will not leaue my soul in hel To which I answere 1. Their Arias Montanus in his interlineall Bible approven by the Universitie of Lovan and printed at Antuerp 1572. translates that place of the 16. psalout of which this of the Act. is taken thus Non derelinques animam meam in sepulâ—hro And Isidorus clarius on this place speaketh thus according to the Hebrew phrase the soule is put for the bodie which he was not to leaue in the grave And Bellarmin lib. 4. de Christo cap. 12. grantes that the hebrew word nephesh or anima is a generall word which somtimes signifieth the bodie as is cleare sayth he by many parts of scripture Wherof he instances one Gen. 37. 21. where Ruben sayth to his brehren concerning Joseph Non interficiamê° animaÌ„ ejus where the word anima is not taken for the soule properlie so called nor by a Trope for the man himself but properlie for his flesh or bodie sayeth he and as Nephesh somtimes signifieth the bodie so in the same sense is the greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the septuagint Levit. 21. 1. 11. 2. The hebrew word Sheol also is taken two wayes in scripture to wit either for the receptacle of the corporall part of man after death and so it signifieth the graue which is not onlie called in the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 1. Cor. 15. 55. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O graue where is thy victorie orelse it is taken for the receptacle of the spirituall part or soule of man after death and thus being taken it is translated Hell and then onlie and ever it signifieth the place of the damned out of which there is no deliverie as Augustin showeth at length in his 99. Epistle to Evodius and for probation that the word Sheol is taken for both these forenamed receptacles Their own Lyra's words on psal 114. are these In the hebrew sayth he for INFERNUS is put SHEOL which doth not onlie signifie Hell but also the graue as wee also see Gen. 42. 38. Job â—7 13. and psal 141. 7. A third exposition Romanists give of the word Sheol or Infernus signifying there by the estate of the dead in generall under the power of death whereof Peter speaketh Act. 2. 24. and thus doth their Jansenius expound in Prov. 15. 11. and Genebrard in psal 88. 48. Thus the words being cleared by Romanists theÌ„selves 1. then whither the meaning be this Thou will not leaue my bodie in the graue according to Arias Montanus translation of psal 16. 10. relating so to Christs resurrection which is the Apostles purpose to prove or 2. whither the meaning be Thou will not leaue mee under the power of death as Jansenius expoundeth or 3. whither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or soule be taken for the spirituall part of man and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or hell for the place of the damned yet howsoever I say the words be taken in any of the three former senses they shall never prove any popish Limbê° or any desceÌ„se of Christs soul thither because the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Infernus when it is taken for the grave or that which is in place thereof as Gen. 43. 38. and Ionah 2. 2. It ever signifieth the place of the damned as both scripture showeth and Augustin forecited and I hope that papists themselves will never say that the soules of the Patriarchs went down thither Moreover coÌ„cerning the descense of Christs soule to hell Romanists themselves disagree thus 1. Scotus in 1. sent dist 11. q. 1. disclaimeth any warrant in the gospell for it 2. Bellarmin lib. 4. de Christo c. affirmeth that Christs soul descended locally to the place of the damned 3. Aquinas denyeth this as Bellar. showeth in the same place and sayeth that he onlie descended locallie to that part of hell which is called Limbus 4. Durand mantaineth that Christs soule descended to no part of hell locallie but virtualie onlie and by effect seing the scripture sayeth he distinguisheth nowise the hell of the damned froÌ„ any other place otherwise saith Durand in 3. sent dist 22. q. 3. his soule had beene in two places together seing he said to the theef on the Crosse this day thou shall be with me in Paradise And which virtuall descending of Christ into hell ProtestaÌ„ts likewise acknowledge Chamier speaking thus lib. 5. de Christo cap. 3. Moreover sayeth hee when we say Hee descended into hell we signifie therby the efficacie of Christs death wherby he overcame hell The fruit of which victorie not only appertaineth to them who were to come after but also to them who had long gone before sayeth hee The third place is 1. Pet. 3. 18. Being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the spirit by which also hee went preached to the spirits in prison Which he sayth wer the Fathers in Limbê° To which I answer That this place proveth no descending of Christs soule to Limbus for delivering of the fathers therefra Which shall be made clear by considdering 1. By what spirit Christ went and preached in the dayes of Noab 2. who were these spirits in prison to whom he went 3. The time when hee went First then the spirit by which Christ went and preached was not his humane soul but his divine spirit for so sayeth Augustin epist 99. ad Evodium as also Beda on this place O Ecumeniê° likewise and Athanasius which exposition Estius sayeth agreeth well with 2. Cor. 13. 4. Aquinas likewise part 3. q. 52. art 2. saith that it was by the spirit of his divinitie that he went preached sayth he by the mouth of just Noah Lyra in like-manner sayth That it was by the holie Ghost in Noah and in other good men So also speaketh Hugo Cardinalis the Iesuite Salmeron on this place Next Scripture it self testifieth in the same place That it was by that spirit by which he was quickned and raised from the dead and that this spirit was his divine spirit is witnessed Rom. 8. 11. by which also our mortall bodies shall bee quickned and which dwelleth in the Elect. And this is not Christs soule but his holie spirit as v. 9. Next the spirits to whom hee went are descrived 1. That they wer disobedient who abused the long suffering patience of God that waited for their repentance in the dayes of Noah which the patriarchs did not who ar praised so much for the contrary to wit their faith and obedience Heb. 11. 2. They ar said to be such spirits who wer in prison even then when Peter wrote this epistle as their own Andradius notes def coÌ„cil Trid. lib. 2. p. 17. 2 the Text it self declareth therefore wer not fred therfra at Christs Resurrection which was long before 3. The time when Christ by his spirit preached to these spirits in prison was as the text showeth In the dayes of Noah and not after his
death which dayes were thousands of years before the same Therefore sayeth Beda they were the wicked carnall livers in the age that Noah lived in to whom Christ preached And so sayth Carthusian and this he did saieth Aquinas by the mouth of just Noah by the holie Ghost sayeth Lyra in Noah other good meÌ„ By all which it is cleare that it was not after Christs death that in his soule hee descended to any popish Limbus to deliver the godlie Patriarch's therfra Seing the Patriarch that was then alive in the days of Noah was onlie Noah himself The fourth place is Heb. 11. 40. God having provyded a better thing for us that they without us should not bee made perfect whence it followeth saieth he that these holie soules were detained till then in a place distinct from heaven and hell of the damned To whom I answere That no such thing followeth from these words but that the glorifying both in soul and bodie of these holie patâ—iarch's shall not be till the generall resurrection when both they and wee shall be perfectlie in both glorified together which is the exposition of Aquinas Cajetan and Lombard on this place Calling the glorifying of their soules after death the first robe or stole which they received and the second which they are to receive to be the glorifying also of their bodie at the last day This like wise is the exposion of their late Estius which he showeth to be also Augustins epist 99. and Evodium and 49. Treatise on John as also Chrisostoms and Erasmus in his paraphrase And coÌ„cludeth thus saying The Apostle therefore speaketh of the perfyting which is to be at the generall resurrection The fifth place is Math. 12. 40. That as Ionas was three dayes three nights in the Whales bellie so should the son of man be three dayes three nights in the heart of the earth which he expoundeth Hell To which I answere This is onlie spoken of Christs bodie in the graue and not the being of his soule in hell witnesse Chrisostome hom 44. in Math. 12. whose words are He sayeth not in the earth but in the heart of the earth to wit in the graue sayth he Thus also doth Gregorie Nyssen expound epist ad Eustachium So saieth Auselmus on Math. 12. He was in the heart of the earth to wit in the graue sayeth he Thus also doeth Ignatius expound epist ad Trallianos Euthâ—mius in Math. 12. Jerome also and Tertullian with diverse others thus also sayth their owne Lyra The son of man shall be in the heart of the earth three dayes three nights that is in the graue so speaketh their parisian Doctour Arboreus others And which answere serveth likewise for that of the Ephes 4. 9. which others object The sixth place is Math. 27. 52. And the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which sleeped arose and came out of their graves after his resurrection To which I answere That heer is a resurrection of the bodies of the saints comming out of their graves but no comming of their soules out of any part of hel oâ— a popish Limbus The seventh place is Zach. 9. 11. By the blood of thy Covenant I haue let out thy prisoners furth of the pitt wherein there is no water That is the Fathers out of Limbus sayeth he To which I answere shortlie omitting Augustins exposition lib. 18. de civitate dei cap. 35. Of the deep of mans miserie by sinne out of which by Christs blood we are freed Bellar. himself answereth clearlie for us l. 1. de purg cap. 3. and showeth That no such thing as Limbus patrum can be meant heerby because their is water of comfort and refreshment in Limbus sayth he wheras in this pitt whereof Zacharie speaketh there is no water at all As for his last place 1. Sam. 28. 14. concerning Samuels apparition to Saull wee haue answered it alreadie that it was not Samuell but the Devill in his shape And which place is most impertinently brought to prove Christs descense into hel by the apparition of any such spirit coÌ„ming out of hell of the damned As for Fathers whom he onlie citeth Jerome explaineth himself on Ephes 4. 9. what he sayeth on v. 8. Next Augustin on psal 171. hath nothing of Limbus patruuÌ„ or Christs descense there and as for Gregorie there is no such place as he mentioneth lib. 3. Moral cap. 20. For that book hath onlie 17. chapters in it 47 THat there is no purgatorie fire or other prison wherein sinnâ—s may be satisfied for after this life VVHich saith he is contrar to 1. Cor. 3. 13. 15. The fire shall try everie mans work of what sort it is if any mans work be burnt he shal suffer losse yet he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire To which I answer or rather their owne Estius on this place saying Sindrie expoundeth this place sayeth he of Purgatorie wherein after this life and before the day of the last judgement the soules of the just are purged from their lighter sinnes but it appeareth that this cannot be said sayeth he both because the words showeth that the day of particular judgement is not to bee understood but of the generall judgement whereas the purging of the soules pertaineth to the particular judgement as also because the fire of purgatorie doth not try everie mans work sayth he but punisheth onlie the evill works of good men Bellarmin also lib. 1. de purg cap. 5. sayeth That the word fire in the 13. and 14. verses is to taken onlie allegoricallie and that the fire of purgatorie is not thereby to bee meant for of this fire the Apostle sayes it shall burne the work not the worker sayeth he and therefore a purging or afflicting fire of persons is not meant thereby onlie hee would haue the word fire in the 15. verse to bee taken in another sense than in the other two verses and therby to be meant the fire of purgatorie but Estius answereth unto him thus refuteth him saying That not without just cause it seemeth to be absurd that the Apostle in one Text of so few words would speake of fire in so diverse significations neither can any easilie be perswaded sayeth hee that in the third place a purgatorie fire of soules can be signified when as in the first and second place another and diverse fire from that is understood And then he subjoines after the naming of some Romanist Divines that hath expounded these words otherwise thaÌ„ hee doth saying Let none marvell that I haue not followed these authours in all things because that neither theÌ„selves amongst themselves do alwayes agree Such is his testimonie of their braged of unitie The second place is Iohn 11. 22. But I know that even now sayeth Martha to Christ Whatsoever thou will ask of God he will give it thee Ergo there is a fiâ—e of purgatorie is as good a consequence as to say ergo
the staff is in the corner The third place is Act. 2. 24. Whom God hath raised up loosing the sorrowes of hell that is loosing men one of their paines there sayeth he To which I answer 1. That he shamefullie perverteth the Text for it is in the originall Thanatu in our translation and their owne interlinear the sorrowes of death not hell So that altho he pretended in the Preface promised to refute our doctrine by the expresse text of our owne Bible yet heere he grosslie passeth therefra and for establishing of his purgatorie he purgeth out the word death putteth in hell in place therof which is a bold corrupting 2. The text speaketh onlie of Christs owne being loosed from the sorrowes of death and not of his loosing any other persons from the same and farre lesse from hell or any other place of purgatorie which thing was done by his resurrection Therfore sayeth Cardinall CajetaÌ„ on this place The sorrowes were the sorrowes of death saieth he by which is was impossible that hee could bee holden to wit Christ The fourth place is 1. Cor 15. 29. Otherwise what shall they do who are baptised for the dead That is afflict themselves do penance for them that are in purgatorie sayeth hee To which I answer 1. That this can not be said of voluntarie afflicting theÌ„selves as by praiers almes and fasting undertaken for the help of the dead sayeth their owne Estius on this place which if Paull had meant hee had not said who are baptised as if it were by others but who baptise themselves for the dead sayeth hee The exposition then which he sayeth is worthiest to be preferred before al others and which Epiphanius haeres 28. received from them who wer before him as approven is this sayeth Estius to wit That these ar said to be baptised for the dead who having no hope of longer life heere but as dead men did craue get baptisme reallie heerby declaring that they were baptised for the dead that is for this end that baptisme which witnesseth their faith in the trinitie might bee profitable to them at that time when they departed this life and were to enter into the condition of the dead As if the Apostle had said if there were no resurrection of the bodie at all what fruit can they reape who are baptised being about to die or counted for dead and who for this cause professe that they were baptised in respect of that future estate that is after this life and this meaning is most cleare pure and simple sayeth Estius and most â—itt to prove what the Apostle intendeth and which others also doth approve saith he Which exposition likewise the Iesuite also A-lapide approveth as most simple and plaine declaring also that it is Chrisostoms And so it proveth no purgatorie at all The fiâ—th place is Luke 19. 6. Make you friends of the mammon of unrighteousnes that when yee faile they may receiue you into everlasting habitations To which I answere That this place proveth nowise after death any fire of puâ—gatorie but rather the contrarie that when the godlie and charitable persons faile that is die they are received presentliâ— into the eternall habitations of heavenlie glorie Therfore saith Bellarmin lib. 1. de sanctis cap. 3. on 2. Cor. 5. 1. The Apostles reasoning heere is excellent sayeth he to wit if this mortall life perish we haue instantlie another far better in the heavens for God is no readâ—er to punish sayeth he lib. 1. de sanctis cap. 6. than to reward whence it followes that if the wicked after death presentlie go to hell that the godly in likemanner after death presentlie go to heaven and consequentlie to no fire of purgatorie The sixth place is Luke 23. 42. Lord remember me when thou commeth into thy kingdom which showeth sayeth he that soules may be helped after death Which indeed we grant by Christs receiving theÌ„ into his heavenlie kingdome as is heere by the Theef petitioned but no word is here of Christs helping out of a helâ—â—sh purgatorie Thus wee see by how weake arguments hee would prove his Purgatorie which B Fisher cont Luth art 18. granteth was knowne but of late onlie and after many ages believed And therefore little or no mention is of it in the ancient fathers sayeth hee and yet which Bellarmin sayeth is a doctrine of faith of such consequence That hee that believeth not purgatorie to â—e shall never come ther but shall be tormented in hels fire for ever sayeth he lib. 1. de purg cap. 15. and so he condemneth all the easterne or greeke churches to hel beside the Protestants which notwithstanding the B. of Bitonto in his oration before the Councell of Trent acknowledgeth to be the only mother Church of the Roman As for fathers whoÌ„ he citeth Ambrose in that place speaketh onlie of the fire of Gods judgement Jerome also speaketh nothing of a popish purgatory as for Gregory he saies That the fire wherof the Apostle speaketh 1. Cor. 3. 13. may be meant of the fire of affliction And as for any other fire he buildeth it on Math. 12. 32. which both by Mark 3. 29. and by the fathers that comment on that place as also by Romanists themselves as Carthusian and Arboreus maketh nowise for purgatory And as for Origen hee speaketh onlie of the fire of affliction yea their B. Fisher cont Luth. art 18. sayeth That ther is little or no mention of it in the ancient fathers at all 48 THat it is not lawfull to make or haue images VVHich is contrarie saith he to Exod. 25. 18. And thou shall make two Cherubims of beaten gold c. As also to the 1. King 6. 35. And he carâ—ed theron Cherubims and palme trees c. Whence he inferreth that these graven Angels were images of the highest order of Angels one excepted which S. Ierome witnesseth that the Iewes worshiped To whom I answere where Moses is commanded to make two Cherubims of gold and place them in the holiest where Solomon on the doors of the Oracle caused carve Cherubims in like-manner Both had a particular warrant from God to do so which Papists haue not for making their Images of the blessed Trinitie and of saints setting them up in publick places of divine worship to be adored And therefore worthie remarkable is that speech of Tertullian answering the ancient Idolaters who objected in likemanner for their defeâ—ce Moses his making and setting up of a brasen serpent to whoÌ„ TertulliaÌ„ l. 1. de idololatria replyeth saying One and the same God both by his generall Law forebad any image to be made â—aieth he as also by his extraordinarie and speciall command willed an image of a serpent to be made if then thou be obedient to the same God sayeth hee thou hast this-law of his Make thee no graven image but if thou respect the image of the serpent that was afterward made by Moses then do thou aâ—