of the Greek Church I finde the absolution expressed in the third person as attributed wholly to God and not in the first as if it came from the Priest himselfe One ancient forme of Absolution used among the Latins was this Almighty God be mercifull unto thee and forgive thee all thy sinnes past present and to come visible and invisible which thou hast committed before him and his Saints which thou hast confessed or by some negligence or forgetfulnesse or evill vvill hast concealed God deliver thee from all evill here and hereafter preserve and confirme thee alwayes in everie good worke and Christ the sonne of the living God bring thee unto the life which remayneth without end And so among the Grecians whatsoever sinnes the penitent for forgetfulnes or shamefastnesse doth leave unconfessed we pray the mercifull and most pitifull God that those also may be pardoned unto him and we are perswaded that hee shall receive pardon of them from God saith Ieremy the late Patriarch of Constantinople Where by the way you may observe no such necessitie to be here held of confessing everie knowne sinne unto a Priest that if either for shame or for some other respect the penitent doe not make an intire confession but conceale somewhat from the notice of his ghostly father his confession should thereby be made voyde and hee excluded from all hope of forgivenesse which is that engine whereby the Priests of Rome have lift up themselves into that height of domineering and tyrannizing over mens conscience wherewith we see they now hold the poore people in most miserable awe Alexander of Hales and Bonaventure in the forme of absolution used in their time observe that prayer was premised in the optative and absolution adjoyned afterward in the indicative mood whence they gather that the Priests prayer obtayneth grace his absolution presupposeth it that by the former he ascendeth unto God and procureth pardon for the fault by the later he descendeth to the sinner and reconcileth him to the Church for although a man be loosed before God saith the Master of the Sentences yet is he not held loosed in the face of the Church but by the judgement of the Priest And this loosing of men by the judgement of the Priest is by the Fathers generally accounted nothing else but a restoring of them to the peace of the Church and an admitting of them to the Lords table againe which therefore they usually expresse by the termes of bringing them to the communion reconciling them to or with the communion restoring the communion to them admitting them to fellowship granting them peace c. Neyther doe we finde that they did ever use anie such formall absolution as this I absolve thee from all thy sinnes wherein our Popish Priests notwithstanding doe place the verie forme of their late devised sacrament of Penance nay hold it to be so absolute a forme that according to Thomas Aquinas his new divinitie it would not be sufficient to say Almightie God have mercie upon thee or God grant unto thee absolution and forgivenesse because forsooth the Priest by these vvords doth not signifie that the absolution is done but intreateth that it may be done which how it will accord with the Romane Pontificall where the forme of Absolution is layd downe prayer-wise the Iesuites who follow Thomas may doe well to consider I passe this over that in the dayes not onely of S. Cyprian but of Alcuinus also who lived 800. yeares after Christ the reconciliation of Penitents was not held to be such a proper office of the Priest but that a Deacon in his absence was allowed to performe the same The ordinarie course that was held herein according to the forme of the ancient Canons is thus layde down by the fathers of the third Councell of Toledo that the Priest should first suspend him that repented of his fault from the communion and make him to have often recourse unto imposition of hands among the rest of the penitents then when hee had fulfilled the time of his satisfaction as the consideration of the Priest did approve of it he should restore him to the communion And this was a Constitution of old fathered upon the Apostles that Bishops should separate those vvho said they repented of their sinnes for a time determined according to the proportion of their sinne and afterward receive them being penitent as fathers would do their children To this Penitential excommunication and absolution belongeth that saying eyther of S. Ambrose or S. Augustin for the same discourse is attributed to them both Hee who hath truely performed his repentance and is loosed from that bond wherewith he was tyed and separated from the body of Christ and doth live well after his repentance whensoever after his reconciliation he shall depart this life he goeth to the Lord he goeth to rest he shall not be deprived of the kingdome of God and from the people of the Divell he shall be separated and that which we reade in Anastasius Sinaita Binde him and till thou hast appeased God doe not let him loose that he be not more bound with the wrath of God for if thou bindest him not there remaine bonds for him that cannot be broken Neither doe we enquire whither the wound were often bound but whither the binding hath profited If it have profited although in a short time use it no longer Let the measure of the loosing be the profit of him that is bound and that exhortation which another maketh unto the Pastors of the Church Binde with separation such as have sinned after baptisme and loose them againe when they have repented receiving them as brethren for the saying is true Whatsoever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed in heaven That this authoritie of loosing remaineth still in the Church wee constantly maintaine against the heresie of the Montanists and Novatians who upon this pretence among others that God onely had power to remit sinnes took away the ministeriall power of reconciling such penitents as had committed haynous sinnes denying that the Church had anie warrant to receive them to her communion againe and to the participation of the holy mysteries notwithstanding their repentance were ever so sound Which is directly contrarie to the doctrine delivered by S. Paul both in the generall that if a man be overtaken in a fault they who are spirituall should restore such a one in the spirit of meekenesse and in the particular of the incestuous Corinthian who though hee had beene excommunicated for such a crime as was not so much as named amongst the Gentiles yet upon his repentance the Apostle telleth the Church that they ought to forgive him and comfort him lest he should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow Where that speech of his is specially noted and pressed against the hereticks by S. Ambrose To whom
Peter of binding and loosing upon earth just as Theodoret reporteth the Audians were wont to doe who presently after confession graunted remission not prescribing a time for repentance as the lawes of the Church did require but giving pardon by authoritie The lawes of the Church prescribed a certaine time unto Penitents wherein they should give proofe of the soundnesse of their repentance and gave order that afterwards they should be forgiven and comforted lest they should be swallowed up with overmuch heavinesse So that first their penance was injoyned unto them and thereby they were held to be bound after performance whereof they received their absolution by which they were loosed againe But the Audian hereticks without anie such triall taken of their repentance did of their owne heads give them absolution presently upon their confession as the Popish Priests use to doe now a dayes Onely the Audians had one ridiculous ceremonie more then the Papists that having placed the Canonicall bookes of Scripture upon one side and certaine Apocryphall writings on the other they caused their followers to passe betwixt them and in their passing to make confession of their sinnes as the Papists another idle practise more then they that after they have given absolution they injoyne penance to the partie absolved that is to say as they of old would have interpreted it they first loose him and presently after binde him which howsoever they hold to be done in respect of the temporall punishment remayning due after the remission of the fault yet it appeareth plainly that the penitentiall workes required in the ancient Church had reference to the fault it selfe and that no absolution was to be expected from the Minister for the one before all reckonings were ended for the other Onely where the danger of death was imminent the case admitted some exception reconciâ—iation being not denied indeed unto them that desired it at such a time yet so granted that it was left verie doubtfull whether it would stand the parties in anie great stead or no. If any one being in the last extremitie of his sicknesse saith S. Augustin is willing to receive penance and â—oth receive it and is presently reconciled and departeth hence I confesse unto you wee doe not denie him that which hee asketh but wee doe not presume that he goeth well from hence I doe not presume I deceive you not I doe not presume Hee who putteth off his penance to the last and is reconciled whether hee goeth secure from hence I am not secure Penance I can give him securitie I cannot give him Doe I say hee shall be damned I say not so But doe I say also he shall be freed No. What doest thou then say unto mee I know not I presume not I promise not I know not Wilt thou free thy selfe of the doubt wilt thou escape that which is uncertaine Doe thy penance while thou art in health The penance which is asked for by the infirme man is infirme The penance which is asked for onely by him that is a dying I feare lest it also dye But with the matter of penance we have not here to deale those formal absolutions and pardons of course immediately granted upon the hearing of mens confessions is that which wee charge the Romish Priests to have learned from the Audian hereticks Some require penance to this end that they might presently have the communion restored unto them these men desire not so much to loose themselves as to binde the Priest saith S. Ambrose If this be true that the Priest doth binde himselfe by his hastie and unadvised loosing of others the case is like to go hard with our Popish Priests who ordinarily in bestowing their absolutions use to make more hast then good speed Wherein with how little judgement they proceed who thus take upon them the place of Iudges in mens consciences may sufficiently appeare by this that whereas the maine ground whereupon they would build the necessitie of Auricular confession and the particular enumeration of all knowne sinnes is pretended to be this that the ghostly Father having taken notice of the cause may judge righteous judgement and discerne who should be bound and who should be loosed the matter yet is so carried in this court of theirs that everie man commonly goeth away with his absolution and all sorts of people usually receive one and the selfe same iudgement If thou seperate the pretious from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth saith the Lord. Whose mouth then may we hold them to be who seldome put anie difference betweene these and make it their ordinarie practise to pronounce the same sentence of absolution aswell upon the one as upon the other If we would know how late it was before this trade of pardoning mens sinnes after this maner was established in the Church of Rome wee cannot discover this better then by tracing out the doctrine publickly taught in that Church touching this matter from the time of Satans loosing untill his binding againe by the restoring of the puritie of the Gospell in our dayes And here Radulphus Ardens doth in the first place offer himselfe who toward the beginning of that time preached this for sound divinitie The power of releasing sinnes belongeth to God alone But the ministery which improperly also is called a power hee hath granted unto his substitutes who after their maner doe binde and absolve that is to say doe declare that men are bound or absolved For God doth first inwardly absolve the sinner by compunction and then the Priest outwardly by giving the sentence doth declare that he is absolved Which is well signified by that of Lazarus who first in the grave was raysed up by the Lord and afterward by the ministery of the disciples was loosed from the bands wherewith he was tyed Then follow both the Anselmes ours of Canterbury and the other of Laon in France who in their expositions upon the ninth of S. Matthew cleerely teach that none but God alone can forgive sinnes Ivo Bishop of Chartres writeth that by inward contrition the inward judge is satisfied and therefore without delay forgivenesse of the sinne is granted by him unto whom the inward conversion is manifest but the Church because it knoweth not the hidden things of the heart doth not loose him that is bound although he be raysed up untill hee be brought out of the tombe that is to say purged by publick satisfaction and if presently upon the inward conversion God be pleased to forgive the sinne the absolution of the Priest which followeth cannot in anie sort properly be accounted a remission of that sinne but a further manifestation onely of the remission formerly granted by God himselfe The Master of the Sentences after him having propounded the diverse opinions of the Doctors touching this point demandeth at last In this so great varietie what is to be held and returneth for
beene said actually voideth himselfe of this power this unrighteous judgement of his given upon earth being no wayes ratified but absolutely disanulled in the court of heaven For hee who by his office is appointed to be a minister of the word of truth hath no power given him to do any thing against the truth but for the truth neyther is it to be imagined that the sentence of man who is subject to deceive and be deceived should anie wayes prejudice the sentence of God whose judgement wee know to be alwayes according to the truth Therefore doth Pacianus in the end of his first epistle to Sympronianus the Novatian shew that at that time absolution was not so easily given unto penitents as now a dayes it is but vvith great pondering of the matter and with great deliberation after manie sighes and shedding of teares after the prayers of the whole Church pardon was so not denyed unto trâ—e repentance that Christ being to judge no man should prejudge him and a little before speaking of the Bishop by whose ministerie this was done He shall give an account saith he if hee have done anie thing amisse or if he have judged corruptly and wickedly Neyther is there anie prejudice done unto God whereby he might not undoe the workes of this evill builder but in the meane time if that administration of his be godly he continueth a helper of the workes of God Wherein he doth but tread in the steps of S. Cyprian who at the first rising of the Novatian heresie wrote in the same maner unto Antonianus Wee doe not prejudice the Lord that is to judge but that hee if he finde the repentance of the sinner to be full and just he may then ratifie that which shall be here ordayned by us but if any one doe deceive us with the semblance of repentance God who is not mocked and who beholdeth the heart of man may judge of those things which we did not well discerne and the Lord may amend the sentence of the servants Hereupon S. Hierome expounding those words Daniel 4.24 It may be God will pardon thy sinnes reproveth those men of great rashnesse that are so peremptorie and absolute in their absolutions When blessed Daniel saith he who knew things to come doth doubt of the sentence of God they do a rash deed that boldly promise pardon unto sinners S. Basil also resolveth us that the power of forgiving is not given absolutely but upon the obedience of the penitent and his consent with him that hath the care of his soule For it is in loosing as it is in binding Thou hast begun to esteeme thy brother as a publican saith S. Augustin thou bindest him upon earth But looke that thou bindest him justly For unjust bonds justice doth breake So when the Priest saith I absolve thee Maldonat confesseth that hee meaneth no more thereby but As much as in me lyeth I absolve thee and Suarez acknowledgeth that it implicity includeth this condition Vnlesse the receiver put some impediment for which hee alledgeth the authority of Hugo de S. Victore lib. 2. de Sacramentis pa. 14. s. 8. affirming that this forme doth rather signifie the power and vertue then the event of the absolution And therefore doth the Master of the Sentences rightly observe that God doth not evermore follow the judgement of the Church which sometimes judgeth by surreption and ignorance whereas God doth alwayes judge according to the truth So the Priests sometime declare men to be loosed or bound who are not so before God with the penaltie of satisfaction or excommunication they sometime binde such as are unworthy or loose them they admit them that be unworthy to the Sacraments and put backe them that be worthy to be admitted That saying therefore of Christ must be understood to be verified in them saith he whose merits doe require that they should be loosed or bound For then is the sentence of the Priest approved and confirmed by the judgement of God and the whole court of heaven when it doth proceed with that discretion that the merits of them who be dealt withall doe not contradict the same Whomsoever therefore they do loose or binde using the key of discretion according to the parties merits they are loosed or bound in heaven that is to say with God because the sentence of the Priest proceeding in this maner is approved and confirmed by divine judgement Thus farre the Master of the Sentences who is followed herein by the rest of the Schoolemen who generally agree that the power of binding and loosing committed to the Ministers of the Church is not absolute but must be limited with Clave non errante as being then onely of force when matters are carried with right iudgement and no error is committed in the use of the keyes Our Saviour therefore must stil have the priviledge reserved unto him of being the absolute Lord over his owne house it is sufficient for his officers that they bee esteemed as Moses was faithfull in all his house as servants The place wherein they serve is a Stewards place and the Apostle telleth them that it is required in Stewards that the man be found faithfull They may not therefore carrie themselves in their office as the unjust steward did and presume to strike out their Masters debt without his direction and contrarie to his liking Now we know that our Lord hath given no authoritie unto his stewards to grant an acquittance unto anie of his debtors that bring not unfayned faith and repentance with them Neyther Angell nor Archangell can neyther yet the Lord himselfe who alone can say I am with you when we have sinned doth release us unlesse vvee bring repentance with us saith S. Ambrose and Eligius Bishop of Noyon in his Sermon unto the Penitents Before all things it is necessary you should know that howsoever you desire to receive the imposition of our hands yet you cannot obtaine the absolution of your sinnes before the divine piety shall vouchsafe to absolve you by the grace of compunction To thinke therefore that it lyeth in the power of anie Priest truely to absolve a man from his sinnes without implying the condition of his beleeving and repenting as he ought to doe is both presumption and madnesse in the highest degree Neyther dareth Cardinall Bellarmine who censureth this conditionall absolution in us for idle and superfluous when he hath considered better of the matter assume unto himselfe or communicate unto his brethren the power of giving an absolute one For he is driven to confesse with other of his fellowes that when the Priest saith I absolve thee he doth not affirme that he doth absolve absolutely as not being ignorant that it may many wayes come to passe that he doth not absolve although he pronounce those words namely if hee who seemeth to receive this Sacrament for
thinke will take the paynes to get him a new heart and a new spirit and undertake the toylsome worke of crucifying the flesh with the lustes thereof if without all this adoe the Priests absolution can make that other imperfect or rather equivocall contrition arising from a carnall and servile feare to be sufficient for the blotting out of all his sinnes Or are wee not rather to thinke that this sacramentall penance of the Papists is a device invented by the enemie to hoodwinke poore soules and to divert them from seeking that true repentance which is onely able to stand them in stead and that such as take upon them to helpe lame dogges over the stile after this maner by substituting quid pro quo attrition in stead of contrition servile feare in stead of filiall love carnall sorrow in stead of godly repentance are physicians of no value nay such as minister poyson unto men under colour of providing a soveraigne medicine for them Hee therefore that will have care of his soules health must consider that much resteth here in the good choyce of a skilfull physician but much more in the paines that must be taken by the patient himselfe For that every one who beareth the name of a Priest is not fit to bee trusted with a matter of this moment their owne Decrees may give them faire warning where this admonition is twise laid down out of the author that wrote of true and false repentance Hee who will confesse his sinnes that he may finde grace let him seeke for a Priest that knoweth how to binde and loose least while he is negligent concerning himselfe he be neglected by him vvho mercifully admonisheth and desireth him that both fall not into the pit which the foole would not avoid And when the skilfullest Priest that is hath done his best S. Cyprian will tell them that to him that repenteth to him that worketh to him that prayeth the Lord of his mercie can grant a pardon hee can make good that which for such men eyther the Martyrs shall request or the Priest shall doe If we inquire who they were that first assumed unto themselves this exorbitant power of forgiving sins we are like to finde them in the Tents of the ancient hereticks and schismaticks who promised unto others libertie when they themselves were the servants of corruption How manie saith S. Hierom which have neyther bread nor apparell when they themselves are hungry and naked and neyther have spirituall meates nor preserve the coate of Christ intire yet promise unto others food and rayment and being full of wounds themselves bragge that they be physicians and doe not observe that of Moses Exod. 4.13 Provide another vvhom thou mayest send that other commandement Ecclesiastic 7.6 Doe not seeke to be made a Iudge lest peradventure thou be not able to take away iniquitie It is Iesus alone who healeth all sicknesses and infirmities of vvhom it is written Psalm 147.4 He healeth the contrite in heart and bindeth up their soares Thus farre S. Hierom. The Rhemists in their marginall note upon Luke 7.49 tell us that as the Pharisees did alwayes carp Christ for remission of sinnes in earth so the Hereticks reprehend his Church that remitteth sinnes by his authoritie But S. Augustin treating upon the selfe same place might have taught them that hereby the bewrayed themselves to be the off spring of Hereticks rather then children of the Church For whereas our Saviour there had said unto the penitent woman Thy sinnes are forgiven and they that sate at meate with him began to say within themselves Who is this that forgiveth sinnes also S. Augustin first compareth their knowledge and the knowledge of the woman thus together Shee knew that hee could forgive sinnes but they knew that a man could not forgive sinnes And wee are to beleeve that all that is both they which sat at table and the woman which came to our Lords feet they all knew that a man could not forgive sinnes Seeing all therefore knew this shee who beleeved that hee could forgive sinnes understood him to be more then a man and a little after That doe you know well that doe you hold well saith that learned Father Hold that a man cannot forgive sinnes Shee who beleeved that her sinnes were forgiven her by Christ beleeved that Christ was not only man but God also Then doth hee proceede to compare the knowledge of the Iewes then with the opinion of the Heretickes in his dayes Herein saith he the Pharisee was better then these men for when he did thinke that Christ was a man he did not beleeve that sinnes could be forgiven by a man It appeared therefore that the Iewes had better understanding then the Hereticks The Iewes said Who is this that forgiveth sinnes also Dare a man challenge this to himselfe What saith the Heretick on the other side I do forgive I doe cleanse I doe sanctifie Let Christ answer him not I O man when I was thought by the Iewes to bee a man I ascribed the forgivenesse of sinnes to faith Not I but Christ doth answer thee O Heretick Thou when thou art but a man sayest Come woman I doe make the safe I when I was thought to be but a man said Goe woman thy faith hath made thee safe The Hereticks at whom S. Augustin here aymeth were the Donatists whom Optatus also before him did thus roundly take up for the same presumption Vnderstand at length that you are servants and not Lords And if the Church be a vineyard and men be appointed to be dressers of it why doe you rush into the dominion of the housholder Why doe you challenge unto your selves that which is Gods Give leave unto God to performe the things that belong unto himselfe For that gift cannot be given by man which is divine If you think so you labour to frustrate the words of the Prophets the promises of God by which it is proved that God washeth away sinne and not man It is noted likewise by Theodoret of the Audian hereticks that they bragged they did forgive sinnes The maner of Confession which he saith was used among them was not much unlike that which Alvarus Pelagius acknowledgeth to have beene the usuall practise of them that made greatest profession of religion and learning in his time For scarce at all saith hee or very seldome doth any of them confesse otherwise then in generall termes scarce doe they ever specifie any grievous sinne What they say one day that they say another as if every day they did offend alike The maner of Absolution was the same with that which Theodoricus de Niem noteth to have beene practised by the pardoners sent abroad by Pope Boniface the ninth who released all sinnes to them that confessed without any penance or repentance affirming that they had for their warrant in so doing all that power which Christ gave unto
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
the Ocean from the Grecians But the Pharisees as hee noteth elsewhere held that the place wherein both rewards were given to the good and punishments to the wicked was under the earth which as Origen doth declare to have been the common opinion of the Iewes so doth Lucian shew that it was the more vulgar opinion among the Grecians For among them the common multitude whom wise men saith he call simple people being perswaded of these things by Homer and Hesiod and such other fabulous authors and receiving their Poëms for a law tooke HADES to be a certaine deepe place under the earth The first originall of which conceite is by Cicero derived from hence The bodies falling into the ground and being covered with earth whence they are said to be interred men thought that the rest of the life of the dead was led under the earth upon which opinion of theirs saith he great errors did ensue which were increased by the Poës Others do imagine that the Poets herein had some relation to the sphericall situation of the world for the better understanding whereof these particulars following would be considered by them that have some knowledge in this kinde of learning First the materiall Spheres in ancient time were not made moveable in their sockets as they are now that they might bee set to any elevation of the Pole but were fixt to the elevation of XXXVI degrees which was the height of the Rhodian climat Secondly the Horizon which devided this Sphere through the middle and separated the visible part of the world from the invisible was commonly esteemed the utmost bound of the earth so that whatsoever was under that horizon was accounted to be under the earth for neyther the common people nor yet some of the learned Doctros uf the Church as Lactantius S. Augustine Procopius and others could be induced to beleeve that which our daily navigations finde now to bee most certaine that there should bee another southerne hemisphere of the earth inhabited by any Antipodes that did walke with their feete just opposite unto ours Thirdly the great Ocean was supposed to be the thing in nature which was answerable to this horizon in the Sphere Therefore it is observed by Strabo that Homer and by Theon Achilles Statius and others that Aratus and the rest of the Poets doe put the Ocean for the Horizon and thereupon where the astronomers say that the Sunne or the starres at their setting goe under the horizon the common phrase of the Poets is that they doe tingere se Oceano dive themselves into the Ocean for as they tooke the Earth to be but halfe a globe and not a whole one so they imagined that demye globe to be as it were a great mountaine or Iland seated in and invironed round about with the Ocean Thus the author of the booke de Mundo affirmeth that the whole world is one Iland compassed about with the Atlanticke sea and Dionysius Alexandrinus in the beginning of his Geography 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein he followed Eratosthenes as his expositor Eustathius there noteth who compareth also with this that place of Orpheus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereunto answereth that of Euphorion or as Achilles Statius citeth it of Neoptolemus Parianus in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this opinion of theirs the Fathers of the Church did the more readily entertayne because they thought it had ground from Psalm 24.2 and 136.6 and such other testimonies of holy Scripture That the whole earth saith Procopius Gazaeus doth subsist in the waters and that there is no part of it which is situated under us voyde and clear'd of waters I suppose it be knowne unto all For so doth the Scripture teach Who stretcheth out the earth upon the waters and againe Hee hath founded it upon the seas and prepared it upon the floods Neyther is it fit we should beleeve that any earth under us is inhabited opposite unto our part of the world The same collection is made by S. Hilary Chrysostom Caesarius and others Fourthly it was thought by the ancient heathen that the Ocean supplying the place of the Horizon did separate the visible world from the kingdome of Hades and therefore that such as went to Hádes or the world invisible to us must first passe the Ocean and that the pole Antarctick was seene by them there as the Arctick or North pole is by us here according to that of Virgil in his Georgicks Hic vertex nobis semper sublimis at illum Sub pedibus Styx atra videt manesque profundi Fiftly as they held that Hades was for situation placed from the center of the earth downeward so betwixt the beginning and the lowest part thereof they imagined as great a space to be interjected as there is betwixt Heaven and Earth So saith Apollodorus of Tartarus the dungeon of torment This is a darke place in Hades having as great a distance from the earth as the earth from the heaven and Hesiod in his Theogonia agreably to that which before we heard from Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is as farre beneath the earth as heaven is from the earth for thus equall is the distance from the earth unto darke Tartarus whereunto that of Virgil may be added in the â—ixt of the Aeneids tum Tartarus ipse Bis patet in praeceps tantum tenditque sub umbras Quantus ad aethereum coeli suspectus Olympum then Tartarus it selfe that sinke-hole steep Two times as low descends two times as headlong downright deep As heaven upright â—s hie that see how hye the heaven is over us when we looke upward to it the downright distance from thence to Tartarus should be twice as deepe againe for so wee must conceive the Poets meaning to bee if wee will make him to accord with the rest of his fellowes These observations I doubt not will be censured by many to savour of a needlesse and fruitelesse curiositie but the intelligent reader for all that will easily discâ—rne how hereby he may be led to understand in what sense the ancient both heathen and Christian writers did hold Hades to be under the earth and upon what ground For they did not meane thereby as the Schoolemen generally doe and as Tertullian sometime seemeth to imagine that it was contayned within the bowels of the earth but that it lay under the whole bulke thereof and occupied that whole space which we now finde to be taken up with the earth ayre and firmament of the southerne hemisphere the inhabitants of which infernall region and vast depth are thereupon affirmed by S. Hilary to be non intra terram sed infra terram not within the earth but beneath the earth And this proceeded
AN ANSWER TO A CHALLENGE MADE BY A IESUITE in JRELAND WHEREIN THE IVDGEMENT OF ANTIQUITY in the points questioned is truely delivered and the Noveltie of the now ROMISH doctrine plainly discovered By IAMES VSSHER Bishop of Meath MATTH 19.8 From the beginning it was not so DUBLIN Printed by the Societie of Stationers 1624. TO HIS MOST SACRED MAIESTIE IAMES BY THE GRACE OF God King of great BRITAINE FRANCE and IRELAND Defender of the Faith c. Most Gratious and Dread Soveraigne WEe finde it recorded for the everlasting honour of Theodosius the yonger that it was his use to reason with his Bishops of the things contained in the holy Scriptures as if he himselfe had beene one of their order and of the Emperour Alexius in latter dayes that whatsoever time hee could spare from the publike cares of the Common-wealth hee did wholly employ in the diligent reading of Gods booke and in conferring thereof with worthy men of whom his Court was never empty How little inferiour or how much superiour rather your Majestie is to either of these in this kind of praise I neede not speake it is acknowledged even by such as differ from you in the point of Religion as a matter that hath added more than ordinary lustre of ornament to your Royall estate that you doe not forbeare so much as at the time of your bodily repast to have for the then like feeding of your intellectuall part your Highnesse table surrounded with the attendance and conference of your grave and learned Divines VVhat inward joy my heart conceived as oft as I have had the happinesse to be present at such seasons I forbeare to utter onely I will say with Job that the eare which heard you blessed you and the eye which saw you gave witnesse to you But of all other things which I observed your singular dexteritie in detecting the frauds of the Romish Church and untying the most knotty arguments of the Sophisters of that side was it I confesse that I admired most especially where occasion was offred you to utter your skill not in the word of God alone but also in the Antiquities of the Church wherein you have attained such a measure of knowledge as with honour to God I trust I may speake it without flatterie to you in a well studied Divine we would account verie commendable but in such a Monarch as your selfe almost incredible And this is one cause most Gratious Soveraigne beside my generall duty and the many speciall obligations wherby I am otherwise bound unto your Majestie which hath emboldned me to intreat your patience at this time in vouchsafing to be a spectator of this combate which I am now entred into with a Iesuite who chargeth us to disallow many chiefe articles which the Saints and Fathers of the Primitive Church did generally hold to be true and undertaketh to make good that they of his side doe not disagree from that holy Church either in these or in any other point of Religion Now true it is if a man doe only attend unto the bare sound of the word as in the question of Merit for example or to the thing in generall without descending into the particular consideration of the true ground thereof as in the matter of Praying for the dead he may easily be induced to beleeve that in divers of these controversies the Fathers speake cleerely for them and against us neither is there any one thing that hath wonne more credit to that religion or more advanced it in the consciences of simple men than the conformitie that it retaineth in some words and outward observances with the ancient Church o◠Christ. Whereas if the thing it selfe were narrowly looked into it would be found that they have onely the shell without the kernell and we the kernell without the shell they having retained certaine words and rites of the ancient Church but applied them to a new invented doctrine and we on the other side having relinquished these words and observances but retained neverthelesse the same primitive doctrine unto which by their first institution they had relation The more cause have I to count my selfe happy that am to answer of these matters before a King that is able to discerne betwixt things that differ and hath knowledge of all these questions before whom therefore I may speake boldly because I am perswaded that none of these things are hid from him For it is not of late daies that your Majestie hath begun to take these things into your consideration from a childe have you beene trained up to this warfare yea before you were twenty yeeres of age the Lord had taught your hands to fight against the man of sinne and your fingers to make battell against his Babel Whereof your Paraphrase upon the Revelation of S. John is a memorable monument left to all posterity which I can never looke upon but those verses of the Pöet runne alwaies in my minde Caesaribus virtus contigit ante diem Jngenium coeleste suis velocius annis Surgit ignavae fert mala damna morae How constant you have beene ever since in the profession and maintenance of the truth your late protestation made vnto both the houses of your Parlament giveth sufficient evidence So much whereof as may serve for a present antidote against that false and scandalous Oration spread amongst forrainers under your Majesties sacred name I humbly make bold to insert in this place as a perpetuall testimony of your integrity in this behalfe WHAT my religion is my bookes doe declare my profession and my behaviour doe shew and J hope in God J shall never live to be thought otherwise sure I am J shall never deserve it And for my part I wish that it might be written in Marble and remaine to posteritie as a marke upon me when I shall swerve from my Religion for he that doth dissemble with God is not to be trusted by man My Lords I protest before God my heart hath bled when I have heard of the increase of Popery and God is my Judge it hath beene so great a griefe unto me that it hath beene like thornes in mine eies and prickes in my sides so farre have I beene and ever shall be from turning any other way And my Lords and Gentlemen you all shall bee my Confessors if J knew any way better than other to hinder the growth of Poperie I would take it and he cannot be an honest man who knowing as J doe and being perswaded as I am would doe otherwise As you have so long since begun and happily continued so goe on most renowned King and still shew your selfe to be a Defender of the faith fight the Lords battells couragiously honour him evermore and advance his truth that when you have fought this good fight and finished your course and kept the faith you may receive the Crowne of righteousnesse reserved in heaven
answer Surely this we may say and thinke that God alone doth forgive and retayne sinnes and yet hath given power of binding and loosing unto the Church but He bindeth and looseth one way and the Church another For he only by himselfe forgiveth sinne who both cleanseth the soule from inward blot and looseth it from the debt of everlasting death But this hath he not granted unto Priests to whom notwithstanding he hath given the power of binding and loosing that is to say of declaring men to be bound or loosed Wherupon the Lord did first by himselfe restore health unto the leper and then sent him unto the Priests by whose judgement he might be declared to be cleansed so also he offered Lazarus to his disciples to be loosed having first quickned him In like maner Hugo Cardinalis sheweth that it is onely God that forgiveth sinnes and that the Priest cannot binde or loose the sinner with or from the bond of the fault and the punishment due thereunto but onely declare him to be bound or loosed as the Leviticall Priest did not make nor cleanse the leper but onely declared him to be infected or cleane And a great number of the Schoolemen afterward shewed themselves to be of the same judgement that to pardon the fault and the eternall punishment due unto the same was the proper worke of God that the Priests absolution hath no reall operation that way but presupposeth the partie to be first justified and absolved by God Of this minde were Guilielmus Altissiodorensis Alexander of Hales Bonaventure Ockam Thomas de Argentinâ Michael de Bononiâ Gabriel Biel Henricus de Huecta Iohannes Major and others To lay downe all their words at large would be too tedious In generall Hadrian the sixth one of their owne Popes acknowledgeth that the most apprâ—ved Divines were of this minde that the keyes of the Priesthood doe not extend themselves to the remission of the fault and Major affirmeth that this is the common Tenet of the Doctors So likewise is it avouched by Gabriel Biel that the old Doctors commonly follow the opinion of the Master of the Sentences that Priests do forgive or retaine sinnes while they iudge and declare that they are forgiven by God or retained But all this notwithstanding Suarez is bold to tell us that this opinion of the Master is false and now at this time erroneous It was not held so the other day when Ferus preached at Mentz that man did not properly remit sinne but did declare and certifie that it was remitted by God so that the Absolution received from man is nothing else then if he should say Behold my sonne I certifie thee that thy sinnes are forgiven thee I pronounce unto thee that thou hast God favourable unto thee and vvhatsoever Christ in Baptisme and in his Gospell hath promised unto us he doth now declare and promise unto thee by me Of this shalt thou have me to be a witnesse goe in peace and in quiet of conscience But jam hoc tempore the case is altered these things must be purged out of Ferus as erroneous the opinion of the old Doctors must give place to the sentence of the new Fathers of Trent And so we are come at length to the end of this long question in the handling whereof I have spent more time th◠〈◊〉 aniâ— of thâ— râ—st by reason our Priests doe make this facultie of pardoning mens sinnes to be one of the most principall parts of their occupation and the particular discoverie thereof is not ordinarily by the writers of our side so much insisted upon The performance therefore of my promise of brevitie is to be expected in the briefer treating upon those articles that remaine the fift whereof we are now to take into our consideration which is OF PVRGATORIE FOr extinguishing the imaginarie flames of Popish Purgatory wee need not goe farre to fetch water seeing the whole current of Gods word runneth mainly upon this that the blood of Iesus Christ cleanseth us from all sinne that all Gods children dye in Christ and that such as dye in him doe rest from their labours that as they be absent from the Lord while they are in the bodie so when they be absent from the bodie they are present with the Lord and in a word that they come not into judgement but passe from death unto life And if wee need the assistance of the ancient Fathers in this businesse behold they be here readie with full buckets in their hands Tertullian to begin withall counteth it iniurious unto Christ to hold that such as be called from hence by him are in a state that should be pittied whereas they have obtayned their desire of being with Christ according to that of the Apostle Philip. 1.23 I desire to depart and to be with Chrest What pitie was it that the poore soules in Purgatorie should finde no 〈◊〉 in those dayes to informe men better of their ruefull condition nor no Secretarie to draw up such another supplication for them as this which of late years Sir Thomas Moore presented in their name To all good Christen people In most piteous wise continually calleth and cryeth upon your devoute charitie and most tender pitie for helpe comfort and reliefe your late acquaintance kindred spouses companions playfellowes and friends and now your humble and unacquainted and halfe forgotten suppliants poore prisoners of God the sely soules in Purgatorie here abiding and enduring the grievous paynes and hote clensing fire c. If S. Cyprian had understood but halfe thus much doubtlesse he would have strucken out the best part of that famous treatise which hee wrote of Mortalitie to comfort men against death in the time of a great plague especially such passages as these are which by no meanes can be reconciled with Purgatorie It is for him to feare death that is not willing to goe unto Christ it is for him to bee unwilling to goe unto Christ who doth not beleeve that hee beginneth to raigne with Christ. For it is written that the just doth live by faith If thou be just and livest by faith if thou dost truly beleeve in God why being to be with Christ and being secure of the Lords promise doest not thou embrace the message whereby thou art called unto Christ and rejoycest that thou shalt be ridd of the Divell Simeon said Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seene thy salvation proving thereby and witnessing that the servants of God then have peace then injoy free and quiet rest when being drawen from these stormes of the world vvee arrive at the haven of our everlasting habitation and securitie vvhen this death being ended wee enter into immortalitie The righteous are called to a refreshing the unrighteous are haled to torment safety is quickly
least suspition of heresie The narration of Lazarus and the rich man saith the author of the Questions and Answers in the workes of Iustin Martyr presenteth this doctrine unto us that after the departure of the soule out of the body men cannot by any providence or care obtaine any profite Then saith Gregory Nazianzen in vaine shall anie one goe about to relieve those that lament Here men may have a remedie but afterwards there is nothing but bonds or all things are fast bound For after death the punishment of sinne is remedilesse saith Theodoret. and therefore S. Hierome doth conclude that while we are in this present world we may be able to helpe one another eyther by our prayers or by our counsailes but when vvee shall come before the judgement seat of Christ neyther Iob nor Daniel nor Noah can intreate for any one but every one must beare his owne burden Other Doctors were of another iudgement that the dead received speciall profite by the prayers and oblations of the living eyther for the remission of their sinnes or the easing of their punishment but whether this were restrained to smaller offences only or such as lived and died in great sinnes might be made partakers of the same benefite and whether these mens torments might be lessened only thereby or in tract of time quite extinguished they did not agree upon That Stephanus Gobarus whom before I alledged made a collection of the different sentences of the Fathers whereof some contayned the received doctrine of the Church others the unallowable opinions of certaine of the ancient that varied therefrom Of this latter kinde he maketh this sentence to be one that such sinners as be delivered unto punishment are purged therein from their sinnes and after their purging are freed from their punishment albeit not all who are delivered unto punishment be thus purged and freed but some onely whereas the true sentence of the Church was that none at all was freed from punishment If that were the true sentence of the Church that none of those who suffered punishment in the other world were ever freed from the same then the applying of prayers to the helping of mens soules out of any such punishments must be referred to the erroneous apprehension of some particular men and not to the generall intention of the ancient Church from which in this point as in manie others beside the latter Church of Rome hath swarved and quite gone astray The ancient writer of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie handling this matter of praying for the dead professedly doth by way of objection move this doubt to vvhat purpose should the Bishop intreat the divine goodnesse to grant remission of sinnes unto the dead and a like glorious inheritance with those that have followed God seeing by such prayers he can be brought to no other rest but that which is fitting for him and answerable unto the life which he hath here ledd If our Romish divinitie had bene then acknowledged by the Church there had beene no place left to such questions and doubts as these The matter might easily have beene answered that though a man did die in the state of grace yet was he not presently to be admitted unto the place of rest but must first be reckoned withall both for the committall of those smaller faults unto which through humane frailtie he was daily subject and for the not performance of full penance and satisfaction for the greater sinnes into which in this life he had fallen and Purgatorie being the place wherein he must be cleansed from the one and make up the iust payment for the other these prayers were directed unto God for the deliverie of the poore soule which was not now in case to helpe it selfe out of that place of torment But this author taking upon him the person of S. Pauls scholler and professing to deliver herein that tradition which he had received from his divine Masters saith no such thing but giveth in this for his answer The divine Bishop as the Scriptures witnesse is the interpreter of the divine judgements for hee is the Angell of the Lord God almightie He hath learned therefore out of the oracles delivered by God that a most glorious and divine life is by his just judgement worthily adwarded to them that have lived holily his divine goodnesse and kindenesse passing over those blots which by humane frailtie he had contracted forasmuch as no man as the Scriptures speake is free from pollution The Bishop therefore knowing these things to be promised by the true oracles prayeth that they may accordingly come to passe and those sacred rewards may be bestowed upon them that have lived holily The Bishop at that time belike did not know so much as our Popish Bishops doe now that Gods servants must dearely smart in Purgatorie for the sinnes wherewith they were overtaken through humane infirmitie he beleeved that God of his mercifull goodnesse would passe by those slipps and that such after-reckonings as these should give no stoppage to the present bestowing of those holy rewards upon the children of the promise Therâ—fore the divine Bishop saith our author asketh those things which vvere promised by God and are gratefull to him and without doubt will be granted theâ—eby aswell manifesting his own good disposition unto God who is a lover of the good as declaring like an interpreter unto them that be present the gifts that shall befall to such as are holy Hee further also addeth that the Bishops have a separating power as the interpreters of Gods judgements according to that commission of Christ Whose sinnes ye remitt they are remitted unto them and whose you shall retaine they are retained and Whatsoever thou shalt binde upon earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth shall be loosed in heaven And as in the use of the keyes the Schoolemen following S Hierom do account the minister to be the interpreter onely of Gods judgement by declaring what is done by him in the binding or loosing of mens sinnes so doth this author heâ—e give them power onely to separate those that are alâ—eady judged of God and by way of declaration and convoy to bring in those that are beloved of God and to exclude such as are ungodly And if the power which the Ministers have received by the foresaid commission doe extend it selfe to any further reall operation upon the living Pope Gelasius will denie that it may be stretched in like maner unto the dead because that Châ—ist saith Whatsoever thou shalt binde upon earth He saith upon earth for he that dyeth bound is no where said to be loosed and that which a man remayning in his body hath not received being uncloathed of his flesh he cannot obtaine saith Leo. Whether the dead received profite by the prayers of the living was still a question in the Church Maximus in his Greeke