in them of the first 400 years In what Pope his dayes was the true Religion overthrowne in Rome Next I would faine know How can your Religion be true which dissalloweth of many chiefe articles which the Saints and Fathers of that primitive Church of Rome did generally hold to be true For they of your side that have read the Fathers of that unspotted Church can well testifie and if any deny it it shall be presently shewen that the Doctors Pastors and Fathers of that Church doe allow of Traditions that they acknowledge the real presence of the body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar that they exhorted the people to confesse their sinnes unto their ghostly Fathers that they affirmed that Priests have power to forgive sinnes that they taught that there is a Purgatory that prayer for the dead is both commendable and godly that there is Limbus Patrum and that our Saviour descended into Hell to deliver the ancient Fathers of the Old Testament because before his Passion none ever entred into Heaven that prayer to Saints and use of holy Images was of great account amongst them that man hath free-will and that for his meritorious works he receiveth through the assistance of Gods grace the blisse of euerlasting happinesse Now would I faine know whether of both haue the true Religion they that hold all these above said points with the Primitive Church or they that doe most vehemently contradict and gaine-say them They that doe not disagree with that holy Church in any point of Religion or they that agree with it but in very few and disagree in almost all VVill you say that these Fathers maintained these opinions contrary to the word of God why you know that they were the pillars of Christianitie the champions of Christ his Church and of the true Catholike Religion which they most learnedly defended against diverse heresies and therefore spent all their time in a most serious studie of the holy Scripture Or will you say that although they knew the Scriptures to repugne yet they brought in the aforesaid opinions by malice and corrupt intentions VVhy your selves cannot deny but that they lived most holy and vertuous lives free from all malitious corrupting or perverting of Gods holy word and by their holy lives are now made worthy to raigne with God in his glory In so much as their admirable learning may sufficiently crosse out all suspition of ignorant error and their innocent sanctitie freeeth us from all mistrust of malitious corruption Now would I willingly see what reasonable answer may be made to this For the Protestants graunt that the Church of Rome for 400 or 500 yeares held the true Religion of Christ yet do they exclaime against the abovesaid Articles which the same Church did maintaine and uphold as may bee shewen by the expresse testimonies of the Fathers of the same Church and shall be largely laid down if any learned Protestant will deny it Yea which is more for the confirmation of all the aboue mentioned points of our Religion wee will produce good and certaine grounds out of the sacred Scriptures if the Fathers authority will not suffice And we do desire any Protestant to alleage any one Text out of the said Scripture which condemneth any of the aboue written points which wee hold for certaine they shall never be able to doe For indeed they are neyther more learned more pious nor more holy then the blessed Doctors and Martyrs of that first Church of Rome which they allow and esteeme of so much and by which we most willingly will be tryed in any point which is in controversie betwixt the Protestants and the Catholicks VVhich wee desire may be done with christian charity and sincerity to the glory of God and instruction of them that are astray W. B. AN ANSVVER TO THE FORMER CHALLENGE TO uphold the Religion which at this day is maintained in the Church of Rome and to discredit the truth which we professe three things are here urged by one who hath vndertaken to make good the Papists cause against all gainesayers The first concerneth the originall of the errors wherwith that part standeth charged the Author and time whereof he requireth us to shew The other two respect the testimonie both of the Primitive Church of the sacred Scriptures which in the points wherein we varie if this man may be believed maketh wholly for them and against us First then would he faine know what Bishop of Rome did first alter that Religion which wee commend in them of the first 400 yeares In what Popes dayes was the true Religion overthrowne in Rome To which I answere First that wee doe not hold that Rome was built in a day or that the great dung-hill of errors which now wee see in it was raised in an age and therefore it is a vaine demand to require from us the name of anie one Bishop of Rome by whom or under whom this Babylonish confusion was brought in Secondly that a great difference is to be put betwixt Heresies which openly oppose the foundations of our Faith and that Apostasie which the Spirit hath evidently foretold should bee brought in by such as speake lyes in hypocrisie 1. Tim. 4.1 2. The impietie of the one is so notorious that at the verie first appearance it is manifestly discerned the other is a mysterie of iniquitie as the Apostle termeth it 2. Thes. 2.7 iniquitas sed mystica id est pietatis nomine palliata so the ordinarie Glosse expoundeth the place an iniquitie indeed but mysticall that is cloked vvith the name of pietie And therefore they who kept continuall watch and ward against the one might sleepe while the seeds of the other were a sowing yea peradventure might at unawares themselves have some hand in bringing in of this Trojan horse commended thus unto them under the name of Religion and semblance of devotion Thirdly that the originall of errors is oftentimes so obscure and their breede so base that howsoever it might be easily observed by such as lived in the same age yet no wise man will mervaile if in tract of time the beginnings of manie of them should be forgotten and no register of the time of their birth found extant Wee reade that the Sadducees taught there were no Angels is any man able to declare unto us under what high Priest they first broached this error The Grecians Circassians Georgians Syrians Egyptians Habassines Muscovites and Russians dissent at this day from the Church of Rome in many particulars will you take upon you to shew in what Bishops dayes these severall differences did first arise When the point hath been well skanned it will be found that many errors have crept into their profession the time of the entrance whereof you are not able to designe and some things also are maintained by you against them which have not been delivered for Catholick doctrine in the primitive times but brought in afterwards your selves
led by who were the penners of the Canocicall Scripture But this is your old wont to blinde the eyes of the simple with setting forth the sanctitie and the learning of the Fathers much after the maner of your grandfather Pelagius who in the third of his bookes which hee writ in defence of Free-will thought he had struck all dead by his commending of S. Ambrose Blessed Ambrose the Bishop saith he in whose bookes the Romane faith doth especially appeare who like a beautifull flowre shined among the Latin writers whose faith and most pure understanding in the Scriptures the enemy himselfe durst not reprehend Vnto whom S. Augustine Behold with what and how great prayses he extolleth a man though holy and learned yet not to be compared unto the authoritie of the Canonicall Scripture And therefore advance the learning and holinesse of these worthy men as much as you list other answer you are not like to have from us then that which the same S. Augustine maketh unto S. Hierome This reverence and honour have I learned to give to those bookes of Scripture only which now are called Canonical that I most firmely beleeve none of their authors could any whit erre in writing But others I so reade that with how great sanctitie and learning soever they doe excell I therefore thinke not any thing to be true because they so thought it but because they were able to perswade mee either by those Canonicall authors or by some probable reason that it did not swarve from truth Yet even to this field also doe our challengers provoke us and if the Fathers authority will not suffice they offer to produce good and certaine grounds out of the sacred Scriptures for confirmation of all the points of their religion which they have mentioned yea further they challenge any Protestant to alledge any one text out of the said Scripture which condemneth any of the above written points At which boldnesse of theirs wee should much wonder but that wee consider that Bankrupts commonly doe then most brag of their ability when their estate is at the lowest perhaps also that Ignorance might be it that did beget in them this Boldnesse For if they had been pleased to take the advice of their learned Counsell their Canonists would have told them touching Confession which is one of their points that it were better to hold that it was ordained by a certaine tradition of the universall Church then by the authority of the New or Old Testament Melchior Canus could have put them in minde that it is no where expressed in Scripture that Christ descended into Hell to deliver the soules of Adam and the rest of the Fathers which were detayned there And Dominicus Bannes that the holy Scriptures teach neither expressé nor yet impressé involuté that prayers are to be made unto Saints or that their Images are to be worshipped Or if the testimony of a lesuite will more prevayle with them that Images should be vvorshipped Saints prayed unto Auricular Confession frequented Sacrifices celebrated both for the quicke and the dead and other things of this kind Fr. Coster would have to be reckoned among divine Traditions which be not laid downe in the Scriptures Howsoever yet the matter standeth we have no reason but willingly to accept of their challenge and to require them to bring forth those good and certaine grounds out of the sacred Scriptures for confirmation of all the articles by them propounded as also to let them see whether we be able to alledge any Text of Scripture which condemneth any of those points Although I must confesse it will be a hard matter to make them see any thing which before hand have resolved to close their eyes having their mindes so preoccupied with prejudice that they professe before ever we begin they hold for certaine that wee shall never be able to produce any such Text. And why thinke you because forsooth we are neither more learned more pious nor more holy then the blessed Doctors and Martyrs of that first Church of Rome As who should say we yeelded at the first word that all those blessed Doctors and Martyrs expounded the Scriptures every where to our disadvantage or were so well perswaded of the tendernesse of a Iesuites conscience that because he hath taken an oath never to interpret the Scripture but according to the uniforme consent of the Fathers he could not therefore have the forehead to say I doe not deny that I have no author of this interpretation yet doe I so much the rather approve it then that other of Augustines though the most probable of all the rest because it is more contrary to the sense of the Calvinists which to mee is a great argument of probabilitie Or as if lastly a man might not dissent from the ancient Doctors so much as in an exposition of a Text of Scripture but hee must presently make himselfe more learned more pious and more holy then they were Yet their great Tostatus might have taught them that this argument holdeth not Such a one knoweth some conclusion that Augustine did not know therefore he is wiser then Augustine Because as a certaine skilfull Physician said the men of our time being compared vvith the ancient are like unto a little man set upon a Giants neck compared with the Giant himselfe For as that little man placed there seeth whatsoever the Giant seeth and somewhat more and yet if he be taken downe from the Giants neck would see little or nothing in comparison of the Giant even so we being setled upon the wits and workes of the ancient it were not to be wondred nay it should be very agreeable unto reason that we should see whatsoever they saw and somewhat more Though yet saith he wee doe not professe so much And even to the same effect speaketh Friar Stella that though it be farre from him to condemne the common exposition given by the ancient holy Doctors yet he knoweth full well that Pygmeis being put upon Gyants shoulders doe see further then the Gyants themselves Salmeron addeth that by the increase of time divine mysteries have beene made knowen which before were hid from many so that to know them now is to be attributed unto the benefite of the time not that we are better then our Fathers were Bishop Fisher that it cannot be obscure unto any that many things as well in the Gospels as in the rest of the Scriptures are now more exquisitely discussed by latter wits and more clearely understood then they have beene heretofore Either by reason that the yce was not as yet broken unto the ancient neither did their age suffice to weigh exactly that vvhole sea of the Scriptures or because in this most large field of the Scriptures even after the most diligent reapers some eares will remaine to be gathered as yet untouched Hereupon Cardinall Caietan in the beginning of
good and the confusion of the evill and that it is the propertie of a faithfull man to bee fully perswaded of the truth of those things that are delivered in the holy Scripture and not to dare eyther to reject or to adde any thing thereunto For if whatsoever is not of faith be sinne as the Apostle saith and faith is by hearing and hearing by the word of God then vvhatsoever is without the holy Scripture being not of faith must needs be sinne Thus farre S. Basil. In like maner Gregory Nyssene S. Basils brother layeth this for a ground vvhich no man should contradict that in that onely the truth must be acknowledged wherein the seale of the Scripture testimony is to be seene And accordingly in another booke attributed also unto him we finde this conclusion made Forasmuch as this is upholden vvith no testimony of the Scripture as false vve will reject it Thus also S. Hierome disputeth against Helvidius· As vvee denye not those things that are written so vve refuse those things that are not vvritten That God was borne of a Virgin we beleeve because we reade it that Mary did marry after shee was delivered wee beleeve not because wee reade it not In those things saith S. Augustine vvhich are layd downe plainly in the Scriptures all those things are found which appertaine to faith and direction of life And againe Whatsoever ye heare from the holy Scriptures let that savour vvell unto you whatsoever is without them refuse lest you wander in a cloud And in another place All those things which in times past our ancestors have mentioned to be done toward mankind and have delivered unto us all those things also which we see and doe deliver unto our posteritie so farre as they appertaine to the seeking and maintayning of true Religion the holy Scripture hath not passed in silence The holy Scripture saith S. Cyrill of Alexandria is sufficient to make them which are brought up in it wise and most approved and furnished with most sufficient understanding And againe That which the holy Scripture hath not said by what meanes should wee receive and account it among those things that be true Lastly in the writings of Theodoret wee meete with these kinde of speeches By the holy Scripture alone am I perswaded I am not so bold as to affirme any thing which the sacred Scripture passeth in silence It is an idle and a senselesse thing to seeke those things that are passed in silence Wee ought not to seeke those things which are passed in silence but rest in the things that are written By the verdict of these twelve men you may judge what opinion was held in those ancient times of such Traditions as did crosse either the verity or the perfection of the sacred Scripture which are the Traditions we set our selves against If now it be demanded in what Popes dayes the contrarie doctrine was brought in among Christians I answer that if S. Peter were ever Pope in his dayes it was that some seducers first laboured to bring in Will-worship into the Church against whom S. Paul opposing himselfe Coloss. 2. counteth it a sufficient argument to condemne all such inventions that they were the commandements and doctrines of men Shortly after them started up other Hereticks who taught that the truth could not be found out of the Scriptures by those to whom Tradition was unknowen forasmuch as it was not delivered by writing but by word of mouth for which cause S. Paul also should say Wee speake wisedome among them that be perfect The verie same Text doe the Iesuites alledge to prove the dignitie of manie mysteries to be such that they require silence and that it is unmeet they should bee opened in the Scriptures which are read to the whole world and therefore can onely be learned by unwritten Traditions Wherein they consider not how they make so neare an approach unto the confines of some of the ancientest Heretickes that they may well shake hands together For howsoever some of them were so madde as to say that they were wiser then the Apostles themselves and therefore made light account of the doctrine which they delivered unto the Church either by writing or by word of mouth yet all of them broake not forth into that open impietie the same mysterie of iniquitie wrought in some of Antichrists fore-runners then which is discovered in his ministers now They confessed indeed as witnesseth Tertullian that the Apostles were ignorant of nothing and differed not among themselves in their preaching but they say they revealed not all things unto all men some things they delivered openly and to all some things secretly and to a few because that Paul useth this speech unto Timothy O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust And againe That good thing which was committed unto thee keepe Which verie Texts the Iesuites likewise bring in to prove that there are some Traditions which are not contayned in the Scripture In the dayes of S. Hierome also this was wont to be the saying of Hereticks We are the sonnes of the wise men which from the beginning have delivered the doctrine of the Apostles unto us But those things saith that Father which they of themselves finde out and faine to have received as it were by Tradition from the Apostles without the authoritie and testimonies of the Scriptures the sword of God doth smite S. Chrysostome in like maner giveth this for a marke of Antichrist and of all spiritual theeves that they come not in by the doore of the Scriptures For the Scripture saith hee like unto a sure doore doth barre an entrance unto Hereticks safeguarding us in all things that we will and not suffering us to be deceived Whereupon he concludeth that who so useth not the Scriptures but commeth in otherwise that is betaketh himselfe to another and an unlawfull way he is a theefe How this mysterie of iniquitie wrought when Antichrist came unto his full growth and what experiments his followers gave of their theevish entry in this kind was well observed by the author of the book De unitate Ecclesiae thought by some to be Waltram Bishop of Naumburg who speaking of the Monks that for the upholding of Pope Hildebrands faction brought in schismes and heresies into the Church noteth this specially of them that despising the tradition of God they desired other doctrines and brought in maisteries of humane institution Against whom hee alledgeth the authoritie of their owne S. Benedict the father of the Monkes in the West writing thus The Abbot ought to teach or ordaine or command nothing which is without the precept of the Lord but his commandement or instruction should be spred as the leaven of divine righteousnesse in the minds of his Disciples Whereunto also hee might have added the testimonie of the two famous Fathers
of the holy Scripture Or will you say that although they knew the Scriptures to repugne yet they brought in the aforesaid opinions by malice and corrupt intentions Why your selves cannot deny but that they lived most holy and vertuous lives free from all malitious corrupting or perverting of Gods holy word and by their holy lives are now made worthy to raigne with God in his glory Insomuch as their admirable learning may sufficiently crosse out all suspition of ignorant errour and their innocent sanctity freeth us from all mistrust of malitious corruption But by his leave hee is a little too hastie Hee were best to bethink himselfe more advisedly of that which he hath undertaken to performe and to remember the saying of the King of Israel unto Benhadad Let not him that girdeth on his harnesse boast himselfe as he that putteth it off Hee hath taken upon him to prove that our Religon cannot be true because it disalloweth of many chiefe articles which the Saints and Fathers of that primitive Church of Rome did generally hold to be true For performance hereof it wil not be sufficient for him to shew that some of these Fathers maintained some of these opinions he must prove if hee will be as good as his word and deale any thing to the purpose that they held them generally and held them too not as opinions but tanquam de fide as appertayning to the substance of faith and religion For as Vincentius Lirinensis well observeth the auncient consent of the holy Fathers is with great care to be sought and followed by us not in every petty question belonging to the Law of God but only or at least principally in the Rule of faith But all the points propounded by our Challenger be not chiefe articles and therefore if in some of them the Fathers have held some opinions that will not beare waight in the ballance of the Sanctuary as some conceits they had herein which the Papists themselves must confesse to be erroneous their defects in that kinde doe abate nothing of that reverend estimation which we have them in for their great paines taken in the defence of the true Catholick Religion and the serious studie of the holy Scripture Neither doe I thinke that he who thus commendeth them for the pillers of Christianitie and the champions of Christs Church will therefore hold himselfe tyed to stand unto every thing that they have said sure he will not if he follow the steppes of the great ones of his owne Societie For what doth hee thinke of Iustin Martyr Irenaeus and Epiphanius Doth he not account them among those pillers and champions hee speaketh of Yet saith Cardinall Bellarmine I doe not see how we may defend their opinion from error When others object that they have two or three hundred testimonies of the Doctors to prove that the Virgin Mary was conceived in sinne Salmeron the Iesuite steps forth and answereth them first out of the doctrine of Augustine and Thomas that the argument drawne from authoritie is weake then out of the word of God Exod. 23. In judicio plurimorum non acquiesces sententiae ut á vero devies In judgement thou shalt not be ledde with the sentence of the most to decline from the truth And lastly telleth them that when the Donatists gloried in the multitude of authors S. Augustin did answer them that it was a signe their cause was destitute of the strength of truth which was onely supported by the authority of many who were subject to error And when his Adversaries presse him not onely with the multitude but also with the antiquitie of the Doctors alledged unto which more honour alwayes hath beene given then unto novelties he answereth that indeed every age hath alwayes attributed much unto antiquity and every old man as the Poët saith is a commender of the time past but this saith he vvee averre that the yonger the Doctors are the more sharpe-sighted they be And therefore for his part he yeeldeth rather to the judgement of the yonger Doctors of Paris among whom none is held worthy of the title of a Master in Divinitie who hath not first bound himselfe with a religious oath to defend and maintaine the priviledge of the B. Virgin Only he forgot to tell how they which take that oath might dispense with another oath which the Pope requireth them to take that they will never understand and interprete the holy Scripture but according to the uniforme consent of the Fathers Pererius in his disputations upon the Epistle to the Romans confesseth that the Greeke Fathers and not a few of the Latine Doctors too have delivered in their writings that the cause of the predestination of men unto everlasting life is the foreknowledge which God had from eternitie either of the good workes which they were to doe by cooperating with his grace or of the faith wherby they were to beleeve the word of God to obey his calling And yet he for his part notwithstanding thinketh that this is contrary to the holy Scripture but especially to the doctrine of S. Paul If our Questionist had beene by him hee would have pluckt his fellow by the sleeve and taken him up in this maner Will you say that these Fathers maintained this opinion contrary to the word of God Why you know that they were the pillers of Christianity the Champions of Christ his Church and of the true Catholick religion which they most learnedly defended against diverse heresies and therefore spent all their time in a most serious studie of the holy Scripture He would also perhaps further challenge him as he doth us Will you say that although they knew the Scriptures to repugne yet they brought in the aforesaid opinion by malice corrupt intentions For sure hee might have asked this wise question of any of his owne fellowes as well as of us who doe allow and esteeme so much of these blessed Doctors and Martyrs of the ancient Church as he himselfe in the end of his Challenge doth acknowledge which verily we should have little reason to doe if wee did imagine that they brought in opinions which they knew to be repugnant to the Scriptures for any malice or corrupt intentions Indeed men they were compassed with the common infirmities of our nature and therefore subject unto error but godly men and therefore free from all malicious error Howsoever then we yeeld unto you that their innocent sanctitie freeth us from all mistrust of malitious corruption yet you must pardon us if wee make question whether their admirable learning may sufficiently crosse out all suspicion of error which may arise either of affection or want of due consideration or such ignorance as the very best are subject unto in this life For it is not admirable learning that is sufficient to crosse out that suspicion but such an immediate guidance of the holy Ghost as the Prophets and Apostles were
of Monasticall discipline in the East S. Antony I meane who taught his Schollers that the Scriptures were sufficient for doctrine and S. Basil who unto the question Whether it were expedient that novices should presently learne those things that are in the Scripture returneth this answere It is fit and necessarie that every one should learne out of the holy Scripture that which is for his use both for his full settlement in godlinesse and that hee may not be accustomed unto humane traditions Marke here the difference betwixt the Monkes of Saint Basil and Pope Hildebrands breeding The Novices of the former were trayned in the Scriptures to the end they might not be accustomed unto humane traditions those of the latter to the cleane contrarie intent were kept back from the studie of the Scriptures that they might be accustomed unto humane traditions For this by the foresaid author is expressely noted of those Hildebrandine Monkes that they permitted not yong men in their Monasteries to studie this saving knowledge to the end that their rude wit might be nourished with the huskes of divels which are the customes of humane traditions that being accustomed to such filth they might not taste how sweet the Lord was And even thus in the times following from Monkes to Friars and from them to secular Priests and Prelates as it were by tradition from hand to hand the like ungodly policie was continued of keeping the common people from the knowledge of the Scriptures as for other reasons so likewise that by this meanes they might be drawne to humane traditions Which was not onely observed by Erasmus before ever Luther stirred against the Pope but openly in a maner confessed afterwards by a bitter adversarie of his Petrus Sutor a Carthusian Monke who among other inconveniences for which he would have the people debarred from reading the Scripture alledgeth this also for one Whereas manie things are openly taught to be observed which are not to be expressely had in the holy Scriptures will not the simple people observing these things quickly murmure and complaine that so great burdens should be imposed upon them whereby the libertie of the Gospell is so greatly impaired Will not they also easily be drawne away from the observation of the ordinances of the Church when they shall observe that they are not contained in the Law of Christ Having thus therefore discovered unto these Deuterotae for so S. Hierome useth to style such Tradition-mongers both their grandfathers and their more immediat progenitors I passe now forward unto the second point OF THE REAL PRESENCE HOw farre the real presence of the bodie of Christ in the Sacrament is allowed or disallowed by us I have at large declared in an other place The summe is this That in the receiving of the blessed Sacrament we are to distinguish betweene the outward and the inward action of the Communicant In the outward with our bodily mouth wee receive really the visible elements of Bread and Wine in the inward wee doe by faith really receive the bodie and bloud of our Lord that is to say wee are truely and indeed made partakers of Christ crucified to the spirituall strengthning of our inward man They of the adverse part have made such a confusion of these things that for the first they do utterly denie that after the words of consecration there remaineth anie Bread or Wine at all to be received and for the second do affirme that the bodie and bloud of Christ is in such a maner present under the outward shewes of bread and wine that whosoever receiveth the one be he good or bad beleever or unbeleever doth therewith really receive the other We are therfore here put to prove that Bread is bread and Wine is wine a matter one would thinke that easily might be determined by common sense That which you see saith S. Augustine is the Bread and the Cup which your very eyes doe declare unto you But because we have to deale with men that will needs herein be senselesse wee will for this time referre them to Tertullians discourse of the five senses wishing they may be restored to the use of their five witts againe and ponder the testimonies of our Saviour Christ in the sixt of Iohn and in the words of the Institution which they oppose against all sense but in the end shall finde to be as opposit to this phantasticall conceit of theirs as anie thing can be Touching our Saviours speech of the eating of his flesh and the drinking of his bloud in the sixth of Iohn these five things specially may be observed First that the question betwixt our Adversaries us being not Whether Christs bodie be turned into bread but whether bread be turned into Christs bodie the words in S. Iohn if they be pressed literally serve more strongly to prove the former then the latter Secondly that this Sermon was uttered by our Saviour above a yeare before the celebration of his last Supper wherein the Sacrament of his bodie and bloud was instituted at which time none of his hearers could possibly have understood him to have spoken of the externall eating of him in the Sacrament Thirdly that by the eating of the flesh of Christ and the drinking of his bloud there is not here meant an externall eating or drinking with the mouth and throate of the bodie as the Iewes then and the Romanists farre more grossely then they have since imagined but an internall and a spirituall effected by a lively faith and the quickning spirit of Christ in the soule of the beleever For there is a spirituall mouth of the inner man as S. Basil noteth wherewith hee is nourished that is made partaker of the Word of life which is the bread that commeth downe from heaven Fourthly that this spirituall feeding upon the bodie and blood of Christ is not to be found in the Sacrament onely but also out of the Sacrament Fiftly that the eating of the flesh and the drinking of the bâ—ood here mentioned is of such excellent vertue that the receiver is thereby made to remaine in Christ and Christ in him and by that meanes certainly freed from dâ—ath and assured of everlasting life Which seeing it cannot be verified of the eating of the Sacrament whereof both the godly the wicked are partakers it proveth not onely that our Saviour did not here speake of the Sacramentall eating but further also that the thing which is delivered in the externall part of the Sacrament cannot be conceived to be really but sacramentally onely the flesh and blood of Christ. The first of these may be plainly seene in the Text where our Saviour doth not onely say I am the bread of life vers 48. and I am the living bread that came downe from heaven vers 51. but addeth also in the 55. verse For my flesh is meate indeed and my bloud is drinke indeed Which words being the
bringing them unto that which is to us invisible the soule as being by the deprivation of the body made unseene and the body as eyther being covered in the earth or by some other of the alterations that are incident unto bodies being taken away from the sight of man the whole covering of the man in water is fitly assumed for an image of the death and buriall which is not seene Thus Dionysius concerning the separation of the united parts by Death and the bringing of them unto that which is invisible according whereunto as his paraphrast Pachymeres noteth it is called Hádes that is to say an invisible separation of the soule from the body And so indeed wee finde as well in forraine authors as in the Scriptures the writings of the Greek and Latin Fathers that Hádes and Inferi are not only taken in as large a sense as Death and so extended unto all men indifferently whether good or bad but are likewise oftentimes indifferently used for it For proofe whereof out of heathen authors these testimonies following may suffice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Pindarus The man that doeth things befitting him forgetteth Hádes meaning that the remembrance of death doth no whit trouble him and againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sonne of Cleonicus wisheth that with such manners he may meet and receive Hades that is death and hoare old age So another Poet cyted by Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Death the soveraigne physician come for Hádes is in very truth the haven of the earth So the saying that the best thing were never to have been born and the next to that to dye quickly is thus expressed by Theognis in his elegies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sophocles in the beginning of his Trachiniae bringeth in Dâ—ianira affirming that howsoever it were an old saying among men that none could know whether a man life were happy or unhappy before he were dead yet she knew her own to be heavie and unfortunate before she went to Hádes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before death as both the ancient Scholiast and the matter it selfe doth shew So in his Ajax 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is better that is hidden in Hádes that is to say he that is dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Scholiast rightly expoundeth it then he that is sick past recoverie and in his Antigone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My father and mother being layd in Hádes it is not possible that any brother should spring forth afterward Wherwith Clemens Alexandrinus doth fitly compare that speech of the wife of Intaphernes in Herodotus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My father and mother being now no longer living another brother by no maner of meanes can be had So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being in Hádes with the one is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not now living in the other or as it is alledged by Clemens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not now being which is the Scripture phrase of them that have left this world Genes 5.24 and 42.36 Psal. 39.13 Ierem. 31.15 and 49.10 used also by Homer Iliad β. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Touching the use of the word Hell in the Scriptures thus writeth Iansenius expounding those words Proverb 15.11 Hell and destruction are before the Lord how much more then the hearts of the children of men It is to be knowen that by Hell and destruction which two in the Scriptures are often joyned together the state of the dead is signified and not of the damned only as wee commonly doe conceave when we heare these words but the state of the deceased in generall So Sanctius the Iesuite with Sà his fellow acknowledgeth that Hell in the Scripture is frequently taken for Death Therefore are these two joyned together Revel 1.18 I have the keyes of Hell and of Death or as other Greeke copies read agreeably to the old Latin and Aethiopian translation of Death and of Hell and Esai 28.15 We have made a covenant with Death and with Hell we are at agreement where the Septuagint to shew that the same thing is meant by both the words do place the one in the room of the other after this maner We have made a covenant with Hell and with Death an agreement The same things likewise are indifferently attributed unto them both as that they are unsatiable and never full spoken of Hell Proverb 27.20 and of Death Haback 2.5 So the gates of Hell Esai 38 10. are the gates of Death Psalm 9.13 and 107.18 and therefore where we reade in the book of Wisedome Thou leadest to the gates of Hell and bringest backe againe the Vulgar Latin translateth it Thou leadest to the gates of Death and bringest back againe So the sorrowes of Death Psal. 18.4 are in the verse following tearmed the sorrowes of Hell and therefore the LXX as hath beene shewed translating the selfe same words of David doe in the Psalme render them the sorrowes of Hell and in the historie 2. Sam. 22.6 where the same Psalme is repeated the sorrowes of Death Whence also that difference of reading came Act. 2.24 aswell in the copies of the text as in the citations of the ancient Fathers which was the lesse regarded because that varietie in the words bredd little or no difference at all in the sense Therefore Epiphanius in one place having respect to the beginning of the verse saith that Christ loosed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sorrowes of Death and yet in another citing the later end of the verse because it was not possible he should be holden by it addeth this explication thereunto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say by Hell And the author of the Sermon upon Christs passion among the workes of Athanasius one where saith that he loosed the sorrowes of Hell and otherwhere that he loosed the sorrowes of Death unto whom wee may adjoyne Bede who is in like maner indifferent for eyther reading In the Proverbs where it is said There is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end therof are the waies of Death Proverb 14.12 and 16.25 the LXX in both places for Death put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bottome of Hell and on the other side where it is said Thou shalt beate him with the rod and shalt deliver his soule from Hell Proverb 23.14 they reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt deliver his soule from Death So in Hose 13.14 where the Hebrew and Greeke both reade I will deliver
so purposed to reward them Afterwards he proveth out of the Apostle Rom. 6.23 that eternall life is given out of Gods grace not out of our righteousnesse and that God in thus rewarding us doth neither exercise commutative justice because in our good workes we give nothing unto God for which by way of commutation the reward should be due unto us nor yet distributive because no man by working well in regard of himselfe and in regard of the state wherein he is doth merit any thing of condignitie but is bound to God rather by a greater obligation because he hath received greater good things from him And thereupon at last concludeth that God is just in rewarding because by his just disposition he hath ordained by the grace of acceptation to crowne the lesser merit with the greater reward not by the justice of debt but by the grace and disposition of the divine good pleasure But the sentence of the Chancellour and the Theologicall facultie of Paris in the yeere 1354. against one Guido an Austin Fryar that then defended the merit of condignitie is not to be overpassed For by their order this forme of recantation was prescribed unto him I said against a Bachelour of the order of the Fryars Preachers in conference with him that a man doth merit everlasting life of condignitie that is to say that in case it were not given there should injurie be done unto him I wrote likewise that God should doe him iniurie and approved it This I revoke as FALSE HERETICALL and BLASPHEMOVS Yet now the times are so changed and men in them that our new Divines of Rhemes stick not to tell us that it is most cleare to all not blinded in pride and contention that good workes be meritorious and the very cause of salvation so far that God should be unjust if he rendred not heaven for the same where to the judgement of the indifferent Reader I referre it whether side in this case is more likely to have beene blinded in pride we who abase our selves before Gods footstoole and utterly disclaime all our owne merits or they who have so high a conceit of them that they dare in this presumptuous manner to challenge God of injustice if he should judge them to deserve a lesse reward than Heaven it selfe and whether that sentence of our Saviour Christ be not fulfilled in them as well as in the proud and blinde Pharisees their predecessors For judgement I am come into this world that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blinde And so leaving these blinde leaders of the blinde who say they see by that meanes making their sinne to remaine and say they are rich and increased with goods not knowing that they are wretched and miserable and poore and blinde and naked I proceed and out of the fifteenth Century or Hundred of yeeres after Christ produce other two witnesses of this truth The one is Paulus Burgensis who expounding those words of David Psalm 36.5 Thy mercy O Lord is in heaven or reacheth unto the heavens writeth thus No man according to the common law can merit by condignitie the glory of heaven whence the Apostle saith in the 8. to the Romans that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us and so it is manifest that in heaven most of all the mercy of God shineth forth in the blessed The other is Thomas Walden who living in England the same time that the other did in Spaine professeth plainly his dislike of that saying that a man by his merits is worthy of the kingdome of heaven or this grace or that glory howsoever certaine Schoolemen that they might so speake had invented the tearmes of Condignitie and Congruitie But I repute him saith he the sounder Divine the more faithfull Catholicke and more consonant with the holy Scriptures who doth simply denie such merit and with the qualification of the Apostle and of the Scriptures confesseth that simply no man meriteth the kingdome of heaven but by the grace of God or will of the giver as all the former Saints untill the late Schoolemen and the universall Church hath written Out of which words of his you may further observe both the time when and the persons by whom this innovation was made in these latter daies of the Church namely that the late Schoolemen were they that corrupted the ancient doctrine of the Church and to that end devised their new termes of the merit of congruitie and condignitie I say in these latter daies because if we looke unto higher times Walden himselfe in that same place doth affirme that it was a branch of the Pelagian heresie to hold that according to the measure of meritorious workes God will reward a man so meriting Neither indeed can this proud generation of Merit-mongers be derived from a more proper stocke than from the old either Pelagians or Catharists For as these doe now adaies maintaine that they doe worke by their owne free-will and thereby deserve their salvation so was this wont to be a part of Pelagius his song No man shall take away from me the power of free-will lest if God be my helper in my workes the reward be not due to me but to him that did worke in me And to glory of their merits was a speciall property noted in the Catharists or ancient Puritans who standing thus upon their owne puritie doe thereby declare as Cassiodorus noteth that they have no portion with the holy Church which professeth that her sinnes are many Nay while these men call themselves Puritans saith Epiphanius by this very ground they prove themselves to be impure for whosoever pronounceth himselfe to be pure doth therein absolutely condemne himselfe to be impure For as S. Hierome in this case disputeth against the Pelagians and so against the Puritan and Pelagian Romanists then are we righteous when we confesse our selves to be sinners and our righteousnesse consisteth not in our owne merits but in Gods mercy with whose resolution against them we will now conclude this point against their new off-spring that the righteous are saved not by their owne merit but by Gods clemencie And thus have I gone over all the particular articles propounded by our Challenger and performed therein more a great deale than he required at my hands That which he desired in the name of his felloâ—es was that we would alleage but any one Text of Scripture which condemneth any of the above written points He hath now presented unto him not texts of Scripture only but testimonies of the Fathers also justifying our dissâ—nt from them not in one but in all those points wherein he was so confident that they of our side that had read the Fathers could well testifie that all antiquitie did in judgement concurre with
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
his Commentaries upon Moses adviseth his Reader not to loath the new sense of the holy Scripture for this that it dissenteth from the ancient Doctors but to search more exactly the text and context of the Scripture and if he find it agree to praise God that hath not tyed the exposition of the Scriptures to the senses of the ancient Doctors But leaving comparisons which you know are odious the envie whereof notwithstanding your owne Doctors and Masters you see helpe us to beare off and teach us how to decline I now come to the examination of the particular points by you propounded It should indeed be your part by right to be the Assailant who first did make the Challenge and I who sustaine the person of the Defendant might here wel stay accepting only your challenge expecting your encounter Yet do not I meane at this time to answer your Bill of Challenge as Bills are usually answered in the Chancerie with saving all advantages to the Defendant I am content in this also to abbridge my selfe of the libertie w ch I might lawfully take make a further demōstration of my forwardnes in undertaking the maintenāce of so good a cause by giving the first onset my selfe OF TRADITIONS TO begin therefore with Traditions which is your forlorne Hope that in the first place we are to set upon this must I needes tell you before we begin that you much mistake the matter if you thinke that Traditions of all sorts promiscuously are struck at by our Religion We willingly acknowledge that the word of God which by some of the Apostles was set downe in writing was both by themselves and others of their fellow-labourers delivered by word of mouth and that the Church in succeeding ages was bound not only to preserve those sacred writings committed to her trust but also to deliver unto her children vivâ voce the forme of wholsome words contayned therein Traditions therefore of this nature come not within the compasse of our controversie the question being betwixt us de ipsâ doctrinâ traditâ not de tradendi modo touching the substance of the doctrine delivered not of the maner of delivering it Againe it must be remembred that here wee speake of doctrine delivered as the word of God that is of points of religion revealed unto the Prophets and Apostles for the perpetuall information of Gods people not of rites and ceremonies and other ordinances which are left to the disposition of the Church and consequently be not of divine but of positive and humane right Traditions therefore of this kinde likewise are not properly brought within the circuit of this question But that Traditions of men should be obtruded unto us for articles of Religion and admitted for parts of Gods worship or that any Traditions should be accepted for parcels of Gods word beside the holy Scriptures and such doctrines as are either expressely therein contayned or by sound inference may be deduced from thence I thinke wee have reason to gainsay As long as for the first wee have this direct sentence from God himselfe Matth. 15. In vaine doe they worship me teaching for doctrines the Commandements of men And for the second the expresse warrant of the Apostle 2. Tim. 3. testifying of the holy Scriptures not onely that they are able to make us wise unto salvation which they should not be able to doe if they did not containe all things necessary to salvation but also that by them the man of God that is the minister of Gods word unto whom it appertaineth to declare all the counsell of God may be perfectly instructed to every good worke which could not be if the Scriptures did not containe all the counsell of God which was fit for him to learne or if there were any other word of God which he were bound to teach that should not be contained within the limits of the Booke of God Now whether herein we disagree from the doctrine generally received by the Fathers we referre our selves to their owne sayings For Rituall Traditions unwritten and for doctrinall Traditions written indeed but preserved also by the continual preaching of the Pastors of the Church successively wee find no man a more earnest advocate then Tertullian Yet hee having to deale with Hermogenes the hereticke in a question concerning the faith whether all things at the beginning were made of nothing presseth him in this manner with the argument ab authoritate negativé for avoyding whereof the Papists are driven to flie for succour to their unwritten verities Whether all things vvere made of any subject matter I have as yet read no where Let those of Hermogenes his shop shew that it is written If it be not written let them feare that Woe which is allotted to such as adde or take away In the two Testaments saith Origen every word that appertayneth to God may be required and discussed and all knowledge of things out of them may be understood But if any thing doe remaine which the holy Scripture doth not determine no other third Scripture ought to be received for to authorize any knowledge but that which remaineth we must commit to the fire that is we must reserve it to God For in this present world God would not have us to know all things Hippolytus the Martyr in his Homily against the Heresie of Noëtus There is one God whom wee doe not otherwise acknowledge brethren but out of the holy Scriptures For as he that would professe the wisedome of this world cannot otherwise attaine hereunto unlesse hee reade the doctrine of the Philosophers so whosoever of us will exercise pietie toward God cannot learne this elsewhere but out of the holy Scriptures Whatsoever therefore the holy Scriptures doe preach that let us know and whatsoever they teach that let us understand Athanasius in his Oration against the Gentiles toward the beginning The holy Scriptures given by inspiration of God are of themselves sufficient to the discoverie of truth S. Ambrose The things which vve finde not in the Scriptures how can vve use them And againe I reade that he is the first I reade that hee is not the second they who say he is the second let them shew it by reading It is well saith S. Hilary that thou art content vvith those things vvhich be written And in another place he commendeth Constantius the Emperour for desiring the faith to be ordered onely according to those things that be vvritten S. Basil Beleeve those things vvhich are written the things which are not written seeke not It is a manifest falling from the faith and an argument of arrogancy either to reject any point of those things that are written or to bring in any of those things that are not written He teacheth further that every word and action ought to be confirmed by the testimony of the holy Scripture for confirmation of the faith of the
yee forgive anie thing I forgive also for if I forgave anie thing to whom I forgave it for your sakes I forgave it in the person of Christ. For as in the name and by the power of our Lord Iesus such a one was delivered to Satan so God having given unto him repentance to recover himselfe out of the snare of the Divell in the same name and in the same power was hee to be restored againe the ministers of reconciliation standing in Christs stead and Christ himselfe being in the mids of them that are thus gathered together in his name to binde or loose in heaven whatsoever they according to his commission shall binde or loose on earth And here it is to be noted that Anastasius by some called Nicaenus by others Sinaita and Antiochenus who is so eager against them which say that Confession made unto men profiteth nothing at all confesseth yet that the minister in hearing the confession and instructing and correcting the sinner doth but give furtherance onely thereby unto his repentance but that the pardoning of the sinne is the proper worke of God For man saith he cooperateth with man unto repentance and ministreth and buildeth and instructeth and reproveth in things belonging unto salvation according to the Apostle and the Prophet but God blotteth out the sinnes of those that have confessed saying I am he that blotteth out thine iniquities for mine owne sake and thy sinnes and will not remember them There followeth now another part of the ministery of reconciliation consisting in the due administration of the Sacraments which being the proper seales of the promises of the Gospell as the Censures are of the threats must therefore necessarily also have reference to the remission of sinnes And so we see the ancient Fathers doe hold that the commission Ioh. 20.23 Whose sinnes yee remit they are remitted unto them c. is executed by the ministers of Christ aswell in the conferring of Baptisme as in the reconciling of Penitents yet so in both these and in all the sacraments likewise of both the Testaments that the ministerie onely is to be accounted mans but the power Gods For as S. Augustin well observeth it is one thing to baptize by way of ministerie another thing to baptize by vvay of power the power of baptizing the Lord retayneth to himselfe the ministerie hee hath given to his servants the power of the Lords Baptisme was to passe from the Lord to no man but the ministery was the power was to be transferred from the Lord unto none of his ministers the ministery was both unto the good and unto the bad And the reason which hee assigneth hereof is verie good that the hope of the baptized might be in him by whom they did acknowledge themselves to have beene baptized The Lord therefore would not have a servant to put his hope in a servant And therefore those Schoolemen argued not much amisse that gathered this conclusion thence It is a matter of equall power to baptize inwardly and to absolve from mortall sinne But it vvas not fit that God should communicate the power of baptizing inwardly unto any lest our hope should be reposed in man Therefore by the same reason it was not fit that hee should communicate the power of absolving from actuall sinne unto any So Bernard or whosoever was the author of the booke intituled Scala Paradisi The office of baptizing the Lord granted unto many but the power and authoritie of remitting sinnes in baptisme he retayned unto himselfe alone whence Iohn by vvay of singularitie and differencing said of him He it is which baptizeth with the holy Ghost And the Baptist indeed doth make a singular difference betwixt the conferrer of the externall and the internall baptisme in saying I baptize with water but it is hee which baptizeth with the holy Ghost While Iohn did his service God did give who fayleth not in giving and now when all others doe their service the service is mans but the gift is Gods saith Optatus and Arnaldus Bonaevallensis the author of the twelve treatises de Cardinalibus operibus Christi falsely ascribed to S. Cyprian touching the Sacraments in generall Forgivenesse of sinnes whether it be given by Baptisme or by other sacraments is properly of the holy Ghost and the priviledge of effecting this remayneth to him alone But the word of reconciliation is it wherein the Apostle doth especially place that ministerie of reconciliation which the Lord hath committed to his Ambassadors here upon earth This is that key of knowledge which doth both open the conscience to the confession of sinne and include therein the grace of the healthfull mysterie unto eternitie as Maximus Taurinensis speaketh of it This is that powerfull meanes which God hath sanctified for the washing away of the pollution of our soules Now ye are cleane saith our Saviour to his Apostles through the word which I have spoken unto you And whereas everie transgressor is holden with the cords of his owne sinnes the Apostles according to the commission given unto them by their Master that whatsoever they should loose on earth should be loosed in heaven did loose those cords by the word of God and the testimonies of the Scriptures and exhortation unto vertues as saith S. Hierome Thus likewise doth S. Ambrose note that sinnes are remitted by the word of God whereof the Levite was an interpreter and a kinde of an executer in that respect concludeth that the Levite was a minister of this remission As the Iewish Scribes therefore by taking away the key of knowledge did shut up the kingdom of heaven against men so every Scribe which is instructed unto the kingdome of heaven by opening unto his hearers the doore of faith doth as it were unlock that kingdome unto them being the instrument of God herein to open mens eyes and to turne them from darkenesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgivenesse of sinnes and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Christ. And here are we to understand that the ministers of Christ by applying the word of God unto the consciences of men both in publick and in private doe discharge that part of their function which concerneth forgivenesse of sinnes partly operatively partly declaratively Operatively inasmuch as God is pleased to use their preaching of the Gospell as a meanes of conferring his spirit upon the sonnes of men of begetting them in Christ and of working faith and repentance in them whereby the remission of sinnes is obtayned Thus Iohn preaching the Baptisme of repentance for the remission of sinnes and teaching the people that they should beleeve on him which should come after him that is on Christ Iesus is said to turne manie of the children of Israel to the
else write of it in this maner That there is in Hell a place of Purgatory wherein such as are to be saved are either only troubled with darkenesse or decocted with the fire of expiation SOMâ— doe affirme and lastly that the Purgatorie wherewith the Romish clergie doth now delude the world is a new devise never heard of in the Church of God for the space of a thousand yeares after the birth of our Saviour Christ. For the Gregorian Purgatorie which reached no further then to the expiation of small and very light faults would not serve these mens turne who verie providently considered that little use could be made of that fire if it had no other fuell but this to maintaine it For such peccadilloes as these they say may be taken away in this life by knocking the breast by receiving the Bishops blessing by being sprinkled with holy water and by such other easie remedies that if this were all the matter to be cared for men needed not greatly to stand in feare of Purgatorie Yea admit they should be so extremely negligent in their life time that they forgat to use anie of these helpes they might for all this at the time of their death be more afraid then hurt yea this feare alone if there were nothing else might prove a meanes to purge their soules at the very parting from thâ—se faults of the lightest kinde if Gregory may be credited Nay which is more diverse of their owne elder Divines to whom wee may adjoyne Cardinall Caietan also in these later dayes have taught that all the remaines of sinne in Gods children are quite abolished by finall grace at the verie instant of their dissolution so that the staine of the least sinne is not left behinde to be carried unto the other world Now Purgatory as Bellarmine describeth it is a certaine place in which as in a prison those soules are â—urged after this life which were not fully purged in this life that being so purged they may be able to enter in to heaven wherein to no uncleane thing can enter And of this saith he is all the controversie If that be so their own Doctors you see will quickly bring this controversie unto an end For if the soules be fully purged here from all spot of sinne what need have they to be sent unto anie other Purgatorie after this life Yes say they although the fault be quite remitted and the soule clearely freed from the pollution thereof yet may there remaine a temporall punishment due for the verie mortall sinnes that have beene committed which if reliefe doe not otherwise come by the helpe of such as are alive must be soundly layd on in Purgatory But why in Purgatory say we seeing here there is no more purging worke left for the fault and the blot being taken away already what remaineth yet to be purged The punishment onely they say is left behinde and punishment I hope they will not hold to be the thing that is purged away by punishment Againe we desire them to tell us what Father or ancient Doctor did ever teach this strange divinity that a man being cleerly purged from the blott of his sinne and fully acquitted here from the fault thereof should yet in the other world be punished for it with such grievous torments as the tongue of man is not able to expresse And yet as new and as absurd a doctrine as it is the Pope and his adherents have builded thereupon both their guilefull Purgatory with which it suteth as evill-favouredly as may be and their gainefull Indulgences which by their own doctrine free not a man from the guilt of anie fault either mortall or veniall but onely from the guilt of the temporall punishment which remayneth after the fault hath beene forgiven When Thomas Aquinas other Friars had brought the frame of this new building unto some perfection and fashioned all things therein unto their owne best advantage the Doctors of the Greeke Church did publickely oppose themselves against it Matthaeus Quaestor by name wrote against Thomas herein whose booke is still preserved in the Emperours Librarie at Vienna So Athanasius his disputation against Purgatorie is or lately was to be seen in the French Kings Librarie and the like of Germanus Patriarch of Constantinople and others elsewhere The Apologie of the Grecians touching the same subject is commonly to be had which was penned by Marcus Eugenicus archbishop of Ephesus and presented to Cardinall Cusanus and the deputies of the Councell of Basil in the yeare MCCCCXXXVIII the 14 of Iune the verie same day wherein Bessarion Archbishop of Nice disputed with the Latines of the same matter in the Councell assembled at Ferraria In that Apologie the Grecians begin their disputation with this proposition A purgatory fire and a punishment by fire which is temporall and shall at last have an end neyther have we received from our Doctors neyther doe we know that the Church of the East doth maintaine They adde further Neither have we received it from any of our Doctors and moreover no small feare doth trouble us least by admitting a temporary fire both penall and purgatory wee should destroy the full consent of the Church And thereupon they conclude verie peremptorily For these reasons therefore neyther have we ever hitherto affirmed any such thing neither will we at all affirme it Yet within a yeare after the Pope and his ministers prevailed so farre with them in the Councell at Florence that they were content for peace sake to yeeld that the middle sort of soules were in a place of punishment but whether that were fire or darkenesse and tempest or something else they would not contend And accordingly was the pretented Vnion betwixt them and the Latines drawne up that if such as be truely penitent dye in Gods favour before they have satisfied for their sinnes of commission and omission by worthy fruits of penance their soules are purged after death with purgatory punishments neither fire nor anie other kinde of punishment being specified in particular But neyther would Marcus the Bishop of Ephesus who was one of the Legates of the Patriarches of Antioch and of Ierusalem consent to this union neither could the Greeke Church afterwards by anie meanes be drawne to yeeld unto it And so unto this day the Romish Purgatorie is rejected as well by the Grecians as by the Muscovites and Russians the Cophtites and Abassines the Georgians and Armenians together with the Syrians and Chaldaeans that are subject to the Patriarches of Antioch and Babylon from Cyprus and Palaestina unto the East Indies And this may suffice for the discoverie of this new-found creeke of Purgatorie OF PRAYER FOR THE DEAD PRayer for the dead as it is used in the Church of Rome doth necessarily suppose Purgatorie and therefore whatsoever hath beene alledged out of the Scriptures and Fathers against the one doth
his spirit in the mouth of his Prophets and of Noë in particular when God having said that his Spirit should not alwayes strive with man because he was flesh did in his long suffering wait the expiration of the time which he then did set for his amendment even an hundred and twentie yeares For which exposition the Aethiopian Translation maketh something where the Spirit by which Christ is sayd to have beene quickned and to have preached is by the Interpreter termed Manphes Kades that is the Holy Spirit the addition of which epithet wee may observe also to bee used by S. Paul in the mention of the resurrection and by S. Luke in the matter of the preaching of our Saviour Christ. for of the one we read Rom. 1.4 that he was declared to be the Sonne of God with power according to the Spirit of Holinesse or the most holy Spirit by the Resurrection from the dead and of the other Act. 1.2 that hee gave commandements to the Apostles by the holy Spirit Thus doth S. Hierome relate that a most prudent man for so he termeth him did understand this place He preached to the spirits put in prison when the patience of God did wayte in the dayes of Noë bringing in the flood upon the wicked as if this preaching were then performed when the patience of God did expect the conversion of those wicked men in the dayes of Noë S. Augustine more directly wisheth us to consider least happily all that which the Apostle Peter speaketh of the spirits shut up in prison which beleeved not in the dayes of Noë pertaine nothing at all unto Hell but rather to those times which hee compareth as a patterne with our times For Christ sayth he before ever hee came in the flesh to die for us which once he did came often before in the spirit to such as hee pleased admonishing them by visions in the spirit as hee pleased by which spirit hee was also quickened when in his passion hee was mortified in the flesh Venerable Bede and Walafridus Strabus in the Ordinarie Glosse after him set downe their mindes herein yet more resolutely He who in our times comming in the flesh preached the way of life unto the world even he himselfe also before the flood comming in the spirit preached unto them which then were unbeleevers and lived carnally For by his holy spirit hee was in Noë and the rest of the holy men which were at that time and by their good conveâ—sation preached to the wicked men of that age that they might bee converted to a better course of life The same exposition is followed by Anselmus Laudunensis in the Interlineary Glosse Thomas Aquinas in his Summe and diverse others in their Commentaries upon this place Yea since the Councell of Trent and in a booke written in defence of the faith of Trent Doctor Andradius professeth that hee thinketh this to bee the plaine meaning of the place In which spirit he himselfe long since comming that we may not imagine that hee now first undertooke the care of his Church did preach unto those spirits which now in prison doe suffer the dâ—served paines of their infidelitie forasmuch as they would not beleeve Noë giving them good counsaile and building the Arke by Gods appointment notwiâ—hstanding the patience of God did wayt for them very long to wit a hundred yeares or more which accordeth fully with that interpretation of S. Peters words which is delivered by the learned of our side In which spirit hee had gone and preached â—o them that now are spirits in prison because they disobeyed when the time was when the patience of God once wayted in the dayes of Noë vvhile the Arke was a preparing 1. Pet. 3.19 20. But there were diverse apocryphall scriptures and traditions afoot in the ancient Church which did so possesse mens mindes with the conceite of Christs preaching in Hell that they never sought for anie further meaning in S. Peters words as that sentence especially which was fathered upon the Prophet Esay or Ieremy and from whence if Cardinall Bellarmines wisedome may be heard it is credible that S. Peter tooke his words namely The Lord the holy one of Israel remembred his dead which slept in the earth of their graves and descended to them to preach unto them his salvation and that blinde tradition which Anastasius Sindita doth thus lay downe immediatly after his citation of S. Peters text It is now related among the old traditions that a certaine Scholler using many opprobrious speeches against Plato the philosopher Plato appeared unto him in his sleepe and said Man forbeare to use opprobrious speeches against mee for thereby thou hurtest thy selfe That I was a sinfull man I doe not denie but when Christ descended into Hell in verie deede none did beleeve in him before my selfe Nicetas Serronius reciteth this out of the histories of the Fathers which whether it bee to bee beleeved or no I leave saith he to be judged by the hearers as if any great matter of judgement should be requisite for the discerning of this to be as Bellarmine doth censure it a fable or as Dionysius Carthusianus before him an apocryphall dreame The like stuffe is that also which was vented heeretofore unto the world in the apocryphall gospell of Nicodemus to say nothing of that sentence which is read in the old Latin edition of the booke of Ecclesiasticus I will pearce all the lower-most parts of the earth and behold all that are asleepe and enlighten all them that hope in the Lord. which although it be not now to be found in the Greeke originall and hath perhaps another meaning then that to which it is applied yet is it made by the author of the imperfect worke upon Matthew one of the chiefe inducements which ledd him to thinke that our Saviour descended into Hell to visite there the soules of the righteous The tradition that of all others deserveth greatest consideration is the article of the Creed touching Christs descent into Hell which Genebrard affirmeth to have beene so hatefull to the Arrians that as Ambrose reporteth upon the fifth Chapter of the epistle to the Romanes they struck it quite out of the verie Creed But neither is there the least footstep of any such matter to be seene in S. Ambrose and it sufficiently appeareth otherwise that the Arrians did not onely adde this article unto their Creedes but also set it forth and amplified it with many wordes so farre off were they from being guiltie of suppressing it For as the Fathers of the first generall Councell held in the yeare of our Lord CCCXXV at Nice in Bithynia did publish a Creed against the Arrians so the Arrians on the other side in the yeare CCCLIX set out a Creed of their owne making in a Synod purposely kept by them at Nice in Thracia that by the ambiguitie of the
he brought unto those just men that were in the bosome of Abraham when he did descend into Hell I have not yet found Thus farre S. Augustin For the better understanding of this wee are to call unto minde that saying of the Philosophers that they who do not learne rightly to understand words use to be deceived in the things themselves It wil not be amisse therefore to consider somewhat of the name of Hell that the nature of the word being rightly understood wee may the better conceive the truth of the thing that is signified thereby Wee are to know then first of our English word Hell that the originall thereof is by diverse men delivered diversly Some derive it from the Hebrew word Sheol eyther subtracting the first letter or including it in the aspiration For this letter S saith Priscian hath such an affinitie with the aspiration that the Boeotians in some words were wont to write H for S saying Muha for Musa Others bring it from the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a lake others from the English hole as signifying a pit-hole others from hale as noting the place that haleth or draweth men unto it Some say that in the old Saxon or German Hel signifieth deepe whether it bee high or low But the derivation given by Verstegan is the most probable from being helled over that is to say hidden or covered For in the old German tongue from whence our English was extracted Hil signifieth to hide and Hiluh in Otfridus Wissenburgensis is hidden And in this countrey with them that retayne the ancient language which their forefathers brought with them out of England to hell the head is as much as to cover the head and hee that covereth the house with tile or slate is from thence commonly called a hellier So that in the originall propriety of the word our Hell doth exactly answere the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which denoteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the place which is unseene or removed from the sight of man Wee are in the second place therefore to observe that the tearme of Hell beside the vulgar acception wherein it signifieth that which Luke 16.28 is called the place of torment is in the Ecclesiasticall use of the word extended more largely to expresse the Greeke word Hádes and the Latin Inferi whatsoever is contayned under them Concerning which S. Augustine giveth this note The name of Hell is variously put in Scriptures and in many meanings according as the sense of the things which are entreated of doth require and Master Casaubon who understood the propertie of Greeke and Latin wordes as well as any this other They who thinke that HADES is properly the seate of the damned be no lesse deceaved then they who when they read INFEROS in Latin writers doe interpret it of the same place The lesse cause have wee to wonder that Hell in the Scripture should bee made the place of all the dead in common and not of the wicked onely as in Psalm 89.47 48. Remember how short my time is wherefore hast thou made all men in vaine What man is hee that liveth and shall not see death shall hee deliver his soule from the hand of HELL and Esai 38.18 19. HELL cannot prayse thee death cannot celebrate thee they that goe downe into the pit cannot hope for thy truth The LIVING the LIVING hee shall prayse thee as I doe this day Where the opposition betwixt Hell and the state of life in this world is to be observed Now as the common condition of the dead is considerable three maner of wayes eyther in respect of the body separated from the soule or of the soule separated from the bodie or of the whole man indefinitely considered in this state of separation so do we finde the word Hádes which by the Latins is rendred Infernus or Inferi and by the English Hell to be applied by the ancient Greek interpreters of the old Testament to the common state and place of the bodie severed from the soule by the heathen Greekes to the common state and place of the soule severed from the bodie and by both of them to the common state of the dead and the place proportionably correspondent to that state of dissolution And so the Doctors of the Church speaking in the same language which they learned both from the sacred and the forraine writers are accordingly found to take the word in these three severall significations Touching the first we are to note that both the Septuagint in the Old Testament and the Apostles in the New doe use the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HADES and answerably thereunto the Latin Interpreters the word Infernus or Inferi and the English the word Hell for that which in the Hebrew text is named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SHEÓL on the other side where in the New Testament the word HADES is used there the ancient Syriack translator doth put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shejul in steed thereof Now the Hebrew Sheol and so the Chaldy Syriack and Aethiopian words which draw their originall from thence doth properly denote the interior parts of the earth that lye hidden from our sight namely whatsoever tendeth downeward from the surface of the earth unto the center thereof In which respect we see that the Scripture describeth Sheol to be a deepe place and opposeth the depth thereof unto the heighth of Heaven Iob. 11.8 Psalm 139.8 Amos 9.2 Againe because the bodies that live upon the surface of the earth are corrupted within the bowells thereof the dust returning to the earth as it was therefore is this word commonly put for the state and the place wherein dead bodies do rest and are disposed for corruption And in this respect wee finde that the Scripture doth oppose Sheol not only unto Heaven but also unto this land of the living wherein we now breathe Esai 38.10 11. Ezech. 32.27 the surface of the earth being the place appointed for the habitation of the living the other parts ordayned to be the chambers of death Thus they that are in the graves Ioh. 5.28 are said to sleepe in the dust of the earth Dan. 12.2 The Psalmist in his prophesie of our Saviours humiliation tearmeth it the dust of death Psal. 22.15 which the Chaldee Paraphrast expoundeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the house of the grave interpreting Sheol after the selfe same maner in Psa. 31.18 89.49 R. Mardochai Nathan in his Hebrew Concordance giveth no other interpretation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sheol but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the grave R. Abraham Aben-Ezra in his commentary upon those words Genes 37.35 I will goe downe into Sheól unto my sonne mourning writeth thus Here the Translator of the erring persons he meaneth the Vulgar Latin translation used by the Christians erreth in translating Sheól Hell or Gehenna for behold the signification of the word
is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the grave for proofe whereof he alledgeth divers place of Scripture Where by the way you may note that in the last edition of the Masoriticall and Rabbinicall Bible printed by Bombergius both this and diverse other passages elsewhere have beene cut out by the Romish Correctors which I wish our Buxtorfius had understood when he followed that mangled and corrupted copie in his late renewed edition of that great worke R. Salomo Iarchi writing upon the same words Gen. 37.35 saith that according to the literall sense the interpretation thereof is the Grave In my mourning I will be buried and I will not be comforted all my dayes but after the Midrash or Allegoricall interpretation it is Gehenna In like maner R. David Kimchi expounding that place Psal. 9.17 The wicked shall turne into Hell and all the nations that forget God acknowledgeth that by the Derash or Allegoricall exposition into Hell is as much to say as into Gehenna but according to the literall meaning he expoundeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the grave intimating withall that the Prophet useth here the terme of turning or returning with reference to that sentence Gen. 3.19 Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou returne Out of which observation of Kimchi wee may further note that the Hebrewes when they expound Sheol to be the grave do not meane so much thereby an artificial grave to wit a pit digged in the earth or a tomb raysed above ground as a naturall sepulchre such as the Poët speaketh of in that verse Nec tumulum curo sepelit natura relictos and Seneca in his Controversies Nature hath given a buriall unto all men such as suffer shipwrack the same wave doth bury that cast them away the bodies of such as are crucified dropp away from the Crosses unto their buriall to such as are burnt alive their punishment is a funerall For this is the difference that is made by authors betwixt burying and interring that he is understood to be buried who is put away in any maner but hee to be interred who is covered with the earth Hence different kindes of burialls are mentioned by them according to the different usages of severall nations the name of a sepulture being given by them as well to the burning of the bodies of the dead used of old among the more civill nations as to the devouring of them by dogges which was the barbarous custome of the Hyrcanians Therefore Diogenes was wont to say that if the dogges did teare him he should have an Hyrcanian buriall and those beasts which were kept for this use the Bactrians did terme in their language Sepulchrall dogges as Strabo relateth out of Onesicritus So in the Scripture the Prophet Ionas calleth the belly of the Whale wherein he was devoured the belly of Sheol that is of Hell or the Grave For Ionas saith Basil of Seleuciae was carried in a living grave and dwelt in a swimming prison dwelling in the region of death the common lodge of the dead and not of the living while he dwelt in that bâ—lly which was the mother of death and in the prophecie of Ieremy King Iehojakim is said to bee buried although with the buriall of an asse when his carkasse was drawen and cast forth beyond the gates of Ierusalem capit omnia tellus Quae genuit coelo tegitur qui non habet urnaem The earth which begetteth all receiveth all and hee that wanteth a coffin hath the welkin for his winding sheet The earth is our great mother Omniparens eadem rerum commune sepulcrum the common mother out of whose wombe as naked we came so naked shall we returne thither according to that in Psalm 146.4 His spirit goeth forth he returneth to HIS earth and Psalm 104.29 Thou takest away their breath they die and returne to THEIR dust And this is the Sheol which Iob wayted for when he said Sheol or the grave for that is the Hell which is meant here as is confessed not by Lyranus only but by the Iesuite Pineda also is mine house I have made my bedde in the darkenesse I have said to corruption Thou art my father to the vvorme Thou art my mother and my sister This is that common sepulchre non factum sed natum not made by the hand of man but provided by nature it selfe betwixt which naturall and artificiall grave these differences may be observed The artificiall may be appropriated to this man or that man The Patriarch David is both dead and buried and his sepulcher is with us unto this day saith S. Peter Act. 2.29 and Yee build the tombes of the Prophets and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous saith our Saviour Matth. 23.29 But in the naturall there is no such distinction It cannot be said that this is such or such a mans Sheol it is considered as the common receptacle of all the dead as wee read in Iob I knowe that thou wilt bring mee to death and to the house appointed for all living For to everie man as Olympiodorus writeth upon that place the earth it selfe is appointed as a house for his grave There the prisoners rest together saith Iob they heare not the voyce of the oppressor The small and great are there and the servant free from his master Againe into a made grave a man may enter in alive and come out alive againe as Peter and Iohn did into the sepulcher of Christ but Sheol eyther findeth men dead when they come into it which is the ordinarie course or if they come into it alive which is a new and unwonted thing it bringeth death upon them as wee see it fell out in Korah and his complices who are said to have gone downe alive into Sheol when the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up Numb 16.30.33 Lastly as many living men doe goe into the grave made with hands and yet in so doing they cannot bee said to goe into Sheol beacuse they come from thence alive againe so some dead men also want the honour of such a grave as it was the case of Gods servants whose bodies were kept from burial and yet thereby are not kept from Sheol which is the way that all flesh must goe to For all goe unto one place all are of the dust and all turne to dust againe Ecclesiast 3.20 We conclude therefore that when Sheol is said to signifie the grave the tearme of grave must bee taken in as large a sense as it is in that speech of our Saviour Iohn 5.28 All that are in the graves shall heare his voyce and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evill unto the resurrection of damnation and in Esai 26.19 according to the Greeke reading The dead shall rise and they that are in the graves shall bee
raised up upon which place Origen writeth thus In this place and in many others likewise the graves of the dead are to be understood according to the more certaine meaning of the Scripture not such onely as wee see are builded for the receiving of mens bodies eyther cut out in stones or digged downe in the earth but every place wherein a mans bodie lyeth eyther entire or in any part albeit it fell out that one body should be dispersed through many places it being no absurditie at all that all those places in which any part of the body lyeth should bee called the sepulchres of that bodie For if wee do not thus understand the dead to bee raysed by the power of God out of their graves they which are not committed to buriall nor layd in graves but have ended their life either in shipwrackes or in some desart places so as they could not be committed to buriall should not seeme to bee recokoned among them who are said should bee raysed up out of their graves which would bee a very great absurditie Thus Origen Now you shall heare if you please what our Romish Doctors doe deliver touching this point There be two opinions saith Pererius upon Genes 37.35 concerning this question The one of the Hebrewes and of many of the Christians in this our age but especially of the Heretickes affirming that the word Sheol signifieth nothing else in the Scripture but the pit or the grave and from thence reasoning falsly that our Lord did not descend into Hell The other opinion is of undoubted and certaine truth that the Hebrew word Sheol and the Latin Infernus answering to it both in this place of Scripture and elsewhere oftentimes doth signifie not the pit or the grave but the place of Hell and the places under the earth wherein the soules are after death Wheresoever Hiâ—rome saith Augustinus Steuchus upon the same place and the Sâ—ptuagint have translated Hell it is in the Hebrewe Sheol that is the pit or the grave For it doth not signifie that place wherein Antiquitie hath thought that the soules of the wicked are received The Hebrew word properly signifieth the grave saith Iansenius upon Proverb 15.12 the Grave properly and Hell onely metaphorically saith Arias Montanus in his answere unto Leo á Castro and in the old Testament the name of Hell doth alwayes almost import the Grave saith Alphonsus Mendoza The Iesuite Pineda commendeth one Cyprian a Cistercian monke as a man famous for learning and pietie yet holdeth him worthie to be censured for affirming that Sheol or Hell is in all the old Testament taken for the Grave Another croaking monke Crocquet they call him crieth out on the other side that we shall never be able to prove by the producing of as much as one place of Scripture that Sheol doth signifie the Grave Cardinall Bellarmine is a little and but a verie little more modest heerein The Hebrewe Sheol hee saith is ordinarily taken for the place of soules under the earth and eyther rarely or never for the grave but the Greeke word Hades alwayes signifieth Hell never the grave But Stapleton will stand to it stoutly that neyther Hades nor Sheol is in the Scriptures ever taken for the grave but alwayes for Hell The word Infernus Hades Sheol saith hee is never taken for the grave The grave is called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrewe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore all the Paraphrastes of the Hebrewes also doe expound that word Sheol by the word Gehenna as Genebrard doth shew at large in his third Booke of the Trinity Where yet hee might have learned some more moderation from Genebrard himselfe unto whom hee referreth us who thus layeth downe his judgement of the matter in the place by him alledged As they be in an error who contend that Sheol doth never designe the grave so have they a shamelesse forehead who denie that it doth any where signifie the region of the damned or Gehenna It is an error therefore in Stapleton by his owne authors confession to maintayne that Sheol is never taken for the grave and in so doing hee doth but bewray his old wrangling disposition But least any other should take the shamelesse forehead from him hee faceth it downe that all the paraphrastes of the Hebrewes do interpret Sheol by the word Gehenna Whereas it is well knowne that the two Paraphrastes that are of greatest antiquitie and credit with the Hebrewes Onkelos the interpreter of Moses and Ionathan ben Vzziel of the Prophets never translate it so Beside that of Onkelos wee have two other Chaldee Paraphrases which expound the harder places of Moses the one called the Targum of Ierusalem the other attributed unto Ionathan in neyther of of these can wee finde that Sheol is expounded by Gehenna but in the latter of them we see it twise expounded by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the house of the grave In the Arabicke interpretations of Moses where the translator out of the Greek hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 al-gehim Hell there the translator out of the Hebrew putteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 al-tharai which signifieth earth or clay Iacobus Tawosius in his Persian translation of the Pentateuch for Sheol doth alwaies put Gor that is the grave The Chaldee Paraphrase upon the Proverbs keepeth still the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deflected a little from the Hebrew the Paraphrast upon Iob useth that word thrise but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifie the grave in steed thereof five severall times In Ecclesiastes the word commeth but once there the Chaldee Paraphrast rendreth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the house of the grave R. Ioseph Coecus doth the like in his paraphrase upon Psalm 31.17 and 89.48 In Psalm 141.7 he rendreth it by the simple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grave but in the 15. and 16. verses of the 49. Psalme by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Gehenna And only there and in Cantic 8.6 is Sheol in the Chaldee paraphrases expounded by Gehenna whereby if we shall understand the place not of dead bodies as in that place of the Psalme the Paraphrast maketh expresse mention of the bodies waxing old or consuming in Gehenna but of tormented soules as the Rabbines more commonly doe take it yet doe our Romanists get little advantage thereby who would faine have the Sheól into which our Saviour went be conceived to have beene a place of rest and not of torment the bosome of Abraham and not Gehenna the seat of the damned As for the Greek word Hádes it is used by Hippocrates to expresse the first matter of things from which they have their beginning and into which afterwards being dissolved they make their ending For having said that in nature nothing properly may be held to be newly made or to perish he addeth this
in Hell who shall give thee thankes of which there can bee no better paraphrase then that which is given in Psalm 88.11 12. Shall thy loving kindnesse bee declared in the grave or thy faithfulnesse in destruction Shall thy wonders bee knowne in the darke and thy righteousnesse in the land of forgetfulnesse Andradius in his defence of the faith of the Councell of Trent speaking of the difference of reading which is found in the sermon of S. Peter Act. 2.24 where God is sayd to have raysed up our Saviour loosing the sorrowes of death as the Greeke bookes commonly reade or the sorrowes of Hell as the Latin saith for reconciliation thereof that there will be no disagreement betwixt the Latin and Greeke copies if we do marke that Hell in this place is used for Death and the Grave according to the Hebrews maner of speaking as in the 15 th Psalme which Peter presently after citeth Because thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell and Esai 38. For Hell cannot confesse unto thee For when he disputeth saith hee of the resurrection of Christ he confirmeth by many and most evident testimonies of David that Christ did suffer death for mankinde in such sort that he could not be overwhelmed with death nor long lye hidden among the dead And it seemeth to me that by the sorrowes of Hell or Death a death full of sorrow and miseries is signified according to the Hebrewes maner of speaking as in Matthew 24. the abomination of desolation is taken for an abominable desolation Thus farre Andradius clearely forsaking herein his fellow-defenders of the Tridentine faith who by the one text of loosing the sorrowes of death would faine prove Christs descending to free the soules that were tormented in Purgatory and by the other of not leaving his soule in Hell his descending into Limbus to deliver the soules of the fathers that were at rest in Abrahams bosome The former of these texts Act. 2.24 is thus expounded by Ribera the Iesuite God raysed him up loosing and making voyde the sorrowes of death that is to say that which death by so many sorrowes had effected namely that the soule should bee separated from the bodie His fellow Sà interpreteth the loosing of the sorrowes of death to be the delivering of him from the troubles of death although sorrow saith hee may be the epithet of death because it useth to bee joyned with death The Apostles speech hath manifest reference to the wordes of David 2. Sam. 22.5 6. and Psalm 18. al. 17. 4 5. where in the former verse mention is made of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sorrowes of death in the latter of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which by the Septuagint is in the place of the Psalmes translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sorrowes of Hell in 2. Sam 22.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sorrowes of Death according to the explication following in the end of the selfe same verse The sorrowes of Hell compassed me about the snares of Death prevented me and in Psalm 116.3 The sorrowes of Death compassed me the paines of Hell found me or gate hold upon me where Lyranus hath this note In the Hebrew for Hell is put Sheol which doth not signifie onely Hell but signifieth also the pit or the grave and so it is taken heere by reason it followeth upon Death The like explicatorie repetition is noted also by the interpreters to have beene used by the Prophet in that other text alledged out of Psalm 16.10 as in Psalm 30. al. 29. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou hast brought up my soule from Hell thou hast kept me safe or alive from those that goe downe to the pit and Iob. 33.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His soule drew neere unto death and his life unto Hell whence that in the prayer of Iesus the sonne of Sirach is taken Ecclesiastic 51. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My soule drew neere unto death my life was neere to Hell beneath And therefore for Hell doth Pagnin in his translation of the sixteenth Psalme put the Grave being therein also followed in the Interlineary Bible approved by the Censure of the Universitie of Lovaine in the notes upon the same that goe under the name of Vatablus the word Soule is by comparing of this with Levitic 21.1 expounded to be the Bodie So doth Arias Montanus directly interpret this text of the Psalme Thou shalt not leave my soule in the grave that is to say my body and Isidorus Clarius in his annotations upon the second of the Acts saith that My soule in hell in that place is according to the maner of speech used by the Hebrewes put for My bodie in the grave or tombe least any man should thinke that Master Beza was the first deviser or principall author of this interpretation Yet him alone doth Cardinall Bellarmine single out here to try his manhood upon but doth so miserably acquite himselfe in the encounter that it may well bee doubted whether he laboured therein more to crosse Beza then to strive with himselfe in the wilfull suppressing of the light of his owne knowledge For whereas Beza in his notes upon Act. 2.27 had shewed out of the 1. and 11. verses of the 21. Chapter of Leviticus and other places of Scripture that the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which wee translate Soule is put for a dead bodie the Cardinall to rid himselfe handsomely of this which pinched him very shrewdly telleth us in sober sadnesse that there is a very great difference betwixt the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he is a most generall word and signifieth without any trope as well the soule as the living creature it selfe yea and the body it selfe also as by very many places of Scripture it doth appeare And therefore in Leviticus where that name is given unto dead bodies one part is not put for another to wit the soule for the body but a word which doth usually signifie the bodie it selfe or the whole at leastwise is put for the part namely the living creature for the body thereof But in the second of the Acts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put which signifieth the soule alone Now did not the Cardinall know thinke you in his own conscience that as in the second of the Acts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put where the originall text of the Psalme there alledged hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so on the other side in those places of Leviticus which he would faine make to be so different from this where the originall text readeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there the Greeke also putteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doe we not there reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levit. 21.1 and in the 11. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall not goe in to any dead soule that is to anie dead bodie The
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
beginning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Fatâ—er which art in Hádes which I for my part will then beleeve to be true when I shall see one of those old copies with mine owne eyes But in the meane time for Hádes it hath beene sufficiently declared before out of good authors that it signifieth the place of soules departed in generall and so is of extent large enough to comprehend under it as well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Damascius speaketh that part of Hádes or the unseene vvorld which is in heaven as that which by Iosephus is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the darker Hades and in the Gospell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 outer darknesse And as for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other word in the Acts of the Apostles it is used ten times and in none of all those places signifieth anie descending from a higher place unto a lower but a removing simply from one place unto another Whereupon the Vulgar Latin edition which none of the Romanists upon any pretense may presume to reject doth render it there by the generall termes of abeo venio devenio supervenio and where it retayneth the word descendo it intendeth nothing lesse then to signifie thereby the lower situation of the place unto which the removeall is noted to be made If descending therfore in the Acts of the Apostles imply no such kind of thing what necessitie is there that thus of force it must be interpreted in the Creed of the Apostles Menelaus declared unto us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith King Antiochus in his epistle unto the Iewes 2. Maccab. 11.29 Velle vos descendere ad vestros it is in the Latin edition whereby what else is meant but that they had a desire to goe unto their owne I omitt the phrases of descending in praelium in forum in campum in amicitiam in caussam c. which are so usuall in good Latin authors yea and of descending into heaven it selfe if that be not a jeast which the Poet breaketh upon Claudius Ille senis tremulumque caput descendere jussit In coelum Others adde unto this that the phrase of descending ad inferos is a popular kinde of speech which sprung from the opinion that was vulgarly conceived of the situation of the receptâ—cle of the soules under the earth and that according to the rule of Aristoâ—le in his Topâ—cks we must speake as the vulgar but thinke as wise men doe Even as wee use to say commonly that the Sunne is under a cloude because it is a vulgar forme of speech and yet it is farre enough from our meaning for all that to imagine the cloude to bee indeede higher then the Sunne So Cicero they say where ever hee hath occasion to mention any thing that concerneth the dead speaketh still of Inferi according to the vulgar phrase although hee misliked the vulgar opinion which bred that maner of speaking and professed it to bee his judgement that the soules when they depart out of the body are carried up on high not downward unto any habitations under the earth So Chrysostom and Theophylact thinke that the Apostle tearmed the Death and Hell unto which our Saviour did descend the lower parts of the earth Ephes. 4.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the common opinion of men So in the translation of the holy Scripture S. Hierome sheweth that wee use the names of Arcturus and Orion not approving thereby the ridiculous and monstrous figments of the Poets in this matter but expressing the Hebrew names of these constellations by the vvords of heathenish fables because we cannot understand that which is sayd but by those words which we have learned by use and drunke in by error And just so standeth the case with this word Hades which with the Gâ—eeke Poets is the name of Pluto whom they fayned to be the God of the dead under the earth gave a denomination unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from riches because that all things comming to their dissolution there is nothing which is not at last brought unto him and made his possession Thus Homer and Hesiod with Plato and others after them say that Rhea brought forth three sonnes to Saturne Iupiter Neptune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and mightie Hades who inhabiteth the houses under the earth having a mercilesse heart for that attribute doth Hesiod give unto him because Death spareth no man So Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is also the description that Hesiod maketh of him in that verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades was afraid who raigneth over them that lye dead in the earth Now that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Creed is a phrase taken from the heathen and applied to expresse a Christian truth the very Grammaticaâ—l construction may seeme to intimate where the nowne is not put in the accusative case as otherwise it should but after the maner of the Greekes in the genitive case implying the defect of another word necessarily to be understood as if it had beene said He went unto the place or house of Hades as the Poets use to expresse it sometimes defectively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes more fully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the house or chambers of Hádes Thus then they that take Hádes for the common receptacle of soules doe interpret the context of the Creed as Cardinall Cajetan before did the narration of Moses touching Abrahams giving up the ghost being gathered to his people and being buried Genes 25.8 9. that the article of the death is to be râ—ferred to the whole manhood and the dissolution of the parts thereof that of the buriall to the body sâ—parated from the soule and this of the descending into Hádes to the soule separated fâ—om the body as if he had said He suffered death truely by a reall separation of his soule from his bodie and after this dissolution the same did befall him that useth to betide all other dead men his livelesse bodie was sent unto the place which is appointed to receive dead bodies and his immortall soule went unto the other world as the soules of other men use to doe Having now declared how the Greek Hádes and so the Latine Inferi and our English Hell is taken for the place of the bodies and of the soules of dead men severally it followeth that we shew how the common state of the dead is signified thereby and the place in generall which is answerable unto the parts of the whole man thus indefinitely considered in the state of separation Concerning which that place of Dionysius wherein he setteth forth the signification of our being dead and buried with Christ by Baptisme is to be considered Forasmuch as death is in us not an utter extinguishment of our being as others have thought but a separation of the united parts
the rest of the Images of the Saints in memorie and honour of them whom they figure as also their places and Relickes ought to be worshipped with processions bendings of the knee bowings of the bodie incensings kissings offerings lighting of candles and pilgrimages together with all other maners and formes whatsoever as hath beene accustomed to be done in our or our predecessors times And in the Romane Catechisme set out by the appointment of the Councell of Trent the Parish priest is required to declare unto his parishioners not onely that it is lawfull to have images in the Church and to give honour and worship unto them for asmuch as the honour which is done unto them is referred unto the things which they represent but also that this hath still beene done to the great good of the faithfull and that the Images of the Saints are put in Churches aswell that they may be worshipped as that we being admonished by their example might conforme our selves unto their life and maners Now for the maner of this worship we are told by one of their Bishops that it must not onely be confessed that the faithfull in the Church doe adore before the Images as some peradventure would cautelously speake but also adore the Image it selfe without what scruple you will yea they doe reverence it with the same worship wherewith they doe the thing that is represented thereby Wherefore saith he if that ought to be adored with Latrîa or divine worship this also is to bee adored with Latrîa if with Dulîa or Hyperdulîa this likewise is to be adored with the same kinde of worship And so we see that Thomas Aquinas doth directly conclude that the same reverence is to be given unto the Image of Christ and to Christ himselfe and by consequence seeing Christ is adored with the adoration of LatrÃa or divine worship that his image it to be adored with the adoration of Latrîa Vpon which place of Thomas Fryar Pedro de Cabrera a great Master of Divinitie in Spaine doth lay downe these conclusions I. It is simply and absolutely to be said that holy Images are to be worshipped in Churches â—ut of Churches and the contrary is an hereticall doctrine for explication wherof he declareth that by this worshipping he meaneth that signes of service and submission are to be exhibited unto Images by embracing lightes oblation of incense uncovering of the head c. and that this conclusion is a doctrine of faith collected out of the holy Scripture by which it appeareth that things created yea although they be senselesse so that they be consecrated unto God are to be adored II. Images are truely and properly to be adored and out of an intention to adore themselves and not onely the samplers that are represented in them This conclusion which he maketh to be the common resolution of the Divines of that side he opposeth against Durand his followers who helde that Images are adored onely improperly because they put men in minde of the persons represented by them who are then adored before the images as if they had beene there really present But this opinion he saith is censured by the latter Divines to be dangerous rash and savouring of heresie yea and by Fr. Victoria to be plainely hereticall For if Images be adored only improperly they are not to be adored simply absolutely which is a manifest heresie saith Cabrera And if Images were onely to be worshipped by way of rememoration and recordation because they make us remember the samplers which we doe so worship as if they had beene then present it would follow that all creatures should be adored with the same adoration wherewith we worship God seeing all of them doe lead us unto the knowledge and remembrance of God and God is present in all things III. The doctrine delivered by Thomas that the Image and the sampler represented by it is to be worshipped with the same act of adoration is most true most pious and very consonant to the decrees of Faith This he saith is the doctrine not onely of Thomas and of all his disciples but also of all the old Schoole-men almost and particularly he quoteth for it Cajetan Capreolus Paludanus Ferrariensis Antonius Soto Alexander of Hales Albertus Magnus Bonaventura Richardus de Mediavilla Dionysius Carthusianus Major Masilius Thomas Waldensis Turrecremata Angestus Clichtoveus Turrian and Vazquez In a word it is the constant judgement of Divines saith Azorius the Iesuite that the Image is to be honoured and worshipped with the same honour and worship wherewith that is worshipped whereof it is an image Against this use or rather horrible abuse of Images to what purpose should we heape up anie testimonyes of holy Scripture if the words of the second commandement uttered with Gods owne mouth with thundring and lightning upon mount Sinai may not be heard Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any graven Image nor the likenesse of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth Thou shalt not bowe downe to them nor worship them Which thunderclap from heaven the guides of the Romish Church discerning to threaten sore that fearefull Idolatrie which daily they commit thought fit in wisedome first to conceale the knowledge of this from the people by excluding those words out of the Decalogue that went abroad for common use under pretence forsooth of including it in the first Commandement and then afterwards to put this conceite into mens heads that this first commandement was so farre from condemning the veneration of Images that it commanded the same and condemned the contrarie neglect thereof And therefore Laurence Vaux in his Catechisme unto this Question Who breaketh the first Commandement of God by unreverence of God frameth this Answere They that doe not give due reverence to God and his Saints or to their Relickes and IMAGES and Iacobus de Graffijs in his explication of the same Commandement specifieth the due reverence here required more particularly namely that we should reverence everie Image with the same worship that we doe him whose image it is that is to say that wee impart Latrîa or divine worship to the Image of God or of Christ or to the signe of the Crosse also in asmuch as it bringeth the Passion of our Lord unto our minde and that we use the adoration of Hyperdulîa at the Image of the holy Virgin but of Dulìa at the Images of other Saints And can there be found thinke you among men a more desperate impudencie then this that not onely the practise of this wretched Idolatrie should be maintayned against the expresse commandement of almightie God but also that hee himselfe should be made the author and commander of it even in that verie place where he doth so severely forbid it and reveale his wrath from heaven against the ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse