vs though against the opinion of the Fathers that the soules of the holie Patriarks dead before Christ were not beneath but aboue Not in Limbo but with God in peace ioy and blisse euen in Paradise that is heauen Your certainties be your owne ouerhastie coniectures neither well vnderstanding your selfe nor others In the places which you quote out of my Sermons I say as Christ himselfe deliuered that the iust deceased were in Abrahams bosome which the wise man calleth the hand of God And that Abrahams bosome was vpward farre aboue hell as appeareth by the wordes of our Sauiour more I durst not determine Neither did I make Abrahams bosome to be Paradise or Heauen I had no warrant so to doe but the place whither the soule of the thiefe was caried the day of his death Christ calleth Paradise which the Apostle seemeth to make a part of the third heauen And heere were the soules of the righteous after Christes death except you thinke that Paradise was prouided only for the penitent thiefe which S. Austen counteth a great absurditie Thus much I said and still say as also that the faithfull departing this life rest from their labours and dwell with the Lord in places prepasred and appointed for them though as yet they haue not their house which is eternall in the heauens nor are clothed with life swallowing vp mortalitie But that the soules of the Patriarks were in heauen that is in the glorie of gods kingdome before the death and comming of Christ I haue no such wordes in any of the pages which you produce I vse not of things vnknowen to giue hastie iudgement I leaue it to God who hath many places of abode in his house and desire not to search into his secrets vnreuealed in this life Hence I conclude that Christes soule after his death ascended indeed and descended not downward beneath vs heere I heare your conclusion but I see no premises from which you may iustly inferre so much For though the soule of Christ might ascend after death if we respect situation of place in comparison of the earth yet because the Scriptures reckon no ascending but into the glorie of heauen otherwise the diuels that rule in the aire should ascend and the damned that come to iudgement shall ascend the Christian faith doth not say that Christ ascended before he descended And the apostle exactly obseruing the relation and application of those two wordes vnto Christ saith his descending was the first of the twaine that was performed This saith he that Christ ascended what is it but that he first descended into the lower parts of the earth Otherwise if you be disposed to play with the ascending and descending of Christes person bodie or soule before or after death you may finde vs many descents and ascents besides the two that are mentioned in our Creed The Nicene Creed saith of his person that for vs and our saluation he descended from heauen and was incarnate by the holy Ghost of the virgine Marie and of himselfe he saith I am the liuing bread which descended from heauen Then after his death his soule ascended as you say and so must descend againe before his body could be restored to life Now the apostle saith Christ descended into the lower parts of the earth and likewise must thence ascend before his resurrection And lastly after forty daies he ascended body and soule aboue all the heauens Heere are sixe descents and ascents if you list to controle the Creed but the Christian faith following the apostle noteth onely two his descending to hell or to the lower parts of the earth and his ascending aboue all heauens which were two materiall parts of our saluation after he tooke flesh and profitable for vs to know And though you stifly stand on this that Christes soule descended not downeward beneath vs heere Yet against the Creed and the apostles wordes that Christ descended to hell and to the lower parts of the earth no wise man will admit either your opinion or assertion howsoeuer you thinke you can make a florish with Dauids words who saith he was fashioned beneath in the earth of which we will speake when we come to examine the force of the apostles wordes Only except there be some speciall reason of good authoritie to the contrary which is the second point of importance heere to be considered Touching which thus I say without expresse and euident Scripture there is in the world no sound nor meet authoritie to disprooue our former reason or conclusion Your reasons raked out of the Scripture are such that no man need to regard they are miserable mistakings and palpable misapplyings of the Scriptures intending no such thing as you imagine and for the contrarie they are plaine enough and such as haue been receaued and reuerenced by all Christendom without exception till you and some others in our age started vp with figures and phrases to mince and manage the Scriptures to your pleasure They are â—…eely diuines that doe not know the names of heauon and hell of life and death of flesh and spâ—…it of Christ and of God may be diuersly taken and diuersly vsed euen by example of holy Scriptures but it is the high way to all heresie and infidelity to turne and wind euery word occurrent in the Scriptures after euery signification that may be found thereof in the old or new Testament without respect to the maine grounds of the Christian faith and to make Rabbins and Pagans to be the best interpreters of words vsed by the holy Ghost to expresse the mysteries of Christs kingdome And how come you now to be so strickt in this second question that without expresse and euident Scripture against which you cannot so much wrangle you will yeeld to nothing who were so licentious in the former that without all Scripture and against the Scripture you maintained a new kind of redemption by the death of Christs soule and his suâ—…ering the second death which if you stand to the word of God is eternall damnation of body and soule in hell fire you shew your selfe more then a Patriarke in the Church thus to coine new articles of the Creed without all warrant of the word and to cast out the old though confessed and continued since Christs time because you find some words to haue diuers senses at least with Iewish and heathen writers though not with Christians Austen himselfe auoucheth well and faithfully supposing there were no expresse nor plaine Scripture for Christes descending theâ—… sayth he it were maruellous boldnesse that any should dare say he went downe to hell But the same Austen in the same place telleth you that euidentia testimonia infernum commemorant dolores euident testimones of Scriptures mention both hell and the sorowes thereof to which Christ came And for full proofe heereof he sayth euâ—…n in the same Epistle We can not contradict
this as a part of the Creede in his time for that he doth not set it in the right place where it should be but putteth it after the Resurrection Howbeit Erasmus might haue suspected that some other had changed Aquinas order as well as augmented Aquinas worke For it is euident that Aquinas in his summe of Diuinitie acknowledgeth that Article of Christs descent to hell to come from the Apostles and numbereth it in the 4. place before the Resurrection of Christ from the dead And this reason he giueth why it was not mentioned in the Creedes of the Fathers because no heresie was then risen about that point and therefore they still presupposed it as foredetermined in the Apostles Creede And yet there want not Councels and Fathers declaring and confirming this to be a part of the Catholike and Christian faith The Councell of Orleance kept in the 46. yeere of Charles the great in the profession of their faith say thus Descendit ad Inferos he descended to hell to deliuer the Saints which there were held deuictóque mortis Imperio and subduing the kingdome of death rose againe concluding also thus this is the faith of the Catholike Church this confession we keepe and hold The Councell of Foroiulij otherwise called Aquileia in which Citie Ruffinus that expoundeth the Creede was a Presbyter made this exposition of the Creede in the time of Carolus Martellus and Pipine his Sonne Father to Charles the great In Eadem dignatus est mori sepeliri ad Inferos descendere tertia dei resurgere In the same humane nature Christ vouchsafed to die to be buried to descend to hell to rise againe the third day Which they close with this attestation This most sincere puritie of the Catholike faith we will all degrees of the Church distinctly to learne and commit to memorie it a vt ne vnus quidem apex intermittatur vel augeatur so that not one the least point of it be omitted or encreased The 4. Councell of Toledo in the time of Sisenandus King of Spaine about 630. yeeres after Christ made the same profession word for word which the Councell of Orleance did after imitate Christ descended to hell to deliuer the Saints which there were held and subduing the kingdome of death rose againe Venantius Bishop of Poictiers in France that dedicated some of his poems to Gregorie the first commenting on the Apostles Creede distinctly rehearsed the Article descendit ad Infernum he descended to hell among the rest and saith farder of it but descending to hell Christ suffered no iniurie for that he did it in respect of his mercie As if a King should enter a prison not to be there held himselfe but to loose such as were guiltie We can not see but that whensoeuer whosoeuer put it first into this place they signified thereby it seemeth that Christ went to Limbus a place vnder the earth where they imagined the blessed Patriarkes rested When this clause was first inserted into the Creede no man can directly pronounce Some places had it not for a time and some had it aunciently transmitted from the first founders of their Churches which being duely considered by the rest that wanted it and the Article on euery side confessed to be true it was at length generally receaued throughout the Church not as a thing newly deuised by themselues but formerly commended to many Churches euen from their first erection Thaddeus Ignatius and Athanasius haue these very words yet say they not any where that they were in that set forme of the Apostles Creede which we now haue If Thaddeus deliuered it to the Church of Edessa at the first preaching of the faith vnto them and they kept a record thereof in the publike monuments of their Citie to the time of Eusebius why should it not be counted and calle a part of the Apostles Creede that is of the short and plaine forme of the faith deliuered to the people when they first receaued the Gospell of Christ And how should Ignatius Athanasius and all the auncient Fathers both Greeke and Latine throughout the world light on the same words in effect agnise them for a point of Christian faith if sundry Churches had not retained that Article in the Summarie confession of their faith euen from the beginning Ruffine alleageth truely these words descendit ad Inferna but not out of any example of the Apostles Creede yea he expresly denyeth it to be therein any where at that time Cyrill and Chrysostom expound these words as parts of the common Creede receaued in their Churches and called Apostolike because it was descended from the Apostles times Ruffine doth the like for the Church of Aquileia where he was a Presbyter he setteth downe these words as a part of the common Creede which he expoundeth and nameth Apostolike And here for triall of your truth and modestie if you know what those things meane I referre my selfe to the printed Copies of Cyprians and Ieroms works where this exposition is extant whether these words crucifixus sub Pontio Pilato sepultus descendit ad Inferna He was crucified vnder Pontius Pilate and buried he descended to hell be not expresly set downe as a part of the Creede which Ruffine expoundeth and calleth Apostolike The Copies printed at Bafile by Frobenius and at Lyons by Gryphius 1537 at Basile by Heruagius 1540 at Antuerpe by Crinitus and at Paris by Stephan Petit. 1541 seuer these words with an halfe moone from Ruffinus explication as they doe the rest of the Creede Those printed at Rome by Paulus Manutius 1563 at Antuerpe by Stelsius 1561 by Peter Bellerus 1589 and by Iohn de Preux 1593. at Paris by Sebastian Niuellius 1603. distinguish them by greater or different letters from the rest So that your denying them to be part of the Creede which Ruffine bringeth for Apostolike is a manifest mentirie As you peruert Ruffines wordes so you doe his meaning For he doth not say that Christes descent to hell was all one with his buriall but where the Churche of Rome with some others wanted those wordes he descended to hell yet with them the effect thereof was contained in the word buried And no maruaile that the Church of Rome for that he chiefly noteth by the Latin word sepultus extended the word buriall to hell since they did and to this day doe follow the olde Latine translation of the Bible Luke 16. where it is written the rich man was buried in hell It was an easie matter therefore for them by Christs buriall to vnderstand his descent to hell since as they thought they found the word so farre extended in the Scriptures And graunt that Ruffine and others of the auncients as you affirme did thinke it consequent as an effect to Christs buriall that his soule did descend to hell what prooue you by this but against your selfe that such as had not those wordes expressed in
before the world was With this most assured and infallible perswasion and resolution Christ passed to his passion to be glorified and thereby declared to be the Sonne of God Which the Theefe on the crosse confessing receaued that present day an euerlasting reward in Paradise And the Centurion and Souldiers that watched him when they saw the manner of his death and woonders consequent acknowledged saying c Matth. 27. Truely this man was the Sonne of God Against this foundation of faith and knowledge in the soule and spirit of Christ if you dreame of any doubt or feare that did arise in the heart of Christ vpon any suggestions of men or diuels you make him a liar and a sinner His faith could not shrinke without hainous infidelitie because he was assured of his personall vnion with God and of his inunction with power and the holie Ghost from God by the voice of his Father speaking thrice from heauen vnto him by the visible descent of the holie Ghost vpon him at his baptisme by the seruice and adoration of Angels by the power and commaund which he had ouerall creatures and ouer diuels themselues Wherefore the least doubt or distrust in Christs heart that his person might perish or his sacrifice be reiected or that his Father was or could be displeased with him must needs haue beene most detestable impietie And this cleerenesse of faith and knowledge standing fast and immooueable against all the powers of hell what strange temptations or incomprehensible torments could the diuell worke in the soule of Christ the Scriptures assuring vs that the d Ephes. 6. shield of faith euen in vs quencheth all the fiâ—…rie darts of the wicked and that e Iames 4. the diuell will flie from vs when he is resisted And therefore as f 1. Pet. 4. we reioice and ought so to doe in that we be partakers of Christs sufferings so Christ in all his sufferings had exceeding both comfort and ioy though the anguish of his flesh were very painfull vnto him whereto the manhood of Christ did ful mit it selfe according to the will of God g Defenc. pag 〈◊〉 li. 16. Neither say you any thing whereby you doe or can ouerthrow this assertion What can or need more be said against this and all other your false and vaine conceits then that they haue no ground in the word of God but are couered with certaine close and currant phrases which you neuer expound least you should lie open to infinite absurdities and impieties As euen in this case which is now before vs you tell vs Christ disâ—…erned the very stroke of Gods own hand receaued the sting of his wrath where these words the stroke and sting being metaphores designe no proprietie nor particularitie of Christs sufferings but any of those paines which Christ receaued in his bodie may iustly be called the stroke of Gods hand or sting of his wrath So that you secretly carie your meaning in euerie place with some ambiguous words which cannot be directly refuted because there is no speciall thing mentioned in them but generall and metaphoricall circumstances guilesully proposed h Defenc. pag. 85. li. 17. Our authorised doctrine in England agreeth with me saying he fought and wrastled as it were hand to hand with the whole armie of hell At least you dreame so but where are the words that expresse any such thing as you take vpon you to maintaine The Catechisme saith Christ encountered and wrastled with the whole power of Satan I saie no lesse but still obseruing Christs owne words that i Iohn 14. within him Satan had nothing You suppose that Christs owne heart was a souldier of Satans and fought against his faâ—…th by seruing the diuels turne the Catechisme saith no such thing Satan with all his power and pollicie force and â—…urie did what he could by the mouths and hands of the wicked to tire Christs patience and shake his confidence but he could do neither Christ persisting in most perfect patience faith and obedience to the verie breathing out of his soule To aggrauate the paines of Christes stripes and wounds Satan omitted no meane that by men he could execute To vndermine and batter Christes faith the diuell opened the mouthes of the k Luke 23. People that gazed on him of the high l Mâ—…k 15. Priests and k Luke 23. Rulers that conspired against him of the Scribes and Pharises that derided him of the l Passengers that shooke their heads at him of the m Matth 27. Souldiers that crucified him of the Theefe that hung with him to mocke reuile and blasphemâ—… him as falsly calling himselfe the Sonne of God and forsaken of God and left vnable to saue or helpe himselfe Their tentations the Scriptures doe specifie which were sufficient to trie the stedfastnesse of Christs faith and hope of others they make no mention And to these or any other if you thinke Christs heart did yeeld but by fearing or doubting whether their words were true or no you take from him all assurance of faith and place him in the midst betweene fidelitie and infidelitle hope and despaire as not resolued whether God would deceaue him and forsake him vnder the burden of our sinnes and his sufferings This perplexitie would indeed haue beene a strange temptation and horrible torment of minde but withall a manifest faile in faith and ecclipse of hope which if you take from Christ you robbe him not onely of his comfort confidence and glorie but euen of all pietie patience and obedience for that time as doubting whether God were faithfull in his promise and whether the coniunction of God and man in his person might be seuered and dissolued or no. But of these temptations feares and sorrowes I wish you to take heede least if you defile the merits or diminish the graces of his sufferings you declare your selfe to be any thing rather then a Christian and to haue no part in the kingdome of God and of Christ by dishonoring the Father and the Sonne to serue your owne fansies n Defenc pag. 85. li. 20. Where you detest my sense of the Apostle in this place and yet giue no inkling of anie other sense at all it is more then half a conclusion against you that my interpretation of it is vniustly by you reprooued Such conclusions doe well become a man of your iudgement The Defender â—…ainly presumeth all places of his vnanswered to be granted As though I must be bound to make Commentaries vpon all the Scriptures which you abuse or else you will take the trueth tardie by my default It sufficed good Sir that your application had neither coherence with the Apostles words nor deriuance from them and so was woorthely reiected as voide of all reason and sense For this that Christs soule was inwardly tempted and tormented by diuels because he triumphed ouer them most gloriously this I say to all wise men is rather a
in Scripture for this point yet our question is fully proued and confirmed by those other sufficient and pregnant proofs alleaged and iustified before Your palpable and pregnant follies are sufficiently seene before your proofs were none but bald and false presumptions conceiued by your selfe though otherwise voide of all reason and authoritie with such props you haue hitherto supported your Defence and now you be come to the maine issue whether the Scriptures or Fathers doe teach that Christ for our redemption died the death of the soule or the death of the damned which is the second death you would passe it ouer as a matter of no moment and here tell vs if you had no such proofe as indeed you haue none yet you haue played your part before which was to set a good face on an euill cause and to proue iust nothing d Defenc. pag 136. li. 13. For it is to be noted that no man setteth the question in these tearmes that Christ died in his soule neither doe we at all vse them very much in speaking of this matter The Scriptures themselues set that for the question First of all I e 1. Cor. 15. deliuered vnto you sayeth Paul that which I receiued how that Christ died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures Since then f Rom. 5. we were reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne and Christ is the g Hebr 9. Mediatour of the New Testament through death for the redemption of the transgressions in the former Testament and where a Testament is there must be the death of him that made the Testament The question riseth of it selfe what death the Sonne of God died for our sinnes by the witnesse of holy Scripture And hitherto for these fifteene hundred yeeres and vpward the Christian world both of learned and vnlearned hath beleeued that the Sonne of God by the death of his bodie on the tree ransomed our sinnes reconciled vs to God and vtterly destroyed the kingdome of Satan and that he neither did nor could suffer any other kinde of death as the death of the soule or the So that the reference of the Apostles words standeth thus he offered vp praiers and supplications with strong cries and teares to him that was able to saue him from all touch of death and was heard in that he prayed for and though he were the sonne and god was able to keepe him vntouched of death that is to make him the Sauiour of the world without tasting any kind of death yet such was Gods counsell and his owne liking that he learned or perfourmed the obedience of a sonne by the things which he suffered Whereby the Apostle teacheth vs it was neither want of power in God that Christ died for God was able to haue saued the world by him without his death neither was it lacke of fauour towards his sonne for God HEARD him in that he asked but to manifest in his person the perfect submission of a sonne to his father God would haue him obedient to death euen vnto the death of the crosse and so make him the author of eternall saluation to all that obey him As he obeied God his Father Those words then Christ offered praiers to him that was able to keep him from death prooue not death to be the cause of Christs feare nor the scaping therefrom to be the scope of Christes strong cries and teares but the Apostle thereby noteth that Christ neither doubted of his Fathers power nor loue when he praied so earnestly vnto him but was assured of both and enioyed both in such sort as might best stand with the honor and wisedome of God the father and of Christ his sonne And therefore all your collections and illations built on that false ground doâ—… fall of themselues as hauing nothing to support them but your idle and vaine supposals a Defenc. pag. 137. li. 6. Your owne selfe doe fully grant and affirme it with me yea you affirme farder then we doe or then the trueth is or possibly can be you say Christ heâ—…re thus feared eternall death and euerlasting damnation I must take no â—…corne to haue you wrest and wring my words to a contrary sense when you offer that course to the Apostles words The place which you quote for proofe of my meaning will conuince you to be a malitious falsifier My words a man would thinke are plaine enough and my exposition of that speach vsed by some men is such that no man of any intelligence or conscience would so grosly peruert it Thus I say pag 23. b Serm. pag. 23. li. 4. Distrust of his owne saluation or doubt of Gods displeasure against himselfe we cannot so much as imagine in Christ without euident want of grace and losse of faith which we may not attribute to Christs person no not for an instant And againe c Ibid. li. 17. I refraine to speake what wrong it is to put either doubtfulnâ—…sse or forgetfulnesse of these things in part of Christs humane nature And to the question thereon demanded d li. 20. Why then did he pray that the cup might passe from him I answere he had no need to pray for himselfe but only for vs who then suffered with him and in him What learning I cannot say but what lewdnesse is this to father that on me which I fully forsake and still to presse me with that which I so often preuent and repell I did not intend in my Sermons to note any by name nor sharply to censure their sayings but repeating as much as I saw I gaue the best construction or mittigation to their words that any trueth would endure Where then some men whom by your importunity you haue vrged me to name as the Catechisme of master Nowel which you would seeme so much to reuerence in plaine words auoucheth that Christ was e Pag. 280. 〈◊〉 mortis horrore perfusus perfused or plunged with the horror of etâ—…rnall death And master Caluin saith f Institutione li. 2. ca. 16. sect 10. Oportuit 〈◊〉 cum inferorum copijs 〈◊〉 mortis horrore quasi consertis manibus luctari Christ was to wrâ—…si â—…ith the powers of hell and with the horror of eternall death as it were hand to hand Their words suppressing their names I there taught might be tolerated if we tooke horror for a religious feare only trembling at the terror of hell and praying against it or did attribute that trembling and feare of eternall death to Christ in respect and compassion of vs that were his members and whom he ioined and reckened in his sufferings for vs as one person or body with him Which moderation of mine you euery where conceale and make your Reader beleeue that I fully grant and affirme that which I expressely denie And not content therewith you enterlace my words with your lewd additions as if I said Christ thus feared eternall death You meane with strong cries and teares and
that you can discerne nothing besides your owne dreames In the wordes of Esaie are sundrie circumstances which plainely prooue Sheol there not to be taken for the graue onely The first is the situation of Sheol which the Prophet there saith is below Sheol from below is stirred to meete thee not meaning the dead should be then raised to life but the Ghostes below should be mooued and affected with the suddaine fall of that mightie tyrant It is also there opposed to heauen as the lowest place to the highest for where through pride the king of Babylon said in his heart I will ascend to heauen and exalt my throne aboue the starres of God the Prophet replieth thou shalt be thrust downe to Sheol to the sides of the lake Secondly there are in that place attributed to them in Sheol remembrance admirance irrision and speach which by no meanes can agree to dead carcasses in the graue but to spirits and soules in hell neither had the dead bodie of the king of Babylon any sense sorrow or shame for his foule fall which their insulting in hell against him purposed to impresse Thirdly the cruelty tyranny pride and rage of the king of Babylon against Gods people were greater then to bee requited onely with the graue as were all other men euen the Iewes themselues that were the Seruants of God their most religious Kings It was therefore no way fitting for the iustice of God against his enemies nor for his loue to his owne to menace the oppressors murderers of his people with no more but only with the graue For since God by the same prophet threatned the king of Asshur with Tophet for smiting his people saying Tophet is prepared of old it is euen prepared for the king he to wit God hath made it deepe and wide the burning thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a riuer of brimstone doth kindle it how should the graue onely be sufficient to reuenge the outrages of the king of Babylon against the Saints of God whose citie he vtterly destroyed and kept them groning in most miserable seruitude Lastly where you so confidently pronounce the graue onely is there ment a man may soone see how little care you take in setling your sentence since of all other things there specified the graue is namely excepted by the Prophet as no part of Gods threats against that proud tyrant These are his words Thou shalt not be ioyned with them in the graue because thou hast destroied thine owne land and slaine thy people thou art cast out of the graue like an abominable branch as a carcasse troden vnder feete So that heere you are taken tardie with a plain and presumptuous contradiction to the words of the Prophet that where he threatneth the king of Babel for his cruell oppression shall not be partaker of a graue after his death but be cast out as an hatefull care asse to be troden vnder foote you in your wisedome affirme the gâ—…ue is onely heere ment whatsoeuer others thinke yea though the Prophet himselfe expresly say no. With such principles you proppe vp your idle fansies in the Hebrew tongue whiles you would seeme learned in giuing the Prophet the lie to his face But heere you will say is mention of wormes that should spredde vnder him and coâ—…er him and of lying downe to sleepe This is all the shew that can be made out of sixteene verses in that Chapter describing the destruction of the king of Babylon and his issue and yet these wordes neither doe nor must inferre the graue which he should lacke but the putrifying of his body though vnburied and his lying down to death yet not in the graue Neither is it to be doubted but when his soule descended to Sheol below his bodie was dead the one doth not exclude but rather include the other except men descend aliue to hell as we read of some in the Scriptures otherwise the soule is first seuered from the body before she goe to her owne place which for the wicked is the lower Sheol Thus much you might haue learned out of old and new interpreters but that you scorne to be directed by any man farder then your owne fancie doth lead you Of this place of Esaie Ierom thus writeth He that through pride said I will ascend to heauen and be like the most high is thrust downe non solum ad infernum sed ad inferorum vltimum â—…ot onely to hell but to the lowest steppe of hell So the deepe of the lake doth signifie for which in the Gospell we read vtter darkenesse where is weeping and gnashing of teeth And withall we learne that hell is vnder the earth the Scripture saying vnto the bottome of the lâ—…ke Haymo on the same words Hence we learne that hell is vnder the earth whose inhabitants in this place are designed by the name of hell Hell is troubled to meet thee because the angell who is President ouer infernall paines hath stirred vp to meete thee the Giants that is the mightie princes of the earth whom before thou didst heauâ—…ly oppresse Lyra very skilfull in the Hebrue tongue as appeareth by his often citing the Rabbins vpon the same place saith Heere is the insultation of the dead and first against the soule of the king of Babylon secondly as touching the buriall of his bodie Concerning the first we must know the Iewes Catholike writeâ—…s expound this place of Nabâ—…codonosors soule descending to the paines of the damned But it must be referred to Balthasar his Nephew and so it is said HELL That is the diuell the ruler of hell VNDâ—…R THEE because hell is said to be in the deepe of the earth IS TROVBLED because the diuels were busie about the receauing and leading of his soule Bullingere likewise The Prophet goeth on to describe the wretchednesse of Balthasar the wicked king of Babylon When therefore he was thrust through the body in many places by the souldiers that brake into his palace his soule went straight to hell Where two things are to be obserued first that the soule of man doth not die with his body next that hell is appointed as a certaine place for the wicked which heere is auouched to be beneath vs. Oecolampadius Thou art descended to hell and thy glory and mirth with thee And as the body is deuoured of wormes so the soule is tormented with the wormes of an euill conscience These are the treasures of rich and mightie men which oppresse others in this life they cary nothing hence but a wretched conscience into the Gehenna sire where their worme doth not die nor the fire quench Pellican The dead Princes in hell answer one another deriding ech the other vpbrayding violences exercising wrath and indignation raging with impatience and iniuries wormes meate and most wretched with the perpetuall gnawing of conscience euen as in the kingdome of the blessed
Saints they congratulate one another and reioyce ech at others rewards and honors Gualter The summe of all that shall be said by the Prophet is this that the Medes should kill the king of Babylon and his soule be cast downe to hell among other tyrants to suffer euerlasting torments This place hath an euident testimonie teaching vs that soules do not die with their bodies but are spirits immortall and gathered into a place appointed for them the wicked to hell where vtter darkenesse is and eternall weeping and gnashing of teeth Mollerus In these verses is described the state of the dead which depart this life in their sinnes without repentance as it is in the storie of the rich glutton Lucae 16. for as he was caried to hell so this tyrant and all others that die in their sinnes descend to hell Wigandus vpon these wordes Hell below is stirred to meete thee The Prophet saith that other Tyrants in hell meet the Babylonian tyrant and insult at him qui iam in imum Tartarum detractus sibi â—…iat similis who being brought downe to the deepest hell is now become like to them As these learned interpreters rightly obserue the circumstances of Esaies words so depart they not from the propriety of the Hebrew phrase which Munster confesseth generally to be this The wicked descend lishol tachtith to the lower sheol that is to Gehenna where their fire quencheth not for euer The words of Ezechiel 31 32 haue as many and the same circumstances to resute your follie as the wordes of Esay haue and make proofe sufficient that those words doe not import only the Graue as you falsely presume First Rabbi Iehosuas and Midras Tehilim of good authority amongst the Iews auouch as I haue shewed erets tachtith the lower carth to be the description and appellation of Hell in the Scriptures Next Mercer and Forster and other famous Hebricians obserue as also your selfe doe yeeld that erets tachtith hath manifestly the same sense and signification with Sheol Tachath in the foureteenth of Esay of which there is now no doubt but hell is thereby implied Thirdly Ezechiel purposely noteth and so nameth the same place where all the vncircumcised and wicked that from the beginning were barbarous and bloudie enemies to the people of God were gathered and receiued after this life whereof many thousand were drowned and otherwise depriued of their graues except the name of graue be figuratiuely taken for death when yet Ezechiel pointed out the place where they were at the time that he spake these words euen in the lower earth Fourthly Ezechiel giueth them sight speech and affections as Esay did in saying They are now ashamed of their strength by which they became terrors to the liuing and see and speake ech to others insulting and vpbraiding one another euen as Esay before described them Lastly the selfe same phrase is found in Dauid threatning this vengeance to those who sought his soule to destroy it that they should go betachtijotâ—… hâ—…arets to the lower parts of the earth and yet their carcasses be left as a portiâ—…n to the foxes that is to be deuoured of wild and raâ—…ening beasts What the Iewes conceaued by the lower earth appeareth by the prayer of King Manassâ—…s which though it be not canonicall yet it is of credit enough to expound that speach wherein he besought God not to be angrie with him for euer nor to condemne him into the lower parts of the earth And the Hebrue translation of S. Matthews Gospel which S. Ierom testifieth was long before his time expresseth the words of our Sauiour touching his Church the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it by shaâ—…re tachijoth the lower gates So that the same reasons serue to limit Ezechiels words that serued for Esaies and you haue none other obiections against them but the selfe same that were before which are very firuolous to inferre any such thing as you resolue that only the graue is ment by Ezechiels words Yea the name of graue or sepulchre which there is sometimes vsed though not alone inferreth as well eternall as corporall death in the wicked the one being alwaies consequent to the other in them And so much Mercerus a man of good iudgement admonisheth Spulâ—…hri nomine scriptura exitium mortem aeternam intelligit ex externa morte internam accipiens By the name of graue or sepulchre the Scripture vnderstandeth destruction and eternall death noting the inward death by the outward And as for interpreters new and old they likewise concurre in the exposition of Ezechiels words and of Dauids that hell is ment by crets tachtith the lower earch and tachtijoth arets the lower part of the earth no lesse then it was by Sheâ—…l tachath the lower sheol in Esaias speach Ierom. to the lower earth hoc est ad infernum that is to hell ad cos qui descâ—…ndunt in Lacum haud dubium quin inferna significet to those that descend to the lake it cannot be doubted but he meaneth hell Lyra. To the lowest earth that is to hell as touching the soule which the Doctors say is in the deepe of the earth Munster If thou aske where are the Assyrians buried Ezechiel answereth in the sides of the lake and in the lower parts of the earth by which the Prophet signifieth the damnation of body and soule Oecolampadius vpon Ezechiels words There is Asshur and all his multitude in Gehenna in the place of the damned amongst the vncircumcised Assyrians round about his graue or pit that is in the midst of hell For with this figure of speech the Prophets vse to describe the damnation of the wicked or accursed who together with their soules are punished with euerlasting death Pellican Ad terram vltimam hoc est ad infernum To the lowest earth that is to hell And they are sayd to be buried in pits round about them because they are gathcred in hell to the fellowship of their forefathers and such as were like them who by their â—…eenesse and crueltie against mankinde which they sought to oppresse deserued reproch with the liuing in all ages and in hell euerlasting punishment and fire Lauater non solum Rox â—…d Tartara prâ—…cipitatus fuit not only the king was cast downe to hell but his wicked counsellors souldiers and helpers By the vncircumcised he vnderstandeth the dâ—…ed meaning the king should perish body and soule Out of this place of the Prophet Ezechiel we vnderstand first that there is an hell or place appointed to punish the wicked next that it is beneâ—…h vs thirdly who shall be cast thither The like is obserued out of Dauids words by Ierom. They shall goe into the lower parts of the earth In inferno damnabuntur they shal be condemned to hell Haymo Into the lower parts of the earth that
you to expresse it rightly But you varie so often and say nothing in the end that your hearers can hardly sound the bottome of your Hades That God hath no handes as we haue this euery meane Christian doth or should know Since then this similitude is taken from men and with them it is not strange to put those on their right hand whom they will honour and aduance it is easie for the simple to learne that Christes sitting at the right hand of God is as much as his sitting in glorie and Maiesty with God which though they cannot presently perceiue how great it is yet may they readily coÌ„ceaue what the meaning thereof is In your descending to Hades it is nothing so Your inconstancy and varietie in expounding that phrase is a proofe what difficultie there is in it and your predicament of twelue parts at the end of your booke is a laborinth long enough for simple Christians to loose themselues therein Though therefore your deuices be familiar to your selfe who night and day dreame thereof yet that maketh them no whit the easier to the simple who can quickely apprehend that Christ was content to die for their sinnes and to be buried for the more certaine triall of death and to haue his soule bestowed where pleased himselfe till his resurrection when he raised himselfe from death as the vanquisher and commaunder of death and of the whole power and Dominion of Satan death and hell but that Christe soule after death descended to Hades that is to the generall indefinite condition and Dominion of death without any mention of the place where it abode this is more like one of Aristotles Metaphysicall abstracts then any part of the Christian faith Heerein all the later famous and godly restoarers of religion in a manner doe ioyne with vs as Master Bucer P. Martyr Bullingere Oleuian c. yea master Caluine liked this also well enough though yet he seemeth to leane more to another sense If you meane those learned men were of opinioÌ„ that descending to Sheol which the Septuagint cal hades referred to the bodies or liues of good or bad did in the old Testament signifie their going to the graue I am of the same opinion with them I haue not once nor twice professed as much but if any of them did thinke as none of them doe that Sheol in the Hebrew tongue or in the Scriptures importeth not hell but onely the graue I must haue leaue to dissent from such as be of that mind Howbeit neither Peter Martyr nor Bullingere nor Bucer nor Oleuian nor Caluine are of that mind notwithstanding they diuersely expound this Article What Caluine thinketh of Christes suffering hell paines is not to this purpose but most certainely hee taketh Hades in the Creede for hell and for the paines thereof Of the rest excepting Oleuian I haue spoken before and Oleuians reasons to prefer his sense before all other senses of this Article are very weake and not worthy a man of his learning He layeth this for the maine ground thereof which is not graunted and cannot be prooued That this Article of Christes descending to Hades was Christs extreamest and lowest humiliation and no part of his exaltation Which way will you or Oleuian prooue that and yet this is the onely cause why he would haue Hades signifie the ignominious state of Christes bodie in the graue where he lay oppressed and as it were swallowed vp of death But Oleuians suppositioÌ„ that certainly Peter in the second of the Acts spake of Christs extreamest humiliation and deriued it from Dauids wordes is vtterly void of all iust proofe For Peter proposeth the manner and power of Christes resurrection Now that was no part of Christes humiliation Againe the words which Peter citeth out of Dauid argue rather the singular prerogatiue which Christ had ouer death aboue Dauid and others that his flesh saw no corruption nor his soule was for saken in hell which things whatsoeuer their meaning be sound rather to Christs honor and Soueraignitie then to his abasement and humilitie Thirdly Oleuian referreth this to the basenesse of the graue where I hope Christes soule was not And if you make heauen or Paradise where Christes soule was the lowest abasement that Christ could suffer you will proue a mad merrie diuine Lastly where Oleuian would haue the shame of the graue to be the victorie of those hellish paines which he supposeth Christ suffered on the crosse call you that the victory of hell ouer Christs soule when it ascendeth with honour and blisse to heauen and the society of all the Saints These things must hang better together before I can be induced to admit them whosoeuer offereth them though I make it as lawfull for me to refuse Oleuians coniectures as he maketh it for himselfe to leaue all the Fathers and the reformed churches of the Augustane confession expounding that article of the Creed as I doe But we are to know that as you cite them and vrge them they haue no such authority and credit as hitherto we haue yeelded vnto them And that for three causes First for that your translating and turning them he descended into hell is corrupt partiall and vntrue The exceptions which you take against these words are three First that they are ill translated by me Secondly that they were lately put into the Apostles Creed Thirdly that they conteine an error which was Christs going to Limbus to fetch the Patriarks thence If the rest be no truer then the first we shal soone haue done with them Is this my translation of the Creed he descended into hell Can you shew vs since this Realme spake English or since it receaued the Christian faith that euer it had any other word in this place of the Creed but hell or a word equiualent to it The Saxons before vs said And he ny 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…o helle and he downe went to hell The Britons before them if that tongue be not changed Descenawdd y yffern he descended to inferne So that in calling this translation corrupt partiall and vntrue you shew that you haue lately deuised a sense of that article which these parts of the Christian world neuer heard before And where you would haue me euidently and soundly conuince you by Greeke authority that hades is neuer applied to the state and condition of the godly deceased and then you will yeeld I like well your wit that wil be sure to say what you list without warrant or proofe and then lay the burden on others Must I prooue the negatiue or you rather not be beleeued till you haue iustly prooued by the Sctiptures and by the auncient Greeke fathers that hades with them did signifie the place where the soules of the righteous were receaued after Christs resurrection or that hades with them was not a place of darkenesse vnder the earth which what that be in Christian religion besides hell I leaue to the
iudgement of the wise and indifferent Reader Your weake and seely proofes taking hold of the Pagans error that thought good and bad after death were vnder the earth in Plutoes kingdome whom they called hades will neuer conuince our English translation to be partiall or false Besides in the meane time you must remember you reiect and impugne the words receaued and allowed by the publike authority of this Realme and so conuince your self to refuse an article of the faith confirmed by the lawes of the land This clause of Christs descending to hades or to infernum is new or lately put into our vulgar Creed called the Apostles Creed Ruffinus witnesseth who liued about fiue hundred yeeres after Christ that it was not at all in the Creed in his time You mistake euery thing that you meddle with Ruffine liued in Ieroms time and wrote against him which was within 400 yeeres after Christ and saith the Church of Rome and some Churches of the East had not those words he descended to hell in their Creeds Whence you most vntruely conclude There was no such article as this nor any such words any where in the Creed for the space of 500 yeeres after Christ. To clap in fiue hundred for fower and the whole world for some Churches of the East are small matters with you respecting how els where you intrude vpon others but this is more hast then good speed what your Author doth not say to supplie of your owne Will you say Ruffine lieth or can you bring to the contrary any proofe I thinke not yea I am sure you cannot Whatsoeuer I say Ruffine saith you doe little better then lie For in that exposition of the Creed which you cite he setteth downe this for a part of the Creed Crucisixus sub Pontio Pilato descendit ad inferna Crucified vnder Pontius Pilate he descended to hell And therefore out of his report to inferre there were not any such words any where in the Creed for the space of 500 yeeres after Christ is to bring your owne witnesse to giue the budge That this clause was not conteined in the Creed of some Churches may well be confessed that it was no where receaued and professed as a part of the Creed for 500 yeeres after Christ is a manifest vntrueth though Ruffine had said it which yet he doth not Cyrill Bishop of Ierusalem 360. yeeres after Christ repeating and expounding ten points of the Creed for the better remembance of those that were baptised after the crucifying and burying of Christ and before his resurrection rehearseth this as one of the ten 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he descended to the places vnder the earth Chrysostom a Presbyter of Antioch 400 yeeres after Christ repeateth the same as a part of the Creed Crucified vnder Pontius Pilate he was buried Descendit ad infernum he descended to hell that this also might not want a wonder Angustine in his Sermon ad competentes to those that desired baptisme rehearseth the whole Creed and this article as a part descendit ad inferna Christ descended to hell and thus expoundeth it Dum corpus in sepulchro iacuit anima illa de infernis triumphauit whiles Christs body lay in the graue his soule triumphed ouer hell And elswhere repeating it by parts saith Credite passum sub Pontio Pilato credite crucisixum credite mortuum sepultum credite eum ad inferna descendisse Beleeue that Christ suffered vnder Pontius Pilate beleeue that he was crucisied beleeue that he died and was buried beleeue that he descended to hell Your selfe if you varie not in this as you doe in other things touching this cause since the making of your Treatise acknowledge so much We know the Creed to be most auncient and very neere to the Apostles times yea this very article of Christs descending to hades because Ignatius speaketh of it and others most auncient likewise And howsoeuer you eleuate the credit of Eusebius report whereof we shall speake anon more largely the city of Edessa kept in their publicke monuments from the Apostles times the chiefe parts of the Apostles Creed touching the worke of our redemption by Christ and amongst them this one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he descended to hades Which Ignatius one of S. Iohn the Euangelists scholars likewise numbreth amongst the speciall matters of our redemption as that truely and not in opinion onely Christ was crucified died 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 descended to hades and rose the third day and was assumed vp to his father and sitteth at his right hand This Erasmus may seeme to haue some colour for his coniecture that about Thomas Aquinas his time they might peraduenture be put into the Creede You can haue no colour for your error in mistaking Erasmus words Could not Erasmus being a man of that learning and reading which he was tell whether this Article were in the Creed before Aquinas time or no and could Aquinas so easily put this clause into all the Creedes that were vsed amongst Christians throughout the world Innocentius the third aboue 60. yeeres before Aquinas expressing the mysteries of their masse setteth downe the twelue parts of the Apostles Creede and this for the fift Article Descendit ad Inferna tertia die resurrexit a mortuis He descended to Hell and rose the third day from the dead The same Innocentius in his great Laterane Councell proposing the Catholike faith as he calleth it putteth downe this for a part thereof Descendit ad Inferos resurrexit a mortuis Sed descendit in anima resurrexit in carne Christ descended to hell and rose from the dead but he descended in Soule and rose with his flesh Of this could not Erasmus be ignorant since it was openly published to all mens eyes in the Decretals of Gregorie li. 1. Tit. 1. de summa Trinitate fide Catholica cap. 1. Erasmus therefore had no such meaning that Thomas Aquinas was the first that added this clause to the Creede as you and others much mistake his words but doubteth whether Aquinas in commenting on the Creede expounded that Article or no. And that appeareth by his next words cleane contrarie to your conceite which you neuer tooke the paines to view Nonnulla suspitio est hanc particulam ab alio adiectam velhoc argumento quod non est suo loco There is some suspition that this part he descended to hell was added to Thomas exposition of the Creede by some other euen for this reason because it is not put in his due place For where he maketh the Resurrection to be the third article the descent to hel he maketh the fourth vnles happely he thought that Christ returning from death to life descended to hell both in Body and Soule Erasmus saith no such thing that Aquinas was the first who added this Article to the Creede but he would seeme to suspect that Thomas did not accept