answer of Ratrannus was directed had then in his Court a famous countrey-man of ours called Iohannes Scotus who wrote a booke of the same argument and to the same effect that the other had done This man for his extraordinarie learning was in England where hee lived in great account with King Alfred surnamed Iohn the wise and had verie lately a roome in the Martyrologe of the Church of Rome though now he be ejected thence Wee finde him indeed censured by the Church of Lyons and others in that time for certaine opinions which he delivered touching Gods foreknowledge and predestination before the beginning of the world Mans freewill and the concurrence thereof with Grace in this present world and the maner of the punishment of reprobate Men Angels in the world to come but we finde not anie where that his book of the Sacrament was condemned before the dayes of x Lanfranc who was the first that leavened that Church of England afterward with this corrupt doctrine of the carnall presence Till then this question of the reall presence continued still in debate and it was as free for anie man to follow the doctrine of Ratrannus or Iohannes Scotus therein as that of Paschasius Radbertus which since the time of Satans loosing obtayned the upper hand Men have often searched and doe yet often search how bread that is gathered of corne and through fires heate baked may be turned to Christs bodie or how wine that is pressed out of manie grapes is turned through one blessing to the Lords blood saith Aelfrick Abbat of Malmesburie in his Saxon Homily written about 650. yeares agoe His resolution is not onely the same with that of Ratrannus but also in manie places directly translated out of him as may appeare by these passages following compared with his Latin layd downe in the margent The bread and the wine which by the Priests ministery is hallowed shew one thing without to mens senses and another thing they call within to beleeving mindes Without they be seene bread wine both in figure and in taste and they be truely after their hallowing Christs body and his blood by spirituall mysterie So the holy font water that is called the well-spring of life is like in shape to other waters and is subject to corruption but the holy Ghosts might commeth to the corruptible water through the Priests blessing and it may after wash the body and soule from all sinne by spirituall vertue Behold now we see two things in this one creature in true nature that water is corruptible moisture and in spirituall mysterie hath healing vertue So also if we behold that holy housel after bodily sense then see wee that it is a creature corruptible and mutable If we acknowledge therein spirituall vertue then understand we that life is therein and that it giveth immortalitie to them that eate it with beleefe Much is betwixt the bodie Christ suffered in and the body that is hallowed to housel The body truely that Christ suffered in was borne of the flesh of Mary with blood and with bone with skin and with sinewes in humane limbs with a reasonable soule living and his spirituall body which we call the housel is gathered of many cornes without blood and bone without lim without soule and therefore nothing is to be understood therein bodily but spiriâ—ually Whatsoever is in that housel which giveth substance of life that is spirituall vertue and invisible doing Certainly Christs body which suffered death and rose from death shall never dye henceforth but is eternall and unpassible That housel is temporall not eternall corruptible dealed into sundry parts chewed betweene teeth and sent into the belly This mysterie is a pledge and a figure Christs bodie is truth it selfe This pledge wee doe keepe mystically untill that we be come to the truth it selfe and then is this pledge ended Christ hallowed bread and wine to housel before his suffering and said This is my body my blood Yet he had not then suffered but so notwithstanding hee turned through invisible vertue the bread to his owne body and that wine to his blood as he before did in the wildernesse before that he was borne to men when he turned that heavenly meate to his flesh and the flowing water from that stone to his owne blood Moses and Aaron and manie other of that people which pleased God did eate that heavenly bread and they died not the everlasting death though they dyed the common They saw that the heavenly meate was visible and corruptible and they spiritually understood by that visible thing and spiritually received it This Homily was appointed publikely to be read to the people in England on Easter day before they did receive the communion The like matter also was delivered to the Clergie by the Bishops at their Synods out of two other writings of the same Aelfrick in the one wherof directed to Wulfsine Bishop of Shyrburne we reade thus That housel is Christs bodie not bodily but spiritually Not the body which he suffered in but the bodie of which he spake when he blessed bread and wine to housel the night before his suffering and said by the blessed bread This is my body and againe by the holy wine This is my blood which is shed for many in forgivenesse of sinnes In the other written to Wulfstane Archbishop of Yorke thus The Lord which hallowed housel before his suffering and saith that the bread was his owne bodie and that the wine vvas truely his blood halloweth daily by the hands of the Priest bread to his body and wine to his blood in spirituall mysterie as wee reade in bookes And yet notwithstanding that lively bread is not bodily so nor the selfe same body that Christ suffered in nor that holy vvine is the Saviours blood which was shed for us in bodily thing but in spirituall understanding Both be truely that bread his body and that wine also his blood as was the heavenly bread which vve call Manna that fedde fortie yeares Gods people and the cleare water which did then runne from the stone in the vvildernesse vvas truely his blood as Paul wrote in one of his Epistles Thus was Priest and people taught to beleeve in the Church of England toward the end of the tenth and the beginning of the eleventh age after the Incarnation of our Saviour Christ. And therefore it is not to be wondered that when Berengarius shortly after stood to maintaine this doctrine manie both by word and writing disputed for him and not onely the English but also all the French almost the Italians as Matthew of Westminster reporteth were so readie to entertaine that which hee delivered Who though they were so borne downe by the power of the Pope who now was growne to his height that they durst not make open profession of that which they beleeved yet manie continued even
to my Father who while thou searchest for me among the infernalls dost distrust that I am returned to the celestials while thou seekest me among the dead dost not hope that I doe live with my father Where his Inferi and Inferna doe plainely import no more but tumulos and sepulchra Heereupon Ruffinus in his exposition of the Creed having given notice that in the Symbol of the Church of Rome there is not added He descended into hell nor in the Churches of the East neyther adjoyneth presently Yet the force or meaning of the word seemeth to bee the same in that he is sayd to have bene buried For the tearmes of buriall and descending into hell in the Scripture phrase tend much to the expressing of the selfe same thing but that the bare naming of the one doth lead us only to the consideration of the honor of buriall the addition of the other intimateth unto us that which is more dishonourable in it Thus under the buriall of our Saviour may be comprehended his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his funeration and his interring which are both of them set down in the end of the 19. chapter of the Gospell according to S. Iohn the latter in the two last verses where Ioseph and Nicodemus are said to have laid him in a new Sepulchre vvherein was never man yet laid the former in the two verses going before where it is recorded that they wound his body in linnen clothes with spices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is the maner of the Iews to bury for to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or funeratioÌ„ belongeth the imbalming of the dead body all other offices that are performed unto it while it remaines above ground So Gen. 50.2 where the PhysiciaÌ„s are said to have imbalmed Israel the Greek translators render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and when Mary poured the pretious ointment upon our Saviour himselfe interpreteth this to have beene done for his funeration or buriall For it was a custome in times past saith Eusebius commonly called Emissenus that the bodies of noble men being to be buried should first be annointed with pretious ointments and buried with spices And who knoweth not saith Stapleton that a sepulchre is an honour to the dead and not a disgrace But the mention of Sheol which hath speciall relation as hath beene shewed to the disposing of the dead body unto corruption and so of Hades Infernus or Hell answering thereunto carrieth us further to the consideration of that which the Apostle calleth the sowing of the body in corruption and dishonour 1. Corinth 15.42 43. For which that place in S. Augustine is worth the consideration Did not the Hells or the Grave give testimony unto Christ when loosing their power they reserved Lazarus whom they had received to dissolve for foure dayes together that they might restore him safe againe when they did heare the voyce of their Lord commanding it where you may observe an Hâ—ll appointed for the dissolution of dead mens bodies the descending into which according to Ruffinus his note differeth little or nothing from the descending into the Grave In the thirteenth of the Acts S. Paul preacheth unto the Iewes that God raysed up his Sonne from the dead not to returne now any more unto corruption and yet presently addeth that therein was verified that prophecie in the Psalme Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy one to see corruption implying thereby that he descended in some sort for a time into corruption although in that time he did not suffer corruption And doe not wonder saith S. Ambrose how he should descend into corruption whose flesh did not see corruption He did descend indeed into the place of corruption who pierced the Hells but being uncorrupted he shut out corruption For as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Prophet useth in the Psalm doth signifie as well the pit or place of corruption as the corruption it selfe so also the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby S. Luke doth expresse the same is used by the Greek Interpreters of the old Testament to signifie not the corruption it selfe alone but the verie place of it likewise as where we read in Psalm 7.15 He is fallen into the pit which he made and Psalm 9.16 The heathen are sunke downe in the pit that they made and Proverb 26.27 Who so diggeth a pit shall fall therein Aquila in the first place the Septuagint in the second Aquila and Symmachus in the third retaine the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that our Saviour descending into Sheol Hades or Hell may thus be understood to have descended into corruption that is to say into the pit or place of corruption as S. Ambrose interpreteth it although hee were free in the meane time from the passion of corruption And because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hell and Corruption have reference to the selfe same thing therfore doth the Arabick interpreter translated by Iunius in Act. 2.31 or as the Arabian divideth the book Act. 4.10 confound them together and retaine the same word in both the parts of the sentence after this maner Hee was not left in perdition neyther did his flesh see perdition even as in the 29. Psalme or the 30. according to the division of the Hebrewes the Arabick readeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 al-gehim or Hell where the Greek hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Chaldee paraphrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the house of the grave Athanasius in his booke of the Incarnation of the Word written against the Gentiles observeth that when God threatned our first parents that whatsoever day they did eate of the forbidden fruite they should die the death by dying the death hee signified that they should not onely die but also remaine in the corruption of death that our Saviour comming to free us from this corruption kept his owne body uncorrupted as a pledge and an evidence of the future resurrection of us all which hath wrought such a contempt of death in his disciples that as he addeth afterwards wee may see men which are by nature weake leaping or dauncing unto death being not agaste at the corruption thereof nor fearing the descents into Hell So the Grecians sing in their Liturgy at this day The corruption-working pallace of Hell was dissolved when thou didst arise out of the Grave O Lord and againe The stone is rouled away the grave is emptied Behold corruption is troaden under by life That which was mortall is saved by the flesh of God Hell mourneth For God saith Origen will neyther leave our soules in hell nor suffer us to remaine for ever in corruption but he that recalled him after the third day from hell will recall us also in
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
torments which by Arator is thus more amply expressed in verse pavidis resplenduit umbris Pallida regna petens propriâ quem luce corruscum Non potuit fuscare chaeos fugere dolores Infernus tunc esse timet nullumque coërcens In se poena redit nova tortor ad otia languet Tartara moesta gemunt quia vincula cuncta quiescunt Mors ibi quid faceret quò vitae portitor ibat S. Augustine doth thus deliver his opinion touching this matter That Christs soule came unto those places wherein sinners are punished that hee might loose them from torments whom by his hidden justice he judged fit to be loosed is not without cause beleeved Neyther did our Saviour being dead for us scorne to visite those parts that hee might loose from thence such as hee could not bee ignorant according to his divine and secret justice were not to bee loosed But whether hee loosed all that hee found in those paines or some whom hee thought worthy of that benefit I yet enquire For that he was in hell and bestowed this benefit upon some that did lye in the paines thereof I doe not doubt Thus did S. Augustine write unto Euodias who inquired of him whether our Saviour loosed all from thence and emptied Hell which was in those dayes a great question and gave occasion to that speech of Gregory Nazianzen If hee descend into Hell goe thou downe with him namely in contemplation and meditation learne the mysteries of Christs doings there what the dispensation and what the reason was of his double descent to wit from heaven unto earth from earth unto hell whether at his appearing he simply saved all or there also such only as did beleeve What ClemeÌ„s Alexandrinus his opinion was herein every one knoweth that our Lord descended for no other cause into Hell but to preach the Gospell and that such as lived a good life before the time of the Gospell whether Iewes or Grecians although they were in hell and in durance yet hearing the voyce of our Lord eyther from himselfe immediatly or by the working of his Apostles were presently converted and did beleeve in a word that in Hell things were so ordred that eveÌ„ there all the soules having heard this preaching might eyther shew their repentance or acknowledge their punishment to be just because they did not beleeve Hereupon when Celsus the Philosopher made this objection concerning our Saviour Surely you will not say of him that when hee could not perswade those that were heere hee went unto Hell to perswade those that were there Origen the scholler of Clemens sticketh not to returne unto him this answere Whether he will or no wee say this that both being in the bodie hee did perswade not a few but so many that for the multitude of those that were perswaded by him he was layd in wayt for and after his soule was separated from his body hee had conference with soules separated from their bodies converting of them unto himselfe such as would or such as he discerned to bee more fit for reasons best knowne unto himselfe The like effect of Christs preaching in Hell is delivered by Anastasius Sinaita Iobius or Iovius Damascen Oecumenius Michael Glycas and his transcriber Theodorus Metochites Procopius saith that hee preached to the spirits that were in Hell restrayned in the prison house releasing them all from the bonds of necessity wherein he followeth S. Cyrill of Alexandria writing upon the same place that Christ went to preach to the spirits in Hell and appeared to them that were detayned in the prison house and freed them all fâ—om bonds and necessitie and paine and punishment The same S. Cyrill in his Paschall homilies affirmeth more directly that our Saviour entring into the lowermost dennes of Hell and preaching to the spirits that were there emptied that unsatiable denne of death spoyled Hell of spirits and having thus spoyled all Hell left the Divell there solitarie and alone For when Christ descended into Hell sayth Andronicus not onely the soules of the Saints were delivered from thence but all those that before did serve in the error of the Divell and the worship of idols being enriched with the knowledge of God obtayned salvation for which also they gave thankes praysing God Whereupon the author of one of the sermons upon the Ascension fathered upon S. Chrysostom bringeth in the Divell complayning that the sonne of Mary having taken away from him all those that were with him from the verie beginning had left him desolate whereas the true Chrysostom doth at large confute this fond opinion censuring the maintayners thereof as the bringers in of old wives conceytes and Iewish fables Yea Philastrius S. Augustin out of him doth brand such for hereticks whose testimonie also is urged by S. Gregory against George and Theodore two of the clergie of Constantinople who held in his time as many others did before and after them that our omnipotent Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ descending into Hell did save all those vvho there confessed him to be God and did deliver them from the paines that were due unto them and when Clement our countryman about 150. years after did renue that old error in Germanie that the sonne of God descending into Hell delivered from thence all such as that infernall prison did detayne beleevers and unbeleevers praysers of God and worshippers of idols the Romane Synod held by Pope Zacharie condemned him and his followers for it But to leave Clemens Scotus and to returne unto Clemens Alexandrinus at whom Philastrius may seeme to have aymed specially it is confessed by our Adversaries that he fell into this error partly being deceived with the superficiall consideration of the wordes of S. Petâ—r touching Christs preaching to the spirits in prison 1. Pet. 3.19 partly being deluded with the authority of Hermes the supposed scholler of S. Paul by whose dreames he was perswaded to beleeve that not onely Christ himselfe but his Apostles also did descend into Hell to preach there unto the dead to baptize them But touching the wordes of S. Peter is the maine doubt whether they are to bee referred unto Christs preaching by the ministerie of Noë unto the world of the ungodly or unto his owne immediate preaching to the spirits in Hell after his death upon the Crosse. For seeing it was the spirit of Christ which spake in the Prophets as S. Peter sheweth in this same Epistle and among them was Noë a preacher of righteousnesse as hee declareth in the next even as in S. Paul Christ is sayd to have come and preached to the Ephesians namely by his spirit in the mouth of his Apostles so likewise in S. Peter may he be sayd to have gone and preached to the old world by
is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the grave for proofe whereof he alledgeth divers place of Scripture Where by the way you may note that in the last edition of the Masoriticall and Rabbinicall Bible printed by Bombergius both this and diverse other passages elsewhere have beene cut out by the Romish Correctors which I wish our Buxtorfius had understood when he followed that mangled and corrupted copie in his late renewed edition of that great worke R. Salomo Iarchi writing upon the same words Gen. 37.35 saith that according to the literall sense the interpretation thereof is the Grave In my mourning I will be buried and I will not be comforted all my dayes but after the Midrash or Allegoricall interpretation it is Gehenna In like maner R. David Kimchi expounding that place Psal. 9.17 The wicked shall turne into Hell and all the nations that forget God acknowledgeth that by the Derash or Allegoricall exposition into Hell is as much to say as into Gehenna but according to the literall meaning he expoundeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the grave intimating withall that the Prophet useth here the terme of turning or returning with reference to that sentence Gen. 3.19 Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou returne Out of which observation of Kimchi wee may further note that the Hebrewes when they expound Sheol to be the grave do not meane so much thereby an artificial grave to wit a pit digged in the earth or a tomb raysed above ground as a naturall sepulchre such as the Poët speaketh of in that verse Nec tumulum curo sepelit natura relictos and Seneca in his Controversies Nature hath given a buriall unto all men such as suffer shipwrack the same wave doth bury that cast them away the bodies of such as are crucified dropp away from the Crosses unto their buriall to such as are burnt alive their punishment is a funerall For this is the difference that is made by authors betwixt burying and interring that he is understood to be buried who is put away in any maner but hee to be interred who is covered with the earth Hence different kindes of burialls are mentioned by them according to the different usages of severall nations the name of a sepulture being given by them as well to the burning of the bodies of the dead used of old among the more civill nations as to the devouring of them by dogges which was the barbarous custome of the Hyrcanians Therefore Diogenes was wont to say that if the dogges did teare him he should have an Hyrcanian buriall and those beasts which were kept for this use the Bactrians did terme in their language Sepulchrall dogges as Strabo relateth out of Onesicritus So in the Scripture the Prophet Ionas calleth the belly of the Whale wherein he was devoured the belly of Sheol that is of Hell or the Grave For Ionas saith Basil of Seleuciae was carried in a living grave and dwelt in a swimming prison dwelling in the region of death the common lodge of the dead and not of the living while he dwelt in that bâ—lly which was the mother of death and in the prophecie of Ieremy King Iehojakim is said to bee buried although with the buriall of an asse when his carkasse was drawen and cast forth beyond the gates of Ierusalem capit omnia tellus Quae genuit coelo tegitur qui non habet urnaem The earth which begetteth all receiveth all and hee that wanteth a coffin hath the welkin for his winding sheet The earth is our great mother Omniparens eadem rerum commune sepulcrum the common mother out of whose wombe as naked we came so naked shall we returne thither according to that in Psalm 146.4 His spirit goeth forth he returneth to HIS earth and Psalm 104.29 Thou takest away their breath they die and returne to THEIR dust And this is the Sheol which Iob wayted for when he said Sheol or the grave for that is the Hell which is meant here as is confessed not by Lyranus only but by the Iesuite Pineda also is mine house I have made my bedde in the darkenesse I have said to corruption Thou art my father to the vvorme Thou art my mother and my sister This is that common sepulchre non factum sed natum not made by the hand of man but provided by nature it selfe betwixt which naturall and artificiall grave these differences may be observed The artificiall may be appropriated to this man or that man The Patriarch David is both dead and buried and his sepulcher is with us unto this day saith S. Peter Act. 2.29 and Yee build the tombes of the Prophets and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous saith our Saviour Matth. 23.29 But in the naturall there is no such distinction It cannot be said that this is such or such a mans Sheol it is considered as the common receptacle of all the dead as wee read in Iob I knowe that thou wilt bring mee to death and to the house appointed for all living For to everie man as Olympiodorus writeth upon that place the earth it selfe is appointed as a house for his grave There the prisoners rest together saith Iob they heare not the voyce of the oppressor The small and great are there and the servant free from his master Againe into a made grave a man may enter in alive and come out alive againe as Peter and Iohn did into the sepulcher of Christ but Sheol eyther findeth men dead when they come into it which is the ordinarie course or if they come into it alive which is a new and unwonted thing it bringeth death upon them as wee see it fell out in Korah and his complices who are said to have gone downe alive into Sheol when the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up Numb 16.30.33 Lastly as many living men doe goe into the grave made with hands and yet in so doing they cannot bee said to goe into Sheol beacuse they come from thence alive againe so some dead men also want the honour of such a grave as it was the case of Gods servants whose bodies were kept from burial and yet thereby are not kept from Sheol which is the way that all flesh must goe to For all goe unto one place all are of the dust and all turne to dust againe Ecclesiast 3.20 We conclude therefore that when Sheol is said to signifie the grave the tearme of grave must bee taken in as large a sense as it is in that speech of our Saviour Iohn 5.28 All that are in the graves shall heare his voyce and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evill unto the resurrection of damnation and in Esai 26.19 according to the Greeke reading The dead shall rise and they that are in the graves shall bee
honour and magnifie thee ô giver of life Thou wast put in the tombe being voluntarily made dead and didst emptie all the palaces of hell ô immortall King raysing up the dead with thy ResurrectioÌ„ Thou who spoyledst hell by thy buriall be mindfull of me Hitherto also belongeth that of Prudentius in his Apotheosis tumuloque inferna refringens Regna resurgentes secum jubet ire sepultos Coelum habitat terris intervenit abdita rumpit Tartara vera fides Deus est qui totus ubique est where in saying that our Saviour by his grave did break up the infernall kingdomes and commanded those that were buried to rise up with him he hath reference unto that part of the history of the Gospell wherein it is recorded that The graves were opened and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy citie and appeared unto many Matth. 27.52 53. upon which place S. Hilary writeth thus Inlightning the darkenesse of death and shining in the obscure places of Hell by the resurrection of the Saints that were seene at the present he tooke away the spoyles of death it selfe To the same effect writeth S. Ambrose also Neither did his sepulchre want a miracle For when he was anoynted by Ioseph and buried in his tombe by a new kinde of worke he that was dead himselfe did open the sepulchres of the dead His body indeed did lye in the grave but he himselfe being free among the dead did give libertie unto them that were placed in Hell dissolving the law of death For his flesh was in the tombe but his power did worke from heaven which may be a sufficient commentary upon that sentence which we reade in the Exposition of the Creed attributed unto S. Chrysostom He descended into Hell that there also he might not want a miracle For many bodies of the Saints arose with Christ. namely HELL rendring up the BODIES of the Saints alive againe as eyther the same or another author that goeth under the like name of Chrysostom doth elsewhere directly affirme which is a further confirmation of that which we have heard delivered by Ruffinus touching the exposition of the article of the Descent into Hell that the substance thereof seemeth to be the same with that of the Buriall for what other Hell can we imagin it to be but the Grave that thus receiveth and giveth up the bodies of men departed this life And hitherto also may bee referâ—ed that famous saying of Christs descending alone ascending with a multitude which we meet withall in foure severall places of antiquitie First in the hâ—ads of the sermon of Thaddaeus as they are reported by Eusebius out of the Syriack records of the citie of Edessa He was crucified and descended into Hades or Hell and brake the rampiere never broken before since the beginning and rose againe and raysed up with him those dead that had slept from the beginning and descended alone but ascended to his Father with a great multitude Secondly in the epistle of Ignatius unto the Trallians He was truly and not in opinion crucified and died those that were in heaven and in earth and under the earth beholding him those in heaven as the incorporeall natures those in earth to wit the Iewes and the Romanes and such men as were present at that time when the Lord was crucified those under the earth as the multitude that rose up together with the Lord for many bodies saith he of the Saints which slept arose the graves being opened And hee descended into Hades or Hell alone but returned with a multitude and brake the rampiere that had stood from the beginning and overthrew the partition thereof Thirdly in the disputation of Macarius Bishop of Ierusalem in the first generall Councell of Nice After death wee were carried into Hades or Hell Christ tooke upon him this also and descended voluntarily into it he was not detayned as wee but descended onely For hee was not subjected unto death but was the Lord of death And descending alone he returned with a multitude For he was that spirituall graine of wheat falling for us into the earth and dying in the flesh who by the power of his godhead raysed up the temple of his body according to the Scriptures which brought forth for fruite the Resurrection of all mankinde Fourthly in the Catechises of Cyrill Bishop of Ierusalem whose wordes are these I beleeve that Christ was raysed from the dead For of this I have many witnesses both out of the divine scriptures from the witnesse and operation even unto this day of him that rose againe of him I say that descended into Hades or Hell alone but asceÌ„ded with many For he did descend unto death many bodies of the Saints that slept were raised by him which resurrection he seemeth afterward to make common unto all the Saints that dyed before our Saviour All the righteous men saith he were delivered whom death had devoured For it became the proclaymed King to be the deliverer of those good proclaymers of him Then did every one of the righteous say O death where is thy victory ô Hell where is thy sting for the conqueror hath delivered us wherewith we may compare that saying of S. Chrysostom If it were a great matter that Lazarus being foure dayes dead should come forth much more that all they who were dead of old should appeare together alive which was a signe of the future resurrection For many bodies of the Saints which slept arose saith the text and these articles of the Confession of the Armenians According to his body which was dead he descended into the grave but according to his divinitie which did live he over came Hell in the meane time The third day he rose againe but withall raysâ—d up the soules or persons of the faithfull together with him and gave hope thereby that our bodies also should rise againe like unto him at his second comming Of those who arose with our Saviour from the Grave or as anciently they used to speake from Hell two there be whom the Fathers nominate in particular Adam and Iob. Of Iob S. Ambrose writeth in this maner Having heard what God had spoken in him and having understood by the holy Ghost that the Sonne of God was not onely to come into the earth but that he was also to descend into Hell to that he might rayse up the dead which was then done for a testimony of the present and an example of the future he turned himselfe unto the Lord and said O that thou wouldest keepe me in Hell that thou vvouldest hide me untill thy wrath be past and that thou wouldest appoint me a time in which thou wouldest remember me Iob. 14.13 in which wordes he affirmeth that Iob did prophecie that he should be raysed up at the passion of
and darke dungeon of death that is into Hades adding afterward that Hades may rightly be esteemed to be the house and mansion of such as are deprived of life Nicephorus Gregoras in his funerall Oration upon Theodorus Metochites putteth in this for one strayne of his lamentation Who hath brought downe that heavenly man unto the bottome of Hades and Andrew archbishop of Crete touching the descent both of Christ and all Christians after him even unto the darke and comfortlesse Hades writeth in this maner If hee who was the Lord and master of all and the light of them that are in darknesse and the life of all men would taste death and undergoe the descent into Hell that he might be made like unto us in all things sinne excepted and for three dayes went thorough the sad obscure and darke region of Hell what strange thing is it that wee who are sinners and dead in trespasses according to the great Apostle who are subject to generation and corruption should meete with death and goe with our soule into the darke chambers of Hell where we cannot see light nor behold the life of mortall men For are wee above our Master or better then the Saints who underwent these things of ours after the like maner that we must doe Iuvencus intimateth that our Saviour giving up the ghost sent his soule unto heaven in those verses of his Tunc clamor Domini magno conamine missus Aethereis animam comitem commiscuit auris Eusebius Emesenus collecteth so much from the last words which our Lord uttered at the same time Father into thine hands I commend my spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His spirit was above and his body remayned upon the crosse for us In the Greeke exposition of the Canticles collected out of Eusebius Philo Carpathius and others that sentence in the beginning of the sixt chapter My beloved is gone down into his garden is interpreted of Christs going to the soules of the Saints in Hádes which in the Latin collections that beare the name of Philo Carpathius is thus more largely expressed By this descending of the Bridegrome we may understand the descending of our Lord Iesus Christ into Hell as I suppose for that which followeth proveth this when he sayeth To the beds of spices For those ancient holy men are not unfiâ—ly signified by the beds of spices such as were Noë Abraham Isaac Iacob Moses Iob David Samuel Elisaeus Daniel and very many others before the Law in the Law who all of them like unto beds of spices gave a most sweete smell of the odours and fruits of holy righteousnesse For then as a triumpher did he enter into PARADISE when he pierced into Hell God himselfe is present with us for a witnesse in this matter when he answered most graciously to the Thiefe upon the Crosse commending himselfe unto him most religiously To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Lastly touching this Paradise the various opinions of the ancient are thus layd downe by Olympiodorus to seeke no farther It is a thing worthy of enquirie in what place under the Sunne the righteous are placed which have left this life Certaine it is that in Paradise forasmuch as Christ said unto the Thiefe This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise And it is to be knowne that the literall Tradition teacheth Paradise to be in earth But some have said that Paradise also is in Hell that is in a place under the earth unto which opinion of theirs they apply that of the Gospell where the rich man saw Lazarus being yet himselfe sunke downe in a lower place when Lazarus was in a place more eminent where Abraham was But howsoever the matter goeth this without doubt is manifest aswell out of Ecclesiastes as out of all the sacred Scripture that the godly shall be in prosperity and peace and the ungodly in punishments and torments And others are of the minde that Paradise is in the Heavens c. Hitherto Olympiodorus That Christs soule went into Paradise Doctor Bishop saith being well understood is true For his soule in hell had the joyes of Paradise but to make that an exposition of Christs descending into hell is to expound a thing by the flat contrary of it Yet this ridiculous exposition he affirmeth to be received of most Protestants Which is even as true as that which he avoucheth in the same place that this article of the descent into Hell is to be found in the old Roman Creed expounded by Ruffinus where Ruffinus as we have heard expounding that article delivereth the flat contrarie that it is not found added in the Creed of the Church of Rome It is true indeed that more than most Protestants do interprete the words of Christ uttered unto the Thiefe upon the Crosse Luk. 23.43 of the going of his soule into Paradise where our Saviour meaning simply and plainly that hee would be that day in Heaven M. Bishop would have him so to be understood as if he had meant that that day he would be in Hell And must it be now held more ridiculous in Protestants to take Hell for Paradise then in M. Bishop to take Paradise for Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be the wordes of the Apostles Creed in the Greeke and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Symbol of Athanasius Some learned Protestants do observe that in these words there is no determinate mention made eyther of ascending or descending either of Heaven or Hell taking Hell according to the vulgar acception but of the generall only under which these contraries are indifferently comprehended and that the words literally interpreted import no more but this HEE WENT UNTO THE OTHER WORLD Which is not to expound a thing by the flat contrary of it as M. Bishop fancieth who may quickly make himselfe ridiculous in taking upon him thus to censure the interpretations of our learned linguistes unlesse his owne skill in the languages were greater then as yet he hath given proofe of Master Broughton with whose authoritie hee elsewhere presseth us as of a man esteemed to be singularly seene in the Hebrew and Greeke tongue hath beene but too forward in maintayning that exposition which by D. Bishop is accounted so ridiculous In one place touching the terme Hell as it doth answer the Hebrew Sheol and the Greeke Hádes he writeth thus He that thinketh it ever used for Tartaro or Gehenna otherwise then the terme Death may by Synecdoche import so hath not skill in Ebrew or that Greeke vvhich breathing and live Graecia spake if God hath lent me any judgement that way In another place he alledgeth out of Portus his Dictionary that the Macedonians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heaven And one of his acquaintance beyond the Sea reporteth that he should deliver that in many most ancient Manuscript copies the Lords prayer is found with this
bringing them unto that which is to us invisible the soule as being by the deprivation of the body made unseene and the body as eyther being covered in the earth or by some other of the alterations that are incident unto bodies being taken away from the sight of man the whole covering of the man in water is fitly assumed for an image of the death and buriall which is not seene Thus Dionysius concerning the separation of the united parts by Death and the bringing of them unto that which is invisible according whereunto as his paraphrast Pachymeres noteth it is called Hádes that is to say an invisible separation of the soule from the body And so indeed wee finde as well in forraine authors as in the Scriptures the writings of the Greek and Latin Fathers that Hádes and Inferi are not only taken in as large a sense as Death and so extended unto all men indifferently whether good or bad but are likewise oftentimes indifferently used for it For proofe whereof out of heathen authors these testimonies following may suffice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Pindarus The man that doeth things befitting him forgetteth Hádes meaning that the remembrance of death doth no whit trouble him and againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sonne of Cleonicus wisheth that with such manners he may meet and receive Hades that is death and hoare old age So another Poet cyted by Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Death the soveraigne physician come for Hádes is in very truth the haven of the earth So the saying that the best thing were never to have been born and the next to that to dye quickly is thus expressed by Theognis in his elegies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sophocles in the beginning of his Trachiniae bringeth in Dâ—ianira affirming that howsoever it were an old saying among men that none could know whether a man life were happy or unhappy before he were dead yet she knew her own to be heavie and unfortunate before she went to Hádes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before death as both the ancient Scholiast and the matter it selfe doth shew So in his Ajax 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is better that is hidden in Hádes that is to say he that is dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Scholiast rightly expoundeth it then he that is sick past recoverie and in his Antigone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My father and mother being layd in Hádes it is not possible that any brother should spring forth afterward Wherwith Clemens Alexandrinus doth fitly compare that speech of the wife of Intaphernes in Herodotus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My father and mother being now no longer living another brother by no maner of meanes can be had So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being in Hádes with the one is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not now living in the other or as it is alledged by Clemens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not now being which is the Scripture phrase of them that have left this world Genes 5.24 and 42.36 Psal. 39.13 Ierem. 31.15 and 49.10 used also by Homer Iliad β. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Touching the use of the word Hell in the Scriptures thus writeth Iansenius expounding those words Proverb 15.11 Hell and destruction are before the Lord how much more then the hearts of the children of men It is to be knowen that by Hell and destruction which two in the Scriptures are often joyned together the state of the dead is signified and not of the damned only as wee commonly doe conceave when we heare these words but the state of the deceased in generall So Sanctius the Iesuite with Sà his fellow acknowledgeth that Hell in the Scripture is frequently taken for Death Therefore are these two joyned together Revel 1.18 I have the keyes of Hell and of Death or as other Greeke copies read agreeably to the old Latin and Aethiopian translation of Death and of Hell and Esai 28.15 We have made a covenant with Death and with Hell we are at agreement where the Septuagint to shew that the same thing is meant by both the words do place the one in the room of the other after this maner We have made a covenant with Hell and with Death an agreement The same things likewise are indifferently attributed unto them both as that they are unsatiable and never full spoken of Hell Proverb 27.20 and of Death Haback 2.5 So the gates of Hell Esai 38 10. are the gates of Death Psalm 9.13 and 107.18 and therefore where we reade in the book of Wisedome Thou leadest to the gates of Hell and bringest backe againe the Vulgar Latin translateth it Thou leadest to the gates of Death and bringest back againe So the sorrowes of Death Psal. 18.4 are in the verse following tearmed the sorrowes of Hell and therefore the LXX as hath beene shewed translating the selfe same words of David doe in the Psalme render them the sorrowes of Hell and in the historie 2. Sam. 22.6 where the same Psalme is repeated the sorrowes of Death Whence also that difference of reading came Act. 2.24 aswell in the copies of the text as in the citations of the ancient Fathers which was the lesse regarded because that varietie in the words bredd little or no difference at all in the sense Therefore Epiphanius in one place having respect to the beginning of the verse saith that Christ loosed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sorrowes of Death and yet in another citing the later end of the verse because it was not possible he should be holden by it addeth this explication thereunto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say by Hell And the author of the Sermon upon Christs passion among the workes of Athanasius one where saith that he loosed the sorrowes of Hell and otherwhere that he loosed the sorrowes of Death unto whom wee may adjoyne Bede who is in like maner indifferent for eyther reading In the Proverbs where it is said There is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end therof are the waies of Death Proverb 14.12 and 16.25 the LXX in both places for Death put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bottome of Hell and on the other side where it is said Thou shalt beate him with the rod and shalt deliver his soule from Hell Proverb 23.14 they reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt deliver his soule from Death So in Hose 13.14 where the Hebrew and Greeke both reade I will deliver
them from the hand of Hell the Vulgar Latin hath De manu mortis liberabo eos I will deliver them from the hand of Death which S. Cyrill of Alexandria sheweth to be the same in effect for he hath redeemed us saith he from the hand of Hell that is to say from the power of Death So out of the text Matth. 16.18 Eusebius noteth that the Church doth not give place to the gates of DEATH for that one saying which Christ did utter Vpon the rocke I will build my Church and the gates of HELL shall not prevaile against it S. Ambrose also from the same text collecteth thus that faith is the foundation of the Church For it was not said of the flesh of Peter but of the faith that the gates of DEATH should not prevaile against it but the confession of the faith overcame HELL So Theodoret noteth that the name of Hell is given unto Death in that place Cantic 8.6 Love is strong as death jealousie is hard or cruell as Hell which in the writings of the Fathers is a thing very usuall Take the Poems of Theodorus Prodromus for an instance where delivering an historie out of the life of S. Chrysostom of a woman that had lost foure of her sonnes he saith that they foure were gone unto Hádes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and relating how S. Basil had freed the countrey of Cappadocia from famine thus he expresseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and shewing how Gregory Nazianzen when he was a childe was recovered from death by being brought to the communion Table he saith he was brought unto the Sunne from Hádes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gregory himselfe likewise in his Poems setting out the dangers of a sea-faring life saith that the greater part of them that saile the seas is in Hades Baesil of Seleucia speaking of the translation of Enoch and Elias saith in one place that Enoch remayned out of Deaths nett Elias obeyed not the lawes of nature and in another that Elias remayned superior to death Enoch by translation declined Hades making Death and Hades to be one and the same thing So he maketh Elias to pray thus at the raysing of the widowes sonne Shew ô Lord that Death is made gentle towards men let it learne the evidences of thy humanity let the documents of thy goodnesse come even to Hades And as he there noteth that Death received an overthrow from Elias so in another place he noteth that Hades received a like overthrow by Christs raysing of the dead whereupon he bringeth in S. Peter using this speech unto our Saviour Shall Death make any youthfull attempt against thee whose voyce Hades could not endure The other day thou didst call the widowes sonne that was dead and Death fled not being able to accompany him unto the grave whom he had overcome how shall Death therefore lay hold on him whom it feareth and our Saviour himselfe speaking thus unto his Disciples I will arise out of the grave renewing the Resurrection I will teach Hades that it must expect the Resurrection to succeed it For in me both Death ceaseth and immortalitie is planted So saith S. Cyrill of Alexandria Christ was raysed up for us for he could not be detayned by the gates of Hades nor taken at all by the bonds of Death And therefore Cyrill of Hierusalem having sayd that our Saviour did descend into Hades doth presently adde as an explication thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he did descend into Death He descended into Death as a man saith Athanasius The diuine nature saith Ruffinus meaning the divine person by his flesh descended into Death not that according to the law of mortall men he should be detayned of death but that rising againe by himselfe he might open the gates of death When thou didst descend into Death ô immortall Life say the Grecians in their Liturgie thou didst then mortifie Hades or Hell with the brightnesse of thy divinitie And thus if my memory do not faile me for at this present I have not the booke lying by me is the article expressed in the Hebrew Creed which is printed with Potkens Aethiopian Syllabarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He descended into the shadow of death where the Hebrew Interpreter doth render Hades by the shadow of death as the Greeke Interpreters in that text which by the Fathers is applied to our Saviours descent into Hell Iob. 38.17 doe render the shadow of death by Hades for where the Hebrew hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the gates of the shadow of death they â—eade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the keepers of the gates of Hades seeing thee shranke for feare The resurrection from the dead therefore being the end of our Saviours sâ—ffering as Eusebius notes and so the beginning of his glorifying the first degree of his exaltation would thus very aptly answerâ— unto the last degree of his humiliation that as his Resurrection is an arising from the dead so his descending unto Hades or ad inferos should be no other thing but a going to the dead For further confirmation whereof let it be considered that S. Hierome in the vulgar Latin translation of the Bible hath ad inferos deducentur Ecclesiaâ—â—is 9.3 where the Hebrew and Greeke reade to the dead and in like manner Proverb 2.18 he hath ad inferos againe where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in the Hebrew which being a word that somtimes signifieth the dead and somtimes Gyants the LXX doe joyne both together and reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hades â—ith the Giants So in the Sibylline verses cyted by Lactantius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he may speake unto the dead is in Prosper translated Vt inferis lâ—quatur and those other veâ—ses touching our Saviours Resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then comming forth from the Dead c. are thus turned into Latin in Prosper Tunc ab inferis regressus ad lucem veniet primus resurrectionis principio revocatis ostenso Then returning from Hell he shall come unto the light first shewing the beginning of the Resurrection unto those whoÌ„ he shall call back from thence for Christ returning backe a conqueror from Hádes unto life as Basil of Seleucia writeth the dead were taught the reviving againe unto life His rising from the Dead vvas the loosing of us from Hádes saith Gregory Nazianzen He was raysed from Hádes or from the dead and raysed me being dead with him saith Nectarius his successor in the See of Constantinople Therefore is he called the first begotten of the dead because he was the first that rose from Hádes as we also shall rise at his second comming saith the author of the Treatise of Definitions among the workes of Athanasius To lay downe all
the places of the Fathers wherein our Lords rising againe from the Dead is termed his rising againe from Hádes Inferi or Hell would be a needlesse labour for this we need go no further then to the Canon of the Masse it selfe where in the prayer that followeth next after the Consecration there being a Commemoration made of Christs passion resurrection and ascension the second is set out by the title ab inferis resurrectionis of the resurrection from Hell For as the Liturgies of the Easterne Churches doe here make mention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the resurrection from the dead so those of the West retayne that other title of the resurrection ab inferis that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in the Liturgie that goeth under the name of S. Peter or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in the Gregorian Office translated into Greek by Codinus If then the resurrection frō the dead be the same with the resurrection from Hades Inferi or Hell why may not the going unto Hades Inferi or Hell be interpreted by the same reason to be the going unto the dead whereby no more is understood than what is intimated in that phrase w ch the Latins use of one that hath left this world Abijt ad plures or in that of the Hebrewes so frequent in the word of God He went or was gathered unto his people he went or was gathered unto his fathers which being applied unto a whole generation Iudg. 2.10 as well as in other places unto particular persons must of necessitie denote the common condition of men departed out of this life Now although Death and Hades dying and going to the dead be of neere affinitie one with the other yet be they not the same thing properly but the one a consequent of the other as it appeareth plainely by the vision Revelat. 6.8 where Hades is directly brought in as a follower of Death Death it selfe as wise men doe define it is nothing else but the separation of the soule from the body which is done in an instant but Hades is the continuation of the body and soule in this state of separation which lasteth all that space of time which is betwixt the day of death and the day of the resurrection For as the state of life is comprehended betwixt two extreames to wit the beginning thereof and the ending and there be two motions in nature answerable thereunto the one whereby the soule concurreth to the body which we call Generation the other whereby the body is severed from the soule which we call Death so the state of death in like maner is contained betwixt two bounds the beginning which is the very same with the ending of the other and the last end the motion whereunto is called the Resurrection whereby the body and soule formerly separated are joyned together againe Thus there be three tearmes here as it were in a kinde of a continued proportion the middlemost whereof hath relation to eyther of the extremes and by the motion to the first a man may be said to be natus to the second denatus to the third renatus The first the third have a like oppositiō unto the middle and therefore are like betwixt themselves the one being a generation the other a regeneration For that our Lord doth call the last Resurrection the Regeneration Matth. 19.28 S. Augustine supposeth that no man doubteth Neyther would our Lord himselfe have beene styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first borne from the dead unlesse the Resurrection were accounted to be a kinde of a new nativitie whereof he himselfe was in the first place to be made partaker that among all or in all things he might have the preeminence the rest of the sonnes of God being to be children of the Resurrection also but in their due time and in the order of Post-nati The middle distance betwixt the first and second terme that is to say the space of life which we lead in this world betwixt the time of our birth and the time of our death is opposite to the distance that is betwixt the second and third terme that is to say the state of death under which man lyeth from the time of his departure out of this life unto the time of his resurrection and see what difference there is betwixt our birth and the life which we spend here after wee are borne the same difference is there betwixt Death and Hades in that other state of our dissolution That which properly we call Death which is the parting a sunder of the soule and the body standeth as a middle terme betwixt the state of life and the state of death being nothing else but the ending of the one and the beginning of the other and as it were a common meare between lands or a communis terminus in a Geometricall magnitude dividing part from part but being it selfe a part of neyther and yet belonging equally unto eyther Which gave occasion to the question moved by Taurus the philosopher When a dying man might be said to die when he was now dead or while hee was yet living whereunto Gellius returneth an answere out of Plato that his dying was to be attributed neyther to the time of his life nor of his death because repugnances would arise eyther of those wayes but to the time which was in the confine betwixt both which Plato calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a moment or an instant and denieth to be properly any part of time at all Therefore Death doth his part in an instant as hath beene said but Hádes continueth that worke of his and holdeth the dead as it were under conquest untill the time of the resurrection wherein shall be brought to passe the saying that is written O Death where is thy sting O Hades where is thy victorie For these things shall rightly be spoken then saith Irenaeus when this mortall and corruptible flesh about which Death is and which is holden downe by a certaine dominion of Death rising up unto life shall put on incorruption and immortalitie for then shall death be truly overcome when the flesh that is holden by it shall come forth out of the Dominion thereof Death then as it importeth the separation of the soule from the body which is the proper acception of it is a thing distinguishable from Hades as an antecedent from his consequent but as it is taken for the whole state of death and the domination which it hath over the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basilius Seleuciensis calleth it in his oration upon Elias it is the selfe same thing that Hades is and in that respect as we have seene the words are sometimes indifferently put the one for the other As therefore our Sauiour that we may apply this now unto him after he was fastned and lifted up on the Crosse if he had come downe from
thence as the standers by in mocking wise did wish him to doe might be truly said to have beene crucified but not to have dyed so when he gave up the ghost and layde downe his life if he had presently taken it up againe he might truly be said to have dyed but not to have gone to the dead or to have beene in Hádes His remayning under the power of Death untill the third day made this good Whom God did rayse up loosing the sorrowes of death forasmuch as it was not possible that he should be holden of it saith S. Peter and Christ being raysed from the dead dyeth now no more Death hath no more dominion over him saith S. Paul implying thereby that during the space of time that passed betwixt his death and his resurrection he was holden by death and death had some kinde of domination over him And therefore Athanasius or who ever else was author of that writing to Liberius the Roman Bishop having reference unto the former text affirmeth that he raysed up that buried body of his and presented it to his Father having freed it from Death of which it was holden and Maximus or he that collected the Dialogues against the Marcionites under the name of Origen out of him expounding the other text Over whom then had Death dominion saith he For the saying that it hath no more dominion sheweth that before it had dominion over him Not that Death could have any dominion over the Lord of Life further than he himselfe was pleased to give way unto it but as when Death did at the first sease upon him his life indeed vvas taken from the earth yet none could take it from him but he layd it downe of himselfe so his continuing to be Deaths prisoner for a time was a voluntarie commitment only unto which he freely yeelded himselfe for our sakes not anie yoake of miserable necessitie that Death was able to impose upon him For he had power to lay downe his life and he had power to take it again yet would he not take it againe before he had first not layd himselfe downe only upon Deaths bed but slept also upon it that arising afterward from thence he might become the first fruits of them that slept In which respect the Fathers apply unto him that text of the Psalme I layd me down and slept I awaked for the Lord sustained mee Psalm 3.5 and Lactantius that verse of Sibyll 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The tearme of death he shall finish when he hath slept unto the third day His dying or his burying at the farthest is that which here is answerable unto his lying downe but his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Dionysius calleth it his his three-dayes buriall and his continuing for that time in the state of death is that which answereth unto his sleeping or being in Hádes And therefore the Fathers of the fourth Councell of Toledo declaring how in Baptisme the death and resurrection of Christ is signified do both affirme that the dipping in the water is as it were a descension into Hell and the rising out of the water againe a resurrection and adde likewise out of Gregory with whom many other Doctors doe herein agree that the three-fold dipping is used to signifie the three-dayes buriall which differeth as much from the simple buriall or putting into the earth as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the transportation or leading into captivitie from the detayning in bondage the committing of one to prison from the holding of him there and the sowing of the seed from the remayning of it in ground And thus have I unfolded at large the generall acceptions of the word Hádes and Inferi and so the Ecclesiasticall use of the word Hell answering thereunto which being severally applyed to the point of our Saviours descent make up these three propositions that by the universall consent of Christians are acknowledged to be of undoubted verity His dead body though free from corruption yet did descend into the place of corruption as other bodies doe His soule being separated from his body departed hence into the other world as all other mens soules in that case use to doe He went unto the dead and remayned for a time in the state of death as other dead men doe There remayneth now the vulgar acception of the word Hell whereby it is taken for the place of torment prepared for the Divell and his Angells and touching this also all Christians do agree thus farre that Christ did descend thither at leastwise in a virtuall maner as God is said to descend when he doth any thing upon earth which being wonderfully done beyond the usuall course of nature may in some sort shew his presence or when he otherwise vouchsafeth to have care of humaine frailtie Thus when Christs flesh was in the tombe his power did worke from Heaven saith S. Ambrose which agreeth with that which was before cyted out of the Armenians Confession According to his body which was dead he descended into the grave but according to his DIVINITIE which did live he overcame Hell in the meane time and with that which was cyted out of Philo Carpathius upon Cantic 5.2 I sleepe but my heart waketh in the grave spoyling Hell for which in the Latin Collections that goe under his name we reade thus I sleepe to wit on the Crosse and my heart waketh vvhen my DIVINITIE spoyled Hell and brought rich spoyles from the triumph of everlasting death overcome and the Divells power overthrowne The author of the imperfect worke upon Matthew attributeth this to the Divinitie not cloathed with any part of the Humanitie but naked as he speaketh Seeing the Divels feared him saith he while he was in the body saying What have we to doe with thee Iesus the sonne of the high God art thou come to torment us before our time how shall they be able to endure his NAKED DIVINITIE descending against them Behold after three dayes of his death he shall returne from Hell as a conqueror from the warre This conquest others do attribute to his Crosse others to his Death others to his Buriall others to the reall descent of his soule into the place of the damned others to his Resurrection and extend the effect therof not only to the deliverie of the Fathers of the old Testament but also to the freeing of our soules from Hell from whence how men may be said to have been delivered who never were there S. Augustin declareth by these similitudes Thou sayest rightly to the physician Thou hast freed me from this sicknesse not in vvhich thou wast but in which thou wast like to be Some bodie else having a troublesome businesse was to be cast into prison there commeth another and defendeth him vvhat saith he when he giveth thankes Thou
knocke therefore dearely beloved as much as we can because we cannot as much as we ought the future blisse may be acquired but estimated it cannot be Albeit thou hadst good deeds equall in number to the starres saith Agapetus the Deacon to the Emperour Iustinian yet shalt thou never goe beyond the goodnesse of God For whatsoever any man shall bring unto God he doth but offer unto him his owne things out of his owne store and as one cannot outstrip his own shadow in the Sunne which preventeth him alwaies although he make never so much speed so neither can men by their good doings outstrip the unmatchable bountie of God All the righteousnesse of man saith Gregory is convicted to bee unrighteousnesse if it be strictly judged It needeth therefore prayer after righteousnesse that that which being sifted might faile by the meere pitie of the Iudge might stand for good Let him therefore say Although I had any righteous thing I would not answer but I would make supplication to my Iudge Iob 9.15 as if he should more plainly confesse and say Albeit I did grow up unto the worke of vertue I should be enabled unto life not by merits but by pardon But you will say If this blisse of the Saints be mercie and is not obtained by merits how shall that stand which is written And thou shalt render unto every one according to his workes If it be rendred according to workes how shall it be accounted mercie But it is one thing to render according to workes and another thing to render for the works themselves For when it is said According to works the qualitie it selfe of the worke is understood that whose workes appeare good his reward way be glorious For unto that blessed life wherein wee are to live with God and by God no labour can be equalled no workes compared seeing the Apostle saith The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us By the righteousnesse of works no man shall be saved but only by the righteousnesse of faith saith Bede and therefore no man should beleeve that either his freedome of will or his merits are sufficient to bring him unto blisse but understand that he can be saved by the grace of God only The same Author writing upon those words of David Psalm 24.5 He shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousnesse from the God of his salvation expoundeth the blessing to be this that for the present time he shall merit or worke well and for the future shall be rewarded well and that not by merits but by grace only To the same purpose Elias Cretensis the interpreter of Gregory Nazianzen writeth thus By mercy we ought to understand that reward which God doth repay unto us For wee as servants doe owe vertue that the best things and such as are gratefull wee should pay and offer unto God as a certaine debt considering that wee haue nothing which we have not received from him and God on the other side as our Lord and Master hath pitie on us and doth bestow rather than repay unto us This therefore is true humilitie saith Anastasius Sinaita or Nicaenus to doe good workes but to account ones selfe uncleane and unworthy of Gods favour thinking to be saved by his goodnesse alone For whatsoever good things we doe wee answer not God for the very aire alone which we doe breathe And when we have offered unto him all the things that we have he doth not owe us any reward for all things are his and none receiving the things that are his owne is bound to give a reward unto them that bring the same unto him In the booke set out by the authoritie of Charles the Great against Images the Arke of the Covenant is said to signifie our Lord and Saviour in whom alone we have the Covenant of peace with the Father Over which the Propitiatory is said to be placed because aboue the Commandements either of the Law or of the Gospell which are founded in him the mercy of the said Mediator taketh place by which not by the workes of the Law which we have done neither willing nor running but by his having mercy upon us we are saved So Ambrosius Ansbertus expounding that place Rev. 19.7 Let us be glad and rejoyce and give glory to him for the mariage of the Lambe is come and his wife hath made her selfe readie In this saith he doe we give glory to him when we doe confesse that by no precedent merits of our good deeds but by his mercie only we have attained unto so great a dignitie And Rabanus in his Commentaries upon the Lament of Ieremie Lest they should say Our Fathers were accepted for their merit and therefore they obtained such great things at the hand of the Lord he adjoyneth that this was not given to their merits but because it so pleased God whose free gift is whatsoever he bestoweth Haymo writing upon those words Psalm 132.10 For thy servant Davids sake refuse not the face of thine Anointed saith that For thy servant Davids sake is as much to say as For the merit of Christ himselfe and froâ— thence collecteth this doctrine that none ought to presume of his owne merits but expect all his salvation from the merits of Christ. So in another place When we performe our repentance saith he let us know that we can give nothing that is worthy for the aâ—peasing of God but that only in the bloud of that immaculate and singular Lambe we can be saved And againe Eternall life is rendred to none by debt but given by free mercie It is of necessitie that beleevers should be saved only by the faith of Christ saith Smaragdus the Abbot By grace not by merits are we saved of God saith the Author of the Commentaries upon S. Marke falsely attributed to S. Hierome That this doctrine was by Gods great mercie preserved in the Church the next 500. yeares also as well as in those middle times appeareth most evidently by those Instructions and Consolations which were prescribed to be used unto such as were readie to depart out of this life This forme of preparing men for their death was commonly to be had in all Libraries and particularly was found inserted among the Epistles of Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury who was commonly accounted to bee the Author of it The substance thereof may be seene for the copies varie some being shorter and some larger than others in a Tractate written by a Cistercian Monke of the Art of dying well which I have in written hand and have seene also printed in the yeere 1483. and 1504. in the booke called Hortulus animae in Cassanders Appendix to the booke of Iohn Fisher Bishop of Rochester de fiduciâ misericordiâ Dei edit Colon. An. 1556. Caspar Vlenbergius his Motives caus 14. pag.