fetch your wood to nourish hell fire and see whether it make no more for the one then for the other Against Senacherib that proud and blasphemous king of Assyria the capitall and cruell enemie of Gods people and Church the Prophet denounceth vengeance in this wise The Lord shall cause the glorie of his voice to be heard and shall shew the stroke of his arme with the anger of his countenance and flame of deuouring fire with scattering and tempest For Tophet is prouided of olde it is euen readie for the King God hath made it deepe and wide the burning thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord doth kindle it as a current or riuer of brimstone Tophet was a place built by hand in the valley of Hinnom nere to Ierusalem made deepe and wide to containe whole Pyles of woode which the Priests of Molech with their deuices and prouisions could readily kindle and raize to huge and mightie flames to inclose and consume the children that were presented to their Idole To this place and vse the Prophet alludeth when he threatneth the King of Asshur and to comfort the Iowes that God had care ouer them he assureth them that Gods Tophet was prouided of olde and readie for the King of Asshur that it was deepe and wide to receiue him and all his retinue and the burning thereof as the fire of much wood the breath of the Lord kindling it as a flood of brimstone That Tophet was a place in the valley of Hinnom a part of Gehinnom BVILT HIE of purpose to burne children in the fire appeareth by Ieremie The store of wood heaped there and the rage of fire kindled there is euident by Esays comparison when he sayth The burning thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord as a Riuer of brimstone kindling it fire and much wood is the fire of much wood to which he compareth the burning of hell for wood without kindling maketh no fire And so the Chaldaie paraphrast expresseth it A flame of sire is there in hell kindled LIKE AS in much wood And to euery man meanely seene in the Hebrew tongue it is a knowen Rule that Caph the note of similitude is often vnderstood in the Scriptures and then specially when it is added to one part of the Periode for example Flie to your mountaine a bird that is LIKE a bird Zion shall be plowed a field that is LIKE a field A Lyons whelpe Iudah from the pray shalt thou ascend that is LIKE a Lyons whelpe All flesh is grasse and the glory thereof is as the flower of the field that is all flesh is LIKE grasse And in this place of Esaie it is so the rather because the aduerbe of similitude is expressed in the next member where it is said the breath of the Lord LIKE a streame of brimstone doth kindle it which argueth that the former part must likewise be vnderstood the burning thereof is A s a fire of much wood which in effect is a mightie flame This then being a comparison what reason haue you Sir Discourser to pronounce that the Scriptures shew no more true fire in hell then much wood since fire was the maine respect why hell was likened to Tophet wood was not and without fire hell is no more like to Tophet then it is to a bodkin which if it be thrust into a mans body will raize paine enough And therefore these amplifications must either vtterly be voyde and import nothing knowen to the Iewes or else there must be fire in hell as there was in Tophet and that like the fire of much wood which is violent and raging and as a torrent of brimstone which flameth all with fire if it be once kindled And since Christ called hell Gehinnam for the resemblance it had to the flames of Gehinnom as is before prooued what maruaile if the Prophet speaking by the same spirite compared hell to Tophet which was the place in Gehinnom where the mightiest fires to burne men were made in his time Or if we follow not the Chaldaie paraphrase to make wood a comparison but leane to the later writers who make it a metaphore and referre it either to the continuance of hell fire or to the sinnes soules and bodies of the wicked feeding and nourishing the fire of hell as wood doth our common fire what gaine you by that If one word in the sentence be figuratiue will you conclude all the rest to be figuratiue so may you as well anouch all the Articles of our faith to be allegoricall because sitting at the right hand of God is a plaine allegorie And are there no moe places in the Scriptures mentioning hell fire besides this of Esaie Or if there be as there be exceeding many which haue no similitudes nor metaphores in them will you allegorize them all because this place of Esaie hath one similitude or metaphore in it whether this haue any learning reason or sense in it let the Reader iudge And because I haue mentioned the opinion of the latter writers making wood a metaphore in this place of Esaie and yet confessing the fire of hell to be a true substantiall aud externall fire I thinke it not amisse to let the Reader see what diuerse of them in true religion and learning not inferior to any of our time haue professed touching either of these points Peter Martyrs iudgement of GEHENNA we heard before who maketh Tophet all one with GEHENNA and saith of Tophet Esaie in his 30. Chapter calleth that place of Gehenna Tophet and fire vnquenchable as hauing much wood and brimstone to nourish it The Prophet also setteth downe the breath wherewith the fire is blowne that it may flame the more siercely Munster in his Annotations vpon the 30. of Esaie saith Gehenna is here called Tophet Dicit habitaculum illud esse igâ—…eum That place or habitacle the Prophet saith is all fierie to let thee vnderstand that the torment there is euerlasting For the vncleane lustes of the mind which here are not purged by faith shall be the nourishment of that eternall flame IN STEEDE of wood and coales And also the conscience within shall afflict the wicked as a kind of fire Hell is perpetuall because the Spirite and will of the Lord giue euerlasting force of fire to it Bullinger in his 90. homilie vpon the same Chapter Our Prophet calleth hell Tophet as our Sauiour called it Gehenna And indeede Tophet or Gehenna did burne and flame with perpetuall fires deuouring their children which seduced with a diuelish error thought they offered them vnto God when they offered them vnto the diuell As then in Tophet wretched men were skorched with fire so in hell all the wicked are tormented with euerlasting fire Therefore hell is rightly called Tophet and Gehenna whose inside or burning is fire that is if thou aske what is in hell there is fire and burning or
The plagues and curses of sinne extending as farre as sinners haue any parts of which they consist as bodie and soule or places in which they may be as here so in hell or pertinents which they may haue or need for the ease and vse of this life I called in my conclusion externall corporall spirituall and eternall plagues or punishments of sinne Contrarie to cursing is blessing which is good purposed promised oâ—… performed to obedience as Cursing is euill intended threatned or prepared for disobedience and so by the one Contrarie we may rightly measure the other yea the names of benediction and malediction which is blessing and cursing are deriued from bonum and malum good and euill And therefore as we conceaue good and euill to proceede from the bountie or Iustice of God so must we recken his blessings and curses to be None is good but onely God that is all true goodnesse is naturally supreamely infinitely and vnchangeably in God as likewise all true blessednesse is Neither can any thing haue any degree of true goodnesse or blessednesse but onely by deriuation from God and by participation with God Capable of God that is of the holinesse and happinesse that is in God and commeth from God are no Creatures but men and Angels since only they haue cognition and fruition of his true goodnesse and blessednesse To omit the Elect Angels that haue their measure of heauenly light and power grace and loue righteousnesse and holinesse ioy and securitie in the continuall presence and seruice of God when God decreed to reueale him selfe to Man he gaue him a reasonable Soule endued with vnderstanding and will to discerne and desire the goodnesse that is in God and by louing and obeying Gods righteousnesse to haue Communion with his blessednesse The better to declare him selfe to man God gaue him a Bodie to be quickned by his Soule with Life sense and motion as a Tabernacle for the Soule to dwell and worke therein and made heauen and earth and all the furniture thereof for the vse delight and safegard of his Body thereby to assure Man of his exceeding care for man and bountie towards Man which were not onely wonderfull causes of thanks but euident proofes of greater fauour and honor reserued for him in the heauens if he loued and serued the Author and giuer of these earthly things The integritie then and safetie the sanitie Actiuitie and perpetuitie of mans Body free from all dangers distempers decases diseases and death The excellent beautie plentie vtilitie and varietie of the Creatures seruing mans vse obeying mans Rule and increasing mans delight were all the maruelous blessings of God on man not onely testifying to him the wisedome power and glorie of the Creator by their natures properties and forces but leading him by the eyes eares and all other senses to the admiring embracing and honoring of that great and mightie Lord that by these pledges proposed himselfe with all his spirituall and vnspeakable riches to be the spouse of mans Soule and reward of his loue He therefore that denieth or doubteth these to haue beene the blessings of God on man when he first made man and so to remaine at this present is an vnthankfull and wicked abuser and despiser of Gods goodnesse and bountie towards him selfe and all mankind The gifts of God on the Soule of Man were farre worthier then those corporall and externall blessings For God gaue vnto Man reason and vnderstanding to behold the greatnesse and withall the goodnesse of God and free will to cleaue fast vnto him without preferring any Creature before him or matching any thing with him as likewise affections to inflame the hart with burning and vnceasing loue Man feeling no defect nor finding any impediment in that innocencie tranquillitie facilitie and consonancie of all the powers and parts of the Soule and body to the knowledge loue and seruice of God But none of the gifts and graces of God either outwardly prouided for man or naturally ingraffed in mans Body or Soule did make Man truely blessed For had he beene truely blessed by these he could not so wretchedly haue fallen from these into the Seas of miseries and heapes of curses with which he was after for sinne ouerwhelmed Wherefore we must resolue that as God is onely truth because he is by Nature immutable and onely blessednesse because no euill can approch him so no blessing can rightly be called true but that which is perpetuall nor full but that which is free from all miserie Saint Austen saith wisely Nullo modo poterit esse vita veraciter beata nisi fuerit sempiterna By no meanes may any life be TRVELY blessed except it be EVERLASTING And againe Veritas immortalis est veritas incommutabilis est Truth is eternall truth is vnchangeable And so Ambrose Creaturae non potest esse veritas sed species quae facile soluitur atque mutatur There can be no truth but a shew in the Creature which is easily lost and changed And therefore Austen expoundeth beatam vitam stabilem id est veram a stedfast that is a true blessed life For how can that be thought a true blessing which may end in euerlasting wretchednesse True blessings then there are none but such as ioyne vs to God who is the true fountaine of all true blessing that without any separation or defection from him we may be partakers of him By true blessing we shall best vnderstand what true cursing is for as EVILL is no contrarie nature to GOOD but onely the defect or priuation of good so there is no true curse to vs but that which bereaueth vs of our true blessing Malum non secundum essentiam sed secundum priuationem rectissime dicitur Euill is most rightly sayd to be no essence but the priuation of good To cleaue fast to God who is only and wholly our good is the true blessing of men and angels and consequently to be seuered from God and to loose all communion with him is the true curse of men and angels The true blessings of God bestowed on his children though they be indeed infinit yet may they be reduced to these three summes according to the times wherein they were are and shall be performed that is TO THE LOVE of God freely affourded vs before the world whereby we were elected and adopted in Christ Iesus our Sauiour TO THE LIKENESSE of God which we haue in this world where we are conformed to the image of his Sonne by the working of his Spirit our sinnes being remitted that diuided vs from God and our hearts sanctified with the faith and loue of his trueth and to THE IIFE of God which after this world shall be reuealed and imparted vnto vs in the heauens where shal be perfect blessednesse without want of any good or feare of any euill The priuation of these three blessings bringeth three euils which are maine and true curses to the wicked
they be neuer freed from that horrible confusion in which they lie And therefore they scare the place prouided for them and besought Christ neither k Luc. 8. to send them into the deepe and bottomlesse pit nor to l Matth. 8. torment them besore their time Neither was there onely transgression reprobation and confusion in the place of heauen where the Angels sinned and whence they were cast but of the blessed Angels S. Iohn saith that one of them m Reuel 20. came downe from heauen hauing the key of the bottomlesse pit and a great chaine in his hand who tooke the Dragon which is the diuell and bound him and cast him into the bottomlesse pit and shut him vp and sealed vpon him And were it doubtfull of Angels how they could retaine the measure of their brightnesse and blessednesse in the place of hell yet heare we Dauid confesse of God himselfe and of his spirit If I ascend to heauen thou art there if I get downe to hell thou art there So that the very fountaine of all holinesse and happinesse is in heauen earth and hell and yet the states of these three places are not confounded because the perfection of all goodnesse is present in euery of them The goodnesse and glory of God is not so fastned vnto places that either Paradise or heauen did priuilege men or Angels from sinne as heauen did not the diuels nor hell it selfe can hinder the happinesse of the blessed Angels when they are sent with power from God to execute his pleasure And yet this doth not confound the distinction of places or states in heauen or hell but that heauen is now the place where the brightnesse of Gods glory is reuealed to his Saints besides their internall and continuall vision of God which maketh them most happie and neuer leaueth them whethersoeuer they goe And therefore the Angels that sinned were cast thence that they should not defile the place of Gods presence with their wickednesse and hell is likewise the prepared mansion for the diuels where vengeance from God is powred on them and greater shall be when after iudgement they shall be closed in perpetuall prison though till that day some of them be suffered to beare rule in the aire and to worke in the children of disobedience for the triall of the saints and farder setting forth os Gods most glorious wisedome power and rightcousnesse n Defenc. pag. 119. li. â—…7 Lastly the true ioyes of heauen may be out of the locall heauen as when the glorious Angels haue bene and tarried some while here on earth with men Yet did they neuer for a moment want the toyes and glory of heauen From Angels endued with inward and heauenly light power holinesse and happinesse and by grace euerlastingly confirmed therein no argument can be drawen to our weake sinfull and variable condition neither doe we dispute of Gods power what he can doe but of his will and ordinance whereby he hath appointed heauen to be his seat that is the place where his glory is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and eternall and perfect blessednesse bestowed on all the inhabitants thereof be they men or Angels And though the Angels whethersoeuer they goe or whatsoeuer they doe retaine the cleere sight of God and the perfection of their 〈◊〉 all happinesse yet that is no proofe that we liuing here in mortall and miserable flesh can haue that on earth which they haue For example take some parts or consequents of that heauenly ioy and blisse which the Angels being heere on earth keep immutable and you shall soone see how grossely you erre in communicating their glory to men yet dwelling in houses of clay The Angels of God 〈◊〉 here on earth can neither erre sinne nor die they can feele no necessity infirmity nor miserie they need not eat sleepe nor rest they are indued with light that cannot be obscured with holinesse that cannot be defiled with ioy that cannot be diminished with power that cannot be resisted by men or Diuels Can these things be attributed to mortall men here on earth without open and palpable heresie Wherefore it is an erroneous and presumptuous inference that o Defenc pa. 120. 〈◊〉 2. If Angels may enioy heauen really being in the world that men heere liuing may doe the like p Defenc. pag. 120. 3. It is possible for Gods goodnesse to communicate some reall foretasie thereof vnto some blessed men also A taste of glory which neither continueth nor satisfieth can not be called heauen which is the perfect and perpetuall fulnesse of all kinde of blisse and want of all kinde of miserie S. Peter teacheth vs that God q 1. Pet. 1. begetieth vs into a liuely hope to an inheritance incorruptible vndefiled and vnchangeable reserued in the heauens for vs who are by the power of God kept by faith vnto saluation readie to le shewed in the last time If the taste of glory which you talke of be not immortall immutable vndefiled with any defect or miserie it may not be called heauen nor be sayd to be the inheritance reserued for vs in heauen And therefore though some blessed men haue had a sight of some glory which you call a taste thereof as Moses Esay Steuen and others yet that doth not proue them to haue beene really in the ioyes of heauen How osten is it written of the Israelites that they saw the glory of the Lord and yet they were ouerthrowen in the wildernesse r Exodus 24. ver 16. 〈◊〉 17. The glory of the Lord saith Moses abode vpon mount Sinai and the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountaine in the eies of the children of Israel So when Aaron offered his first offering for his Priesthood and blessed the people t Leu t. 9. v. 23 The glorie of the Lord appeared to all the people of whom God saith u Numb 14. vers 22. All these men which haue seene my glory my miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wildernesse and haue tempted me these ten times certainly they shall not see the land whereof I sware to their Fathers When Salomon had builded and consecrated the temple with praier and sacrifice x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The glory of the Lord 〈◊〉 house so that the Priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord had filled the Lords house And when all the children of Israel saw the fire and the glory of the Lord come downe vpon the house they bowed themselues with their faces to the earth vpon the pauement and worshipped and praised the Lord. I trust the King the Priests and the People were not all in the ioies of heauen and yet they all with their eies saw the glory of God there presented before them and such as were religious and obedient saw it to their exceeding ioy y Defenc. pag. 120. li. 5. That God doth
Agonie after an Angell appeared from heauen and comforted or strengthened him with a message from God it seemeth rather an effect of Christes intentiue prayer which the Scripture there mentioneth than a consequent to any other passion or paine Christes intentiue prayer after comfort receiued by an Angell from heauen might proceed from his ardent desire care and zeale of our redemption from the wrath of God and protection from the rage of Satan And therefore as the Prophet foreshewed he should not onely beare the sinnes of many but pray for the Trespassers Christ might spend all the spirits and powers of bodie and soule in most vehement and feruent prayer euen vnto a bloudie sweat to haue all his members pardoned their sinnes and reconciled to God by the sacrifice of his bodie which he would offer for them and also to haue Satan cast out from accusing them and in the end trodden vnder their feet If Christes bloudie sweat were supernaturall we must aske no cause thereof but leaue it to his sacred will who could aboue nature doe what he would That it was no proofe of hell paines appeareth plainly because Christ after in greater paines on the Crosse did not sweat bloud and of all those whom these men imagine suffered hell paines in the Scriptures no one can be produced that euer sweat bloud The word forsaking vsed by Christ in his Complaint on the Crosse doth not in all the Scriptures inferre the paines of the damned but in the wicked it noteth reiection desperation and feare of damnation and in the godly it argueth want of protection or decrease of consolation in their troubles In Christ it might shew the time the cause the maner or the griefe of his being so long forsaken and left to the rage and reproch of his persecutors without any sensible signe of Gods loue towards him care for him helpe in his troubles or exse in his paines but it doth not prooue that Christ thought himselfe forsaken of Gods fauour grace or spirit which feare or doubt could not be in him without a manifest touch of error and want of faith Christ neuer feared nor doubted that he should or could perish vnder the hand of God persuing our sinnes in the bodie of his flesh but for the ioy set before him endured the Crosse and despised the shame and as S. Peter sayth of him at the time of his suffering he alwayes beheld God at his right hand that he should not be shaken and therefore his heart reioyced and his tongue was glad and his flesh rested in hope because his soule should not be forsaken in hell nor his flesh see corruption Christ was made a curse for vs in that he suffered the temporall and corporall curses of the Law threatned vnto sinners as all sorts of afflictions belonging to this life and in the end a painfull and shamefull death by which he abolished the spirituall and eternall curse of God due to vs for sinne but he was neuer inwardly truely nor eternally accursed of God since by tasting of our externall curse for a time he made vs partakers of his spirituall and celestiall blessednesse for euer Christ who knew no sinne was made sinne for vs that is either the punishment of our sinnes or the sacrifice for our sinnes for we were healed by his stripes and he gaue himselfe for vs a sacrifice of a sweet smell to God Being then an holy and acceptable sacrifice to God for sinne he was neither defiled nor hatefull to God with our sinnes but suffered the iust for the vniust that is he tooke vpon him the punishment of our sinnes though he were most innocent and by the holinesse of his person submitting himselfe to the death of the crosse purged our vncleannesse by his innocencie couered our guiltinesse and by his fauour with God reconciled vs that were enemies Christ bare the full punishment of our sinnes that is not all which we should haue borne for then he must haue beene euer lastingly reiected confounded and condemned to hell fire which are most horrible blasphemies but he bare so much of the punishments of this life where he suffered as in his person by the iust iudgement of God was most sufficient for all our sinnes TOuching Christs descent to hell the words are plainly cited by Peter out of Dauid that Christes soule after death should not be left in Hades which Saint Luke in his Gospell vseth for the place where torments are prepared for the wicked after this life And in that sense is the word vsed thorowout the New Testament as likewise the Greeke Fathers tooke it for the place vnder the earth whither the soules of all men were condemned for sinne and where the Diuels detaine and torment the wicked That Christ likewise descended to the lower parts of the earth and to the bottomlesse deepe after death is vouched by Saint Paul whereupon the whole Church of Christ from the beginning hath confessed his descent to hel to be a point of Christian pietie Peters Sermon in the second of the Acts intended not simply to proue that Christ was risen from the dead as Lazarus and others were but affirmed farder of him That God raised him vp to set him on Dauids Throne that is to make him King of Glorie This he prooueth In that Christes flesh could not see corruption nor his soule be forsaken in hell which was verified in none no not in Dauid who were all dead and saw corruption but only in the Messias It was therefore impossible that either death or hell should detaine Christ but he was to rise Lord of death and hell and the Sauiour of all his from both as appeared by his ascending to heauen and sitting at the right hand of God Neither was this strange to the Iewes who were taught to expect that to be performed by the Messias which God promised by his Prophet O Death I will be thy death O Hell I will be thy destruction Sheol in the Olde Testament signifieth the Graue and Hell that is the places whither the dead bodies of all men went and whither the soules of the wicked dead in sinne descended after death And therefore where it is distinguished from the death of the bodie or referred to the soule after death as it is in Dauids words applied by Peter to Christ it apparently signifieth Hell The ends of Christes descent are likewise deriued from the Scriptures as the destroying of the Diuels kingdome and triumphing ouer powers and principalities and making an open shew of them spoiling them by deliuering all his Elect dead liuing and yet vnborne from the right power and feare of eternall death taking into his hands the Keyes of Death and Hell that he might be Lord of all in Heauen Earth and Hell The Creed is not a Collection of Greeke or Hebrew phrases vnknowen to the people but a short summe of the Christian faith prouided for the simpler sort of men to learne by heart And therefore as
owne mouth to bruize the Serpents head before death was inflicted on Adam and his of-spring And therefore the punishment of mans sinne following could extend no farder in the Elect then to the death of the Body vnlesse you will make Gods punishment repugnant to his promise of Christ made before to his Elect which were to charge God with Inconstancie And therefore either the death of the Body was neuer any punishment of sinne in Adam which is repugnant to the Scriptures and the full consent of all Diuines old and new or else it resteth still the same to the Elect which it was at first when it was inflicted on them in the person of their first Father Indeede the promise of Christ to the faithfull brake of the sequence of eternall death which in the wicked is coherent to the death of their Bodies and that made God in his Iudiciall sentence pronounced against Adams sinne to comprise no more but Adams returne to dust for that he meant no more to his Elect though he would suffer death to haue his full force against the Bodies and Soules of the wicked both in this world and in the next for euer As for the Saluation of the faithfull before Christs comming in the flesh I see not which way that should be endangered by their afflictions in this life It is written of Lazarus dying before Christ that in his life time he receiued euill and therefore after death he was comforted So that their chasticement in this life which was a moderate and fatherly correction and punishment of their sinnes could be no impediment to their saluation but worke rather in them that were patient in their troubles as it doth in vs an excellent and eternall waight of glorie For in that the Iudgement of God began here in this life with them their humbling themselues vnder the mightie hand of God with true Repentance of their sinnes and full assurance by faith that in the promised Seede their sinnes should be pardoned caused God of his mercy to turne their â—…eauinesse into ioy and in due time to exalt them Further you except against me touching Innocents and Martyrs executions who I say are most blessed If you meane their Soules are most blessed I said as much before you if you respect their patience and loue in laying downe their liues for the truth I make no doubt the death of Gods Saints is precious in his sight But if the suffering of death were a blessing and aduantage as you would haue it it were no such thankes with God to taste of his blessings for his name sake The greatnesse of their reward sheweth the shaâ—…pnesse of their conflict with the sting and smart of death which because they refuse not for Christes cause their patience is the more precious in Gods sight but this doeth not prooue the corruption of their bodies turned to dust to bee any blessing but rather an enemie that must be destroyed before their bodies shall enioy the true blessing of immortall glorie that is reserued for them The holy men are in trueth most glorious and blessed in them If you speake of their bodiâ—…s you speake falsly and directly against the Scripture which expresâ—…ely saith They are sowâ—…n in corruption and dishonour but they shall be raised in incorruption and dishonour and what can be more repugnant to the trueth or more reprochfull to the resurrection from the dead then to say that corruption in the bodies of the Saints is most glorious and blessed The Saints and Martyrs can not be properly cursed and properly blâ—…ssed too in any measure Can you see that in the members of Christ and can you not see so much in Christ himselfe You defend with might and maine that Christ was properly and truely accursed and that he was also truely and properly blessed except you will bee worâ—…e then a Turke you may not denie For euen his manhood was personally ioyned with his Godhead and more abundantly blessed then any Martyr can be as hauing in him the fulnesse of blessing for him selfe and vs all How hangeth then this not onely monstrous but impious Assertion of yours together that the Soule of Christ was truely and properly most abundantly blessed and most properly cursed at one and the same instant You will come in with your two countenances and conditions his owne and ours but in vaine doe you salue a manifest contrarietie and impictie with countenances Christ was truely accursed in no condition or countenance since he was most blessed in himselfe and the spring of all blessing to vs. The Soules of the Martyrs are not blessed vnlesse their bodies be blessed also and free from the true curâ—… although you seeme to denâ—…e this point Of the TRVE curse â—…aide on the bodies of Martyrs I spake neuer a word and therefore that is no vncouth Assertion of mine as your phrase is but an impudent fiction of yours that thinke best to belâ—…e the trueth when you cannot otherwise preuaile against it I said not a woâ—…d moâ—…e then Saint Austen said before me Maledictus omnis moriens Accursed is euerie one that dieth And when the godly are so streightned that they must either commit Idolatrie or suffer Martyrdome euen in that case of Martyrs Saint Austen saith Elâ—…gendum est maledictum in corporiâ—… morte quo maledicto ipsum corpus in Resurrectione liberabitur deuit andum autem maledictum in animae morte ne cum suo corpore in aeterno igne damnetur A Christian when these two are proposed must chuse the curse of a bodily death from which curse the body shall be freed in the Resurrection and hee must shunne the curse of the death of the Soule least that be together with the body condemned to euerlasting fire And to prooue this to be non Anicularis malâ—…dictio an olde wifes curse as the Manichees called it but a propheticall prediction hee giueth sound reasons to all that list not to moâ—…ke and elude the trueth as you doe Morsipsa ex maledicâ—…o Death it selfe came from the curse that was laide on all mankinde for sinne Maledictum est omne peccatum siâ—…e ipsum quod sit vt sequatur supplicium siâ—…c ipsum supplicium quod alâ—…o modo vocatur peccatum quâ—…a fit ex peccato Accursed is all sinne whether it bâ—…e the fact deseruing punishment or the punishment it selfe which is after a sort called sinne because it is cauâ—…d by sinne Which words though you afterward idlely abuse yet are they sound and consonant to the Scriptures Of sinne there is no question but that is in it selâ—…e truely accursed as being the roote and cause of all Gods curses vpon men and Angels where it is not remitted and howsoeuer of mercie God doeth paâ—…don it vnto his Elect yet hee hateth their sinnes in such sort that either sinne must die in them by true and hartie repentance or they must perish with
our sinnes which he apprehended in the Garden and in respect thereof fell into this horrible feare These wordes of the Catâ—…chisme if we referre to the feare Christ had for his members then ioined in one bodie with him whose cause he vndertooke with more desire and care then his owne since he emptied and loaded himselfe to purchase their aduancement and ease they might be receaued and approoued as sufferable in the Christian faith but if we so tooke them as if Christ had any doubt or distrustfull feare of his owne saluation they were not agreeable to the trueth Your selfe sir wrangler speake against this later senâ—…e of the wordes as much as I doe For you say m Defenc. pag. 99. li. 11. 12. It is passing strange doctrine and simply impossible that Christ should feare the cup of eternall malediction which he perfectly knew concerned him not at all and by no meanes could euer possibly come neere him But the Catechisme saith Christ was perfused or perplexed with the horror of eternall death And as our head knit with vs into one and the same body he might tremble at eternall death hanging ouer our heads and most dreadfully persuing our sinnes in vs if he made not satisfaction for vs. You would shift the word eternall out of the text and tell vs a tale of the substance thereof which you will imagine how Christ shall suffer by a new deuice of yours though the Catechisme speake nothing thereof but if you expound the Catechisme and not correct it or confute it you must shew vs how Christ might feele or feare EVERLASTING OR FVTVRE DEATH due to sinners For those are the words of the Catechisme who not content to say EVERLASTING addeth thereto FVTVRE death which of force must follow after this present death separating the soule from the bodie except you haue the skill in Grammar to make future goe before present How Christ in coniunction with vs and compassion on vs might feare euerlasting death for vs as imminent ouer vs and yet speake in his owne name I will in place conuenient more largely declare when I come to Christes complaint on the crosse till which time I pray the Reader to haue patience least I should be forced often to prooue and repeat one and the same thing Touching the other limitation that Christ might feare that is warâ—…ly and religiously shunne the cuppe of eternall malediction and intentiuely pray against it as well in respect of himselfe as of vs you blunder out a proposition which in Christes cause is not so true as you take it to be n Pa. 99. li. 13. He could not you say intentiuely pray against Christs manhood prâ—…ied for that with all 〈◊〉 which his person by rigâ—…t might haue chalenâ—…ed that which he perfectly knew could by no meanes come neere him By this rule Christ should pray for nothing touching himselfe for Christ perfectly knew all that God had most certainly decreed towards him and chiefly Gods resolute and reuealed counsels for his glory What need then was there Christ should pray for any such thing since he perfectly knew what should come to passe and by the power of his person was fully able to dispose of heauen and hell life and death both present and eternall His owne words are 〈◊〉 Whatsoeuer things the Father doth the same things 〈◊〉 Iohn 5. doth the Sonne also for likewise as the Father raiseth vp the dead and quickeneth them so the Sonne quickeneth whom he will The Father iudgeth no man but hath committed all iudgement to the Sonne that all men should honour the Sonne as they honour the Father and hath giuen him power also to execute iudgement in that he is the Sonne of man Christ perfectly knew that p Eâ—…a 42. 49 he should be giuen for a light of the Gentils Did he not therefore aske it according to Dauids prophesie q Psal 2. Aske of me and I will giue thee the Gentils for thine inheritance Christ neither had nor could haue any doubt of his glorification Did he not therefore pray r Iohn 17. Now Father glorifie me with thine owne selfe with the glory which I had with thee before the world was Was not Christ most assured that he should s Esa. 53. diuide the spoiles of the mightie and be a t Hose 13. death vnto death and a destruction vnto hell and yet Dauid applieth these prayers vnto him u Psal. 22. Deliuer my soule from the sword my desolate soule from the power of the dogge Saue me from the lions mouth and heare mee from the hornes of the vnicorne Though therefore by the right of his power he might haâ—…e sayd in all things as he did in some x Matth. 8. I will be thou cleane and againe y Iohn 17. Father I will that they which thou hast giuen me be with me euen where I am that they may behold my glory yet to demonstrate the wonderfull vertue of his obedience and humilitie he suffered his humane nature humbly to pray for that which his person could of it selfe performe and in all things referred himselfe to his Fathers will though he also sayd to his Father All thine are mine and I am glorified in them and all things that the Father hath are mine Then might Christ in the Garden pray that the cuppe of eternall malediction deserued by our sinnes might passe from him and his though he submitted himselfe and his members to drinke of the cuppe of Gods wrath so much as should please his heauenly Father which he was assured in regard of his prayer should be no more than he and his should well endure z Defenc. pag. 99 li. 16. All this is nothing else in effect then your first cause his submission to Gods maiestie sitting in iudgement wherefore you might haue lessened your number and so your answer to this might haue beene the same which is made to your foremost Your conceite is not so currant that I should pare my number for your pleasure Christ himselfe saith a Matth. 22. On these two Commandements thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thine heart with all thy soule and with all thy minde and thy neighbour as thy selfe hangeth the whole Law and the Prophets Were therefore then the tenne Commandements which God gaue to Moses superfluous because they might be reuoked to two generall contents speciall parts and duties are profitablie deliuered so long as they be any way distinguished notwithstanding they may be comprised in fewer but more generall branches The worke of our Redemption was the summe of all that Christ did said or suffered heere on earth shall we therefore reiect the rest of the Gospell because the substance thereof may be expressed in a word or twaine these you will say are not distinct in matter but in wordes Who told you so The trembling at Gods glorie when it was reuealed to mans infirmitie the honouring Feare
sorow necessarie in the sacrifice for sinne of his sanctitie with godly sorrow which was despised with our iniquitie the mitigating of his anger with humble and earnest praier which was prouoked with our contempts were they not three different effects euen in Christ himselfe and so might stirre vp three religious affections of feare sorrow and prayer Why then should they be confounded in Christ whose humane nature might yeeld all three to God as well in respect of pietie to God and of charitie to men as in regard of his office for the satisfaction of our sinnes for he might not approch the presence of God as a Priest with our person and cause who were sinnefull though he were innocent and holy to make intercession and sacrifice for our sinnes but he must giue God his due glorie haue compassion on our miserie and mediate for our safetie As therefore I see no cause to exclude these affections and actions from the satisfaction for sin so I see greater reason to include them in the sacrifice for sin except we make Christ a Priest onely by his SVFFERINGS leaue him neither any honor of OFFERING nor right of PRAYING for vs in the purgation of our sins which were a strange kind of Priesthood no way answerable to the Leuiticall in that wherin the apostle compareth them For in the Law the Priest was to present the sacrifice to God and to pray for the trespasser which if you thinke needlesse in the true sacrifice that should propitiate the sinnes of the world you must correct the Apostle that maketh the Law a figure of the Gospell though the person of the Priest and the price of the sacrifice farre excell all that was vnder the Law b Defenc. pag. 99. li. 20. Furthermore you knit in within this foure other seuer all causes of Christes agonie as you recken them pa. 27. First his taking of our infirmities in his flesh to cure them Secondly his breaking the knot betwixt bodily death and hell which none but hee was able to doe Thirdly Gods anger which might be executed on his bodie but was mitigated by him Fourthly the desire he had to continue the feeling and enioying of Gods presence with his bodie As there is no one thing in the Scriptures that receiueth and hath more diuers opinions of it than Christes agonie in the Garden so I proposed as many as had any coherence with trueth and left the Reader to make his choise which he liked best Howbeit I did not pag. 27. recken foure seuerall causes of Christes agonie as you mistake but of the c Serm. pag. 27. li. 23. feare which Christ had and shewed of his bodily death His agony had other parts and affections besides feare and astonishment as sorow zeale submissiue and intentiue prayer and a bloudie sweat the obiects and ends whereof might be as different as the things themselues For example Christes feare in the Garden might haue many respects and causes as well as his sorow He might feare the glory of God now sitting in iudgement to receiue recompense for the sinnes of his elect For as Christ himselfe who best knew it confirmeth it by saying d Iohn 12. Christes manhood might feare the glorie of Gods iudgement Now at hand is the iudgement of this world now shall the Prince of this world be cast on t so wee must not thinke so mightie and weightie matters as the iudgement of the world and the casting out of Satan the accuser of his brethren and the admitting the Redeemer to present himselfe here on earth for our cause to the face of God in iudgement were decreed and setled by God without some reuelation of his glorie and maiestie meet for those persons and purposes For this is a rule which may euery where be obserued in the Scriptures that when God is described as a Iudge he is sayd to sit in a Throne and all the host of heauen to stand before him to resemble the glory of his iudgement as we finde in Daniel 7. vers 9 10. Esa. 6. vers 1 2. 1. Kings 22. vers 19. Wherefore Dauid sayth e Psal. 9. v. 7. The Lord hath prepared his throne for iudgement This Michaiah and Esay the Prophets say they SAW which whether it were by sight as Steuen f Act. 7 v. 55. looked stedfastly into heauen and with his eyes saw the glory of God and Iesus standing at the right hand of God or in spirit as Ezechiel waking and g Ezech. 8. sitting in his house with the Elders of Iudah before him was by a diuine vision brought to Ierusalem to see all the abominations there committed I dare not determine Christ himselfe sayth I saw Satan fall downe from heauen like lightning Which way soeuer Gods glory in iudgement was reuealed vnto Christ and beheld of Christ in the Garden it was able for the time of his humilitie to impresse a religious feare and trembling into his humane nature since Christ came now by iudgement to haue the burden of our sinnes taken from vs and layed vpon him that he might make satisfaction for them Another thing that Christ might iustly and yet religiously feare in the Garden offering now to ransome man from the wrath of God was the POWER of Gods wrath Hâ—… might feare 〈◊〉 pâ—…wer of Goâ—…s wrath 〈◊〉 our sinne whiâ—…h hâ—… was to â—…eare which is fully infinite and so farre exceedeth the strength and reach of mans nature that our earthly infirmitie to which Christ submitted himselfe for our sakes can not comprehend the greatnesse thereof nor thinke on the power thereof without feare and trembling h Psal. 90. v. 11 Who knoweth saith Dauid to God the power of thy wrath for according to thy feare that is as thou art feared so is thine anger Contempt and carelessenesse kindle and increase the wrath of God against vs feare and submission asswage it And when I name feare I meane not a dreadfull distrust of Gods purpose towards vs which is desperation but a perswasion and confession of his power ouer vs whereby we feare to displease him and tremble before him withall submission when we haue displeased him This feare Christ teacheth his disciples when he saith I will shew you Luc. 12. whom you shall feare feare him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yeâ—… I say feare him not meaning they should firmely beleeue God would euerlastingly condemne them but that thinking on his power preuailing here and in hell they should beware to prouoke him and with all humilitie prostrate themselues before him when they had offended him to preuent his anger Christ you will say needed not thus to feare since he was no sinner For himselfe he needed not because he was innocent and obedient in all thinges to the vttermost but since he was at this time now to beare the burthen of our sinnes in his body and to haue the chasticement of our peace laid
God and chiefly Christs soule when it descended to hell not only to be brought thence but euen there by gods hand assisting to destroy the strength of Satans kingdome and to triumph ouer all the powers and Principalities of darkenesse If those wordes did alwaies import a present possession and fruition of heauenly glorie then could Dauid with no truth haue spoken them of himselfe so long before his death when as yet no part of Gods promises to him touching his kingdome were perfourmed But the soules of the faithfull are alwaies in the hand of God whiles heere they are protected by him and after this life receaued in rest though they come not as yet to be inuested with the fulnesse of heauenly glory Yea the words properly pertaining to our Sauiours person and condition after death ` Thou wilt not leaue or forsake my soule in hell doe shew that Christs soule was then in Gods hands and compassed round with the power and glory of God when hell and Satan trembled at his presence and were both vanquished and spoiled by him Your adding that this sentence may be fitly applied to Christ prooueth nothing For though I haue no doubt but Christs soule was with farre greater honour and fauour ioy and blisse receaued into the hands of God to whom it was committed then the soules of all his Saints yet that doth not prooue his present entraunce after death into the glory of heauen and continuance in the same except you will say that at his resurrection and till his Ascension his soule was out of his Fathers hands because during that time it was on earth and not in heauen which were a strange position in diuinity The soules of the righteous were in the hands of God long before Christs comming as the wise man witnesseth and yet were they not in the glory of heauen but in Abrahams bosome as our Sauiour teacheth And so the wise man expoundeth himselfe adding No torment shall touch them they are in peace and in the time of their visitation they shall shine reseruing them to a time appointed when glory shal be reuealed on them though in the meane whiles their spirits were kept in rest and ioy vnder the mighty hand of God The Thieues being in Paradise with Christ the same day that he died concludeth no such thing as you conceaue For first no words there or els where euince that Christ spake this of his humane nature Saint Austen resolueth The sense is much easier and freer from all ambiguities if Christ be vnderstood to haue said this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise not of his manhood but of his godhead And in his 111. Tractate vpoÌ„ Iohn vpholding the same exposition addeth He that said to the thiefe painfully hanging yet healthfully confessing this dâ—…y shalt thou be with me in Paradise according to his manhood had his soule that daâ—…e in hâ—…ll his flesh 〈◊〉 the graue but according to his godhead vndoubtedlie he was in Paradise Titus Bishop of Bostra in Arabia somewhat elder then Austen sheweth how these words may be verified of either of Christs natures How was this promise of our Lord made to the thiefe this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise performed Christ takâ—…n dâ—…wne from the crosse was in hell according to his soule and neuerthelesse by the power of his diuinity brought the Thiefe into Paradise Happily he first caried the beleeuing Thiefe to Paradise before he descended to hell Damascen is of Austens mind The same Christ is adored in heauen as God together with the Father and with the holy Ghost and he as man lay in the Sepulchre with his body and abode in hell with his soule and gaue entrance to the thiefe into Paradise his diuinity which cannot be comprehended in any place euery where accompanying him And so is Euthymius How said Christ this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise because as God who filleth all places he was euery where at one instant in the sepulchre in hell and in Paradise and in heauen But admit the words to be ment of Christs humane soule what reason call you this Christs soule was in Paradise that very day that he died ergo neither that day nor any day els before his resurrection his soul did or could descend to hell You must amend these reasons before any man will yeeld you to haue reason or sense Christ might that very day that he went to Paradise subdue and subiect all power in hell vnto himsâ—…lfe he might doe it the next day he might doe it the third day when he rose from the dead the time is not the thing we striue for which we must leaue to God but the reall and actuall performance of the Apostles words He spoiled powers and principalities and made an open shew of them triumphing ouer them in himselfe which in other words Peter expressed when he said Christs soule was not left or forsaken in hell but God raised him â—…p loosing the sorowes of death or hell that euery knee of things vnder earth should â—…ow vnto him as well as of things in heauen and earth and that euerie tongue euen of the damned and Diuels for there are none other vnder earth should confesse either willingly or constrainedly Iesus Christ to be Lord vnto the glory of God the Father This conquest ouer hell and Satan being acknowledged whereby all power in heauen and earth and consequently in hell conteined in the earth was yeelded vnto Christs manhood after his death and before or at his resurrection we shall not need to be curious about the time and manner thereof The compilers of the centuries at Magdeburge doe well admonish Descendisse Christum in infernum articulus sidei est verum quanam ratione ibi omnia sunt gesta non est expresse traditum That Christ descended to hell is an article of the faith but in what sort all things there were donne is not expressely deliuered Happilie it is enough for vs to hâ—…ld the generall and a more exact declaration of this mysterie wee shall heare in another life The eternall and generall ordinance of God is shewed Luc. 16. to be such that none can goe out of heauen downe to hell nor come from hell vp to heauen You boldly presume after your maner that Abrahams bosome was heauen of which many learned men do make great doubt For if the soules of the righteous were in heauen before Christes death and biâ—…th then were they equall vnto the elect Angels before the resurrection which Christ saith shall be when they are the children of the resurrection and so not before And how were the wordes of our Sauiour true which he spake in his life time No man ascendeth vp to heauen but he that descended from heauen the Sonne of man which is in heauen If all the Saints deceased were in heauen or how had
that you can discerne nothing besides your owne dreames In the wordes of Esaie are sundrie circumstances which plainely prooue Sheol there not to be taken for the graue onely The first is the situation of Sheol which the Prophet there saith is below Sheol from below is stirred to meete thee not meaning the dead should be then raised to life but the Ghostes below should be mooued and affected with the suddaine fall of that mightie tyrant It is also there opposed to heauen as the lowest place to the highest for where through pride the king of Babylon said in his heart I will ascend to heauen and exalt my throne aboue the starres of God the Prophet replieth thou shalt be thrust downe to Sheol to the sides of the lake Secondly there are in that place attributed to them in Sheol remembrance admirance irrision and speach which by no meanes can agree to dead carcasses in the graue but to spirits and soules in hell neither had the dead bodie of the king of Babylon any sense sorrow or shame for his foule fall which their insulting in hell against him purposed to impresse Thirdly the cruelty tyranny pride and rage of the king of Babylon against Gods people were greater then to bee requited onely with the graue as were all other men euen the Iewes themselues that were the Seruants of God their most religious Kings It was therefore no way fitting for the iustice of God against his enemies nor for his loue to his owne to menace the oppressors murderers of his people with no more but only with the graue For since God by the same prophet threatned the king of Asshur with Tophet for smiting his people saying Tophet is prepared of old it is euen prepared for the king he to wit God hath made it deepe and wide the burning thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a riuer of brimstone doth kindle it how should the graue onely be sufficient to reuenge the outrages of the king of Babylon against the Saints of God whose citie he vtterly destroyed and kept them groning in most miserable seruitude Lastly where you so confidently pronounce the graue onely is there ment a man may soone see how little care you take in setling your sentence since of all other things there specified the graue is namely excepted by the Prophet as no part of Gods threats against that proud tyrant These are his words Thou shalt not be ioyned with them in the graue because thou hast destroied thine owne land and slaine thy people thou art cast out of the graue like an abominable branch as a carcasse troden vnder feete So that heere you are taken tardie with a plain and presumptuous contradiction to the words of the Prophet that where he threatneth the king of Babel for his cruell oppression shall not be partaker of a graue after his death but be cast out as an hatefull care asse to be troden vnder foote you in your wisedome affirme the gâ—…ue is onely heere ment whatsoeuer others thinke yea though the Prophet himselfe expresly say no. With such principles you proppe vp your idle fansies in the Hebrew tongue whiles you would seeme learned in giuing the Prophet the lie to his face But heere you will say is mention of wormes that should spredde vnder him and coâ—…er him and of lying downe to sleepe This is all the shew that can be made out of sixteene verses in that Chapter describing the destruction of the king of Babylon and his issue and yet these wordes neither doe nor must inferre the graue which he should lacke but the putrifying of his body though vnburied and his lying down to death yet not in the graue Neither is it to be doubted but when his soule descended to Sheol below his bodie was dead the one doth not exclude but rather include the other except men descend aliue to hell as we read of some in the Scriptures otherwise the soule is first seuered from the body before she goe to her owne place which for the wicked is the lower Sheol Thus much you might haue learned out of old and new interpreters but that you scorne to be directed by any man farder then your owne fancie doth lead you Of this place of Esaie Ierom thus writeth He that through pride said I will ascend to heauen and be like the most high is thrust downe non solum ad infernum sed ad inferorum vltimum â—…ot onely to hell but to the lowest steppe of hell So the deepe of the lake doth signifie for which in the Gospell we read vtter darkenesse where is weeping and gnashing of teeth And withall we learne that hell is vnder the earth the Scripture saying vnto the bottome of the lâ—…ke Haymo on the same words Hence we learne that hell is vnder the earth whose inhabitants in this place are designed by the name of hell Hell is troubled to meet thee because the angell who is President ouer infernall paines hath stirred vp to meete thee the Giants that is the mightie princes of the earth whom before thou didst heauâ—…ly oppresse Lyra very skilfull in the Hebrue tongue as appeareth by his often citing the Rabbins vpon the same place saith Heere is the insultation of the dead and first against the soule of the king of Babylon secondly as touching the buriall of his bodie Concerning the first we must know the Iewes Catholike writeâ—…s expound this place of Nabâ—…codonosors soule descending to the paines of the damned But it must be referred to Balthasar his Nephew and so it is said HELL That is the diuell the ruler of hell VNDâ—…R THEE because hell is said to be in the deepe of the earth IS TROVBLED because the diuels were busie about the receauing and leading of his soule Bullingere likewise The Prophet goeth on to describe the wretchednesse of Balthasar the wicked king of Babylon When therefore he was thrust through the body in many places by the souldiers that brake into his palace his soule went straight to hell Where two things are to be obserued first that the soule of man doth not die with his body next that hell is appointed as a certaine place for the wicked which heere is auouched to be beneath vs. Oecolampadius Thou art descended to hell and thy glory and mirth with thee And as the body is deuoured of wormes so the soule is tormented with the wormes of an euill conscience These are the treasures of rich and mightie men which oppresse others in this life they cary nothing hence but a wretched conscience into the Gehenna sire where their worme doth not die nor the fire quench Pellican The dead Princes in hell answer one another deriding ech the other vpbrayding violences exercising wrath and indignation raging with impatience and iniuries wormes meate and most wretched with the perpetuall gnawing of conscience euen as in the kingdome of the blessed
thou know it Shall it suiâ—…ce in this place to say the cloudes are high the starres are higher all which we see with our eyes and can obserue their course or must we cast our thoughts on the highest heauen wherein we neither see nor know any thing but what God reuealeth by his word and which is the chiefest place of his perfection So Dauid Whither shall I flie from thy presence If I ascend into heauen thou art there if â—… get downe to Sheol below thou art there also If I take the wings of the morning and dâ—…d in the furdâ—…ct parts of the Sea there thy right hand shall hold me Ascending to the highest descending to the lowest and going to the fardest we passe through all places If God be then in the highest in the lowest and in the midst whither can we flee from him who is euery where all places being here contained the highest heauens are not omitted The Prophet Amos hath the like both purpose and partition where God assureth Israel they cannot decline his hand whither soeuer they could or would goe whether to heauen on high to Sheol below to the bredth of the mountaines or to the depth of the Sea If out of his diuision you exclude hell or heauen as places whither Gods hand can not reach doe you not with your impertinent Sophistrie broch vs a manifest heresie wherefore Shammaijm here is any or euery part of heauen euen as the earth is diuided by bredth and depth into the hils the Seas and Sheol vnderneath which is here conuinced to be in the earth because God saith though they digge into Sheol teaching vs that the lowest Sheol is in the earth which onely can be digged and not either in water or aire which can not be digged As for the 14 of Esay from which Christ deriued his threatning to Capernaum as resembling the pride and deseruing the punishment of the king of Babel the words there are so direct for Shammaijm to be the highest heauen euen the place of Gods throne that you thought best to skippe it ouer with a false translation and not to trouble your selfe any farder The pride of the King of Babylon is there thus expressed Thou saidst in thine heart I will ascend to heauen and will exalt my Throne aboue the starres of God I will ascend aboue the higth of the clouds and wil be like the most highest But thou shall be drawen downe to Sheol euen to the sides or lowest parts of the pit Shammaijm comprising three regions at least the clouds the starres the place of Gods throne the king of Babylon in his proud ambition said he would ascend aboue the higth of the clouds aboue the starres of God and would exalt his throne like to the most highest I hope Shammaijm here to which the king of Babylon would ascend was neither the clouds nor the starres they both are by name excluded and consequently not the skies as you fasly translate the Prophets words but it was the resemblance of Gods throne and the place of his glory to which that proud tyrant aspired Neither ment he there to be one of Gods Saints as you would childishly chalenge your opponent but what place of glory others get at Gods hands by obedience and humility he would in his arrogant heart assume vnto himselfe with rebellion and emulation of Gods greatnesse euen as Adam and Eue neuer ment to be Saints when they accepted the Diuels offer ye shal be as Gods but desired no longer to be subiect to God and sought to get a similitude if not an equality with God So did the King of Babel affect to be like the most highest though he were fardest from it of all others For the Prophet doth not in these words expresse what the king of Babylon was indeed but what his arrogant spirit conceaued in thinking there was no God greater then himselfe This monstrous pride of his being the higth of all impiety and blasphemie what reward in your conscience was it worthy to haue a plaine no being any longer amongst the liuing which you say Daniel affirmeth of the Messias or a iudgement proportionable to his wickednesse that is to be cast downe to the bottom of hell for exalting himselfe to the top of heauen Your spinning of cobwebbes about an inglorious destruction is no way sufficient for this offence except you meane destruction of body and soule in hell with the sight and shame of his folly and so if you ioine the vtter and eternall destruction of his person and his pride you agnise Sheol to be hell as I doe and haue not the witte to see that when a man is taken hence to that terrible and intolerable vengeance all worldlie things first faile him and the remembrance of his forme plenty and glory augmenteth the griefe of his present penurie and misery Els how auoide you contradiction as well to the trueth as to your selfe in your two signification of Sheol Sheol opposed to Shammaijm you say signifieth not hell the place of torments but aâ—… vast and deepe guise onely or pit in the earth the bottome where of we know not If you deriue this vast and deepe gulfe in the earth from the warrant of holy Scripture I must aske you first how many of these gulses the scripture admitteth to be in the earth next what vse there is of them The Scripture mentioneth the lower Sheol indeed so called in respect of the higher which is the graue common to the bodies of good and bad Other Sheols in the earth the Scripture knoweth none Now for whom is this lower gulfe in the earth prouided for men or for oxen and sheepe which you were placing there euen now by warrant pretended from Moses and the Psalmist but that you fouly mistooke the words of both When God openeth the earth to swallow vp men and all that belongeth to them as he did to the rebels in the wildernesse he hath roome enough in the earth to couer and close that which doth not descend to Sheol without your vast and deepe gulfe If you confesse this vast and deepe gulfe in the earth to serue for wicked men after death then come you neerer to the Scriptures but as neere to hell For Dauid saying vnto God Thou hast deliuered my soule from the lower Sheol declareth the lower Sheol to be a receptacle for the soules of such as God doth not shew mercy vnto SalomoÌ„ saith of such as haunted harlots Her guests are in the depth of Sheól Moses telleth you The sire of Gods wrath burneth to the lower Sheól In the lower Sheol then are the soules of the wicked and fire there burning for them If your vast and deepe gulfe in the earth be all one with this we know the place to be hell and the vse thereof the punishment of the wicked If it differ from this you must tell vs by the word of God wherefore it