie which is not yet printed His preface he beginneth thus Mente concipio laudes perscribere Sanctae Virginis quae nos à carcere Solvit per filium genus in genere Miri vivificans effectus opere and endeth with a prayer to the blessed Virgin that shee would release the sinnes of all those for whom hee prayed and cause both his owne name and theirs to be written in the booke of life Nec non omnibus relaxes crimina Pro quibus supplicans fundo precamina Nostrumque pariter horum nomina Conscribi facias in vitae paginâ Then followeth his first Psalme wherein he prayeth that she would make us to meditate often Gods Law and afterwards to be made blessed in the glorie of Gods kingdome Ave Virgo virginum parens absque pari Sine viri semine digna foecundari Fac nos legem Domini crebró meditari Et in regni gloriâ beatificari His other 149. Psalmes which are fraught with the same kinde of stuffe I passe over But Bernardinus de Senis his boldnesse may not be forgotten who thinketh that God will give him leave to maintaine that the Virgin Marie did more unto him or at least as much as he himselfe did unto all mankinde and that wee may say for our comfort forsooth that in respect of the blessed Virgin whom God himselfe did make notwithstanding God after a sort is more bound unto us than wee are unto him With which absurd and wretched speculation Bernardinus de Busti after him was so well pleased that hee dareth to revive againe this most odious comparison and propose it a fresh in this saucy maner But O most gratefull Virgin didst not thou something to God Didst not thou make him any recompence Truely if it be Lawfull to speake it thou in some respect didst greater things to God than God himselfe did to thee and to all mankinde I will therefore speake that which thou out of thy humilitie hast past in silence For thou onely didst sing He that is mightie hath done to me great things but I doe sing and say that thou hast done greater things to him that is mightie Neyther is that vision much better which the same author reciteth as shewed to S. Francis or as others would have it to his companion Fryar Lion touching the two ladders that reached from earth unto heaven the one redd upon which Christ leaned from whence many fell backward could not ascend the other white upon which the holy Virgin leaned the helpe whereof such as used were by her received with a cheerefull countenance and so with facilitie ascended into heaven Neyther yet that sentence which came first from Anselme and was after him used by Ludolphus Saxo the Carthusian and Chrysostomus à Visitatione the Cistercian Monke that more present reliefe is sometimes found by commemorating the name of Mary then by calling upon the name of our Lord Iesus her onely Sonne which one of our Iesuites is so farre from being ashamed to defend that he dareth to extend it further to the mediation of other Saints also telling us very peremptorily that as our Lord Iesus worketh greater miracles by his Saints then by himself Iohn 14.12 so often he sheweth the force of their intercession more then of his owne All which I doe lay downe thus largely not because I take any delight in rehearsing those things which deserve rather to be buried in everlasting oblivion but first that the world may take notice what kinde of monster is nourished in the Papacie under that strange name of Hyperdulia the bare discoverie whereof I am perswaded will prevaile as much with a minde that is touched with anie zeale of Gods honour as all other arguments and authorities whatsoever secondly that such unstable soules as looke backe unto Sodome and have a lust to returne unto Egypt againe may be advised to looke a little into this sinke and consider with themselves whether the steame that ariseth from thence be not so noysome that it is not to be indured by one that hath any sense left in him of pierie and thirdly that such as be established in the present truth may be thankefull to God for this great mercie vouchsafed unto them and mak◠this still one part of their prayers From all Romish Dulîa and Hyperdulîa good Lord deliver us OF IMAGES WIth prayer to Saints our Challenger joyneth the use of holy Images which what it hath beene and still is in the Church of Rome seeing hee hath not beene pleased to declare unto us in particular I hope he will give us leave to learne from others It is the doctrine then of the Romane Church that the Images of Christ and the Saints should with pious Religion be worshipped by Christians saith Zacharias Boverius the Spanish fryar in his late Consultation directed to our most noble Prince Charles the Hope of the Church of England and the future felicitie of the World as even this Balaam himself doth style him The representations of God and of Christ and of Angels and of Saints are not onely painted that they may be shewed as the Cherubims were of old in the Temple but that they may be adored as the frequent use of the Church doth testifie saith Cardinall Cajetan So Thomas Arundell archbishop of Canterbury in his Provinciall Councell helde at Oxford in the yeare 1408. established this Constitution following * From henceforth let it be taught commonly and preached by all that the Crosse and the Image of the Crucifixe and
I can hardly be perswaded saith Origen that there can be any worke which may require the reward of God by way of debt seeing this very thing it selfe that we can doe or thinke or speake any thing we doe it by his gift and largesse Wages indeed saith Saint Hilary there is none of gift because it is due by worke but God hath given the same free to all men by the justification of faith Whence should I have so great merit seeing mercy is my Crowne saith S. Ambrose and againe Which of us can subsist without the mercy of God What can we doe worthy of the heavenly rewards Which of us doth so rise up in this bodie that he doth elevate his minde in such sort as he may continually adhere unto Christ By what merit of man is it granted that this corruptible flesh should put on incorruption and this mortall should put on immortality By what labours or by what enduring of injuries can we abate our sinnes The sufferings of this time are unworthy for the glory that is to come Therefore the forme of heavenly decrees doth proceed with men not according to our merits but according to Gods mercy S. Basil expounding those words of the Psalmist Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that feare him upon them that hope in his mercy Psalm 33.18 saith that he doth hope in his mercy who not trusting in his owne good deeds nor looking to be iustified by workes hath the hope of his salvation only in the mercies of God and in his explication of those other words Psalm 116.7 Returne unto thy rest O my soule for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Everlasting rest saith he is laid up for them that strive lawfully in this life not to be rendred according to the debt of workes but exhibited by the grace of the bountifull God to them that trust in him If we consider our owne merits we must despaire saith S. Hierome and When the day of judgement or death shall come all hands will faile because no worke shall be found worthy of the justice of God Macarius the Aegyptian Eremite in his 15. homily writeth thus Touching the gift which Christians shall inherit this a man may rightly say that if any one from the time wherein Adam was created unto the very end of the world did fight against Satan and undergoe afflictions he should doe no great matter in respect of the glory that he shall inherit for he shall reigne together with Christ world without end His 37. homily is in the Paris edition of the workes of Marcus the Eremite set out as the Prooeme of his booke of Paradise and the spirituall law There Macarius exhorteth us that beleeving in almighty God we should with a simple heart and void of scrupulositie come unto him who bestoweth the communion of the spirit according to faith and not according to the proportion of the workes of faith Where Ioannes Picus the Popish interpreter of Marcus giveth us warning in his margent that this clause is to be understood of a lively faith but concealeth his owne faithlesnesse in corrupting of the text by turning the workes of faith into the workes of nature for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by his Latine translation which is to be seene in Bibliothecâ Patrum as much to say as Non ex proportione operum naturae There is a treatise extant of the said Marcus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 touching those who thinke to be justified by their workes where he maketh two sorts of men that misse both of them the kingdome of heaven the one such as doe not keepe the commandements and yet imagine that they beleeve aright the other such as keeping the commandements doe expect the kingdome as a wages due â—nto them For the Lord saith he willing to shew that all the commâ—ndements are of dutie to be performed and that the adoption of children is freely given to men by his bloud saith When you have done aâ—l things that are commanded you then say We are unprofitable servants and we have done that which was our dutie to doe Therefore the kingdome of heaven is not the hire of works but the grace of the Lord prepared for his faithfull servants This sentence is repeated in the very selfe same words by Hesychius in his booke of Sentences written to Thalassius The like sayings also hath S. Chrysostome No man sheweth such a conversation of life that he may be worthy of the kingdome but this is wholly of the gift of God Therefore he saith When yee have done all say We are unprofitable servants for what we ought to doe we have done Although we did die a thousand deaths although we did performe all vertuous actions yet should we come short by farre of rendring any thing worthy of those honours which are conferred upon us by God Although we should doe innumerable good deeds it is of Gods pitie and benignitie that we are heard although we should come unto the very top of vertue it is of mercy that we are saved for although we did innumerable workes of mercy yet would it be of the benignitie of grace that for such small and meane matters should be given so great a heaven and a kingdome and such an honour whereunto nothing we doe can have equall correspondence Let the merit of men be excellent let him observe the rights of nature let him be obedient to the commandements of the Lawes let him fulfill his faith keepe justice exercise vertues condemne vice repell sinnes shew himselfe an example for others to imitate if he have performed any thing it is little whatsoever he hath done is small for all merit is short Number Gods benefits if thou canst and then consider what thou dost merit Weigh thine owne deeds with the heavenly benefits ponder thine owne acts with the divine gifts and thou wilt not judge thy selfe worthy of that which thou art if thou understandest what thou dost merit Whereunto we may adde the exhortation made by S. Antony to his Monkes in Aegypt The life of man is most short being measured with the world to come so that all our time is even nothing in comparison of everlasting life And every thing in this world is sold for that which it is worth and one giveth equall in exchange of equall but the promise of everlasting life is bought for a very little matter Wherefore my sonnes let us not wax weary nor thinke that we stay long or performe some great thing for the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed on us Neither when we looke upon the world let us thinke that we have forsaken any great matters For all this earth is but a very little thing in comparison of the whole heaven Therefore although we had beene lords of the whole