and cannot lye graunt unto them according to thy promises that vvhich eye hath not seene and eare hath not heard and which hath not ascended into the heart of man which thou hast prepared O Lord for them that love thy holy name that thy servants may not remaine in death but may get out from thence although slouthfulnesse and negligence have followed them and in that which is used by the Christians of S. Thomas as they are commonly called in the East Indies Let the holy Ghâ—st give resurrection to your dead at the last day and make them vvorthy of the incorruptible kingdome Such is the prayer of S. Ambrose for Gratian and Valentinian the Emperours I doe beseech thee most high God that thou wouldest rayse up againe those deare yong men with a speedie resurrection that thou mayest recompence this untimely course of this present life vvith a timely resurrection and that in Alcuinus Let their soules sustaine no hurt but when that great day of the resurrection and remuneration shall come vouchsafe to raise them up O Lord together with thy Saincts and thine elect and that in Grimoldus his Sacramentarie Almightie and everlasting God vouchsafe to place the body and the soule and the spirit of thy servant N. in the bosomes of Abraham Isaac and Iacob that vvhen the day of thy acknowledgement shall come thou mayest command them to be raysed up among thy Saincts and thine elect But yet the Cardinalls answer that the glorie of the body may be prayed for which the Saincts shall have at the day of the Resurrection commeth somewhat short of that which the Church used to request in the behalfe of S. Leo. For in that prayer expresse mention is made of his soule and to it is wished that profit may redound by the present oblation And therefore this defect must be supplyed out of his answer unto that other praier which is mâ—de for the soules of the faithfull depaâ—ted that they may be delivered out of the mouth of the Lion and that Hell may not swallow them up To this he saith that the Church doth pray for these soules that they may not be condemned unto the everlasting paines of Hell not as if it were not certain that they should not be condemned unto those paines but because it is Gods pleasure that we should pray even for those things which we are certainly to receive The same answer did Alphonsus de Castro give before him that very often those things are prayed for which are certainely knowne shall come to passe as they are prayed for and that of this there be very manie testimonies and Iohannes Medina that God dâ—lighteth to be prayed unto even for those things which otherwise he purposed to do For God had decreed saith he after the sinne of Adam to take our flesh and he decreed the time wherein he meant to come and yet the prayers of the Saincts that prayed for his Incarnation and for his comming were acceptable unto him God hath also decreed to grant pardon unto every repentant sinner and yet the prayer is gratefull unto him wherein eyther the penitent doth pray for himselfe or another for him that God would be pleased to accept his repentance God hath decreed also and promised not to forsake his Church and to be present with Councells lawfully assembled yet the prayer notwithstanding is gratefull unto God and the hymnes vvhereby his presence and favour and grace is implored both for the Councell the Church And whereas it might be obiected that howsoever the Church may sometimes pray for those things which shee shall certainly receive yet shee doth not pray for those things which shee hath alreadie received and this shee hath received that those soules shall not be damned seeing they have received their sentence and are most secure from damnation the Cardinall replieth that this obiection may easily be avoyded For although those soules saith he have received already their first sentence in the particular judgement and by that sentence are freed from Hell yet doth there yet remaine the generall judgement in which they are to receive the second sentence Wherefore the Church praying that those soules in the last judgement may not fall into darkenesse nor be swallowed up of Hel doth not pray for the thing which the soule hath but which it shall receive Thus these men labouring to shew how the prayers for the dead used in their Church may stand with their conceits of Purgatorie doe thereby informe us how the prayers for the dead used by the ancient Church may stand well enough without the supposall of anie Purgatorie at all For if we may pray for those things which wee are most sure shall come to passe and the Church by the Adversaries owne confession did pray accordingly that the soules of the faithfull might escape the paines of Hell at the generall Iudgement notwithstanding they had certainly beene freed from them alreadie by the sentence of the particular Iudgement by the same reason when the Church in times past besought God to remember all those that slept in the hope of the resurrection of everlasting life which is the forme of prayer used in the Greeke Liturgies and to give unto them rest and to bring them unto the place where the light of his countenance should shine upon them for evermore why should not we thinke that it desired these things should be granted unto them by the last sentence at the day of the Resurrection notwithstanding they were formerly adiudged unto them by the particular sentence at the time of their dissolution For as that which shall befall unto all at the day of judgement is accomplished in every one at the day of his death so on the other side whatsoever befalleth the soule of everie one at the day of his death the same is fully accomplished upon the whole man at the day of the generall iudgement Whereupon wee finde that the Scriptures everie where doe point out that great day unto us as the time wherein mercie and forgivenesse rest and refreshing ioy and gladnesse redemption and salvation rewards and crownes shall be bestowed upon all Gods children as in 2. Timoth. 1.16 18. The Lord give mercie unto the house of Onesiphorus the Lord grant unto him that he may finde mercie of the Lord in that day 1. Cor. 1.8 Who shall also confirme you unto the end that ye may be blamelesse in the day of our Lord Iesus Christ. Act. 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sinnes may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. 2. Thessal 1.6 7. It is a righteous thing with God to recompense unto you which are troubled rest with us when the Lord Iesus shal be revealed from heaven with his mightie Angells Philip. 2.16 That I may rejoyce in the day of Christ that I have not runne in vaine neyther
our Lord as in the end of this booke saith he he doth testifie meaning the apocryphall Appendix which is annexed to the end of the Greeke edition of Iob wherein we reade thus It is written that he should rise againe with those whom the Lord was to raise which although it be accounted to have proceeded from the Septuagint yet the thing it selfe sheweth that it was added by some that lived after the comming of our Saviour Christ. Touching Adam S. Augustine affirmeth that the whole Church almost did consent that Christ loosed him in Hell which we are to beleeve saith he that shee did not vainely beleeve whencesoever this tradition came although no expresse authoritie of the Canonicall Scriptures be produced for it The onely place which he could thinke off that seemed to look this way was that in the beginning of the tenth Chapter of the booke of Wisedome Shee kept him who was the first formed father of the world when hee was created alone and brought him out of his sinne which would be much more pertinent to the purpose if that were added which presently followeth in the Latin text I meane in the old edition for the new corrected ones have left it out Et eduxit illum de limo terrae and brought him out of the claye of the earth which being placed after the bringing of him out of his sinne may seeme to have reference unto some deliverance like that of Davids Psalm 40 2. He brought me up out of the horrible pit out of the mirye claye rather then unto his first creation out of the dust of the earth So limus terrae may here answere well unto the Arabians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 al-tharai which properly signifying moyst earth or slime or claye is by the Arabick interpreter of Moses used to expresse the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Hell or Grave And as this place in the booke of Wisedome may be thus applied unto the raysing of Adams body out of the earâ—h whâ—rein hee lay buried so may that other tradition also which was so currant in the Church be referred unto the selfe same thing even to the bringing of Adam out of the Hell of the Grave The verie Liturgies of the Church doe lead us unto this interpretation of the tradition of the Church beside the testimony of the Fathers which discover unto us the first ground and foundation of this tradition In the Liturgie of the Church of Alexandria ascribed to S. Marke our Saviour Christ is thus called upon O most great King and coëternall to the Father who by thy might didst spoyle Hell and tread downe death and binde the strong one and raise Adam out of the grave by thy divine power and the bright splendour of thine unspeakeable Godhead In the Liturgie of the Church of Constantinople translated into Latin by Leo Thusâ—us the like speech is used of him He did voluntarily undergoe the Crosse for us by which he raysed up the first formed man and saved our soules from death And in the Octoëchon Anastasimon and Pentecostarion of the Grecians at this day such sayings as these are very usuall Thou didst undergoe buriall and rise in glory and rayse up Adam together with thee by thy almighty hand Rising out of thy tombe thou didst rayse up the dead and break the poâ—er of death and rayse up Adam Having slept in the flesh as a mortall man ô King and Lord the third day thou didst arise againe raysing Adam from corruption and abolishing death Iesus the deliverer who raysed up Adam of his compassion c. Therefore doth Theodorus Prodromus begin his Tetrastich upon our Saviors Resurrection with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rise up thou first formed old man rise up from thy grave S. Ambrose pointeth to the ground of the tradition when he intimateth that Christ suffered in Golgotha where Adams sepulchre was that by his Crosse he might rayse him that was dead that where in Adam the death of all men lay therein Christ might be the resurrection of all Which he receaved as he did many other things besides from Origen who writeth thus of the matter There came unto me some such tradition as this that the body of Adam the first man mas buried there where Christ was crucified that as in Adam all doe die so in Christ all might be made alive that in the place which is called the place of Calvarie that is the place of the head the head of mankinde might finde resurrection with all the rest of the people by the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour who suffered there and rose againe For it was unfit that when many which were borne of him did receive forgivenesse of their sinnes and obtayne the benefit of Resurrection he who was the father of all men should not much more obtaine the like grace Athanasius or who ever else was author of the Discourse upon the Passion of our Lord which beareth his name referreth this tradition of Adams buriall place unto the report of the Doctors of the Hebrewes from whom belike hee thought that Origen had received it and addeth withall that it was very fit that where it was said to Adam Earth thou art and to earth thou shalt returne our Saviour finding him there should say unto him again Arise thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Epiphanius goeth a little furthet and findeth out a mysterie in the water and bloud that fell from the Crosse upon the relicks of our first father lying buried under it applying thereunto both that in the Gospell of the arising of many of the Saints Matth. 27.52 and that other place in S. Paule Arise thou that sleepest c. Ephes. 5.14 which strange speculation with what great applause it was received by the multitude at the first delivery of it and for how little reason he that list may reade in the fourth book of S. Hieroms coÌ„mentaries upon the 27. of S. Matthew in his third upon the fifth to the Ephesians for upon this first point of Christs descent into the Hell of the grave and the bringing of Adam and his children with him from thence we have dwelt too long already In the second place therefore we are now to consider that as Hádes and Inferi which we call Hell are applied by rhe Interpreters of the holy Scripture to denote the place of bodies separated from their soules so with forraine authors in whose language as being that wherewith the common people was acquainted the Church also did use to speake the same tearmes do signifie ordinarily the common lodge of soules separated from their bodies whether the particular place assigned unto each of them be conceived to be an habitation of blisse or of miserie For as when the Grave is said to be the common receptacle of dead bodies it is not meant thereby that all dead
aye-virgin Mary which kinde of oblation for the Saincts sounding somewhat harshly in the eares of the Latines Leo Thuscus in his translation thought best to expresse it to their better liking after this maner We offer unto thee this reasonable service for the faithfully deceased for our fathers and fore-fathers the Patriarches Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors and all the Saints interceding for them As if the phrase of offering for the Martyrs were not to be found in S. Chrysostoms own workes and more universally for the just both the Fathers and the Patriarches the Prophets and Apostles and Evangelists and Martyrs and Confessors the Bishops and such as ledd a solitarie life and the whole order in the suffrages of the Church rehearsed by Epiphanius yea and in the Western Church it selfe for the spirits of those that are at rest Hilary Athanasius Martin Ambrose Augustin Fulgentius Leander Isidorus c. as may be seene in the Muzarabicall Office used in Spaine Sixthly this may be confirmed out of the funerall orations of S. Ambrose in one whereof touching the Emperour Valentinian and his brother Gratian thus he speaketh Let us beleeve that Valentinian is ascended from the desert that is to say from this dry and unmanured place unto those flowry delights where being conjoyned with his brother hee enjoyeth the pleasure of everlasting life Blessed are you both if my orizons shall prevayle anie thing no day shall overslip you in silence no oration of mine shall passe you over unhonoured no night shall runne by wherein I will not bestow upon you some portion of my prayers With all oblations will I frequent you In another he prayeth thus unto God Give rest unto thy perfect servant Theodosius that rest which thou hast prepared for thy Saints and yet hee had said before of him Theodosius of honourable memory being freed from doubtfull fight doth now enjoy everlasting light and continuall tranquillitie and for the things which he did in this bodie he rejoyceth in the fruits of Gods reward because he loved the Lord his God he hath obtayned the societie of the Saints and afterward also Theodosius remaineth in light and glorieth in the companie of the Saints In a third he prayeth thus for his brother Satyrus Almightie God I now commend unto thee his harmelesse soule to thee doe I make my oblation accept mercifully and gratiously the office of a brother the sacrifice of a Priest although he had directly pronounced of him before that he had entred into the kingdome of heaven because he beleeved the word of God and excelled in manie notable vertues Lastly in one of his Epistles he comforteth Faustinus for the death of his sister after this maner Doe not the carkases of so many halfe-ruined cities and the funeralls of so much land exposed under one view admonish thee that the departure of one woman although a holy and an admirable one should be born with greater consolation especially seeing they are cast down and overthrowen for ever but she being taken from us but for a time doth passe a better life there I therefore thinke that she is not so much to be lamented as to be followed with prayers and am of the minde that she is not to be made sadde with thy teares but rather that her soule should be commended with oblations unto the Lord. Thus farre S. Ambrose Unto whom we may adjoyne Gregory Nazianzen also who in his funerall oration that he made upon his brother Caesarius having acknowledged that he had received those honours that did befit a new created soule which the Spirit had reformed by water for he had beene but lately baptized before his departure out of this life doth notwithstanding pray that the Lord would be pleased to receive him Diverse instances of the like practise in the ages following I have produced in another place to which I will adde some few more to the end that the Reader may from thence observe how long the primitive institution of the Church did hold up head among the tares that grew up with it and in the end did quite choake and extinguish it Our English Saxons had learned of Gregory to pray for reliefe of those soules that were supposed to suffer paine in Purgatorie and yet the introducing of that noveltie was not able to justle out the ancient usage of making prayers and oblations for them which were not doubted to have beene at rest in Gods kingdome And therefore the brethren of the Church of Hexham in the anniversarie commemoration of the obite of Oswald King of Northumberland used to keep their Vigiles for the health of his soule and having spent the night in praysing of God with psalmes to offer for him in the morning the sacrifice of the sacred oblation as Beda writeth who telleth us yet withall that he raigned with God in heaven and by his prayeâ—s procured manie miracles to be wrought on earth So likewise doth the same Bede report that when it was discovered by two severall visions that Hilda the Abbesse of Streansheale or Whitby in Yorkeshire was carried up by the Angels into heaven they which heard thereof presently caused prayers to be said for her soule And Osberne relateth the like of Dunstan that being at Bathe and beholding in such another vision the soule of one that had been his scholer at Glastenbury to be carried up into the palace of heaven he straightway commended the same into the hands of the divine pieâ—ie and intreated the lords of the place where he was to do so likewise Other narrations of the same kind may be found among them that have written of Saincts lives particularly in the Tome published by Mosander pag. 69. touching the decease of Bathildis Queen of France pa. 25. concerning the departure of Godfry Earle of Cappenberg who is said there to have appeared unto a certain Abbess called Gerbergis to have acquainted her that he was now without all delay without all danger of any more severe triall gone unto the palace of the highest King and as the sonne of the immortall King was cloathed with blessed immortalitie the Monk that writ the Legend addeth that shee presently thereupon caused the sacrifice of the Masse to be offered for him which how fabulous soever it may be for the matter of the vision yet doth it strongly prove that within these 500. years for no longer since it is that this is accounted to have bene done the use of offering for the soules of those that were beleeved to be in heaven was still retayned in the Church The letters of Charles the great unto Offa King of Mercia are yet extant wherein hee wisheth that intercessions should be made for Pope Adrian then lately deceased not having any doubt at all saith hee but that his blessed soule is at rest but that we may shew our faithfulnesse
labouâ—ed in vaine 1. Thessal 2.19 For what is our hope or joy or crowne of rejoycing are not even yee in the presence of our Lord Iesus Christ at his comming 1. Pet. 1. â— Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation readie to be revealed in the last time 1. Corinth 5.5 That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Iâ—sus Ephes. 4.30 Grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby yee are sealed unto the day of redemption Luk. 21.28 When these things beginne to come to passe then looke up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh 2. Timoth. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righâ—eousnesse which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and Luk. 14.14 Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just And that the Church in her Offices for the dead had speciall respect unto this time of the Resurrection appeareth plainly both by the portions of Scripture appointed to be read therein and by diverse particulars in the prayers themselves that manifestly discover this intention For there the ministers as the writer of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy reporteth read those undoubted promises vvhich are recorded in the divine Scriptures of our holy ResurrectioÌ„ and then devoutly sang such of the sacred Psalmes as were of the same subject and argument And so accordingly in the Romane Missall the lessons ordained to be read for that time are taken from 1. Corinth 15. Behold I tell you a mysterie Wee shall all rise againe c. Ioh. 5. The houre commeth wherein all that are in the graves shall heare his voyce and they that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life c. 1. Thessal 4. Brethren we would not have you ignorant concerning them that sleepe that yee sorrow not as others which have no hope Ioh. 11. I am the resurrection and the life he that beleeveth in me although he were dead shall live 2. Maccab. 12. Iudas caused a sacrifice to be offered for the sinnes of the dead justly and religiously thinking of the Resurrection Ioh. 6. This is the will of my Father that sent me that every one that seeth the Sonne and beleeveth in him may have life everlasting and I will raise him up at the last day and He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath life everlasting and I will raise him up at the last day and lastly Apocal. 14. I heard a voyce from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth now saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours for their workes follow them Wherewith the Sequence also doth agree beginning Dies irae dies illa Solvet saeclum in favillâ Teste David cum Sibyllâ and ending Lacrymosa dies illa Quâ resurget ex favillâ Iudicandus homo reus Huic ergo parce Deus Pie Iesu Domine Dona eis requiem Tertullian in his booke de Monogamiâ which hee wrote after hee had beene infected with the heresie of the Montanists speaking of the prayer of a widow for the soule of her deceased husband saith that she requesteth refreshing for him and a portion in the first resurrection Which seemeth to have some tang of the error of the Millenaries whereunto not Tertullian onely with his Prophet Montanus but Nepos also and Lactantius and diverse other Doctors of the Church did fall who misunderstanding the prophecie in the 20. of the Revelation imagined that there should be a first resurrection of the just that should raigne here a thousand yeares upon earth and after that a second resurrection of the wicked at the day of the general judgement Yet in a certaine Gotthicke Missall I meet with two severall exhortations made unto the people to pray after the selfe same forme the one that God would vouchsafe to place in the bosome of Abraham the soules of those that be at rest and admit them unto the part of the first resurrectioÌ„ the other which I find elsewhere also repeated in particular that he would place in rest the spirits of their friends which were gone before them in the Lords peace and rayse them up in the part of the first resurrection Which how it may be excused otherwise then by saying that at the generall resurrection the dead in Christ shall rise fiâ—st and then the wicked shall be raysed after them and by referring the first resurrection unto the resurrection of the just which shall be at that day I cannot well resolve For certaine it is that the first râ—surrection spoken of in the 20. chapter of the Revelation of S. Iohn is the resuâ—rection of the soule from the death of sinne and error in this world as the second is the resurrection of the bodie out of the dust of the earth in the world to come both whiâ—h be distinctly layd down by our Saviour in the fift chapter of the Gospell of S. Iohn the first in the 25. verse The houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and they that heare shall live the second in the 28. and 29. Marveile not at this for the houre is comming in which all that are in the graves shall heare his voyce and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evill unto the resurrection of damnation And to this generall resurrection and to the judgement of the last day had the Church relation in her prayers some patternes whereof it will not be amisse to exhibit here in these examples following Although the condition of death brought in upon mankinde doth make our hearts and mindes heavy yet by the gift of thy clemencie we are raised up with the hope of future immortalitie and being mindfull of eternall salvation are not afraid to sustaine the losse of this light For by the benefite of thy grace life is not taken away to the faithful but changed and the soules being freed from the prison of the body abhorre things mortall when they attaine unto things eternall Wherefore we beseech thee that thy servant N. being placed in the tabernacles of the blessed may rejoyce that he hath escaped the straytes of the flesh and in the desire of glorification expect with confidence the day of Iudgement Through Iesus Christ our Lord. whose holy passion we celebrate without doubt for immortall and well resting soules for them especially upon whom thou hast bestowed the grace of the second birth who by the example of the same Iesus Christ our Lord have begunne to be secure of the resurrection For thou vvho hast made the things that were not art able to repaire the things that were and hast given unto us evidences of the resurrection to come not onely by the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles but also by the
company of captives and thus was Hell spoyled and Adam delivered from his griefes Which is agreeable to that which we reade in the works of Athanasius that the soule of Adam was detayned in the condemnation of death and cryed continually unto the Lord such as had pleased God and were justified in the law of nature being detayned together with Adam and lamenting and crying out with him and that the Divell beholding himselfe spoyled did bemoane himselfe and beholding those that sometime were weeping under him now singing in the Lord did rent himselfe Others are more favourable to the soules of the Fathers though they place them in Hell for they hold them to have beene there in a state of blisse and not of miserie Thus the author of the Latin homily concerning the Rich man and Lazarus which is commonly fathered upon Chrysostom notwithstanding he affirmeth that Abraham was in Hell and that before the comming of Christ none ever entred into Paradise yet doth he acknowledge in the meane time that Lazarus did remaine there in a kinde of Paradise For the bosome of Abraham saith he vvas the poore mans Paradise and againe Some man may say unto me Is there a Paradise in Hell I say this that the bosome of Abraham is the truth of Paradise Yea and I confesse it to be a most holy Paradise So Tertullian in the fourth booke of his Verses against Marcion placeth Abrahams bosome under the earth but in an open and lightsome seate farre removed from the fire and from the darknesse of Hell sub corpore terrae In parte ignotâ quidam locus exstat apertus Luce sua fretus Abrahae sinus iste vocatur Altior á tenebris longé semotus ab igne Sub terrâ tamen Yea he maketh it to be one house with that which is eternall in the heaven distinguisht onely from it as the outer and the inner Temple or the Sanctum and the Sanctum Sanctorum were in the time of the Law by the Vayle that hung between which vayle being rent at the passion of Christ he saith these two were made one everlasting house Tempore divisa spatio ratione ligata Vna domus quamvis velo partita videtur Atque adeò passo Domino velamine rupto Coelestes patuere plagae coelataque sancta Atque duplex quondam facta est domus una perennis Yet elsewhere hee maketh up the partition againe maintaining very stiffly that the gates of Heaven remaine still shut against all men untill the end of the world come and the day of the last judgement Only Paradise he leaveth open for Martyrs as that other author of the latin Homily seemeth also to doe but the soules of the rest of the faithfull he sequestâ—eth into Hell there to remaine in Abrahams bosome untill the time of the generall resurrection And to this part of Hell doth he imagine Christ to have descended not with purpose to fetch the soules of the Fathers from thence which is the only errand that our Romanistes conceive he had thither but ut illic Patriarchas Prophetas compotes sui faceret that he might there make the Patriarches and Prophets partakers of his presence S. Hierome saith that our Lord Iesus Christ descended into the furnace of Hell wherein the soules both of sinners and of just men were held shut that without any burning or hurt unto himselfe he might free from the bonds of death those that were held shut up in that place and that hee called upon the name of the Lord out of the lowermost lake when by the power of his divinitie hee descended into Hell and having destroyed the barres of Tartarus or the dungeon of Hell bringing from thence such of his as he found there ascended conquerour up againe He saith further that Hell is the place of punishments and tortures in which the rich man that was cloathed in puâ—ple is seeâ—e unto which also the Lord did descend that he might let forth those that were bound out of prison Lastly tâ—e Sonne of God saith he following Origen as it seemeth too unaduisedly here descended into the lowermost parts of the earth and ascended above all heavens that he might not only fulfill the law and the prophets but certaine other hidden dispensations also which hee alone doth know with the Father For wee cannot understand how the bloud of Christ did profite both the Angels and those that were in Hell and yet that it did profite them wee cannot be ignorant Thus farre S. Hierome touching Christs descent into the lowermost Hell which Thomas and the other Schoolemen will not admitt that hee ever came unto Yet this must they of force grant if they will stand to the authority of the Fathers It remayned saith Fulgentius for the full effecting of our redemption that man assumed by God without sinne should thither descend whither man separated from God should have fallen by the desert of sinne that is unto Hell where the soule of the sinner was wont to be tormented and to the Grave where the flesh of the sinner was accustomed to bee corrupted yet so that neyther the flesh of Christ should be corrupted in the Grave nor his soule be tormented with the paines of Hell Because the soule free from sinne was not to be subjected to such punishment neither ought corruption to tainte the flesh without sinne And this hee saith was done for this end that by the flesh of the just dying temporally everlasting life might be given to our flesh and by the soule of the just descending into Hell the paines of hell might be loosed It is the saying of S. Ambrose that Christ being voyd of sinne when hee did descend into the lowermost parts of Tartarus breaking the barres gates of Hell called backe unto life out of the jawes of the Divell the soules that were bound with sinne having destroyed the dominion of death and of Eusebius Emissenus or Gallicanus or who ever was the author of the sixt Paschall homily attributed to him that the sonne of man laying aside his body pierced the lowest hidden seates of Tartarus but where he was thought to have beene detained among the dead there binding death did hee loose the bonds of the dead Presently therefore saith Caesarius in his third Paschall homily w ch is the same with the first of those that goe under the name of the former Eusebius the everlasting night of Hell at Christs descending shined bright the gnashing of the mourners ceased the burthens of the chaines were loosed the bursted bands of the damned fell from them The tormentors astonished in minde were amazed the whole jmpious shoppe trembled together when they beheld Christ suddainly in their dwellings So Arnoldus Bonaevallensis in his booke de Cardinalibus operibus Christi commonly attributed to S. Cyprian noteth that at that time there was a cessation from infernall
away speaketh he these things as if he were tâ— goe down into hell by dying For of Hell there is a great question and what the Scripture delivereth thereof in all the places where it hath occasion to make mention of it is to be observed Hitherto S. Augustin who had reference to this great question when he said as hath beene before alledged Of Hell neyther have I had any experience as yet nor you and peradventure there shal be another way and by Hell it shall not be For these things are uncertaine Neyther is there greater question among the Doctors of the Church concerning the Hell of the Fathers of the Old Testament then there is of the Hell of the faithfull now in the time of the New neyther are there greater differences betwixt them touching the Hell into which our Saviour went whether it were under the earth or above whether a darkesome place or a lightsome whether a prison or a paradise then there are of the mansions wherein the soules of the blessed do now continue S. Hierome interpreting those words of King Ezechias Esai 38.10 I shall goe to the gates of Hell saith that this is meant eyther of the common law of nature or else of those gates from which that he was delivered the Psalmist singeth Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death that I may shew forth all thy prayses in the gates of the daughter of Sion Psalm 9.13 14. Now as some of the Fathers doe expound our Saviours going to Hell of his descending into Gehenna so others expound it of his going to Hell according to the common law of nature the common law of nature I say which extendeth it selfe indifferently unto all the dead whether they belong to the state of the New Testament or of the Old For as Christs soule was in all points made like unto ours sinne onely excepted while it was joyned with his body here in the land of the living so when he had humbled himselfe unto the death it became him in all things to be made like unto his brethren even in that state of dissolution And so indeed the soule of Iesus had experience of both For it was in the place of humaine soules and being out of the flesh did live and subsist It was a reasonable soule therefore and of the same substance with the soules of men even as his flesh is of the same substance with the flesh of men proceeding from Mary saith Eustathius the Patriarch of Antioch in his exposition of that text of the Psalme Thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell Where by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Hell you see he understandeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the place of humaine soules which is the Hebrewes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or world of spirits and by the disposing of Christs soule there after the maner of other soules concludeth it to be of the same nature with other mens soules So S Hilary in his exposition of the 138. Psalme This is the law of humaine necessitie saith he that the bodies being buried the soules should goe to Hell Which descent the Lord did not refuse for the accomplishment of a true man and a little after he repeateth it that de supernis ad inferos mortis lege descendit he descended from the supernall to the infernall parts by the law of death and upon the 53. Psalme more fully To fulfill the nature of man he subjected himselfe to death that is to a departure as it were of the soule and body and pierced into the infernall seates which was a thing that seemed to be duâ— unto man So Leo in one of his Sermons upon our Lords passion Hee did undergoe the lawes of Hell by dying but did dissolve them by rising againe and so did cut off the perpetuitie of death that of eternall hee might make it temporall So Irenaeus having said that our Lord conversed three dayes where the dead were addeth that therein he observed the law of the dead that hee might be made the first begotten from the dead staying untill the third day in the lower parts of the earth and afterward rising in his flesh Then he draweth from thence this generall conclusion Seeing our Lord went in the midst of the shadow of death vvhere the soules of the dead were then afterward rose againe corporally and after his resurrection was assumed it is manifest that the soules of his disciples also for whose sake the Lord wrought these things shall goe to an invisible place appointed unto them by God and there shall abide untill the resurrection wayting for the resurrection and afterwards receaving their bodies and rising againe perfectly that is to say corporally even as our Lord did rise againe they shall so come unto the presence of God For there is no disciple above his master but every one shall be perfect if he be as his master The like collection doth Tertullian make in his booke of the Soule If Christ being God because he was also man dying according to the Scriptures and being buried according to the same did heere also satisfie the law by performing the course of an humane death in Hell neyther did ascend into the higher parts of the heavens before he descended into the lower parts of the earth that he might there make the Patriarches and Prophets partakers of himselfe thou hast both to beleeve that there is a region of Hell under the earth and to push them with the elbowe who proudly enough doe not thinke the soules of the faithfull to be fit for Hell servants above their Lord and disciples above their Master scorning perhaps to take the comfort of expecting the resurrection in Abrahams bosome And in the same booke speaking of the soule What is that saith he which is translated unto the infernall parts or Hell after the separation of the body which is detayned there which is reserved unto the day of judgement unto which Christ by dying did descend to the soules of the Patriarches I thinke Where he maketh the Hell unto which our Saviour did descend to be the common receptacle not of the soules of the Patriarches alone but also of the soules that are now still separated from their bodies as being the place quò universa humanitas trahitur as he speaketh elsewhere in that booke unto which all mankinde is drawne So Novatianus after him affirmeth that the very places which lye under the earth be not voyde of distinguished and ordered powers For that is the place saith he whither the soules both of the godly and ungodly are led receiving the fore-judgements of their future dâ—ome Lactantius saith that our Saviour rose againe ab inferis from Hell but so he saith also that the dead Saints shall be raised up ab inferis at the time of the Resurrection S. Cyrill of Alexandria saith that the Iewes killed Christ and cast him into the deepe
this service that it is usually put for the whole and the publick place of Gods worship hath from hence given it the denomination of the house of prayer Furthermore hee that heareth our prayers must be able to search the secrets of our hearts and discerne the inward disposition of our soules For the pouring out of good words and the offering up of externall sighes and teares are but the carkase only of a true prayer the life thereof consisteth in the pouring out of the very soule it selfe and the sending up of those secret groanes of the spirit which cannot be uttered But he that searcheth the hearts and onely he knoweth vvhat is the minde of the spirit he heareth in heaven his dwelling place and giveth to every man according to his wayes whose heart he knoweth for he even he ONELY knoweth the hearts of all the children of men as Salomon teacheth us in the praier which he made at the dedication of the Temple wherunto we may add that golden sentence of his father David for a conclusion O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come If it be further here obâ—ected by us that we finde neyther precept nor example of any of the Fathers of the old Testament whereby this kinde of pâ—aying to the soules of the Saints departed may be warranted Cardinall Bellarmine will give us a reason for it for therefore saith he the spirits of the Patriarches and the Prophets before the comming of Christ were neyther so worshipped nor invocated as we doe now worship and invocate the Apostles and Martyrs because that they were detayned as yet shut up in the prisons of Hell But if this reason of his be grounded upon a false foundation as we have alreadie shewed it to be and the contrary supposition be most true that the spirits of the Patriarchs and Prophets were not thus shut up in the prisons of Hell then have we foure thousand yeares prescription left unto us to oppose against this innovation We go further yet and urge against them that in the New Testament it selfe we can descry no footsteps of this new kinde of Invocation more then we did in the Scriptures of the old Testament For this Salmeron doth tell us that the Scriptures vvhich were made and published in the primitive Church ought to found and explaine Christ who by the tacite suggestion of the Spirit did bring the Saints with him and that it would have beene a hard matter to enjoyne this to the Iewes and to the Gentiles an occasion would be given thereby to thinke that many Gods were put upon them in steed of the multitude of the Gods whom they had forsaken So this new worship you see fetcheth his originall neyther from the Scriptures of the Old nor of the New Testament but from I know not what tacite suggestion which smelt so strongly of Idolatry that at first it was not safe to acquaint eyther the Iewes or the Gentiles therewith But if any such sweet tradition as this were at first delivered unto the Church by Christ and his Apostles we demand further how it should come to passe that for the space of 360. yeares together after the birth of our Saviour we can finde mention no where of any such thing For howsoever our Challenger giveth it out that prayer to Saints was of great account amongst the Fathers of the primitive Church for the first 400. years after Christ yet for nine parts of that time I dare be bold to say that he is not able to produce as much as one true testimonie out of any Father whereby it may appeare that any account at all was made of it and for the tithe too he shall finde perhaps before we have done that he is not like to carry it away so cleerly as he weeneth Whether those blessed spirits pray for us is not the question here but whether we are to pray unto them That God onely is to be prayed unto is the doctrine that was once delivered unto the Saints for which we so earnestly contend the Saints praying for us doth no way crosse this for to whom should the Saints pray but to the King of Saints their being prayed unto is the onely stumbling block that lyeth in this way And therefore in those first times the former of these was admitted by some as a matter of probabilitie but the latter no way yeelded unto as being derogatorie to the priviledge of the Deitie Origen may be a witnesse of both who touching the former writeth in this sort I doe thinke thus that all those fathers who are departed this life before us doe fight with us and assist us with their prayers for so have I heard one of the elder Masters saying and in another place Moreover if the Saints that have left the body and be with Christ doe any thing and labour for us in like maner as the Angels do vvho are imployed in the ministery of our salvation let this also remaine among the hidden things of God and the mysteries that are not to be committed unto writing But because he thought that the Angels and Saints prayed for us did he therefore hold it needfull that we should direct our prayers unto them Heare I pray you his owne answer in his eighth booke against Celsus the philosopher We must endevour to please God alone who is above all things and labour to have him propitious unto us procuring his good will with godlinesse and all kinde of vertue And if Celsus will yet have us to procure the good will of any others after him that is God over all let him consider that as when the body is moved the motion of the shadow thereof doth follow it so in like maner having God favourable unto us who is over all it followeth that we shall have all his friends both Angels and soules and spirits loving unto us For they have a fellow-feeling with them that are thought worthy to finde favour from God Neyther are they only favourable unto such as be thus worthy but they worke with them also that are willing to doe service unto him who is God over all are friendly to them and pray with them and intreate with them So as wee may be bold to say that when men which with resolution propose unto them selves the best things doe pray unto God many thousands of the sacred powers pray together vvith them UNSPOKEN to Celsus had said of the Angels that they belong to God and in that respect we are to put our trust in them and make oblations to them according to the lawes and pray unto them that they may be favourable to us To this Origen answereth in this maner Away with Celsus his counsell saying that we must pray to Angels and let us not so much as afford any little audience to it For we must pray to him alone who is God over all
and vve must pray to the Word of God his onely begotten and the first bornè of all creatures and we must intreat him that he as high Priest would present our prayer when it is come to him unto his God and our God unto his Father and the father of them that frame their life according to the word of God And whereas Celsus had further sayd that we must offer first fruits unto Angels and prayers as long as we live that we may finde them propitious unto us answere is returned by Origen in the name of the Christians that they held it rather fit to offer first fruits unto him which sayd Let the earth bring forth grasse the herbe yeelding seed and the fruite tree yeelding fruite after his kinde And to whom wee give the first fruites saith he to him also doe wee send our prayers having a great high Priest that is entred into the Heavens Iesus the Sonne of God and we hold fast this confession whiles we live having God favourable unto us and his onely begotten Sonne Iesus being manifested amongst us But if we have a desire unto a multitude whom we would willingly have to be favourable unto us we learne that thousand thousands stand by him and millions of millions minister unto him who beholding them that imitate their pietie towards God as if they were their kinsfolkes and friends helpe forward their salvation who call upon God and pray sincerely appearing also and thinking that they ought to doe service to them and as it were upon one watchword to set forth for the â—enefit and salvation of them that pray to God unto whom they themselves also pray For they are all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heires of salvation Thus farre Origen in his eight booke against Celsus to which for a conclusion we wil adde that place of the fift booke All prayers and supplications and intercessions and thankesgivings are to be sent up unto God the Lord of all by the high Priest who is above all Angels being the living Word and God For to call upon Angels we not comprehending the knowledge of them which is above the reach of man is not agreeable to reason And if by supposition it were granted that the knowledge of them which is wonderfull and secret might be comprehended this very knowledge declaring their nature unto us and the charge over which every one of them is set would not permit us to presume to pray unto any other but unto God the Lord over all who is aboundantly sufficient for all by our Saviour the Sonne of God Tertullian and Cyprian in the bookes which they purposely wrote concerning Prayer deliver no other doctrine but teach us to regulate all our prayers according unto that perfect patterne prescribed by our great Master wherein we are required to direct our petitions unto Our Father which is in heaven Matth. 6.9 Luk. 11.2 These things saith Tertullian in his Apologie for the Christians of his time I may not pray for from any other but from him of whom I know I shall obtayne them because both it is he who is alone able to give and I am he unto whom it appertayneth to obtayne that which is requested being 〈◊〉 servant who observe him alone who for his religion am killed who offer unto him a rich and great sacrifice which he himselfe hath commanded Prayer proceeding from a chaste body from an innocent soule from a holy spirit where he accounteth Prayer to be the chiefe sacrifice wherewith God is worshipped agreeably to that which Clemens Alexandrinus wrote at the same time We doe not without cause honour God by prayer and with righteousnesse send up this best and holyest sacrifice The direction given by Ignatius unto Virgins in this case is short and sweete Yee Virgins have Christ alone before your eyes and his Father in your prayers being inlightened by the Spirit for explication whereof that may be taken which we reade in the exposition of the Faith attributed unto S. Gregory of Neocaesarea Whosoever rightly prayeth unto God prayeth by the Sonne and whosoever commeth as he ought to doe commeth by Christ and to the Sonne he can not come without the holy Ghost Neyther is it to be passed over that one of the speciall arguments whereby the writers of this time do prove our Saviour Christ to bee truely God is taken from our praying unto him and his accepting of our petitions If Christ be onely man saith Novatianus how is he present being called upon every where seeing this is not the nature of man but of God that he can be present at every place If Christ be onely man why is a man called upon in our prayers as a mediatour seeing the invocation of a man is judged of no force to yeeld salvation If Christ be onely man why is there hope reposed in him seeing hope in man 〈◊〉 sayd to be cursed So is it noted by Origen that S. Paul in the beginning of the former epistle to the Corinthians where he saith With all that in every place call upon the Name of Iesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours 1. Corinth 1.2 doth thereby pronounce Iesus Christ whose Name is called upon to be God And if to call upon the Name of the Lord saith he and to adore God bee one and the selfe same thing as Christ is called upon so is he to be adored and as we do offer to God the Father first of all prayers 1. Tim. 2.1 so must we also to the Lord Iesus Christ and â—s wee doe offer supplications to the Father so doe we offer supplications also to the Sonne and as wee doe offer thankesgivings to God so doe we offer thankesgivings to our Saviour In like maner Athanasius disputing against the Arrians by that prayer which the Apostle maketh 1. Thessal 3.11 God himselfe and our Father and our Lord Iesus Christ direct our way unto you doth prove the unitie of the Father and the Sonne For no man saith he would pray to receive any thing from the Father and the Angels or from any of the other creatures neyther would any man say God and the Angell give thee this And whereas it might be objected that Iacob in the blessing that he gave unto Ephraim and Manasseh Genes 48.15 16. did use this forme of prayer The God which fed me from my youth unto this day The Angel which delivered me from all evills blesse those children which Cardinall Bellarmine placeth in the forefront of the forces he bringeth forth to establish the Invocation of Saints Athanasius answereth that he did not couple one of the created and naturall Angels with God that did create them nor omitting God that fed him did desire a blessing for his nephews from an Angel but saying Which delivered me from all evills hee did shew that it was not any of the created Angels but
grounds from whence that Invocation of Saints did proceed whereby the honour of God and Christs office of mediation was afterwards so much obscured That saying of S. Augustin is very memorable and worthy to be pondered Whom should I finde that might reconcile me unto thee Should I have gone unto the Angels With what prayer with what sacraments Many endevouring to returne unto thee and not being able to doe it by themselves as I heare have tryed these things and have fallen into the desire of curious visions and were accounted worthy of illusions Whether they that had recourse unto the mediation of Martyrs in such sort as these had unto the mediation of Angels deserved to be punished with the like delusions I leave to the judgement of others the thing which I observed was this that such dreames and visions as these joined with the miraculous cures that were wrought at the monuments of the Martyrs bredd first an opinion in mens mindes of the Martyrs abilitie to helpe them and so afterward ledd them to the recommending of themselves unto their prayers and protection where at first they expected onely by their intercession to obtaine temporall bâ—essings such as those cures were that were wrought at their tâ—mbes and other like externall benefites but proceeded afâ—erward to crave their mediation for the procuring of the remission of their sinns and the furthering of their everlasting salvation As often dear brethren as we do celebrate the solemnities of the holy Martyrs let us so expect by their intercession to obtaine from the Lord TEMPORALL benefits that by imitating the Martyrs themselves we may deserve to receive eternall saith the author of the sermon of the Martyrs which is found among the homilies of S. Augustin and Leo and in the Romane Breviary is appointed to be read at the common festivall dayes of many Martyrs Be mindfull of the Martyr saith S. Basil in his Panegyricall oration upon Mamas as many of you as have enâ—oyed him by DREAMES as many of you as comming to this place have had him a helper to your praying as many as to whom being called by name hee shewed himselfe present by his workes as many travailers as he hath brought back againe as many as he hath raysed from sicknesse as many as he hath restored their children unto being now dead as many as have received by his meanes a longer terme of life Here a man may easily discerne the breedings of this disease and as it were the grudgings of that ague that afterwards brake out into a pestilentiall feaver The Martyr is here vocatus onely not invocatus yet not called upon by being prayed unto but called to joyne with others in putting up the same petition unto his and their God For as here in the Church militant we have our fellow-souldiers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 striving together with us and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 helping together with their prayers to God for us and yet because we pray one for another we doe not pray one to another so the Fathers which taught that the Saints in the Church triumphant doe pray for us might with S. Basil acknowledge that they had the Martyrs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow-helpers to their prayer and yet pray with them onely and not unto them For howsoever this evill weed grew apace among the superstitious multitude especially yet was it so cropt at first by the skilfull husbandmen of the Church that it gott nothing neere that height which under the Papacâ— we see it is now growen unto Which that we may the better understand and more distinctly apprehend how farre the recommending of mens selves unto the prayers of the Saints which began to be used in the latter end of the fourth age after Christ came short of that Invocation of Saints which is at this day practised in the Church of Rome these speciall differences may be observed betwixt the one and the other First in those elder times he that prayed silently was thought to honour God in a singular maner as one that brought faith with him and confessed that God was the searcher of the heart and reynes and heard his prayer before it was powred out of his mouth the understanding of the present secrets of the heart by the generall judgement of the Fathers being no more communicated by him unto the creatures then the knowledge of things to come for before the day wherin the secrets of the heart shall be manifested almightie God alone doth behold the hidden things saith S. Hierome alledging for proofe of this the text Matth. 6.4 Thy Father that seeth in secret Psalm 7.9 God searcheth the hearts and reynes and 1. King 8.39 Thou onely knowest the hearts of all the children of men But now in the Church of Rome mentall prayers are preâ—ented to the Saints as well as vocall and they are beleeved to receive both the one and the other Secondly in the former times it was a great question whether at all or how farre or after what maner the spirits of the dead did know the things that concerned us here and consequently whether they pray for us onely in generall and for the particulars God answereth us according to our severall necessities where when and after what maner he pleaseth Anselmus Laudunensis in his interlineall Glosse upon that text Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel knoweth us not Esai 63.16 noteth that Augustine sayeth that the dead even the Saints doe not know what the living doe no not their owne sonnes And indeed S. Augustine in his booke of the Care for the dead maketh this inference upon that place of Scripture If such great Patriarches as these were ignorant what was done toward the people that descended from them unto whom beleeving God the people it selfe was promised to come from their stocke how doe the dead interpose themselves in knowing and furthering the things and actes of the living aâ—d afâ—erward draweth these conclusions from thence which Hugo de Sancto Victore borrowing from him hath inserted into his booke De Spiritu animâ cap. 29. The spirits of the dead be there where they doe neyther see nor heare the things that are done or fall out unto men in this life Yet have they such a care of the living although they know not at all what they doe as we have care of the dead although we know not what they doe The dead indeed doe not know what is done here while it is here in doing but afterward they may heare it by such as die and goe unto them from hence yet not altogether but as much as is permitted to the one to tell and is fit for the other to heare They may know it also by the Angels which be here present with us and carry our soules unto them They may know also by the revelation of Gods spirit such of the things done here as