the second of the Acts could hardly haue any good construction because it seemed farre fet and altogither repugnant to the proper signification of the wordes to take the soule for the bodie and hell for the graue and as for the locall descent of Christ to hell after death they counted that but a fable I was forced to promise that I would openlie deliuer which I thought was the likeliest and safest sense as well of that article in the Creede as of those wordes of Dauid fulfilled in the person of our Sauiour This occasion drew mee to the next question of Christes descent to hell Wherin I resolued as by perusing the later part of this treatise will better appeare that Christs descent to the verie place of hell after his death did best concord both with the Creede and with the truth of Christian religion so we tooke care not to swarue frō the Scriptures in setting downe the cause why he went thither which was to ouerthrow destroy the kingdom might of Satan in the place of his greatest strength euen in hel and as our head to free all his members from daunger and feare of comming thither the sorrowes and terrors whereof hee loosed vvith his presence treading them vnder his feete and rose againe into a blessed and immortall life leading captiuitie captiue and taking from hell and Satan all povver to preuaile against his elect Both these resolutions that Christ suffered not the true paines of hell in his soule on the crosse and that hee personallie conquered and disarmed the powers and terrours thereof before his resurrection some as in such cases is common misremembred some misconstrued and some misliked vvhereupon I vvas both aduised and intreated by men of greater place then I vvill name to put the effect of that vvhich I had deliuered in vvriting that by mine ovvne vvords and not by other mens conceits or reports the learned might iudge of the doctrine Which I did that verie Summer and had it readie for the presse before Bartlemewtide but that the Parliament of States approching wherein men shoulde be otherwise imploied and a great hurle raised against it by certaine popular preachers in that citie through whose mouthes the contrarie had often passed to the people as currant I was desired by the same persons againe to staie till that time of businesse were ouer past that heat of contradiction somewhat alaied and respite giuen that it might be trāslated into Latin which also is now performed as wel as published in English To whole coūsell I yeelded referring the time wholy to their iudgements notwithstanding I were by many traduced in many places as a teacher of strange and false doctrine But I haue beene and am the more willing to beare the reproches of maligners because I seeke not my selfe heerein but that the church of Christ heere in Englande should hold fast that ancient and sure foundation of faith which hitherto it hath kept and professe that doctrine touching our Redemption by Christ which as wel the publike lawes of this realme as all the catholike fathers do vphold and allow In setting downe the summe of that which I preached I neither do nor can promise thee gentle Reader the same words which I then spake I wrote them not but I assure thee before him that knoweth all things that I haue not swarued nor altered anie materiall point from the methode propositions proofes and conclusions which I then vsed nor from the wordes as farre as either my notes or my memory vpon the fresh foote coulde direct mee which I haue yet to shew Manie proofes and authorities I omitted in the pulpit which the time shut me from and some obiections I haue answered here more largelie then the course of Sermons would permit but here is the selfe same in effect which then I vttered and purposed if the time woulde haue suffered The manner of handling this question I alwaies wished might bee temperate and sober as best became christian professours and teachers least by catching aduantages besides the cause wee increased quarrels and so much regarded our credits that wee neglected the truth I haue therfore in the Treatise it selfe touched no mans name oppugned no mans wordes traduced no mans iudgement but admitting and retaining as much as I thought might stande with the truth I haue pared off certaine extremities and reiected certaine additions which the first inuentors did refraine for that Christ suffered the death of the soule or all the same tormentes which the damned do and shall are positions lately coined and deriued from the proportion of Gods iustice as they call it but as I thinke from presumption of mans reason intruding into Gods secrets The doctrine which I defend that we are sufficientlie redeemed by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus without adding of hell paines to bee suffered in the soule of Christ hath the constant full and expresse warrant of the Scriptures and the like approbation from al the fathers without exception And therefore howsoeuer some men may despise all ancient writers and frustrate the scriptures with their figures al sober and wise christians will I doubt not beware how they admit this strange and late found nouelty into their Creede or consciences The second point I presse nor with like vehemencie because it hath not like certaintie So long as we confesse which the Scriptures do confirme that Christs humane nature after his extreame humiliation on the Crosse before his resurrection conquered spoyled not death only but hell Satan also of al their power right ouer y e faithful ascending on hie lead captiuitie captiue tooke the keyes of death and of hell into his owne hands with the precise maner and hower I will not burden anie mans conscience that cannot be perswaded by reading the latter part of this treatise though I my selfe after long diligent search find no sense so agreeable to y e words of the Creede so answerable to the rules of the sacred Scriptures and so fullie followed by all the Fathers as Christs descent to the verie place of hell for the purposes aforesaid Hauing premonished thee Christian reader of thus much I am not willing to detayne thee anie longer from vewing and examining the booke it selfe but onelie to tell thee that whiles I stayed the printing hereof till others did like it as wel as my self one more hastie then either aduised or learned calling himselfe H. I. would needes traduce it and confute it before he saw it resting belike on such notes as his angry mind and brickle memorie tooke at the time when I preached of these points Wherein though others condemne his follie yet I commend his pollicie that least hee should trouble himselfe with more thē he could answere he thought it y e best way to come into the field alone and like a stout Champion fighting with his owne shadow to say no more thē he would be sure to deny or decline with one
part to the state of the deade What néeded then an vnknowne hebrew phrase hee descended into Sheôl to expresse the verie same point which before was fullie and fairelie deliuered Againe though Sheôl be common to the bodies of the faithfull and infidels yet may it bee verie well doubted whether the soules of the righteous departed this life be in Sheôl or no. And vnder correction I take it to bee more then the Scripture anie where doeth positiuelie affirme My reason is that Abrahams bosome is by our Sauiour placed ABOVE PARRE OFF from the place where the wicked after this life are tormented Now to Sheôl the Scripture maketh a DESCENT not an ascent as when Iacob saieth I VVILL GOE DOVVNE TO Sheôl vnto my sonne mourning And againe you will bring my gray hayres with sorrow DOVVNE TO SHEOL And least wee shoulde dreame of a metaphoricall kinde of descent in the rebellion of Corah Dathan and Abiram the scripture saieth THE GROVNDE claue asunder that was VNDER THEM and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them vp with their families So they and all that were with them DESCENDED aliue into Sheôl and the earth COVERED THEM To Sheôl then the scripture maketh a locall descent which is either of the bodie to the graue for so Iacobs words must be vnderstood when he saith I will descende to Sheôl vnto my sonne or of the soule after death to the place of torment which is the rewarde of all the wicked The wicked saith Dauid shall be turned into Sheôl and al nations that forget God Where he doth not meane they shall die aswel as the godly which is likewise the lot of all the iust righteous but they shall haue the due wages of sinne both body and soule descending to Sheôl that is the one to corruption in the earth the other to damnation in hell For Sheol containeth both and importeth both to the forgetters and despisers of God albeit it fasten no farther on the godly then to bring their bodies to the graue which is the gate of hel Ezechiah mentioning in his praiers how he was willed by the prophet to prepare himselfe to die thus expresseth it I said in the cutting off of my daies I shal goe to the gates of Sheol I am depriued of the residue of my yeeres but y e wicked go to THE DEPTH OF SHEOL which is the place of euerlasting punishment The way of life saith Salomon is ON HIGH to him that vnderstandeth to decline froÌ„ SHEOL BENEATH So that after this life the soules that liue are aboue for the way to life is on high the soules that die go to the depth of Sheol euen to the bottomles pit of perdition Of him that hanteth harlots Salomon saith He knoweth not y t her ghests are in the depth of Sheol that is so wrapped in their sinnes that they cannot preuent euerlasting damnation And againe Thou shalt smite the child with the rod and shalt deliuer his soule froÌ„ Sheol Correction will not saue a â—hilde that hee shall not see death but it will bow him to obedience and so saue his soule from destruction Yea how should Dauid so often confesse to God that his soule was freed from Sheol if by Sheol hee ment the state after death for thence it was impossible his soule shuld be deliuered What man liueth shal not see death so pretious is the redeÌ„ption of the soule froÌ„ death that it must cease for euer And yet comparing himself with the wicked his state with theirs he saith Like sheepe shall they lie in Sheol death shal deuoure theÌ„ and the righteous shall haue dominioÌ„ ouer theÌ„ in the day spring But God wil deliuer my soule from the power of Sheol for he will receiue me Doth Dauid meane he shal neuer die or that his soule shalbe deliuered from Sheol that is from the state of such as were departed this life y e imagination were both false absurd but he meaneth that death shal deuoure the wicked wholie as well soule as bodie whereas he did firmly beleeue y t God would deliuer his soule from the power of Sheol would receaue him after death though his body must of force by the condition of nature waxe olde as a garment and rot in the graue til the day of resurrection And if anie man thinke good in some such places as these are to interpret the SOVLE for LIFE because it is the spring and cause of life in the bodie and SHEOL for the GRAVE where life endeth I will not vtterlie condemne his exposition so long as he leaneth a different power of Sheol ouer y e iust vniust froÌ„ which Dauid saith God will deliuer his soule and do not make the soules of the righteous DESCEND TO SHEOL after death For that directlie impugneth the doctrine as well of the olde testament which saith the way of life is on high as of our Sauiour who placeth Abrahams bosome VPVVARD A FAR OFF from hell when he saith of the rich man that being in hell in torments hee LIFT VP his â—ies and saw Abraham A FAR OFF and Lazarus in his bosome Upon which place S. Augusten learnedlie and trulie inferreth Ne ipsos quidem INFEROS VSPIAM scripturarum locis IN BONO APPELLATOS potuireperire Quod si nusquam in diuinis authoritatibus legitur non vtique sinus ille Abrahae idest secretae cuiusdam quietis habitatio ALIQVA PARS INFERORVM esse credenda est quanquam in ijs ipsis tanti magistri verbis vbi ait dixisse Abraham Inter nos vos chaos magnum firmatum est SATIS VT OPINOR APPARET NON ESSE QVANDAM PARTEM ET QVASI MEMBRVM INFERORVM tantae illius felicitatis sinum Chaos enim magnum quid est nisi quidam hiatus multum ea separans inter quae non solum est verum etiam firmatus est The name of Inferi I could no where finde in anie place of scripture vsed IN ANY GOOD SENSE which if wee doe no where reade in the authorities of the scripture surelie Abrahams bosome which is an habitation of secret rest may not be thought to bee ANY PEECE OF THE LOVVER PARTS albeit in the words of so sufficient a maister as our Sauiour where he maketh Abraham say betwixt vs and you there is a GREATE GVLFE ESTABLISHED it is EVIDENT ENOVGH as I take it that the bosome of so great felicitie is NO PART NOR MEMBER of hell For what is a great gulfe but a great distance separating those places betweene which it lieth Inferi are the lower parts where the deade remaine which the Hebrew calleth Sheôl and touching Inferi which are the places or spirits beneath we maie with S. Austen conclude two thinges out of the manifest wordes of our Sauiour First that Abrahams bosome is VPVVARD towards heauen and therfore the soules of the righteous before the death of Christ ascended rather
proper sense of the diuine oracles as their pleasures This rule therefore must be helde throughout the scriptures y t in mysteries of religion we diuert not from the natiue proper significations of the wordes but when the letter impugneth the grounds of christian faith charity Otherwise we shal leaue nothing sound sure in the word of God if we may auoid al things by figures that please not our humors To this lesson saith Austen whereby wee take heede not to interpret a figuratiue speach as if it were proper we must adde an other that wee take not a proper speach as if it were figuratiue First then we must shewe the meane how to finde out whether the speach bee figuratiue or proper And this is the way to discerne them vt quicquid in sermone diuino neque ad morum honestatem neque ad fidei veritatem proprie referri potest figuratum esse cognoseas that whatsoeuer in the diuine scripture CANNOT PROPERLY be referred to the honestie of maners or to the verity of faith thou maist be sure it is FIGVRATIVE So long then as the proper sense of the scriptures may stand with the Analogy of faith and direction of charity we offer violence to the word of God if wee wrest it to a figuratiue vnderstanding From this rule which must be obserued throughout the body of the scripture if we do not rashly slide it is no harde matter to shew where Christes descent to hell is expreslie recorded in the scriptures The words are well known often alleaged if men were not disposed to peruert or elude them with their enigmaticall allegoricall constructions Thou VVILT NOT FORSAKE MY SOVLE IN HELL nor suffer thine holy one to see corruptioÌ„ If Christs soule in hel were assisted with the glorious power and presence of God ergo Christes soule VVAS in hel And THERE it could not be without DESCENDING THITHER The descent then of Christes soule into hell when it was seuered from the bodie is apparantly witnessed in the scriptures howsoeuer the diuers conceits of men doe diuersly expound it To take the SOVLE for the CARCAS HEL for the GRAVE as some do if it be not a wrested exposition I am sure it is not the proper interpretation of the words and therefore in mysteries of faith by no meanes to be admitted To let the soule retaine her true signification and by hell to meane paradise where others defend the soule of Christ was al the time that his bodie lay in the graue if it be not a misconstruction it is no literall exposition of the place and in my iudgement a verie strange kind of figure it is to expresse Christs ascent into Paradise by his descent into hell so to expound the words of the Créed that we draw them to a cleane contrary sense If therefore we leane sorcing wresting the words of the holy ghost let their proper true signification stand as wel y e words as the circumstances wil exactly proue that y e soule of Christ after death DESCENDED INTO HEL That this was performed after Christ was dead and consequently when his soule was seuered from his bodie there can bee no question as I haue shewed before for that Christ saieth his flesh SHAL LIE DOVVN or take rest in the tabernacle of his graue IN HOPE that God VVIL NOT FORSAKE HIS SOVLE IN HEL and in this hope Christ died this assistance was therfore giâ—en him after death That his soule must be taken properlie for that part which after death sawe the power and presence of God not forsaking him as well the separation of the bodie as fruition of Gods assistance do plainelie proue Whiles we liue the bodie or soule may rightlie import the whole man but after death it is more then absurd to take the soule for the bodie or the bodie for the soule yea in men here liuing wee must take héede that in matters of doctrine we mistake not the one for the other In matters of fact to note the person by either part can be no danger but in their attributes and properties to confounde them is to leaue nothing certaine in christian religion Tertullian saith truly Certe peruersissimuÌ„ vt carnem nominantes animaÌ„ intelligamus animam significantes carneÌ„ interpretemur Omnia periclitabuntur aliter accipi quam sunt amittere quod sunt dum aliter accipiuntur si aliter quam sunt cognominantur Fides nominum salus est proprietatum It is most peruerse that the flesh being named wee should vnderstande the soule or the soule being signified wee should interpret it for the flesh All thinges shall be in danger to bee otherwise taken then they are and to loose that they are whiles they are mistaken if wee call them by other names then their owne The distinction of their names is the preseruation of their properties And yet in these words the case is cleèrer For heere are both partes expressed and distinguished as well by their NATVRES and PLACES as by their NAMES Christs soule was not forsaken in hell but enioyed the glorious assistance of God euen there where God forsaketh all others Christes flesh lying dead without sense in the graue was there preserued from all corruption For Dauid saith Peter spake of Christs resurrection that his SOVLE was not forsaken or left in hel nor his FLESH saw corruption Quum diuidit species carnem animam duo oftendit saith Tertullian When the scripture deuideth the kindes as the soule and the flesh it noteth two distinct things Since then Peter doth not onlie so reporte but so interpret Dauids wordes that hee spake of Christs soule and Christs flesh it is euident they must be two distinct and different thinges both in Dauids prediction and in Peters application Againe in these words is not comprised the generall state of the dead common to Christ with all other but a speciall prerogatiue verified in none but in the true Messias and Sauiour of the worlde For neither of these was euer accomplished in anie but in Christ. Then as no flesh in the sepulchre was euer free from corruption but onlie Christs so no soule in hell was euer supported and assisted by God and not forsaken but onely Christes If by hell wee vnderstand Paradise it was no priuiledge to be there not forsaken but rather a childish absurditie to thinke that any soule might there be forsaken and so no cause for Christ so strongly to hope and so greatly to reioice that HIS SOVLE should not bee forsaken where it was impossible that anie soule should be forsaken but this is rather a iust grounde of exceeding ioie if where all soules were forsaken of God as in hell they are there Christes soule should not be forsaken but assisted with the might and maiestie of God to breake the force and tread the power of hell vnder his féet And this prooueth Christes resurrection more
faith and truth The Apostle giueth not here the cause why Christ is able to helpe vs in our miseries and necessities for he is able in that he is God to do what he will but hee sheweth that our high Priest is faithfull and mercifull that is willing and readie to heare vs and helpe vs in all our afflictions and troubles for so much as in his owne person hee woulde feele our temptations and infirmities that he might be the better able to helpe vs in hauing more compassion on vs. And this is that the Apostle saith in the fourth chapter of this Epistle Wee haue not an high Priest which can not bee touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all things or throughlie tempted alike except sinne So that his sufferinges made him the more mercifull and faithfull because he knoweth best as well our naturall infirmities as our manifolde miseries This for the sense of the Apostle nowe to the truth of your collection CHRIST SVCCOVRETH VS NOT but wherein he hath felt the same Meane you Christ is not able or not willing For you saie hee succoureth vs not To saie hee is not able is blasphemie because he is God and God I hope can succour vs in all our miseries without suffering those things which we doe To say he will not though the Apostles word bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee is able is as false in it selfe and as iniurious to Christ. For then Christ will neuer helpe anie man that is sicke because hee neuer felt anie disease of bodie nor anie whose bones are broken because his were whole nor anie Martyr that burneth in fire because hee died on the crosse â— the blinde deafe dumbe lame and a thousand such like Christ will neuer heare nor helpe because he suffered not the same You speake of ghostlie temptations you will saie not of bodily afflictions Saint Paule speaketh of both and Christ had experience of both and therefore if your collection be false and absurde in the one it will neuer bee sound and assured in the other But come to your owne pitch Will Christ deliuer no man from blindnesse and hardnesse of heart because hee neuer endured either Will he not aide vs to represse the lusts of our â—lesh because he neuer was tempted with them Will he not helpe our vnbeliefe because his faith was alwayes strong Will he not saue anie from desperation because he neuer despaired Will hee not cure frenzie and furie because hee was neuer out of his wittes Neither did hee nor will hee cast out Diuels because himselfe was not possessed Is this the reason that cannot bee refuted by mans witte which euerie childe maie presentlie controlle In deede you speake truer then you are ware of if your deuise maie bee receiued For you doe not sticke to defile Christ with our sinnes to astonish and amaze all the partes and powers of his minde to torment him with Diuels and in the ende to adiudge him to the death of the soule which hath in it blindnesse and hardnesse of heart infidelitie and what not Yea it is with you of all absurdities the greatest that meere men although they bee reprobates shoulde suffer more deepely then Christ did For Gods iustice saie you shoulde bee as seuere on Christ as on anie reprobate and yet they suffer reprobation desperation damnation From hence you go to another of your holie mysteries and as if you had not done the Lord of glorie wrong enough with these irreuerent and irreligious speaches you take from him in his passion at your pleasure not only his vertues graces but euen his sense memorie vnderstanding leaue him often times when you list your selues amazed astonished and forgetfull of himselfe for feare yea so distempered disturbed distracted ouerwhelmed ALL CONFOVNDED in his whole humanity both in all the powers of his soule and senses of his body that he knew not what he said or did God grant Sir Refuter you be wel in your wits that depriue the Sauiour of the world when you will of all sense memorie vnderstanding The euangelists you wil say in expresse words affirme that Christ in the garden was astonished grieuously perplexed Haue you the skill when the scriptures saie that Christ beganne to bee astonished and perplexed to stretch y e beginning to the highest degree of all astonishment that maie light on the Reprobate in this life or the damned in the next when the holie ghost toucheth a naturall infirmity common to Christ with all the godlie in the like cases doth your coÌ„science serue you to make of that not onlie a general and total distemper but an Infernall confusion of all the powers of his soule and senses of his bodie had you consulted S. Ierom hee would haue taught you an other lesson Dominus vt veritatem probaret assumpti hominis veré quidem contristatus est sed ne passio in animo eius dominaretur per propassionem caepit contristari Aliud est enim contristari aliud incipere contristari The Lorde to shew himselfe a true man was sorrowfull in verie deede not that any passion ouerswaied his minde but he began to be touched with the affection of sorrow It is one thing to be sorrowfull and an other to begin to be sorrowfull his sorrow was not for any feare to suffer since he came of purpose to suffer and reproued Peter as too feareful but for that most wretched Iudas and the weakenes of all his Apostles and the reiection of the whole nation of the Iewes and the miserable destruction of Ierusalem And if heretickes doe interpret this sorrowe of heart not for our Sauiours affection towardes them that shoulde perish but for a perturbation of minde let them answere me howe they expounde that which Ezechiel speaketh in the person of God and in all these thinges thou didst make me sorrowfull Saint Ierome saieth the wordes enforce no more then that Christ began to bee sorrowfull and perplexed and if anie man stretch them farther hee giueth him the note of an hereticke and though I refraine that worde because I hope you doe it of ignorance and not of malice yet I cannot excuse you from a dangerous errour and that in foure speciall pointes First you mistake the cause whence this feare arose secondlie you extende it farther then in trueth you shoulde thirdlie you continue it longer then with anie warrant you may and fourthlie by pretence thereof you chalenge Christes prayers in the garden not onelie with want of good memorie but with flat repugnancie to the knowne will of God which is euident sinne Concerning the first I am resolued as in the treatise before I haue specified that the cause of Christes agonie could not procéed but from his submission to the maiestie of God sitting in iudgement or from his compassion on mans miserie or from both You will haue it procéede from the intolerable horrors
of Gods fiery wrath equall to hell And where Cain saide The horror of my sinne is heauier then I can beare you doubt not but Christ as touching the vehemencie of the paine was as sharpelie touched euen as the Reprobates themselues yea if it may be more extraordinarilie You that are so well acquainted with the horrors of the Reprobate for their sinnes that you dare attribute them to Christ can you tell what they are is it speculation that you speake of or experience that you dare thus subiect the sonne of God to the same terrors and horrors of conscience which namelie Cain as you saie and other reprobates haue felt I praie you Sir in so waightie matters as maie amounte to heresie and open blasphemy plaie not with generall termes so as neither you vnderstande your selfe nor anie man else can conceiue your meaning The terrors of â—he wicked in this life wee can coniecture you canne perhaps liuelie describe them but for ought that wee learne by the scriptures they are such as without horrible impietie you cannot ascribe vnto the Sauiour of the worlde Remorse of sinne committed vexing and gnawing the conscience is the first of their paines which suffereth them night nor daie to take anie test Secondlie the feare that God whome they haue despised hath likewise reiected them and is become their enemie and therefore from him they looke for nothing but the iust vengeance of their sinnes both in this life and the nexte so pursueth them that they tremble and slie when no man followeth them Thirdlie the griefe to forsee themselues excluded from the fellowship of that ioie and blisse which is prouided for the saintes of GOD which Chrysostom saieth is far more bitter then the paine of hel doth make them sinke for sorrowe Lastlie the continuall terrour of that dreadfull iudgement which shall be pronounced of that horrible confusion which then shall ouerwhelme them and of those eternall and intollerable flames of fire in which they shall burne the verie terrour I saie and horrour thereof doeth so afflict and torment them as if they presentlie felt it More wordes may bee vsed and perhaps more vehement to amplifie their paine but these are the partes and causes of that feare and horrour which pursueth the wicked for their haynous offences Can anie of these Sir Refuter bee applied to Christ Dare you but offer so much as the mention of the least of them to bee founde in the sonne of GOD I thinke you bare not I hope you will not What meaneth then this matching of Christ with Cain yea this touching of Christ deeper then anie of the Reprobate In horrour and paine you saie Christ was like them who be separated in deede from the grace and loue of God yet himselfe neuer separated but alwaies most intirely beloued The horrour and paine which the Reprobate heere feele riseth from the remorse of their owne conscience and from the distrust and feare of their owne hearts which pursueth them euen in this life before iudgement The execution of his terrible vengeance indéede God hath reserued to the next life The greatest terror that the Apostle noteth in the wicked here in this world is a feareful expectation of iudgment and of burning fire which shall deuour tâ—e aduersaries What horror then like the reprobate coulde the conscience of Christ féele that had no remorse distrust or feare of anie such thing as they haue but was assured and secured of Gods euerlasting fauour and loue in the highest degree was there paine without horrour and feare in the soule of Christ if you meane the paine that is consequent to our naturall affections as to sorrowe and feare you saie nothing to the purpose Saint Iohn saith timor habet poenam Feare hath in it paine and so hath sorrowe euen as hope hath ioye Reioice in hope but this is not the paine which the Reprobate feele much lesse which the damned suffer I trust their paine is more then a naturall oppressing and afflicting of the heart with humane feare and sorrowe And therefore if I conceaue anie thing you misse the truth verie much Sir Confuter when you saie that Christ was touched in horrour and paine as déepelie as the Reprobates are and yet your conceite reacheth farther For you defende that he suffered as much as the damned in hell which is more then the reprobates doe in earth howsoeuer to shewe your learning you make hell and heauen heere on earth For my selfe Christian Reader whence I thinke the astonishment of Christ in the garden might rise thou hast it in the treatise before I shall not néed to repeat it againe In like maner you extend Christes agonie too farre for where it was an agonie of minde which did not bereaue him neither of sense memorie nor vnderstanding you haue brought vs a fardell of phrases to expresse that all the senses of his bodie and al the powers of his soule were amazed astonished distempered disturbed distracted forgetfull ouerwhelmed and all confounded and you thinke you neuer haue words enough to expresse your follie in dreaming of the greatest astonishment that maie be because the scripture saieth he began to beastonished But Sir how proue you this you saie as in feares and sorrowes there bee diâ—ers degrées so are there likewise in astonishmeÌ„ts To be astonished is to ioine feare with admiration which draweth the minde so wholie to think on some speciall thing aboue our reach that during the time we turne not our selues to anie other cogitation Euen as the eie if it be bent intentiuelie to behold anie thing for that present it discerneth nothing else So fareth it with y e soule if she wholie addict her selfe to thinke on anie matter she is amused if it bee more then she conceaueth or more fearefull then she well indureth she is amazed or astonished but not of necessitie so that she looseth either sense or memorie onelie for that time she conuerteth neither to anie other obiect The present beholding of the diuine maiestie sitting in iudgement and of his iustice armed with infinite power to reuenge the sinnes of men might iustlie astonish the humane soule of Christ seeing the rewithal how mightilie God was prouoked by the manifold and wilfull transgressions of men but this religious astonishment though it might for a season suspend all other thoughtes in our Sauiour yet is there no neede it shoulde depriue him of vnderstanding sense or memorie When Paul saieth worke your saluation with feare and trembling doth hee meane they should want memorie or vnderstanding When Moses receaued the law from God so terrible was the sight that hee saide I tremble and quake Was Moses 〈◊〉 voide of sense or reason at that present An horrible terror saith Dauid hath taken mee for the vngodlie that forsake thy lawe Was Dauid for their sakes besides himselfe and all confounded in bodie and soule as you speake here of Christ Our whole conuersation
and get you some other profession So then the paines which the damned feele besides the griefe of heauen lost is FLAMING FIER intolerably formenting both bodie and soule and as Cyprian obserueth Omni tormento atrocius desperatio condemnatos affliget Desperation which shall afflict the condemned worse then al their torments To these if you subiect the Sonne of God you know what will follow from these if you frée him as you needes must then is the Question at an end for in euery mans sight Christ did not suffer the paines of hell nor the torments of the damned which the scripture maketh to be these not those which you can neither expresse nor proue FroÌ„ slender reasons you come Sir Refuter to slenderer authorities and though you quote but few and not one of them speaking one word to your purpose yet before you produce them you chalenge them as vnsufficient to testifie in this or any cause against your liking For where they may not be iudges nor with you so much as witnesses of the Scriptures sense you so reieâ—t their expositions euerie where with pride disdaine yet you in your wisedome take vpon you to build vpon the words of the holy Ghost what absurdities and follies you list and your best reason is it were fond to thinke otherwise but be more sober if you will be ruled by me it is the way to hazard your own wits not their credits to entertaine theÌ„ in this maner They speake not plainly nor fully you say because it was neuer in question in their time Touching the redemption of man by the death blood of Christ Iesus they speake as plainly and fully as it is possible for men to speake and kéepe exactly the forme of wholesome doctrine deliuered in the Scriptures touching your hell paines they say nothing in déed because it was neuer heard of in y e Church of Christ in their times but that Christ died NOT THE DEATH OF THE SOVLE and by the ONLY DEATH OF HIS BODY and shedding of his blood sufficiently ransomed redéemed vs this cannot be spoken in plainer and exacter terms then they haue proposed it and proued it And therfore you and others shal doe well not to make al the ancient learned lights of Christs Church so ignorant in their Créed Catechisme as not to know how they were saued by y e Crosse death of Christ before your hellish paines of the damned were of late deuised Your better sifting of this matter is the open wresting and forcing of the scriptures against their true proper and perpetual sense to serue your strange conceits And as you do with the scriptures you must be suffered to do with the Fathers which you produce that is to put theÌ„ quite from their own meaning frame their words to your fancies before any man can tell to what end you cite them The first word you quote out of Ierom you falsifie by putting maledictum to it where Ierom doth not so but simply saith VVHAT VVE should haue suffered for our sinnes that he suffered for vs. The very next words that are his owne for he interposeth a place of Scripture that in his fâ—esh Christ dissolued our enmitie with God and healed vs with his stripes are these Ex quo perspicuum est sicut corpus flagellatum laceratum ita animam verè doluisse pro nobis Whereby it is euident that as his bodie was whipped and torne so his soule truely sorrowed for vs. Here you must be permitted to adde of your owne besides Ieroms meaning that this sorrow was your hellish sorrow or else I cannot sée why you cited Ierom except it were to falsifie him But how and why Christ sorrowed for vs when Ieroms own words were alleaged by me your answer was this is more fond and absurd than the other Cyprians words you neither vnderstand nor like he saith that Christ taking our person and cause vpon him sayd in our names that he was forsaken Quod pro eis voluisti intelligi qui deseri à Deo propter peccata meruerant quorum reconciliationis causam agebas which he would haue to be vnderstoode of vs or for vs who deserued by our sinnes to be forsaken of God whose reconciliation he then vndertooke So S. Austen expounded those words of Christ My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Illa vox membrorum ipsius vox erat non capitis that voyce was the voice of his members and not of the head but you could not endure either Austen or my other father so to say without controlement But Cyprian saith Christ endured like punishment to those that be sinners accursed In part not in all otherwise he must haue suffered eternall death of bodie and soule and therefore expounding himselfe in the next sentence he saith In tantum infirmis compateris vt nec crucifigi nec mori dum illi viuant non pereant nec erubescas nec formides So far didst thou suffer with the weake that thou didst neither shame to be crucified nor feare to dye so they might liue and not perish Ambrose saith With the sorrow of his soule Christ abolished the sorrow of our soules Here you must haue leaue to bring in your hellish sorrowes against Ambroses minde or else this is but lost labour the causes of Christs heauines and sorrow when I repeated out of this very place of Ambrose you reiected them as fond and false and now with the bare name of sorrow you think Ambrose dreamt of your hell paines For shame reade out the chapter and leaue these mistakings But Ambrose saith the man in Christ now readie to die by the separation of the Diuinite cried my God my God why hast thou forsaken me A man dieth when his soule leaueth his body Christ therefore ready to die the death of the body which was left of y e deitie vnto death by withdrawing it selfe for a time vttered these words Death of the soule or dereliction vnto hell paines there are none to be found in Ambrose nor any words sounding that way vnlesse you peruert them at your pleasure The words next going before are these Gloriosa Dei professio vsque ad mortem se pro nostris descendisse peccatis vel euidens manifestatio contestantis Dei secessionem Diuinitatis CORPORIS It was a glorious profession of God that he descended euen vnto death for our sins or an euident manifestation of God witnessing the departure of his Diuinitie from HIS BODIE when it dyed The next words of Ambrose why you alleage I doe not sée but to make vp the number which is very smale and lesse forcible Who doubteth but Christ offered that which he put on He put on his body his body he offered S. Paul will tell what Christ offered We are sanctified by the offering of the bodie of Iesus Christ once made Your own author Saint
of Christ least we mistake the truth or distrust the force thereof to the dishonour of Christ and danger of our owne soules To preuent this perill I thinke best to obserue this order in that which shall be saide â—o shewe first what the Crosse of Christ CONTAINETH next what the crosse of Christ PERFORMETH that knowing the contents and effectes of Christs crosse I meane the paines which he suffered and the worke which he accomplished by dying on the crosse we may be setled and assured how far it extended and what it effected for vs. To begin with the CONTENTS of Christes crosse The crosse is sometimes taken in the Scripture for all manner of affliction He that will come after me let him denie himselfe and dailie take vp his crosse and follow me He that doth not take vp his Crosse and follow me is not worthy of me In this sence saieth Bernarde The whole life of Christ was a crosse and a martyrdom The reason 〈◊〉 Christ so vsed the worde for he first vsed it was for that he saw before hande that going to his crosse he should taste all kindes of calamities and so came it to passe For betwéene his last supper and his death hee was betraied of Iudas abiured of Peter forsaken of all his followers hee was wrongfulliâ— imprisoned falselie accused vniustlie condemned he was buffeted whipped scorned reuiled he endured colde nakednes thirst wounding hanging shame reproch and all sortes of deadlie paines besides heauinesse of heart and agonie of mind which oppressed him in the garden Rightlie then maie the crosse note all maner of miseries forasmuch as our Sauiour going from the garden to the graue suffered all sortes of afflictions howbeit this is no different signification but rather a participation of the crosse of Christ. The Church of Rome hath wedded a great part of her deuotion to the crosse of Christ but vnder that name she adoreth the matter and forme of the crosse as for the force and effects of Christs death which is remission of our sinnes satisfaction of Gods wrath and donation of eternall life she prodigallie imparteth that to her pilgrimages pardons purgatorie yea to the works and praiers of quicke and dead and so magniâ—â—eng the signe and wood of the crosse she dishonoreth the merite and fruit of Christ crucified But of her painted and caâ—ued crosses the scripture maketh no mention and therefore I shipt it rather as a manifest illusion then anie signification of the crosse of Christ. Most commonlie in the Scriptures by the crosse of Christ the holie Ghost meaneth the person suffering and the paine suffered on the crosse that is the punishments and torments which the sonne of God suffered for our sinnes after he was fastened to the tree the rest which went before not being excluded as superfluous but continued and increased by that sharpe and extreame martyrdome which hee endured on the crosse And so Christ crucified as the scriptures describe him had from top to toe no part frée from paine and griefe but hoong on the wood hauing his flesh torne with whippes his chéekes swolne with buffets his face defiled with spittle his head stuckt full with thornes his eies deiected for shame his eares burning with taunts his mouth sowred with vineger his hands and feete wounded with Iron spikes his bones vniointed his sinewes pricked and strained his whole body hanging by the sorenesse of his hands and feet and lastlie though he were first dead his heart pierced with a Speare whence issued bloud and water His bodie thus wounded and tortured vnto death his bloud thus shed and as it were powred on the earth are said in the scriptures to be the ransome of our sinnes and price of our redemption Hee bare our sinnes in his body vpon the Crosse saith Peter and again You are redeemed with the precious bloud of Christ as of a lambe vnspotted and vndefiled I do not amplifie the bodilie paines which Christ suffered of purpose to make them séeme greater then they were I find my selfe rather vnable to expresse them but least wee should too much diminish them and aske What great matter it was for him to go securely and as it were sportinglie to his death I thought good shortlie to touch them and leaue the fuller and further consideration of them to the godlie at their priuate leysure In the meane time I may not omit in his Stripes Thornes Crucifying and Death to obserue that which the Reader will happilie ouerskippe in the historie of his passion vnlesse hee be both aduised and learned In his STRIPES I note that Pilate hauing a purpose to saue the life of Christ and not neglecting to satisfie the people that were incensed against him caused him extreamly to be whipped and shewed to the people in that plight with these worde Ecce homo Behold y e man to let them see that Christ had receiued very sufficient correction no crime being prooued agaâ—â—st him and so to withdraw them from seeking his death â—n CROVVNING him with thornes the souldiers did not onelâ—e wreath him a thicke crowne of thornes to sticke his head full of them but after the putting it on to fasten it they did strike him on the heade with their Canes as Matthew and Marke do plainlie testifie In NAILING him to the Crosse besides the greatnesse and sorenesse of his wounds which were worthie to be marked they so strained his bodie least hee should stirre hand or foote that all his bones might bee numbred The greatnesse of his woundes Dauid foreshewed by thâ—se wordes Foderunt manus meas pedes meos they digged my handes and my feete noting howe wide woundes they made in both which were rather digged than pierced and so bigge were the nailes as the Ecclesiasticall historie reporteth that Constantine made of them when his mother had found them in the mount where Christ was crucified A bridle and an helmet for his owne vse How tender and sensible the hands feét are aboue other partes of the bodie and what paine and anguish the pricking straining and tearing of the sinewes ligaments and ioynts in either which are verie thicke and full of sense in both those places did bréede and kindle in the whole bodie nature can teach vs without anie further proofe Of RACKING his ioints Bernard maketh this collection out of Dauid Tantum distentus sumâ— vt corpore nudo in moduÌ„ Tympanicae pellis distonto facile possint omnia ossa mea dinumerari I am so strained saith he in the person of Christ that my bodie naked beeing stretched like the head of a timbrell or drum all my bones may be numbred If this proofe reach not home Dauid hath plainer and expresser wordes in the 14. verse of the same Psalme which cannot be contradicted HITH PAREDV .i. Separauerunt se omnia ossamea All my bones are out of ioint or pulled one from the other In this
hope For he that beléeueth and hopeth in God cannot trulie saie that God hath forsaken his soule he may complaine that God doth not deliuer him from dangers and troubles assaulting him which the weakenesse of man thinketh a kinde of forsaking Mine enemies saith Dauid take counsell saying God hath forsaken him pursue him there is none to deliuer him But this is no forsaking of the soule so long as that part of man trusteth in God which is created chiefelie to enioie God Nowe by faith hope and loue the soule of man enioieth God in this life and hee that enioieth God is not forsaken of God Yea whosoeuer hopeth in him neither is nor euer shall be forsaken For hope doth not confound was there euer any confounded that put his trust in the Lorde or who hath continued in his feare and hath beene forsaken or whome did he euer despise that called vpon him Then if out of these wordes we will infer that Christes soule was truelie forsaken of God it cannot bee auoided but this inwarde perswasion in Christ that his soule was forsaken during from the time of his agonie in the garden till his complaint on the crosse which was aboue 18. houres was manifest desperation vnlesse wee saie Christ was deceiued in so thinking which is as great an errour on the other side For if his faith hope and loue were still fixed on God and no waie decaied he could with no truth saie that his soule was vtterlie forsaken Againe the soule that is forsaken of God must néedes be separated from God For he that cleaueth vnto the Lorde is one spirit with him so not forsaken of him Yf then Christs soule were seuered from God it could haue no mutuall congruence much lesse naturall coherence with God There must bee a spirituall communion in grace or else there can be no personall vnion in nature As the soule doth communicate her effects to the bodie with which shee is coupled so must the deitie make the humane nature of Christ partaker of those graces and giftes which maie come from the godhead before we can trulie saie that the one is personallie ioyned with the other The participation and fruition of God is not in words or thoughtes but in déedes and effects In whom then the spirit of God dwelleth not with his force and fruites let him neuer deceiue his hart that he hath any fellowship with God Nowe in Christ was the fulnesse of Gods spirit and grace God measured not his spirit to him but of his fulnesse we all haue receaued So that if the fulnesse of grace failed in the soule of Christ the vnitie of his person was vtterly dissolued For without a communion there can be no coniunctioÌ„ of two natures in Christ. If there were an effectuall and full communion there could be no reall nor generall dereliction Insomuch that the verie flesh of Christ though it were left vnto death yet was it not vtterlie forsaken of the deitie but preserued euen in the graue from corruption and raised againe with greater perfection then before besides the wonderfull conquest it had ouer death Which plainelie proue the Godheade was neuer separated from the bodie of Christ though the soule for a time departed that death and hell might bee destroied If the deitie did neuer forsake the bodie no not in death much lesse did it euer forsake the soule which alwaies had an vnseparable coniunction and vnceaseable communion with the godhead of Christ. Lastlie no sence could bee deuised more repugnant and opposite to all that Christ saide or did after his agonie then this last found exposition or rather deprauation of his words To the high priest asking him whether he were Christ the son of y e blessed God he answered I am and ye shall see the son of man sit at the right hande of the power of God and come in the cloudes of heauen Christ was and must be farre from distrusting or doubting that which he resolutelie affirmeth shal come to passe euen in the eies of his enemies When they fastened him to the crosse hee said Father forgiue them they know not what they do Could he intreate and obtaine pardon for others that found himselfe to be forsaken of God To the thiefe that hung by him and desired to be remembred when he came to his kingdome he answered Verilie I saie to thee thou shalt this day bee with me in paradise Could hee giue paradise to others with so great confidence that coulde not then assure himselfe of Gods fauour yea as these men will haue it that was abandoned and forsaken of God The Centurion that had the charge to see him put to death and heard him speake these words neuer conceiued that he was reiected or estranged from God but contrariwise confessed Truelie this man was the sonne of God Christ himselfe Knowing all thinges that should come vnto him saide to his disciples Behold the houre is come that ye shall be scattered and leaue me alone but I am not alone for the father is with me Now if God were with him when his disciples left him as he himselfe witnesseth howe could his soule be forsaken of God of Christ crucified Dauid saith as Peter expoundeth his wordes I alwaies beheld the Lord before me euen at my right hand that I should not bee shaken If Christ had all the time of his passion the fauour of God so constant and the power of God so present that hee coulde not be so much as mooued or swaied to and fro for so the wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe signifie that I should not waue vp and downe but stâ—nd fired and assured how could that parte of Christ which enioied so manifestlie the sight of Gods countenance and strength of Gods assistance be forsaken or refused of God And out of this complaint that he was forsaken if we inferre the paines of hell wee conclude directlie against Christes wordes in the 16. psalme Non derelinques animam meam in inferno Thou wilt not forsake my soule in hell Christs soule was not forsaken in hell if then it were forsaken on the crosse it is euident that there it suffered not hell for in hell it was neuer forsaken And therefore turne and winde the wordes of Christ which way they will or can this expositionâ—punc which they fasten vnto them is a manifest contradiction to all that Christ did or saide on the crosse and namelie to that assertion of Dauid in the person of Christ Thou wilt not forsake my soule in hell Then are there in the sacred scriptures neither anie predictions that Christ shoulde suffer the paines of hell in his soule here on earth nor causes why he must suffer them nor Signes that he did suffer them and consequentlie whatsoeuer is pretended no proofe that these sufferings must be added to the crosse of Christ before the worke of our saluation can be perfect And for my
must not stumble at anie of these stones much lesse make such a shipwracke of faith and hope as if hee DID ALMOST PERSVVADE HIMSELFE that hee was DROVVNED and PERISHED in the gulfe of perdition But the vehemencie of paine some thinke might for the time wrest frō Christ the remembrāce of Gods eternal decree promise so shake y e perswasion otherwise settled in his hart y t God had sworne he would not faile Dauid I had rather confesse mine ignorāce in not vnderstanding then shew any skill in refelling this answere It is true that a mightie feare may so affect a man for the time that it shall hinder the sences from recouering themselues and stop the faculties from informing one the other But this must bee some suddaine obiect astonishing the heart and so terrible that it suffereth vs not presentlie to gather our wits together and to consider of it But what is this to our purpose was Christ in a traunce on the crosse and so continued eightéen houres from his entering into the garden after supper to the ending of his life the next daie at three of the clocke after noone and all this while so affrighted and amazed that hee could not remember he was the sonne of God and sent to redeeme the world his words and déedes at his apprehension at his examination before the chiefe Priestes and Elders at his condemnation by Pilate at his crucifixion and expiration doe they make anie proofe or giue any signe of a man in a maze when hee boldelie professed himselfe before the high Priest TO BE THE SONNE OF GOD when he tolde Pilate as well the cause why HE VVAS BORNE as the place whence he had POVVER OVER HIM when hee warned the women of Ierusalem TO VVEEPE FOR THEMSELVES and their children when hee praied for his persecutors as NOT KNOVVING VVHAT THEY DID and promised PARADISE to the penitent thiefe that hung by him when he bequeathed the care of his MOTHER to the fidelitie of his DISCIPLE and COMMENDED HIS SPIRIT into the handes of his father was his memorie or vnderstanding taken from him by feare in anie of these actions or doe we not rather see his death answerable to his life that is full of constancie clemencie fidelitie and piety If anie be otherwise minded God graunt they be not in a déepe traunce of selfe-liking that will rather challenge Christes memorie then suspect their owne fansie Coulde he forget himselfe to be the sonne of God that so often and openlie called God his FATHER that in the heate of his agony praying vsed none other stile but O MY FATHER that in the counsell of the Scribes and Elders woulde not conceale himselfe to be THE SONNE OF GOD no not to saue his life but said I AM the sonne of the blessed that dying committed his spirit to his FATHERS HANDS he remembred to call for drinke that the scripture might bee fulfilled and knew that all things touching him were performed and had he forgotten who he was or why he came into the world euen to saue that which was lost And in all good sort to admonish them that are learned to looke a little better before they resolue on so strange a conclusion in diuinitie if wee put Christ in such a maze on the crosse that for feare he forgate his fathers counsell purpose promise voice and oath yea his own function vnion and person what obedience or patience what humility or charitie do we leaue him in suffering the death of the crosse what vertue find me where remembrance faileth or what merite is it for a man to be amazed how hangeth this with their owne position that the sense and suffering of Gods wrath in the soule of Christ is the chiefest and principallest part of our redemption is it so materiall for mans saluation as they affirme and can it not be maintained but by taking from Christ both iudgement and memorie is this that great mysterie of deuotion which true religion may not endure except wee suppose the sonne of God to be for feare besides himselfe haue they not spun a faire thread to be so zealous for Christs suffering the verie paines of hell here on earth and when all is done their assertion cannot bee saued from impietie but by casting Christ into a fit of a Lethargie for that God was in deede angrie and offended with his owne sonne is odious and enormous blasphemie That Christ so conceaued and perswaded himselfe or so dissembled when there was no such cause chargeth the sonne of God not onelie with falsitie but with infidelitie To decline both these mischiefes there is no meane left but to saie that the verie force of paine made Christ forget both his owne person and his Fathers eternall counsell and loue towardes him which is to flie one absurditie with an other For though by this maze they excuse Christ from sinne as being neither aduised nor suffered by feare to be master of himselfe yet by the same they exclude him from all the graces and vertues of his passion on which our saluation is grounded and leaue him as without memorie so without merite since the faculties of the mind ouerwhelmed and astonished with feare or paine haue no full apprehension much lesse iust deliberation and least of all free election of good and euil In which case if we suppose our Sauiour to haue bin during his suffering on the crosse we shew our selues to be void of all vnderstanding in that we cleaue to our own fansies against the witnes both of nature scripture Read who list the maner of Christs praying answering suffering before at his death tel me wherin he shewed any defect of iudgment or want of remēbring Peter saith Christ suffered for vs leauing vs an example that we should follow his steps If he were stroken with feare besides himselfe it is a bad example for vs to follow But in déede he neither did nor spake anie thing no not in the mids of his paines but verie aduisedlie quietly religiously obediently such as might wel beseeme the Sauiour of the world humbled in our flesh and chastised for our sinnes but no way partner of our impatient and sinnefull affections He wauered some thinke in his praiers and corrected himselfe as ouershot in that he asked at his fathers hands such holdfast they take of his wordes that faine would haue his wittes amazed with their imagined feare and horrour of hell fire But by their patience their expositions must not looke to bee canonicall in the church of God If they saie anie thing well wee take it with their prayse if otherwise as men they misse their marke wee refuse it with their leaues God hath called vs vnto libertie not to be seruantes of men and to serue erroneous constructions is worse than to beare tyrannous exactions Was Christ vnaduised in his praiers in the garden
and did hee reuoke that which suddainly slipt from him All praier without faith is sin in Gods sight What then was Christs praier if it were directlie bent against the determined purpose and reuealed will of God but euident sinne His thrise repeating the selfe same words with good distance of time betwéene and aduised and vehement zeale what was it if it still needed to bee reuoked and amended but a voluntary spurning at the stedfast decree and eternall counsell of God for mans redemption But god forbid we should so coÌ„ceiue of our sauior as if there were in his deeds words or thoughts the least inclination to contradict his fathers resolution He was not onely patient without refusing but obedient without misliking his fathers wil. Esay saith of him He was oppressed and afflicted yet did hee not open his mouth Hee was brought as a sheepe to the slaughter and as a Lambe is dumbe before his shearer so opened hee not his mouth Doth the holie ghost giue him this testimonie that hee mildelie and silentlie bare all the oppressions and afflictions that were laide on him and shall we dare auouch that hee vehementlie and often struggled and striued in his praiers against the knowne will of his Father and sought by all meanes to decline the worke for which hee came into the worlde His flesh they will saie feared death though his spirit submitted it selfe to the will of his heauenlie Father As if his flesh did praie and not his spirite if then his praiers were passionate and vnaduised his spirit cannot bee excused from consenting and yeelding thereto And where do we learne that Christes flesh refused the lawe of his minde and so preuailed against the spirite that it wrested from him inconsiderate and disobedient thoughtes and wordes or when wee thus saie doe wee not plainelie bring the sonne of GOD within the communion of our sinnefull corruption But his spirit was amazed with feare and so hee knewe not what he praied We take too much vpoÌ„ vs to put Christ besides himselfe when it pleaseth vs. His praiers in the garden were zealous but religious vehement but reuerent mourneful but faithful He offered vp strong cries and teares but HE VVAS HEARD in that he asked and so long as God performed what Christ desired it is more then presumption to challenge his praiers as inconstant and wauering For my part though I could not conceiue the sense of Christes praier in the garden yet do I fully resolue he was most assured in faith his praier should take effect His ofteÌ„ repeating y e same words noteth how great a thing hee requested at his fathers hands which yet he obtained though it were neuer so great That which you call a reuocation I take to bee a limitation wherby Christ declared he neuer ment to aske or haue any thing against his fathers liking nor in any sort to prefer his owne choise or ease before his fathers will If this be a trance then faith and obedience are no fruits of Gods spirit but fits of a distempered humor and in the end we shall conclude godlines to be madnes For greater submissioÌ„ or more deuotioÌ„ then Christ vttered in that agony can no man shew If therfore we condemne this as a maze in Christ when shal zealous and deuout persons be in their wits But the scripture saith he was AFRIGHTED ASTONISHED The liuely beholding of Gods maiesty or maÌ„s misery might both afright astonish his humane nature on the suddaine but presently recollecting himselfe he fell to vehement and intentiue praier and therein continued almost an houre not warbling in his wordes nor wauering in his petitions or affections but perseuering in the same minde in the same matter till he obtained his desire Nowe to be abashed at Gods presence declared his pietie and to bee stricken at the heart with the feeling of vengeance prouided for vs commended his charitie Lay these two deuotion to God and compassion towards men as the grounds causes of his Agonie and you shall easily cleare this foule heape of absurdities and impieties that now pursueth the contrarie position It is humilitie for mans infirmitie to shake and tremble at the appearance of Gods glorie It is mercie to stand defixed and euen astonished with the sense and griefe of mans finall iudgement and eternall punishment From this fountaine that is from the meditation of the diuine Maiestie and commiseration of humane miserie if we deriue the HEAVINES of heart FEARE and ASTONISHMENT which Christ suffered or shewed in his agony we can do him no wrong because the more violent the more eminent signes they were of submission to God and compassion on man his faith and loue not being oppressed with stupiditie but inflamed with such vehemencie that the weakenesse of mans flesh not able to followe the readinesse of his spirit rauished with a wonderfull feruencie to giue himselfe to saue the worlde might for the time faile in the exteriour actions and offices of the bodie But we must beware that we continue not this astonishment when he came to his praiers For in praier the heart must be not one lie prepared and aduised but sincerelie affected and wholie deuoted to aske nothing but that which tendeth to Gods glorie and agreeth with Gods will He that otherwise asketh anie thing at Gods hands prayeth not but presumptuouslie tempteth God and seeketh to make the wisedome and power of God seruiceable to his corrupt appetites You knowe not what you aske said Christ to the sonnes of Zebedee when he refused their petition and reproued their follie How shall we beléeue wee shall receiue if we aske we knowe not what Faith must be rightlie direcâ—ed and throughlie perswaded before it can obtaine Christes prayers then in the garden were neither abrupt without sense nor wauering without faith that they néeded bee excused or corrected but his deuotion was instant and perswasion constant that he should preuaile and therefore hee ceased not to aske the selfe same thing thrise till hee was heard and strengthened by an Angel from heauen He asked that they will say which was not granted I am resolutelie of another minde My reasons are first the Apostle sayeth HE VVAS HEARD offering vp strong cries and teares Secondlie Christ himselfe sayeth Father I thanke thee because thou hast heard me I knowe THOV HEAREST ME ALVVAYES And howe coulde it be otherwise For if he prayed according to the will of God he must needes bee heard and agaynst the will of God hee neither did nor woulde praie For that were sinne in him that was not ignorant of Gods will both determined and reuealed And God forbid we should bee so wicked as to say or thinke that Christ would thrise in most earnest prayer impugne his fathers will so well knowne and so often foretolde by his owne mouth I beléeue rather his owne report of himselfe for hee coulde not lie I doe nothing sayde
hee of my selfe but as my father hath taught mee so speake I these thinges For hee that sent mee is with mee the Father hath not left mee alone because I DOE ALVVAYES the thinges THAT PLEASE HIM Though I beare recorde of my selfe my recorde is true FOR I KNOVVE VVHENCE I CAME AND VVHITHER I GOE As hee coulde not bee ignorant so coulde hee not bee forgetfull of his Fathers counsell and decree The glorie of God might appall him at the entrance into his prayers but his constant continuing one and the same request to his Father three seuerall turnes with intermission of time and admonition to his Disciples to watch and praie prooueth hee had not forgotten himselfe that still persisted in his purpose nor yet striued agaynst his Fathers will in that his prayer was accepted and assured from heauen Did then the cup passe from him which was the summe of his prayer No doubt it did in that sense which he desired The cup mingled by Gods iust iudgment for the sin of man did passe both from him and vs by force of his prayer not that hee did not taste of it but in that yeelding himselfe to the temporall and corporall chasticement thereof hee quenched the spirituall and eternall vengeance that was consequent after death the abolishing whereof was a worke worthie of the sonne of God and a memorable effect of that earnest and instant prayer which our Sauiour made in the Garden thereby shutting vp hell and opening heauen to all his members And for that cause the Prophet Esay ioyneth his patient suffering and vehement praying as needfull groundes of our redemption hee bare the sinne of manie and PRAYED for the TRESPASSERS and the Apostle reckoneth Christs PRAIERS OFFERED VVITH TEARES and his paines suffered through obedience as principall parts of his Priesthood and effectuall sacrifices for the sinnes of the people As praying in the garden Christ must be frée from forgetting either his fathers will or loue so suffering on the crosse he must haue not onely patience and obedience but intelligence assurance that the bloudy sacrifice which he offered should be accepted as the propitiation for our sinnes and himselfe exalted from the shame and paine of the crosse to euerlasting honour ioy and glorie He did not offer himselfe on the altar of the crosse supposing or presuming it might please God thereby to be fauourable vnto man but as hee came into the world annointed and sent of purpose to saue his people from their sinnes so did hee humble himselfe to the death of the Crosse beeing thereto appoynted by his heauenlie father and therefore most assured that God was immutablie determined to accept his sacrifice for the sin of the world and by the bloud of his crosse to set at peace thinges both in heauen and in earth and to reconcile vs that were straungers and enemies in euill woorkes through death in the bodie of his flesh to make vs holie and without fault in the sight of God This Saint Paule saith was Gods GOOD PLEASVRE to which Christ was OBEDIENT therefore neither ignorant of it nor doubtfull in it but assuredlie resolued with fulnesse of faith and hope that he which had decreed it could not be changed and that God which had sent him would not deceiue him And for that cause the Apostle maketh the death of Christ to be a SACRIFICE OF A SVVEET SMELLING SAVOVR VNTO GOD and saith that Iesus the authour finisher of our faith FOR THE IOY VVHICH VVAS SET BEFORE HIM endured the crosse and despised the shame thereof and is placed on the right hand of the throne of God So that howsoeuer late writers haue found out the terror of Gods wrath and horror of eternall death in the soule of Christ suffering the Apostle teacheth vs that Christ hanging in the shame and paine of the crosse had not onelie peace and fauour with god as offering a sweet smelling sacrifice but also ioy before his eies of euerlasting glory at the right hand of y e throne of God And with him agrée both Peter Dauid when they bare witnes of Christ that his HEART VVAS GLAD his TONGVE IOIFVL and that euen HIS FLESH should REST IN HOPE notwithstanding the anguish of death force of the graue and fury of hell For God would neither forsake his soule in hell nor suffer his flesh to sée corruption Dare anie man doubt of this doctrine which is so clearelie and fullie deliuered vs in the Scriptures Or make wee a pastime of it in fauour of our fansies to ouerturne the verie principles of truth Christ suffered for vs leauing vs an example that wee shoulde followe his steppes For if wee suffer with him wee shall bee glorified with him Must we suffer the paines of the damned afore we may hope to be partakers of his glorie The gaine which we haue in Christ when wee haue refused all thinges as vile for his sake is to knowe the fellowshippe of his afflictions and to bee conformed vnto his death if by anie meanes wee may attaine to the resurrection of the deade Shall the communion of Christes sufferings bring vs to the true torments of hell and must we perswade our selues that wee are forsaken of God afore wee can bee conformed to his death Reioyce sayth Peter when yee doe communicate with Christes sufferings Must we then REIOICE in the horror of hell and bee glad of Gods displeasure towards vs I thinke not Howe farre fuller of comfort is the Apostles doctrine where he saith As the sufferinges of Christ abound in vs so our consolation aboundeth through Christ. And our hope is stedfast concerning you that as you are partakers of the sufferinges so shall you bee of the comforts What comfort these men can finde in the paines of the damned I knowe not they else where seeme to say that all feares and griefes all terrors and tormâ—nts are trifles vnto the sense and feeling of Gods displeasure and iust indignation but the holie Ghost I am sure proposeth to vs the Crosse of Christ as the waie to perfection that neuer wanteth consolation For therein though our outwarde man perish yet the inwarde man is daylie renued and when our bodies die to sinne as did Christes our soules liue to God as did his Excellentlie doth the Apostle describe the comfort of Christes Crosse in all the faythfull when hee sayeth Wee are afflicted on euerie side but not ouerpressed wanting but not vtterlie destitute persecuted but not forsaken falling but not perishing alwayes bearing about in our bodie the dying of the Lorde Iesu that the life of Iesu might bee manifest in our bodyes For wee whiles wee liue are still deliuered vnto death for Iesus sake that the life of Iesu might bee manifest in our mortall flesh Christ then in the mortification of his bodie on the Crosse was neither OVERâ—RESSED FORSAKEN nor PERISHING
sufficiently authorized so generally acknowledged should bee controlled or corrected either by the dangerous deuises of some late writers or by the vnsetled humours of some late teachers Hold therefore in Gods name close to the rules of the holie ghost close to the words of the christian catholicke Fathers close to the lawes of this realme they all concur and conioine together howsoeuer some giddie spirits haue lately buzzed in your eares that I impugned the doctrine of the church of England I Haue deliuered you foure effectes of Christes crosse the merite of his suffering which was infinite the maner of his offering which was bloudie the power of his death which was mightie the comfort of his crosse which was and is necessary for vs all there remaineth the glorie of his resurrection which was heauenlie of which I did not purpose to speake when I first entred this matter but the ignorance of some imagining I denied the Article of the Créede HE DESCENDED INTO HELL for descent but on the crosse they admit none and the zeale of others importuning me to knowe what they might safelie beléeue touching that article hath made me to change my mind and in this last part to shewe that I neither frustrate the faith nor alter the Créede by anie thing that I affirme or refuse Where to let you see the multiplicitie of mens wits and conceites there are foure seuerall opinions that take holde euerie one of this Article of our Créede and chalenge the true meaning thereof as their peculiar and vndoubted right The FIRST applieth it to the soule of Christ suffering on the crosse the SECOND to the bodie of Christ buried the THIRD to the state of Christes soule seuered by death from the bodie the LAST to the conquest and triumph which the humane soule of Christ had ouer hell by the glorie of his resurrection as his bodie had ouer death Which of these hath the best right and fittest sense to be an article of our créede wil appeare by comparison in the end and vpshot of all in the meane while I will shortlie sift them that you maie sée the substance of them and so be able the better to iudge of them The first is the verie same which I haue alreadie handled and refused as not consonant to the christian faith but rather repugnant to the dignitie certainty sanctity of Christs person coniunction communion with God The scriptures auouch that Christs SOVLE was IN HELL but not whiles he liued here on earth it was a consequent to his death and no part of his suffering on the crosse as I shewed before And since the times do so much varie there can be no truth in taking the one for the other In this life God sometimes suffereth the sorowes and feares of hell to besiege his seruantes and bringeth them euen vnto hell but his saints descend not into hell feare may humble them that would otherwise presume of themselues or make triall howe fast they stande on that foundation against the which the gates of hell shall not preuaile but this conflict of conscience must resolue on the assurance of Gods fauour except they yéelde themselues vnto to despaire In Christ as there was no vse so was there no place for anie such temptation There was in him no danger of pride to exalt him and therefore no neede of feare to depresse him no slacknesse or coldnesse coulde take holde of him and so no terror requisite to awake him from sleepe or inflame his zeale generallie there was in him no corruption of nature no infection of sinne no wauering of faith no want of grace no doubt of Gods fauour and so those dreadfull thoughts and feares of hell which amaze other could not arise within his heart but all the paines and griefes which the sonne of God felt in his pretious bodie or righteous soule as they were VOLVNTARY for our example and SATISFATORIE for our sinne and not MEDICINABLE for anie infirmitie of his nor PROFITABLE to bring him to perfection of holinesse as they are in vs so were they proportioned to his person that was most assured of Gods euerlasting loue and to his gifts that could endure no inward decrease and therefore hee must in this point differ from all the saints of God that euer were or euer shall be on earth For they may be tossed with the waues of temptation rising from the remembrance of sinne remorse of conscience but our Sauiour as he was frée from all touch of sinne so was he from all feare of heart that hee should or might bee reiected from Gods fauour or adiudged to euerlasting death Smart paine and griefe of bodie or minde be it neuer so great will commende his obedience and patience but the SENSE of damnation or separation from God or the FEARE or DOVBT thereof in Christ as they quench faith and abolish grace so they dissolue the vnion and communion of both his natures or else bréede a false perswasion and sinnefull temptation in the soule of Christ. In vs that haue infinitelie prouoked the iustice of God it is the true beholding what wee haue deserâ—ed if God be not pleased for Christs sake to pardon and forgiue vs In Christ that was perfectlie righteous and personallie ioyned with God there coulde bee no apprehension of hell paines as due vnto him or determined for him without renouncing his innocencie and leauing the vnitie of his person and consequentlie hee must find or feare that God would be inconstant and vniust which are more then hainous impieties For Christ coulde not FEARE or DOVBT his owne saluation but he must feare or doubt that either his humane nature should bee separated from his diuine or his diuine together with his humane bee cast into hell fier from which the Lord blesse the tongues and thoughts of al christian men As for Christs not remeÌ„bring in a maze that he was the son of God sauiour of the world is a seely shift to shun these inconueniencies I had rather simply deny then any way beléeue this kind of descending into hel Do I charge then anie man with vpholding these impieties God forbid I sée by their own words they purpose and professe by al meanes to decline them no doubt detest them but I confesse my dulnes that sée not how to auoide the one if I auouch the other If we take hell paines METAPHORICALLY for great and intolerable paines in which sense the word maie bee vsed then it is no daunger to saie Christ suffered on the crosse the paines of hell because there canne bee no doubt but HIS PAYNES were exceeding GREATE and more SHARPE then wee canne conceiue or vtter But this is not the meaning of the Créede in that Article hee descended into Hell by reason there are wordes before inferring the paynes which hee SVFFERED when hee was CRVCIFIED If wee attribute the sense of Gods wrath and feeling of hell paynes vnto Christ
by waie of COGNITION and COMPASSION towardes vs forsomuch as the soule hath her sight and pittie hath her inwarde feeling of other mens miseries as if they were our owne it is no wrong to the person or function of our Sauiour for vs to confesse that hee considered and grieued to see the burthen of Gods euerlasting wrath due to our sinnes none otherwise then if himselfe had béene subiect thereto so long as we leaue him certaintie and securitie of his owne saluation our redemption that his bowels of mercie maie bee mooued and affected for our danger and not for his owne It is farre more religious to presse the soule of Christ with violent panges of griefe and sorrowe for our inquities and miseries then to touch him with anie feare or doubt of his own innocencie or safetie Charitie is a fitter Agonie for the sonne of God in our flesh then either timiditie or stupiditie and yet I do not thinke this to be the sense of the Creede when it saieth hee descended into hell for that it were somewhat strange to expresse the virtues of Christs suffering by his descending into hell And least the insolent sect of Iesuites shoulde take such pleasure as they doe in misconstruing other mens words and blazing them vnto the worlde as erroneous and impious let them remember that some of their owne side and those not of the meanest both for learning and religion amongst them haue not onelie waded as farre as anie other newe writers in this position but for ought that I reade haue gone farther howsoeuer they will defende it or excuse it Nicholaus Cusanus a Cardinall of their church and a great aduiser of the councell of Basill 50. yéeres before Luther appeared first broched this assertion Passio Christi qua maior nulla potest esse fuit vt damnatorum qui magic damnari nequeunt scilicet VSQVE AD POENAM INFERNALEM The suffering of Christ then the which there can be no greater was as of the damned which cannot bee more condemned EVEN VNTO THE PAINES OF HELL And againe Illam poenaÌ„ sensus CONFORMEM DAMNATIS IN INFERNO pati voluit in gloriam dei patris sui Thaâ— paine of feeling agreeable to the damned in hell Christ would suffer for the glory of God his father Augustinus Iustinianus that set out the Psalter in Hebrew with sixe translations and obseruations the same yéere that Luther beganne to write in his scholies vpon the 30 Psalme mentioneth this opinion of Cusanus and saith Se huius â—rudit issimi viri in omni scientia eminent issimi opinionem nec amplecti nec aspernari He neither embraceth nor reiecteth the opinion of that most learned man and excelling in all kinde of knowledge Iohannes Ferus a Franciscane and preacher at Mogunce about the same time that Caluine wrote goeth further then anie other writer that I haue read Commenting vpon these wordes of Christ My God my God why hast thou forsaken me he saith Exuit Christus hac horâ DEVM non abijciendo sed non SENYIENDO seposuit patrem vt hominem ageret Sic Deus pater nunc non patrem sed TYRANNVM AGIT quamuis interim amicissimo in Christum sit animo Illa Christi derelictio panor est conscientiae nostrae ob admissa peccata quae iudicium dei iram aeternam experitur sic afficitur quasi in perpetuum derelicta reiecta à facie Dei esset That verie hower Christ put off GOD not casting him away but not FEELING him he laid aside his father that he might shew himselfe to be a man So also God the father now taketh vnto him the PERSON not of a father but OF A TYRANT though in heart hee were most louing vnto Christ. That forsaking of Christ is the feare of our conscience for sinne committed which feeleth the iudgment and eternall wrath of God is so affected as if it were forsaken and reiected from the face of God for euer And as if this were not inough to say that Christ put off his diuine nature as hauing no féeling of it and God the father played the PART OF A TYRANT he goeth on and addeth Non solum supplicium à nobis meritum verum etiam DESPERATIONEM NOSTRAM in se transtulit Itaque Christus vt peccatores liberaret constituit seipsum in locum omnium peccatorum non quidem furans adulterans occidens c sed stipendium poenam meritum peccatorum quae sunt frigus calor esuries sitis timor tremor horror mortis horror inferni DESPERATIO mors INFERNVS IPSE in se transferens vt samem fame timorem timore horrorem â—orrore DESPERATIONEM DESPERATIONE mortem morte INFERNVM INFERNO breuiter SATANAM SATANA vinceret Christ did transferre to himselfe not onelie the punishment which wee had deserued but euen OVR DESPERATION And therefore Christ that hee might deliuer sinners set himselfe in the place of all sinners not by stealing adultering killing but by transferring vnto himselfe the wages punishment and desert of sinners which are heate and colde hunger and thirst feare and trembling horror of death HORROR OF HELL DESPERATION death HELL IT SELFE that he might ouercome hunger with hunger feare with feare horror with horror DESPERATION VVITH DESPERATION death with death HELL VVITH HELL and lastlie SATAN VVITH SATAN Trulie I knowe no man that so plainlie auoucheth Christ admitted and receyued vnto himselfe DESPERATION as this Frier doth For where other men warilie decline to say that CHRIST DESPAIRED this Franciscane boldlie saith Christ transferred vnto himselfe DESPERATION HELL yea THE DIVELL and all and was so affected for the time as if he had FELT THE ETERNALL VVRATH OF GOD and were REIECTED FOR EVER Could those quarrellers haue gotten the like aduantage against anie of our writers they would haue filled the world with their tragicall exclamations of HERESIE BLASPHEMIE TVRCISME PAGANISME and I knowe not what and therefore let them goe and washe their owne faces from these spottes before they declaime so violentlie agaynst our deformities And albeit I like not these spéeches either in theirs or ours yet I cleare them both from anie purpose of wilfull blasphemie They might be deceiued in the sequele of their assertion but sure they were neuer so vnaduised as to fasten either DESPERATION or DAMNATION on the soule of Christ. Perhappes they thought hee was besieged and assaulted with these temptations and that the humane nature of Christ being left to it selfe could not presentlie easilie stand cleare from the vengeance due to our sinnes but with some conflict and feare wrestled from vnder the weight of our iniquities and in this fight did sweat blood and spake as if he were forsaken yea Ferus seemeth to mean that Christ did voluntarilie take the burthen of desperation and damnation from vs and laid it on himselfe against whom it could not preuaile that by transferring those dangers from our persons
then descended Next that neither paradise nor Abrahams bosome which was the receptacle for y e soules of all the sonnes of Abraham that held the faith and did the works of Abraham was anie part or member of hell So that CHRISTS DESCENDING INTO HELL cannot be expounded of his conuersing with the spirites of the iust and perfect men after his death nor of his enduring the state of the deade since the place where their soules doe rest after death is no where in the scriptures called HELL or SHEOL or as S. Austen speaketh INFERI And this I take to be so cleere that neither Iewish Rabbines with their grammaticall obseruations nor Gréeke poets with their fantasticall imaginations may be suffered to contradict it Howe easie it is to wrangle with the words NEPHESH SHEOL and HADES a meane scholar maie soon perceiue but I hold it no sound course to fetch the explication of the mysteries of christian religion either from such impudent impugners of it as were the Rabbines or from such ignorant deluders of it as were the prophane poets who talke euerie where of heauen and hell according to the false and lewde perswasion of their own hearts And therfore they may spare their paines that promise vs so manie thousand deponentes both Iewish and heathen that Sheol and Hades do not signifie hell It wil trouble them more then they thinke to bring vs but one good proofe out of the scripture that the soules of the righteous before Christs comming were in Sheol or Hades and till they doe I rest on Saint Austens collection out of the wordes of Christ that Abrahams bosome is no péece nor part of Hades or Inferi which the hebrew calleth Sheol as being deuided from it with a mightie distance and that the soules of the iust departing this life before Christs death were CARIED VP BY THE ANGELS INTO ABRAHAMS BOSOME So that as yet wee haue not the true meaning of these words of our creed he was CRVCIFIED DEAD BVRIED HE DESCENDED INTO HEL neither doeth anie of the precedent opinions come nére the plaine and true exposition thereof For in my iudgement they must haue a sense both DIFFERENT in matter and CONSEQVENT in order euen as they lie before we can rightlie vnderstand thē First he must be DEAD then BVRIED in body which was laid in y e earth lastlie the soule after it was seuered by death from the bodie DESCENDED INTO HEL this third point he descended into hell must neither be ALLEGORIZED which in matters of faith is verie dangerous so long as the proper sense containeth a truth nor CONFOVNDED VVITH THE FORMER for so the Créed shal not shortly touch mysteries of religion but darckly trouble vs with phrases of variation And therefore for my part I retaine in expounding this Article 3. things DISTINCTION of matter CONSEQVENCE of order PROPRIETY of words and those thrée considered the sense of the Article maie must be that Christ after his BODY was BVRIED in SOVLE DESCENDED VNTO that place which the scripture properly calleth HEL this sense I find to be so far from any falsity or absurdity that it is more honorable to Christ and more comfortable to christians then any of the rest that we haue yet examined Which that you may the better perceiue giue me leaue somewhat farther to repeat the fruit and force of his glorious resurrection Christ is called the first fruits of them that slept not that neuer none before Christ was restored from the deade to liue héere on earth but though many were so reuiued againe yet from the foundation of the worlde not one was euer raised vnto a blessed and immortall life before Christ. Elias raised the widow of Sareptas sonne Elizeus the Sunamites Christ himselfe restored to life the daughter of Iairus the widowes onlie sonne of Naim and Lazarus yet all these after their returne to life were still subiect to sinne and death as they were before but he whom the scripture nameth the first begotten of the dead was indéede the first that euer rose from the deade into an happy and heauenly life For where man here on earth is beset with thrée dangers with SINNE during life with DEATH shortning life with HEL tormenting after life the iust vengeance of sinne deliuering the body to death the soule to hel the resurrection of Christ being the ful conquest of all his our enemies that impugne either his glory or our safety must ouerthrowe sinne death hel not in his own person onlie to whom no such thing was due but in our stéed for our good y t we might bee likewise fréed from the power of those foes and as members be ioyned vnto our head wholy without any hinderance euerlastingly without anie disturbance and ioyfully without any gréeuance Wherfore Christ rising into a SPIRITVAL IMMORTAL CELESTIAL life fréed vs from the dominion of sinne feare of death and fury of Satan and by quickening vs raising vs vp and setting vs together with himselfe in heauenly places hath not only giuen vs the victorie against sinne and death but euen trodden down Satan vnder our féet Of Christs conquest against sinne death I shall not néed to say much things not impugned require lesse paines to be defended his conquest ouerhel as in himself it shewed most power purchased most honor so from vs it deserueth greatest thanks as bringing vs greatest comfort that though sinne remaine death preuaile against our bodies there is yet no cause to feare or doubt the fulnesse and surenesse of our redemption since the strength of hell is altogether conquered abolished from the faithfull which before was the very sting of sinne and death As therfore Christ was deliuered to death for our sinnes and is risen againe for our iustification so by MERCY REMITTING and GRACE REPRESSING he pareth the branches and drieth the roote of sinne till the bodie of sinne and death turning to dust withering in the graue be restored againe after Christs example to perpetuall celestial life and blisse Insomuch that by lamenting sinne past and resisting sinne to come sin daily dieth in vs and the inward man of the heart being lightened and renewed by grace doth daily more and more by desire and delight of heauenly thinges aspire to the imitation and participation of Christes resurrection The force of sinne then being quenched by Christes dying vnto sinne and his rising againe vnto righteousnesse the power of death is abolished by the pardoning and decreasing of our sinnes that being nowe the passage to glorie for all repenters which before was the gate to hell for all transgressors In his owne person Christ shewed his conquest ouer death not by kéeping his flesh from death which he could easilie haue done but by sauing it from rotting in the sepulchre and by raising it againe into an immortall and glorious state that death being swallowed vp
contrarie to their course must needs import that he reioiced in nothing so much as in that shamefull death which the Sauiour of the world endured on the crosse and to that and he saieth in the former Chapter where hee more largelie hâ—ndleth this matter If I yet preach circumcision why doe I yet suffer persecution Then is the slaunder of the crosse abolished meaning there was none other cause why the Iewes hated and persecuted him but for preaching Christ crucified to bee the true and onlie meane of our saluation without circumcision or whatsoeuer ceremonies of the law As the text is cleere with the sense â—hich I followed so the fathers concurre with the same Christ saieth Austen chose that kind of death to hang on the crosse that a Christian might saie â—ar be it from me to reioice but in the crosse of Christ. Chrysostome vpon this place what is the reason saith hee that Paul so reioyceth in Christes crosse because Christ for my sake â—â—oke the shape of a seruant and for my sake endured that hee suffered Adding farâ—her Annon est gloriandum quum ille dominus quiverus est deus non erubescit pro nobis crucem subire Haue we not good cause to reioice when that Lord which is true God was not ashamed to endure the crosse for vs Paul doth not reioice saith Ierom in his owne righteousnesse or knowledge but in the faith of the crosse by which all my sinnes are pardoned me Christ bearing his crosse on his shoulders saith Bede commendeth it that Paul might saie be it far from me to reioice but in the crosse of Christ. He was despised in the eyes of the wicked for that wherein the heartes of the Saintes should reioice I staâ—e somewhat longer gentle Reader on this point for that as it had bin a childish ouersight in me at the verie first entrance to mistake the meaning of my text so it is more then a malepart tricke in him vniustlie to chalenge me for it but I maâ—e the better content my selfe with it since this Refuter sâ—icketh not to vse all the Fathers with like disdaine whereof I will giue thâ—e an example or two that thou maiest see the headinesse of this hasty writer In the contents of Christs crosse I obserued out of Augustine Ierom and Bernard that no violence of death wrested Christes soule from him as it doth ours but when he sawe his time hee euen at an instant laide it downe of himselfe no paines hastening his death This is a pâ—radoxe in Nature saieth this Controller and contrary to scripture which saith he was like vs in all things sinne only excepted You might giue the learned and auncient Fathers better wordes Sir trister what soeuer you do me your wits are too weake to refute their resolution For where like a Pâ—ncée you praie you know not what they ground themâ—â—lues on the plaine and expresse wordee of the scriptures No man saith our Sauiour taketh my soule from mee but I laâ—e it downe of my selfe I haue power to laie it downe and haue power to take it againe Howe thinke you Sir coulde anie violence or paines of death take Christes soule from him or had hee power to laie it downe when and as he woulde which no man else euer had or shall haue you replie he was like vs in all things sinne only excepted Such proofes became well your person Was he like vs in his birth can we lie in the graue without corruption as he laie or raise our selues from death as he did Reade more for shame and write lesse till you bee better aduised or better instructed Upon these words of Christ I haue power to laie down my soule and haue power to take it again Chrysostom writeth thus vtrumque nouum fuit praeter communem consuetudinem Potestatem habeo ponendi eam hoc est ego solus potestatem habeo quae vobis non est Both these powers were strange and aboue the common course of men I haue power to laie down my soule that is I ALONE haue this power which you haue not If you denie this that Chrysostom saith remember what God himselfe saith ô foole this night shal they fetch away thy soule froÌ„ thee which Christ saith none could do from him because he had power by his fathers appointment to laie it down of himselfe In like sort when I shewed not mine own opinion but the iudgments of the ancient fathers as well for the causes that might be of Christes agonie in the garden as for the meaning of his complaint on the crosse my God my God why hast thou forsaken me obserue gentle Reader I praie thee how absurdly he roleth from the one to the other how insolentlie he reiecteth al the fathers for that they vphold not his humour of hell paines to be the ground of both I alleaged Ierom and Chrysostom that Christ on the crosse cited the beginning of the 22. Psalme My God my God why hast thou forsaken me that the Iewes might knowe they had fulfilled the words of the prophet Dauid in that psalme foreshewing the passioÌ„ of Christ. His answere is this sence is most absurd To Athanasius Augustine and Leo that Christ spake those words in the person of his church which then suffered in him and with him he saith This is no lesse absurd then the former there is no reason or likelihood for it When I brought Ierom Ambrose Austen and Bede that in the garden Christ might sorrow for the reiection of the Iewes who would pul the vengeance of God on their owne heads to the vtter destruction of their whole nation by putting him to death this Confuter foolishly and forgetfâ—lly maketh this an interpretation of Christes complaint on the crosse and addeth This is more fond and absurd then the other So when among other causes of Christs agony in the garden that might â—e for I tooke vpon me to determine none being sixe in number I brought this for one out of Ambrose that Christ sorrowed for vs was SAD for vs and GRIEVED for vs he LAMENTED OVR VVOVNDES not his OVR VVEAKENES not his owne death This in effect saith hee is nothing but what wee affirme howbeit this ought not to haue anie place heere how could these wordes hang together when hee meaneth to tell his father howe zealous hee is for his glorie to saie My God my God why hast thou forsaken me There is no fashion in them thus signifying What you speake boldlie but erroneouslie of the sonne of God It cannot bee strange if often times Christ fell amazed confounded and forgetfull of himselfe for feare and griefe I maie trulie and iustlie say of you it is not strange to see you amazed confounded and forgetfull in your writing What I spake of Christes agonie in the garden you applie to his complaint on the crosse and sale the words will not hang
quia sacrificium pro peccato The sacrifice for sinne is in the law called sinne The lawe still so vseth the word not once nor twice but verie often Such a sinne was Christ he had no sinne and yet he was sinne He was sinne because he was the sacrifice for sinne So Ambrose Because Christ was offered for sinne worthilie is he said to be made sinne because in the lawe the sacrifice that is offered for sinne is called sinne This waie if you conster S. Paules words they conclude directlie against your irreligious supposition For if Christ when hee tooke vs into his bodie did clense our sinnes by the offering of himselfe hee became not defiled by our sinnes Hee did not clense vs that was defiled by vs. Howsoeuer you take those wordes Such an high priest it became vs to haue saieth the Apostle as was holy harmlesse VNDEFILED SEPARATE from sinners If the Priest were defiled the sacrifice could not be accepted If Christ were separate from sinners then was hee not polluted by sinners He tooke our sinnes vnto him not to drawe anie pollution from them but to make y e purgation of them He that coulde clense vs from our sinnes howe much more coulde hee kéepe himselfe from beeing defiled with our sinnes If we follow the other sense of S. Pauls wordes that Christ was made sinne for vs that is the punishment of our sinne wee must take héede that wee bring him not within the guiltinesse of our sinnes as we doe within the punishment of our sinnes Suscepit Christus sine reaâ—u supplicium nostrum vt inde solueret reatum nostrum siuiret etiam supplicium nostrum Christ vndertooke saith Austen our punishment without our guilt that so hee might remit our guilt and ende our paine Christ saieth Cyprian endured by Moses and his owne Apostle to bee called a curse and sinne pro similitudine poenae non culpae for the likenesse of the paine not of the fault Dilexit nos Christus dulciter sapienter fortiter Dulce nempe dixerim quod carnem induit cautum quod culpam cauit forte quod mortem sustinuit Christ saith Bernard loued vs sweetelie wiselie stronglie Sweetelie in that he tooke our flesh wiselie in that hee shunned our guiltinesse strongâ—ie in that he suffered death for vs. If Christ tooke the paine but not the guilt of our sinnes howe came hee to bee defiled by our sinnes It must needes be either in ioining and vniting himselfe vnto vs or in answering and suffering for vs. Our vnion with Christ doth sanctifie vs it defileth not him We are as neere ioyned to Christ nowe raigning in heauen as wee were to Christ suffering on the Crosse. As wee died with him then in the bodie of his flesh so wee sitte togither with him in heauenlie thinges But our vnion and communion nowe though wee bee sinfull and mortall doth no waie defile him no more did it then when hee suffered for vs. If you saie our sinnes were imputed vnto him when he was crucified for them that increaseth the perfection of his loue it argueth not anie pollution of his soule To die for wicked men did not touche him with anie taint of our sinnes but GOD saieth the Apostle setteth out his loue towardes vs in this that whiles wee were yet sinners Christ died for vs. The iust therefore did die for the vniust and was no partner of our iniustice hee that saued vs from our sinnes did not defile himselfe with them And where all this is grounded vppon a simple similitude that a suertie by vndertaking for a debtour maketh the debt his owne though hee neuer borrowed the money it is easilie and trulie aunswered that Christ did not vndertake wee shoulde not sinne nor that wee should paie the debt which wee did owe but when wee had sinned and were able no waie to aunswere the iustice of GOD but by our euerlasting destruction of bodie and soule it pleased the sonne of God to interpose himselfe and no waie bound to vs or for vs to intreate his father f that in his owne person hee might make recompence for our sinnes and so as a Mediatour allowed of God hee tooke our nature and freelie not indebted willinglie not constrained Hee gaue himselfe for vs a sacrifice of a sweete sauour vnto God As if the whole people of anie lande rebelling against their King and beeing subdued and readie to be destroied the Kinges sonne loath to see his fathers kingdome dispeopled and so manie wretched men women and children put to fire and sworde shoulde importune his father at his request to bee gratious vnto them and to laie on him though hee bee his onelie sonne what chasticement the father in his wisedome and iustice shall thinke fitte for the repressing of the like outrage hereafter maie anie of those subiectes without extreame ingratitude and intolerable contumelie reproch the Kings sonne when hee suffereth for their sakes that hee is guiltie of their treason and both DEFILED with it and HATEFVLL for it I will not applie because it will presse you too farre but as mine owne perswasion is that no such sinfull and hatefull wordes haue or should be vsed in the Church of God to the dishonour of his sonne so my counsell to the sober and wise reader is to stop his eares and shut his eies against such defiled and accursed speeches You proceede to another proofe and where the Apostle saith Christ spoiled Principalities powers and made a shew of them openlie triumphing ouer them vpon these words you inferre These principalities are the diuels therefore it is certaine Christ FELT THEM to bee the verie instruments that VVROVGHT THE VERIE EFFECTS of Gods wrath VPON HIM This is the first place where you specifie anie effect of Gods wrath against Christs soule for you will haue the soule of Christ properlie and immediatelie to suffer the effectes of Gods wrath and that you prooue learnedlie and wiselie like your selfe The diuels haue nothing to do with the soules of men but either to tempt them to worke in them or to torment them To tempt is to trie how fast y e saints stand in the feare and loue of God And for that cause the wisdome of god hath from the beginning suffered all his saints his owne sonne not excepted to be tempted of satan For Christ coulde not be tempted by the corruption of his heart as we are but by Satans voice or by Satans members Of vs Iames saith Euerie man is tempted when he is entised and drawne away by his owne concupiscence Concupiscence there was none in Christ. He had no law in his flesh rebelling against the lawe of his minde as wee haue It is in vs the rage of originall sinne from which he was frée and therefore he coulde not bee tempted but by the eare as he was in y e desart by satan himself by Satans members al the time of his abode on earth In the
shoulde bee as Paule professeth of himselfe when hee saieth I was among you with much trembling and feare Should therefore Christians bee alwayes besides themselues Christ often praied vnto his Father you saie and then presented himselfe before the Maiestie of God and yet wee do not reade that euer hee was vexed terrified and amazed in so doing Sir Refuter if your vnderstanding and memorie be not lost I tolde you that the humane nature of Christ presented it selfe before the maiestie of God in iudgement there to suffer man euerlastinglie to perish whome hee deerelie loued or to vndertake in his owne person that burthen which the iustice of God displeased with our sinnes should laie vpon him And if you doe not thinke this a cause sufficient for the manhoode of Christ to feare and tremble yea for the time to bee astonished at the number of our sinnes and terrour of Gods vengeance prouided for our eternall destruction both of bodie and soule you bee so déepe in your hellish paines that your wits and senses are confounded Absurdities and contrarieties are so rife with you that you thinke other men can hardlie auoide them but first vnderstand your owne and then you shall the better charge others After you haue spent the whole strength of your small eloquence and lesse intelligence to infer and amplifie the most wonderfull and piteous agonies feares sorrowes miseries outcries teares astonishment forgetfulnesse and confusion of the powers of nature with which the sense of Gods wrath afflicted distracted amazed ouerwhelmed and all confounded our Sauiour in his whole humanity You suddainlie euen in the twinkling of an eie free him from all and set him cleare as if all this had béene but a dreame For vppon Christes speaking of these wordes Father if it bee possible let this cuppe passe from mee you inferre if Christ had thus praied aduisedly and with good memorie against the knowne will of God hee had sinned And in the words presentlie following without staie or pause betweene yet not my will but thine bee doone you imagine that Christ as it were comming suddainly to himselfe quickly controled his former words And thus when it pleaseth you you put the sonne of God into a wonderfull and piteous confusion and forgetfulnesse of all the powers and partes of his bodie and soule and least you shoulde be conuinced of a manifest and irreligious vntrueth in the verie nicke of the nexte worde which Christ spake with the same breath you restore him to his perfect senses and discharge him from your hellish confusion and paynes But good Sir if it were so vnsupportable and intolerable a burden and confusion as you dreame of howe came our Sauiour to bee so lightlie and quicklie ridde of it as if there had béene no such thing was that heauie and fierie wrath of GOD against our sinnes equall to hell so soone quenched or was the sonne of God no longer able to endure it Of all absurdities your selfe beeing iudge for it is your position this is the greatest that meere men should suffer more deepelie then Christ. Then if Cain endured this all his life long if Saul and Iudas had no intermission of their payne if the damned in hell from whome you fetch your patterne doe euerlastinglie suffer it howe commeth it to passe that after you haue so hotlie stirred for it you are so soone wearie of it will you make vs beleeue that Christes obedience and patience was tried with a touch of this hellish paine and so an ende or will you returne it as often as please you and if this cuppe did so quicklie passe from our Sauiour howe did hee then praie against the knowne will of God which is an other of your foundations when as in the vttering of these words the cup did passe from him by your owne confession In like sorte to excuse Christ from sinne in praying against the will of his Father you cast him into a wonderfull confusion and forgetfulnesse of all the powers of his soule and senses of his body and in the same page for an other aduantage you auouch that in that praier Christ PERFECTLIE KNEVV the dominion of death shoulde not holde him Were all the powers of his soule ouerwhelmed and all confounded and yet did he euen in that whole confusion of sense memorie and vnderstanding PERFECTLY KNOVV the dominion of death should not holde him can a man haue his knowledge and memorie all confounded and ouerwhelmed and yet retaine PERFECT KNOVVLEDGE coulde Christ forget his fathers will in that praier through astonishment and in the speaking of the words remember he praied amisse and in the nexte worde quicklie correct himselfe Surelie these be conceites answerable to your cause and deuices fit for your diuinitie But Sir Refuter let passe your dreames and shewe vs your proofes that Christ praied against the knowne will of his father which you make the groundwork of this confusion and when you haue so done then prooue that your hellish paine was the cause of this astonishment Manie thinges might astonish our Sauiour for the time besides the paines of hell and in that astonishment if Christ had spokeÌ„ he knew not what which I beléeue not as Peter did when he sawe his glorie in the mountaine it had béene a defect in nature and no contempt of Gods counsell much lesse such an infernall confusion as you describe It is manifest you saie that Christ in plaine words praied contrarie to Gods known will It is more manifest that you knowe not what you saie How coulde he praie against his Fathers will that praied eâ—preslie with this condition ô Father IF THOV VVILT take awaie this cup from me That is a correction after the praier you will saie and no condition in the praier Are you so captious against Christ that you will not supplie one Euangelist with an other Luke and Matthew put a plaine condition vnto the praier of Christ the one saying father if thou wilt the other father if it be possible that is to stand with thy will and mans saluaâ—ion And though Marke omit the condition in the tenor of the praier yet doth he fuâ—â—ie expresse his meaning to bee al one with the rest For tâ—us he saieth of our Sauiour hee fell downe on the grounde and praied that IF IT VVERE POSSIBLE that houre might passe from him So that all thrée Euangelistes concurre that Christ praied not onelie with a reseruation of his fathers will but annexed that condition vnto his praier and therefore in all mens eies saue yours hee praied not in plaine wordes contrarie to Gods knowne will And this erroneous and contumelious position you set downe to the worlde as the chiefest fortresse of your hellish paines wherein you plainly wrest the scriptures from their expresse words But S. Iohn you will saie reporteth Christes 〈◊〉 to bee simplie made Father saue mee from this houre Saint Iohn speaketh of
came to suffer that from which hee was deliuered This Confuter replieth as hee thinketh verie soundlie and verie sufficientlie Thou shalt heare the whole My reason hee maketh to bee this That wherein Christ was hearde and deliuered from by praier he feared but felt not But Christ was heard and deliuered by prayer from the wrath which he feared therefore he felt it not His answere is Nay euen therefore he felt it Wee deny therefore the first proposition For hee was in some sense of it when hee praied against it and was heard He had then some foretast but the extremity came after which hee before feared And finallie hee being in all this was heard as the verie word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seemeth to import and delyuered from it that is at least not before hee had felt it Againe very the fearing of Gods wrath is a true feeling I saie not a ful feeling but a true feeling but it is granted that now in this Agonie hee feared the wrath of God Therefore hee truelie felt it Therefore the Question is granted You wrote this in the morning Sir Refuter when you were fresh and fasting it is so short and sharpe but be like it was darke or your eies were dull you could not sée neither what I said nor what your selfe saie The force of my reason consisted in this that where feare goeth before suffering and is no longer called feare when suffering commeth if Christ at the time of his praiers in the garden were deliuered from his feare much more from anie suffering of that hee feared And since by your owne positions you affirme hee feared in his agonie the paines of hell I concluded hee suffered them not Let vs now sée howe you impugne this reason You first change suffering into séeling and because the soule in all hir affections hath a kind of feeling you inferre naie therefore Christ felt it Your manner is too shrowde your selfe with generall and ambiguous words that maie signifie anie thing and then you shew your learning in speaking you knowe not what But vse the word suffering which I did or take feeling for suffering in which sence it maie stand and then sée how absurdlie and falslie you take my reason at this rebound For then you must saie Fearing is a kind of feeling Christ feared the paines of hell ergo Christ suffered them and so by your logicke whosoeuer feareth captiuitie or death is a captiue and dead and hee that feareth to loose his purse hath lost it yea hee that feareth to offend God doth offend him and hee that feareth to bee an hereticke is an hereticke I thought though your diuinitie had not yet your Philosophie coulde haue serued you to vnderstand that metus est mali impendentis aegritudo praesentis feare is of an euill approching griefe or paine of an euill present If you scorne philosophers whom for the proprietie of words you preferre before all the diuines in the world as anon shall appear◠Lactantius telleth you that of Desire ioy feare and sorrow the two first desire and ioy are for good things approching or present the two last feare and sorrow for euill likewise approching or present S. Ambrose will teach you that ante dolorem est timor post dolorem tristitia feare is before griefe or paine after paine followeth heauines And likewise Gregorie In his vitae tormentis timor dolorem habet dolor timorem non habet quia nequa quam mentem metus cruciat cum pati iam caeperit quod metuebat In the torments in this life feare hath some griefe but griefe hath no feare because feare doth not afflict the mind when a man once suffereth that which he feared This were enough to make my argument good but it hath yet more strengh from the Apostles words Christ praying in the garden was heard from his feare that is was deliuered from his feare Now is a man deliuered from his feare by suffering that he feared So wee iest with men when we will giue them their deserts and let them stand no longer in suspence but God so iested not with his sonne as to rid him from his feare by present punishment God therefore heard Christs prayer and deliuered him from his feare when as yet he did not suffer it and being deliuered from it in the garden how came he to suffer it more extremely on the Crosse For you saie Christ was in some sense of it when hee praied against it he had then some fortaste of it but the extremitie came after which he before feared Syr confuter if you can iest gybe thus with the Apostles words I must leaue you as lacking both conscience commō sense so will all y t be godly Christ praying in the garden was deliuered from his feare saith Paul that is say you after he had suffered on the Crosse the extremitie of that which he before feared So thē for Christ to be deliuered from that he feared was by your construction to suffer the extremitie of that he feared Will you that God send you such deliuerance in the time of néed that so prophanely play with the deliuerance of his sonne Hée was deliuered you will say from the continuance of it No good Syr Christ neuer feared the paines of hell should continue on him after death it is horrible blasphemy so to think vnto death you say they continued How was he then deliuered from his feare or haue you so soone forgotten your owne words if you regard not myne It is absurd to saie he praied in feare against that which he perfectly knew should neuer come vnto him namely that the Dominion of Death should hold him If the dominion of death should not hold his bodie much lesse should hell hold his soule But the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you saie séemeth to import a deliuerance after Christ was in that he feared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee was heard being in it As is your diuinitie Syr confuter so is your Greeke For if Christ were heard then God did heare him so if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ioyned to the passiue of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie that Christ was heard being in the paines of hell then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ioyned to the Actiue and referred to God must likewise import that God being in y e same paines did heare him Haue you not brought vs a learned obseruation out of your Greeke store that God which heard and Christ that was heard were both in the paines of hell But indéed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to hearken vnto as wee do when we bend our eare to anothers spéech and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is harkned vnto or heard The word is fiue times vsed in the new testament but in the Septuagint nothing more frequent to signifie that we harken to Gods voice when we obey him and God harkneth to our voice when hee graunteth our praiers
sacrifice to God and is in effect nothing but what we affirme You affirme that Christ died the death of the soule which you interpret to bee such paines and sufferings of Gods wrath as alwaies accompany them that are separated from the grace and loue of God You affirme that Christ suffered wonderfull and piteous astonishment forgetfulnesse and confusion of the powers of nature euen of all the powers of his soule and senses of his bodie yea he felt the verie diuels as the instruments that wrought the verie effectes of Gods wrath vppon him and though the wicked oftentimes find farre more intolerable horror of their sinnes then any other yet you doubt not but Christ as touching the vehemencie of paine was as sharply touched euen as the Reprobate themselues yea if it may be more extraordinarily All this you affirme and by your owne words all this is the ONLY TRVE and perfectly accepted sacrifice to God So then whosoeuer feeleth not all this hath no broken nor contrite heart nor anie longer then hee feeleth these hellish torments in his soule And if this be the ONLY TRVE sacrifice to God I will not aske what shall become of the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiuing but howe vnhappie are the godlie that at anie time are free from the paines of the damned and from the tormentes of hell since the suffering thereof is the ONLY TRVE and perfectlie accepted sacrifice to God Godly sorrow saieth the Apostle causeth repentance vnto saluation those wordes please you not such hellish sorrowes and intolerable horrors as the Reprobate themselues feele yea as the damned doe suffer this saie you is the ONIY TRVE and accepted sacrifice to God You must haue other sacrifices and those accepted before you come to heauen or else the Reprobate and damned will bee there as soone as you God send you his grace and grant your wits and senses bee not distempered and distracted you talke so much of hellish paines and torments executed by diuels as the only true sacrifice of a broken and contrite hart The Apostles wordes whereon you first grounded this odious assertion haue no such intention as you imagine By death Christ conquered him that had power of death that is the Diuel Aske the simplest childe y t is catechised in your charge if you haue anie what death Christ died for vs and hee will answere you out of his Créede Christ was crucified deade and buried and that is the death which the Scriptures describe and deliuer I deliuered vnto you saieth Paul that which I receiued how that Christ died for our sinnes according to the scriptutes what death if wee aske the Apostle he will answere the death of the Crosse. For we preach saieth he Christ crucified and I esteemed not to know any thing among you but Christ Iesus and him crucified Christ crucified then that is by his death on the crosse destroied him that had power of death Of what death you aske hath the diuell power as well of the second death which Christ coulde not suffer as of the first which hee did suffer Christ you will saie coulde deliuer vs from no death but from the verie same which he suffered himselfe If so you saie or so would saie it is no lesse then heresie or blasphemie Hee deliuered vs from euerlasting death which hee neither did nor coulde suffer If you saie hee deliuered vs not from euerlasting death it is open heresie if you saie Christ suffered euerlasting death it is blasphemie Yet hath the diuell power of both deaths as well temporal as eternall What power you aske hath the diuel of this death which our bodies die God made not that death but by the enuy of the Diuell it came into the world He was the first procurer of it by perswading sinne and still reioiceth in it as the verie gate to hel I shal goe said Ezechiah to the gate of hell which was the death of his bodie that waie the wicked passe to hell Yea the Apostle calleth the corruption of our bodies the sting of sinne wherewith the diuell pearced vs when this corruption hath put on incorruption ô death where is thy sting For the exposition of the Apostles words I may either say with S Austen Ipse Dominus mori voluit vt quemadmoduÌ„ de illo scriptum est per mortem euacuaret eum qui ptoestateÌ„ habebat mortis id est Diabolum liberaret eos qui timore mortis per tâ—tam vitam rei erant seruitutis Hoc Testimonio satis illud monstratur mortem istam corporis principe atque authore Diabolo hoc est ex peccato accidisse quod ille persuasit Neque enim ob aliud potestatem habere mortis verissime diceretur The Lord himselfe would die that as it is written of him by death he might destroie him that had power of death euen the diuell and deliuer them which for feare of death were all their life long subiect to seruitude By this testimonie it is sufficientlie prooued that this verie death of our bodies came from the Diuell as the Authour and chiefe dooer thereof that is from the sinne which hee perswaded He cannot for any other cause be said to haue power of death which here is most truly spoken Ambrose Chrysostom and Cyril referre death throughout that sentence to the death of the bodie In these wordes saie they the Apostle noteth an admirable thing that whereby the diuel had power thereby was he ouerthrown The weapons which were his strength against the world that is death by y t Christ strooke him Why treÌ„ble ye why feare ye death now death is not terrible but acceptable as the end of labor and the beginning of rest Chrysostom hath almost the same wordes Cyrill verie often expoundeth death in that place for the death of Christs bodie The sonne of God was partaker of flesh and bloud that yeelding his BODY to death he by nature as God being life it selfe might quicken it againe otherwise how had hee abolished the imperie of death vnlesse he had raised againe his dead BODY And againe Because it was aboue mans nature to abolish death yea rather it was subdued of death the son of God that is life took vnto him mans nature subiect to death y t death as a cruell beast inuading his flesh should cease froÌ„ his tyranny ouer vs that should thereby be abolished If by death in the second place we vnderstand the death of body and soule with Fulgentius I am not against it this being alwaies remembred that Christ died no death but the death of the bodie Mors filij Dei quam SOLA CARNE suscepit vtramque in nobis morteÌ„ animae scilicet carnisque destruxit The death which the sonne of God suffered ONLY in his flesh destroied BOTH DEATHS in vs as well that of the soule as that of the body The Confuâ—er hauing
these be your best exceptions against Christs triumphing ouer hell all the world will know that you are a worthie man to weare a woodden dagger The Apostle made it a part of Christs high exaltation that euerie knee as well of things vnder the earth as of things in heauen should bow vnto him and euerie toong confesse that Iesus Christ is the Lord and do you thinke it a méete matter to be mocked and derided Paul saith Christ spoyled principalities and powers of hell darknes and made a shew of them openlie and triumphed ouer them in his owne person for so I must reade till you shew me better authoritie against it then I haue brought for it your selfe both sée and sate that whyles Christ suffered and whyles he died it was a miserable triumph yea a piteous triumph it was indeede where himselfe remayned in such woful tormeÌ„ts where appeared no shew of conquest but rather of being conquered stil he suffered til he gaue vp the ghost What letteth them I praie you since these words were not verified on the Crosse but they did take place in his resurrection as I teach and therein as by the effects it was most euident and apparant to the eies of all men he did spoyle powers and principalities made a shew of them openly and triumphed ouer them in his owne person Doth the holy ghost attribute this as a great honour to the humane nature of Christ that ascending on high he led captiuitie captiue and doe you make a merriment of it appealing to the whole world for their censure on your side Your strongest sort is this There can bee no commoditie nor benefit to the godlie by it For what good is there so much as pretended The generall redemption of all Gods elect and chosen people was wrought and fullie finished on the Crosse what could his going downe to hell adde more Is the subduing of hell powers and the treading on all their force and the restraining of all their furie so small a matter with you that it doth no good to the godlie Hee hath triumphed and spoyled them to frée vs from feare and hath taken the keyes of death and of hell into his owne hands to shew that all power is giuen him in heauen earth hell and that he can restrayne and bind Satan at his will and pleasure Is the performance and assurance of these things no coÌ„modity nor benefit to the godlie The redemption of Gods elect was you say fully finished on the Crosse. Deserued and obtained it was on the Crosse and by the crosse but not there executed There were our sinnes pardoned and our selues reconciled to God but as Christ died for our sinnes so he rose for our iusâ—ification His resurrectioÌ„ in that glorious manner which I haue mentioned in the treatise his ascension are necessary parts of our Saluation and therefore vse not the force of Christs crosse to exclude but to induce the rest For so doth the Apostle when he saith Christ humbled himselfe became obedient vnto y e death of the crosse Wherfore that is euen for that his humility obedience God hath highly exalted him giuen him a name aboue euerie name that at the name of Iesus should euery knee bow of things in heauen in earth vnder the earth So that his descending rising and ascending added nothing to the force of his death but shewed the fruite thereof and tend all to our good since wee are presentlie secured from the power of hell and Satan and shall be certainelie raysed and receaued to glorie Christes death without his resurrection and ascension had beene our confusion and no redemption for if sinne had slaine him without rising it must needes haue damned vs without hoping now in his Resurrection as euery Enemie was most mighty so was there most néed he should be subdued But hereof I haue spoken so largelie before that I shall not néede to rehearse it againe with turning the page it maie soone bee seene But The Scriptures you tell vs are clearely against Christs going to Hell For this daie sayd Christ to the theefe thou shâ—lt bee with mee in Paradise All this must needes be of his humane soule verelie without all question There is none can consider herein his Deitie If anie thinke his soule might goe to hell first and presentlie goe thence to heauen yer night also that is ridiculous and toyish You haue so manie toyes in your head Syr Refuter that a coloured cap would well become it when you come to a non plus in your proofes then you crie this is ridiculous and toyifh Go like your selfe and looke to the ridiculous toyes that you bring vs in euery page almost You would prooue forsooth that the SCRIPTVRES ARE CLEARE against Christs being in hell at anie time betwéene his death and his Resurrection for your warrant you bring his words to the theefe on the crosse this daie thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise and at his death when he sayd Father into thy hands I commend my spirite And when the places conclude no such thing as you would haue them nor anie thing néere it then you helpe it with outcries and saie There is no man of sense considering these circumstances that can iudge otherwise But will your wisdome remember that S. Austen in his 57. Epistle discussing this place of purpose to day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise saith the word MEE maie verie readily and easily bee referred to Christs Godhead promising the thiefe Paradise that present daie and all the childish amplifications that you haue brought vs to the contrarie are not worth a nut-shell to conteruaile S. Austens iudgement But graunt it were ment of Christs soule are you so perfect in the length of the waie from hell to Paradise and the wearines of Christs soule in going to both that you be sure he could not do both that daie You thinke belike Christ would not goe thither but to view the deuils one by one and call their names to sée who were absent You haue forgotten that with his presence or with his word whiles hee liued here on earth hee could torment the diuels and therefore if it pleased him but to shewe himselfe who hee was whom they had so despitefullie pursued by the handes and tongues of the wicked on the Crosse all hell must not onelie bende and bowe vnto him but feare and fall before him Againe what coulde hinder though he did not descende that daie which hee died but hee might so doe the daie that hee rose and euen when hee was to rise to loose all the strength of hell before him and to let Satan see that his kingdome was ouerthrowne by that death at which hee so much insulted and reioyced The time I doe not determine though I thinke it pertained rather to the glorie of his resurrection then otherwise as I
writer But keepe this lesson till you get none but Atheists and Infidels to bee your hearers they will thanke you for it Christian cares doe abhorre it and will detest your prophanes as much as they doe Ciceroes For if there bee no punishment in hell fure there is no hell and he that decreaseth the terror decreaseth the truth of it therefore the olde Latines did not erre But your New Orator thinketh hee may buyld and ouerturne hell and heauen at his pleasure As he dealeth with hell so doth he with heauen somtymes he will haue one and somtimes he cannot tell whether there bee any such habitation for soules or no. And the heauen which he would haue is a Mansion of his owne making Such authors you bring vs to expound the Creede and to outface all the Fathers that they themselues cannot tell what they say Where he purposely disputeth of the seate and sanctuarie for the soule after death he concludeth the whole discourâ—e as doubtfully as he beganne Si supremus ille dies non extinctionem sed commutationem affert loci quid optabilius sin autem perimit ac delet omninò quid melius quà m in medijs vitae laboribus obdormiscere et ita conniucâ—teÌ„ somno sepeliri sempiterno If the daie of our death bring not a perishing but changing of places what can be more to be wished for But if it vtterly quench and extinguish bodie and soule what can be more acceptable amidst the troubles of this life then as it were wincking to slumber and shutting our eies to fall into an euerlasting sleepe Habes somnum imaginem mortis eamque quotidie induis dubitas quin sensus in morte nullus sit quum in eius simulachro videas esse nullum sensum Thou hast sleepe which thou daylie triest for an image of death and doubtest thou but there is no sense in death when thou findest no sense in sleepe which is the patterne of death Now on the other side for Ciceroes heauen which you will needs bring into the Creede vnder the name of Inferi hee maketh it no reward of vertue nor gift of grace to be bestowed where it pleaseth God but he affirmeth there is a fierie aire aboue of which soules are made and therefore as soone as the soule is loosed from the bodie it flieth vpward as fier doth by a naturall motion vnto the place which is like to it selfe and there stayeth and is nourished with the selfe same things with which the starres are nourished Quae quum consteÌ„t perspicuum debet esse animos quum é corpore excesserint siue illi sint spirabiles siue igneâ— sublime ferri accedit vt eo facilius animus euadat ex hoc aere quem saepe iam crassum appello eumque perrumpat quod nihil est animo velocius Qui si permanet incorruptus suique similis necesse est ita feratur vt penetret diuidat omne coelum hoc in quo nubes imbres ventique coguntur Quam regionem quum superauâ—t animus naturamque sui similem contigit agnouit vinctus ex anima tenui ex ardore solis temperato ignibus insistit et finem altius se efferendi facit Quum enim sui similem leuitatem calorem adeptus est tanquam paribus examinatis ponderibus nullaÌ„ in partem mouetur Eáque ei demum naturalis est sedes quum ad sui similem penetrauit in quo nulla re egens alitur sustentatur ijsdem rebus quibus astra sustentantur aluntur It is long and tedious good reader to be troubled with these prophane follies but because the confuter laboureth so much to haue Ciceroes world of soules and his heauen into the Creede and in respect of him disgraceth all other writers as ignorant of the latine tongue these words will playnly shew thée what an audacious irreligious and heathenish attempt that is and how absurdly and lewdly he saith Cicero had learned to thinke wiselyer then they that said hell was below in the earth For they deliuered a trueth and this of Ciceroes is a false foolish and wicked fansie The English of his words is in effect this These things being certain it ought to be a cleare case that our soules when they leaue the bodie whether they be of an aerie or fierie nature do mooue vpward A good helpe for the soule with more ease to passe and breake through this grosse ayre heere below is this y t nothing is swifter than the soule Which remayning vncorrupt and alwaies like it selfe OF NECESSITIE MVST ASCEND and pearce and deuide all THIS HEAVEN or ayre in which the cloudes windes and rayne engender Which region when the soule hath once passed and touched and perceiued a nature like to it selfe mixed of a subtile ayre and the temperate heate of the sunne in that fierie region IT STAYETH and maketh an ende OF ASCENDING ANY HIGHER For when it hath gotten like both heate and purenes of the ayre balanced as it were with equall waights it moueth no way AND THIS IS THE NATVRAL SEATE OF THE SOVLE when it commeth to a like ayre to it selfe in which needing nothing IT IS NOVRISHED and fed with THE SELFESAME THINGS VVITH VVHICH THE STARRES ARE NOVRISHED and sustayned Ciceroes heaueÌ„ is nothing but an heap of heathenish impieties The first that the substance of the soule consisteth of fier or ayre the second that of necessitie it ascendeth vpward as fier doth The third that when it commeth to a pure ayre and temperate heate of the sunne it stayeth there and ascendeth no higher The fourth that this is the naturall seat for the soule and thence it moueth no way The fift that it is there nourished and sustayned with the selfe same things with which the starres are The consequents to this heauen are most horrible First that all soules by necessitie of their nature being in this place there are consequently none in HELL nor none in heauen and so both those places are vtterly emptied by your eloquent Master Next that when the starres skies shall be melted and dissolued with fier then must the soules of all men be likewise dissolued consisting of the same matter which they doe and so vtterly extinguish Lastly Gods promises and threats are all frustrate if he can doe his enemies no more hurt nor his seruants more good then this heauen affoordeth And therfore if you bring the world of soules or this heauen into the Créede I must refuse the Article for open and euident points of Infidelitie which I suppose the Apostles nor Apostolicke men neuer meant when they made the Créede Yet this place such as it is Cicero you say called it Inferi Syr if you leaue lying you must leaue writing For you can skant write a true word Cicero doth no where call this place Inferi but howsoeuer he had his priuate conceits as a Philosopher yet when he spake before the senate or the people
not afore and therefore then is the time for all the faithfull to thanke God for their full victorie ouer DEATH AND HELL and to saie with the Apostle ô death where is thy sting ô HELL where is thy victorie But what hath your world of soules to do with these words or with anie other where HADES is named in the new testament All these places serue fitlie for hell and the most of them necessarilie since either is expressed as a diuerse thing from HADES or not to bee comprised in the name of HADES But your world of soules is most absurd and false in euery one of these and can not stand with the circumstance of the text the first of the Reuelation onelie excepted where though there be no wordes to impugne it yet are there none to approue it For is it anie curse for Capernaum to bee brought to the worlde of soules except you meane hell Doth your world of soules impugne the Church of Christ or destroy the fourth part of the earth or shall it be cast into the lake of fire And what victorie shal the iust haue against the world of soules in the last day since their owne soules reioice to receiue their bodies and against the soules of the wicked they neither may nor will insult It therefore remaineth that though HADES with the Septuagint signifie either BODILIE DEATH or HELL yet in the new Testament where HADES is described as a different thing from DEATH and following AFTER DEATH HADES of necessitie being NOT DEATH must needes import HELL Of the place in question Thou wilt not leaue my soule in HADES I will yet saie nothing but will come to the words of the Creede Christ descended to HADES and search what must be the meaning of HADES in that article What I take to be the meaning of Hades in the Creede where it is said Christ descended to HADES as also what reasons lead me thereunto thou hast Christan Reader in the former treatise thou shalt with more ease finde it there then I repeat it here howe much this Confuter confesseth or resisteth that must I now examine When I obiect that in a short sum of the Christian faith made for the simple and common people to repeate one thing twice were néedlesse and against the nature of the Creede and to vse a darke and hard phrase after a plaine and easie is vnreasonable and absurde he answereth It is true I hold it vnreasonable altogither in the short and vulgar Creed appointed euen for the common Christians to vse words darke and difficult And when the same thing is by diuers words expressed the later ought to be the lighter and cleerer Therefore I fullie grant in the Creede speciallie the phrase must be familiar triuiall easie and plaine I vrged thrée things to be obserued in the expounding the Creede the words to be proper and euident without figuratiue obscuritie the things to be different without idle repetition and the order to be consequent without anie confusion The Confuter agreeth with me in all these and he doubteth not but his exposition is such Since then there be three expositions of that article Christ descended to HADES that is either to the GRAVE or to HELL or to the VVORLDE OF SOVLES which in Christes case you saie was HEAVEN which of these thrée Sir Refuter commeth neerest to the nature of a short easie and orderlie summe of a Creede The first you like not because it expresseth that in darke and hard circumloquution which was familiarly and plainely said before he was dead and buried The question then resteth betweene the two last which of the twaine best expresseth the proper sense and vulgar vse of the worde HADES For the Apostles and Apostolike men you confesse did so write and speake as the people then might best vnderstand If it bee so then your exposition Sir Refuter is cleane thrust out of doores For neither with the auncient Maisters of the Gréeke tongue which were the Poets nor with the Septuagint nor with the writers of the newe Testament nor with the people of that time in their vnderstanding did HADES euer signifie the worlde of soules without anie limitation of state or place Againe that generall and indefinite worlde of soules without respect of hell or heauen is no point nor part of the Christian faith For faith touching Christ must not be generall or ambiguous but particular and certaine It is no faith much lesse an article of the faith to saie Christes soule after death went some whither the Creede muste specifie the place whither it went before it can bee a matter of faith that must bee beleeued And therefore HADES doeth point out the particular place as hell or heauen whither Christes soule went after death before any man may chalenge it to be the true meaning of that article If anie doe aske particularlie whither is this You aunswer namely into heauen for whither should the Saints go else This in déede is a familiar triuiall easie and plaine exposition Christs soule DESCENDED DOVVNE TO HADES that is it ASCENDED VP TO HEAVEN And so by taking heauen for hell and ascending vppe for descending downe you haue quickelie made an ende of this matter Whie then goe on with your wise Maister and make HADES which is the chiefe Diuell to bee God and you haue made a perfect exposition of the Creede fitte for such as attribute to Diuels what they shoulde attribute vnto GOD. Was this the plainest and easiest waie for the Apostolike men 〈◊〉 teach the people Christes soule ascended vppe to heauen by saying hee DESCENDED TO HADES And did the people so best vnderstande them You that expounde this by the cleane contrarie and saie they be best so vnderstoode no maruaile if you arrogate so much vnto your selfe in framing the Scriptures to your fansies you maie with little studie prooue a speedie expositour of the Scriptures But Sir wise men that regarde their faith more then your follyes will aske where you finde descending for ascending and Hades for heauen If you pretende Plato they will tell you that to embrace a priuate conceite of Socrates against all the former Greekes against the Septuagint against the Euangelists and Apostles and euidentlie against all the fathers is not to expounde an Article of the faith but the next waie to bring Paganisme into the Creede and that by so licentious and lewde a trade of open peruerting the wordes of the Creede and taking sowre for sweete colde for heate euill for good that nothing shall stande sounde if this bee admitted a It is you saie an Hebrewe phrase So Iacob spake I will goe downe mourning to my Sonne vnto Sheol yet Iacob thought not to goe to hell to his sonne but among the soules of the godlie deade that is to saie into heauen It hath beene meetelie well tolde you that Sheol neuer signifyeth Heauen in all the Scriptures but that Iacob meant hee would goe mourning
ad Inferos descendisse Nam corpus vsque adresurrectionem inÌ„ sepulchoro iacuit spiritus ab illo emissus cuÌ„ spiritibus qui in carcere siue in inferno detinebantur fuit illisque praedicauit quemadmodum testatur Petri locus As Christ died for vs and was buried so also it is to be beleeued that he went down to hel For his body lay in the graue vntil the resurrection his spirit which he breathed out was with the spirits that were in prison or in hel and preached vnto them as the place of Peter vvitnesseth But our Synode since correcteth it herein saith but thus only Quemadmo duÌ„ Christus pro nobis mortuus est sepultus ita est etiaÌ„ credeÌ„ dus ad inferos descendisse As Christ died for vs and was buried so we are to beleeue also that he went vnto the dead This therfore in theÌ„ is seene manifestly as I said to renounce and abrogate this particular sense of Christs desceÌ„ding y t HE VVENT AFTER DEATH TO HELL Is this all you haue to saie Sir Refuter then when prouender is deuided you shall haue a part for your good collectioÌ„ You collect that y e later Synode by leauing out certain words of the former renounceth that CHRIST AFTER DEATH VVENT TO HELL and that which it retaineth of the former Synode in expresse wordes is this IT I TO BE BELEEVED THAT CHRIST VVENT DOVVN INTO HELL So in your iudgement by beleeuing that Christ wente downe into Hell they renounce that Christ went to hell If it were a matter of sight I shoulde aske whether you had anie eies or no nowe it is a matter of reason I must more doubte whether you haue your fiue wittes or no. Set your inference to the viewe of all men The Synode in her Maiesties time agreeth It is to be beleeued that Christ vvent downe into hell Ergo they apparaÌ„tly renounce that Christ went to hel This is your conclusion shew it to any tapster or tinker in Englande and sée whether he will reward you with a mocke or no. But they leaue out the latter part of the Article which the former Synode concluded So they leaue out that Christs bodie vvas in his graue vntill his resurrection which are the wordes of the former Synode Is the omitting of this a manifest renouncing and abrogating of it God forbid But the first Synode in king Edwardes time added farther you saie that Christs spirit vvas vvith the spirits detained in Prison or in hel and preached vnto them First then tell your abettor that al the Realme wil take him not only for a Railor against al honesty but for a lier against al duty that voucheth so confidently king Edward the sixt and his subiects held that Christ his soule neuer vvent to Gehenna the realme knoweth the Q. othe as also the Q. aduentureth her eternal state These be no states to come within the compasse of his vncleane mouth He may doe well to remember who they be of whom it is written They despise gouernment speak euil of those that are in authoritie as raging vvaues of the Sea foming out their owne shame And to take héed that he proue not too true a prophet against himselfe in paying the price of misusing his liege and Soueraigne Ladie and her whole Realme But I wish him repentance and so I leaue him Secondlie Sir Refuter you maie see three thinges in the latter wordes of that Article in king Edwardes Synode which are verie wiselie with silence ouerskipped by the Synode in her Maiesties time and wherein for my part I thinke they did verie well not to adde to this Article anie time purpose or prisoners when why or to whome Christ descended But therein to imitate the wisedome of the best ages who kept this Article as they founde it without enterlacing it with anie newe additions For in the later wordes of that former Synode nowe left out are three thinges that cannot bee iustified by the Scriptures 1. that the Spirits of the iust vvere in hell 2. that Christ there preached vnto them 3. that he staied there till his resurrection These three pointes contained in the Article of that Synode were aduisedlie and profitablie suppressed by the Synode kept in her maiesties time and these are the pointes which I my selfe impugne in this Treatise as hauing no iust nor tolerable grounde in the Scriptures But these thinges being drowned by omission what is that to the rest of the article which the later Synode imbraceth as a matter necessarie to be beleeued for thus they resolue As Christ died for vs vvas buried so also it is to be beleeued y t HE VVENT DOVVN INTO HELL And though you woulde weaken their resolution with a false translation as your maner is by making them saie vve are to beleeeue that Christ vvent vnto the dead yet may you gain no thing by that for we haue publike assurance allowance that their words were and are IT IS TO BE BELEEVED THAT CHRIST VVENT DOVVNE INTO HELL Their words in Latin were you will say Credendus est ad inferos descendisse But the same Bishops the same Clergie that were at the first Synode in the 5 of her Maiesty assembling again in the 13 yeare of her highnes raign did themselues english it as I report it and offered it to the Prince Parliament in those words to be coÌ„firmed which accordingly that high Court did So y t now not these words Christ descended into HADES though they be true as being the originall words much lesse yours Christ went to the dead but preciselie these Christ went downe into hell are the faith doctrine which the Church Realme of England professeth or which the lawe establisheth and what they meane were it not for your addle quirckes is soone perceaued euen of the simplest You conclude that the publike sentence of our Church yea the publike law of our land is against this opinioÌ„ of Christs descending into hell And I conclude likewise that which is in the bone will neuer out of the flâ—sh with arrogance and ignorance you began and so you will end If HELL in english be HELL GOING DOVVNE be DESCENDING theÌ„ both the Church the law of England directly expressely precisely mayntayneth CHRISTS DEâ—CENDING INTO HELL If HELL in english be HEAVEN GOING DOVVN be GOING VP then the Church and lawe of England fauoureth your fansie And hereof I am wel content thou shalt be Iudge Christian Reader that vnderstandest best thine owne toong For the latine INFEâ—NVM and the Gréeke HADES I am content to be tried by all Fathers Greeke Latine that euer wrate in the Church of Christ. If these men caÌ„not keepe their quarter cléere nor vpholde their conceite but they must exclude all Greeke Latine and English diuines since Christs time from vnderstanding euerie man his owne naturall toong I will see their braines better settled and their mouthes bâ—tter tempred before
and â—â—ne of christs triumph f Math. 〈◊〉 g Reuel â— h Reuel 3. i Esay 5â— Ephes. 4. l Reuel 10. Christs manhood must triumph and not his Godhead 〈◊〉 3. u Irenaeus lib. 3. cap. 20. o 1. Corinth 15 And in his maÌ„hood the soule not the bodie which lay dead in earth p Rom. 14 q Matth. 16. Osee. 13 Whether Christs desceÌ„t to hel be written in the scriptuâ—es or no. August de doctri Christiana lib. 3. câ—p 10. Ibidem u Psal. 16. Actes 2 The words are plaine enough if we wrest theÌ„ not from theiâ— proper sense Psal. 16. The soule must not be taken for the bodie though man may be signifiâ—d by either y Tertullian dâ— carne Christi cap. 13. Actes 2. a Tertullian de carne Christi cap. 13 The circumstances proue the words must be properly taken Actes â— Apoc. 2 20. 21. Death is either the first or the second d Acâ—es 3 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which S. Luke expresseth Daâ—ids meaning doth alwaies note hel in the new testament e Matth. 16 f Reuelat. â—â— g Luke 16 h Ibidem ver 23 i Ibidem ver 24 k Reuel 6. l Reuelat. 20 m Reuel â— n 1. Corinth 15 The church from the beginning hath confessed Christs descent to hell Euseb. ecclesiaâ—â—â—â—stor lib. 1 cap. 13. p Iohn 22 q Euseb. ibid. Ignatius 〈…〉 r Asâ—anas in Symbolo August epist. 99. t Ibidemâ— u Hilarius de â—rinitat lib. 2 x Ibid. lib 3. y Hilarius in Psal. 138. z Idem de trinit lib. 4. a Leo de resâ—â— domini sermâ—â—â— b Tulgentius de passione domini ad Trasim lib. 3 Christ descended to y e place of the damned c Act. 8. d Symbol â—post d Symbol â—post e Heb 2. To destroy the diuell and to deliuer man Heb. 2. g Luke â—â— Whither christ descended after death d Athanas de salutari aduentoâ—â— Christi i Athanas. de incarnatione Christi Athanasius agreeth in this point with Hilary and Fulgentius k Athanas. ibidâ— l Hilar. in Psal. 138. m Hilar. de triâ—â—taâ— lib. 3 n Pulgenâ— vt 〈◊〉 o Luke 13. p Ezech. 18 q August epi. 99 The ende of Christs desceÌ„t to hell was the destruction of Satan and deliuerance of man Esay 25 s Osee. 13 t Osee. 13 u Rom. 16 x 1. Corinth 15 y Luke 1 2. Tim. 3 a Actes 26 Deliuerance was performed as well to the liuing and vnborne as to the deade b Hebre. 2 c Fulgent ad Trasimundum lib. 3. d Ibidem e De trinitat 1. 4 f Ibidem lib. 3 g Athanas. de salutari aduentu Christi h Idem de incarnat Christi i Ibidem We are deliuered not from being in hell but from comming thither k Psal. 85. l August in Psal. 85. m Ibidem n Tertullian de anima cap. 55 Where the soules of the righteous were before Christs comming is nothing to this question o August in psal 85. The reason why the fathers thought they were in hell p Gen. 37. q Gen. 42. r Iob. 17. s Iob. 14. t Psal. 89. u Esai 38. Sheôl signifieth as well the graue as hell x Esay 38. y Ibid. ver 18. 19. z Psal. 6. a Psal. 1â—5 b Psal. 141. c Iob. 17. d Eccles. â— The Church of the Iewes thought the soules of the righteous to be in peace c Sapient ca. 3. f Psal. 19. g Luke 16. Christ himselâ—â— placed y e 〈◊〉 of the righteous far aboue beâ—â— in 〈◊〉 h August â—pi 9â— The summe of S. Austens collections out of the 16. of sainâ— Luke i Mat. 8. k 2. Pet. â— S. Austens coÌ„iecture that some were deliuered out of hell is vâ—ne weake l August epist. 99. How y e church might beleeue Adams bandes were loosed in hell by Christs descent Sapient 10 From hel was no release by the doctrine of our Sauiour n Luke 16 o Mark 9â— p Mark 9. The fathers varie touching the place of the soules departed before Christs comming q De anima ca. 55. r In Psal. 48. concio 13. s In Eccle. cap. 9 t In Epistol ad Rom. cap. 5. u Cap. 55. x Idem cap. 5â— y Idem contrae Marcion lib. 4 z In Epistol ad Rom. cap 5 a In Psal. 118 serm 3 b Ambros. de bono mortis ca. 10. b Ambros. de bono mortis ca. 10. b Ambros. de bono mortis ca. 10. c Iohn 14 The soules of the righteous were in Abrahams bosome by the confession of the fathers d Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e Hieron in Esay cap. 65. f Ambros. in Psal. 38 g Idem de bono mortis cap. 12â— h Hilar. in Psal. 51. i Idem in Psal. 120. k Idem in Psal. 2. l 1. Samuel â—8 Whether the soule of Samuel were in hell or no. l 1. Samuel 18. Whether the soule of Samuel were in hell or no. Reasons to proue it was an illusion of the Diuel m Luke 16. n Deut. 18. o Reuel â—â— p Tertul. de anima cap 57. Authorities to proue the same q Ibid. r Respons ad quaest 52. s Theodoret. questioâ—um in lib 1. Regum quaest 62 t Ibidem u Idem quaest 62 x Vide lib. 1. Paralip cap. 10. ver 13. â— 14. y 1. Paral. ca. 10. vers 13. z Ad Simplician lib. 2. quaest 3. a Ibidem b Ad octo Dulcitij quaestione quest 6 c De doct Christiana li. 2. ca. 23 Neither opinioÌ„ proueth that Samuels soule was in hell d 1. Sam. 1â— e Ad Simplie lib. 2. quaest 3 e Ad Simplie lib. 2. quaest 3 g Quaest. ex veâ—er testâ—mento â—uaest 27. h Caus. 26. quâ—st ◠§ 14. nec miruÌ„ Ivrge not the fathers but agreeing with the scriptures and with them selues Heb 2. k Colos 2. l 1. Cor. 15. m Acts 2. m Acts 2. n Ephes. 4. o Mat. 27. Christs desceâ—â—ding into the deep and into hel are al onâ—â— p Rom. 10 q Luke 8 r Reuelat 9. verse 1â—8 Ibidem ver 11 Reuel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 20. Christ descended into the bottomlesse deepe The descent to hell after death a part of our redeÌ„ption t De Trinitat lib. 2 â—â—thanas de salutari adueâ—mu Christi x August â—pist 99. y Ibidem z Ibidem a Ibidem b August 〈…〉 Christ deliuered the bodies of some saints from the power of hel that is he raised theÌ„ from death c Matth. 27 d Esay 33 Hebre. 2 f 1. Corinth 15 g Reuelat. 20 h Reuel 1. i 1. Corinth 15 k Ephes. 2 l Ephes. 6 m Hebre. 2 Whether the bodies of the the saints that rose with christ slept againe or no. n August epist. 99 o Matth. 27â— p August â—â—pistola 99â— q Actes 2 Dauid saw corruptioÌ„ though he were then risen from corruption but Christs flesh neuer putrified r Acts. 2. ver 34 s August de genesi ad literam li. 8. cap. â— t Hebre. 11. u Hebre. 11 x 4. Regum 2 y Matth. 1â— z Luke 23 a