by the power of his life heé might take from vs the feare of death whiles here wee liue and change the curse of death making it nowe a rest from all labours which before was an entrance into perpetuall paine This enemie because he doth least harme shall bée last destroied euen at the daie of the generall resurrection and not before and serueth now rather to represse sinne then to reuenge sinne the godlie being by death deliuered from the committing louing or fearing sinne and the wisedome of God prouiding that as sinne brought death into the world so death should abolish sinne out of the worlde This is brieflie the victorie that Christ obtained against sinne and death by his dying and rising from the dead His conquest ouer hell as it is more questioned and more expected so will I not refuse to shew you what I thinke maie be safelie beleeued and must not rashlie be reiected of any christian The conquest of Christ ouer hell and Satan may bee no way doubted by any diuine that rightly handleth the mysterie of our saluation In vaine do we speake of releasing sinne or despising death if the right of hell to vs and power of hell ouer vs doe still remaine And therefore the verie ground of Christs conquering sinne and death is his subduing of hell and Satan that they should lay no chalenge to nor haue no force against the faithful It is then on all sides accorded that hell and Satan must be fullie conquered by Christ before the worke of our redemption can be perfectlie setled or assured but as well the time when as the maner how are somewhat questioned and that maketh the whole matter the more néedfull to he discussed To refute euerie mans fansie that speaketh hereof were an infinite labour to search out a truth in this case that maie safelie be receiued and comfortablie embraced if not necessarilie vrged is the summe of mine intention and should bee the ende of your expectation with this prouiso that no man carpe before hee righlie conceiue nor pronounce before hee well examine that which shall be spoken least hee checke the Scriptures before he beware and condemne the whole Church of God without anie cause In expressing Christes conquest ouer hell and Satan I thinke best to obserue these thrée things VVHAT hee did vnto Satan and his kingdome VVHEN and with VVHICH PART OF HIMSELFE hee did execute this triumph VVHAT HE DID vnto Satan wee shall learne by seeing what he suffered at Satans hands Proportionable to Christs humiliation was his exaltation and for the violence which he endured he receiued full satisfaction As then on the crosse Christ suffered at Satans hands and by Satans meanes REPROCHE RAGE VVRONG so in his resurrection he reaped a triple recompence from Satan SVBMISSION whereby his pride was subiected vnder Christ CAPTIVATION whereby his rage was restrained and himselfe chained by Christ RESTITVTION whereby his spoiles were diuided and deliuered vnto Christ. When I say that Satan was SVBDVED TIED and SPOILED by Christ rising from the dead let no vnsetled braine imagine this is superstitious and popish as I mean them and as the scriptures deliuer them they are propheticall and Apostolicall And least you should thinke I delude you with wordes I will shewe you whence I take them first iointlie all in one sentence then seuerallie from sundrie places of the holie scriptures Our Sauiour in the Gospell doth purposelie make this comparison or vtter this parable concerning himself and the kingdom of Satan How can a man ENTER into a strong mans house and spoile his goods except he first BIND the strong man and then SPOILE his house Christ then ENTERED vpon Satans house as a CONQVERER TIED him as the STRONGER SPOILED him as the right OVVNER of that which Satan vniustlie detained from him And albeit it maie not bee denied but Christ whiles hee liued on earth made some proofe of his right and power to dissolue the workes and displace the force of Satan from the bodies and soules of men yet it is euident that the full demonstration of his victorie and perfection of his glorie were reserued to the time of his resurrection when he brake the 〈◊〉 and sorrowes of death and hell and ascended to his father not onelie clothed with honour and immortalitie but armed with power and principalitie all knees bowing vnto him in heauen earth and hell and all tongues confessing that Iesus was the Lord to the glorie of God These verie parts of Christs conquest ouer Satan the Apostle doth comprise in one sentence to the Colossians saying Christ SPOILED powers and principalities and made A SHEVV of them openlie TRIVMPHING ouer them in his owne person That powers and principalities in this place doe signifie wicked and sinfull spirites there can bee no question those names in the scriptures are proper to Angels bee they good or badde as Roman 8 vers 38. Ephes. 3. vers 10. 6. vers 12. Colos. 1. vers 16 1. Peter 3. vers 22. And heere must needes import euill Angels because Christ had no cause to conquere or spoile the elect Angels which serued him and ministred vnto him but the badde that impugned his trueth and enuied his glorie Ouer those then Christ TRIVMPHED as a conquerer those hee OPENLIE SHEVVED as captiues bounde with chains those he STRIPT OR SPOILED of the goodes which they had vnlawfullie gotten And this the Apostle saith he did execute in his owne person as a triumph fit for the sonne of God all things being subiected vnder his feete yea Angels powers and mights subdued vnto him when he ascended into heauen And though some late translators to decline the descent of Christ to hell after death doe imagine that the wicked Angels were CONQVERED SHEVVED and SPOILED by Christ in his suffering the paines of hell on the crosse and to that ende doe alter the ancient and constant reading of the text putting in steade of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his owne person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the same crosse yet since both scriptures and fathers with one consent doe contradict that daungerous speculation I maie not admitte it as consonant either to the faith or truth of the Scriptures For the conquest which Christ had ouer Satan and his Kingdome was not by RESISTING much lesse by SVFFERING the assaults of hell He is no conquerer that with much adoe saueth himselfe and his from the furie of his enemies but hee that subdueth and treadeth his aduersaries vnder his féete and so maistreth them that hee may dispose of them at his will he is truly called a conquerer And since the Apostle saith Christ SPOILED the powers of darknes and made AN OPEN SHEVV of them and TRIVMPHED ouer them it is an euident wrong to Christ to thinke that all the conquest hee had ouer them was at length to REPELL them with mightie feares and cries TO SCAPE their force Yea
these be your best exceptions against Christs triumphing ouer hell all the world will know that you are a worthie man to weare a woodden dagger The Apostle made it a part of Christs high exaltation that euerie knee as well of things vnder the earth as of things in heauen should bow vnto him and euerie toong confesse that Iesus Christ is the Lord and do you thinke it a méete matter to be mocked and derided Paul saith Christ spoyled principalities and powers of hell darknes and made a shew of them openlie and triumphed ouer them in his owne person for so I must reade till you shew me better authoritie against it then I haue brought for it your selfe both sée and sate that whyles Christ suffered and whyles he died it was a miserable triumph yea a piteous triumph it was indeede where himselfe remayned in such woful tormeÌ„ts where appeared no shew of conquest but rather of being conquered stil he suffered til he gaue vp the ghost What letteth them I praie you since these words were not verified on the Crosse but they did take place in his resurrection as I teach and therein as by the effects it was most euident and apparant to the eies of all men he did spoyle powers and principalities made a shew of them openly and triumphed ouer them in his owne person Doth the holy ghost attribute this as a great honour to the humane nature of Christ that ascending on high he led captiuitie captiue and doe you make a merriment of it appealing to the whole world for their censure on your side Your strongest sort is this There can bee no commoditie nor benefit to the godlie by it For what good is there so much as pretended The generall redemption of all Gods elect and chosen people was wrought and fullie finished on the Crosse what could his going downe to hell adde more Is the subduing of hell powers and the treading on all their force and the restraining of all their furie so small a matter with you that it doth no good to the godlie Hee hath triumphed and spoyled them to frée vs from feare and hath taken the keyes of death and of hell into his owne hands to shew that all power is giuen him in heauen earth hell and that he can restrayne and bind Satan at his will and pleasure Is the performance and assurance of these things no coÌ„modity nor benefit to the godlie The redemption of Gods elect was you say fully finished on the Crosse. Deserued and obtained it was on the Crosse and by the crosse but not there executed There were our sinnes pardoned and our selues reconciled to God but as Christ died for our sinnes so he rose for our iusâ—ification His resurrectioÌ„ in that glorious manner which I haue mentioned in the treatise his ascension are necessary parts of our Saluation and therefore vse not the force of Christs crosse to exclude but to induce the rest For so doth the Apostle when he saith Christ humbled himselfe became obedient vnto y e death of the crosse Wherfore that is euen for that his humility obedience God hath highly exalted him giuen him a name aboue euerie name that at the name of Iesus should euery knee bow of things in heauen in earth vnder the earth So that his descending rising and ascending added nothing to the force of his death but shewed the fruite thereof and tend all to our good since wee are presentlie secured from the power of hell and Satan and shall be certainelie raysed and receaued to glorie Christes death without his resurrection and ascension had beene our confusion and no redemption for if sinne had slaine him without rising it must needes haue damned vs without hoping now in his Resurrection as euery Enemie was most mighty so was there most néed he should be subdued But hereof I haue spoken so largelie before that I shall not néede to rehearse it againe with turning the page it maie soone bee seene But The Scriptures you tell vs are clearely against Christs going to Hell For this daie sayd Christ to the theefe thou shâ—lt bee with mee in Paradise All this must needes be of his humane soule verelie without all question There is none can consider herein his Deitie If anie thinke his soule might goe to hell first and presentlie goe thence to heauen yer night also that is ridiculous and toyish You haue so manie toyes in your head Syr Refuter that a coloured cap would well become it when you come to a non plus in your proofes then you crie this is ridiculous and toyifh Go like your selfe and looke to the ridiculous toyes that you bring vs in euery page almost You would prooue forsooth that the SCRIPTVRES ARE CLEARE against Christs being in hell at anie time betwéene his death and his Resurrection for your warrant you bring his words to the theefe on the crosse this daie thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise and at his death when he sayd Father into thy hands I commend my spirite And when the places conclude no such thing as you would haue them nor anie thing néere it then you helpe it with outcries and saie There is no man of sense considering these circumstances that can iudge otherwise But will your wisdome remember that S. Austen in his 57. Epistle discussing this place of purpose to day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise saith the word MEE maie verie readily and easily bee referred to Christs Godhead promising the thiefe Paradise that present daie and all the childish amplifications that you haue brought vs to the contrarie are not worth a nut-shell to conteruaile S. Austens iudgement But graunt it were ment of Christs soule are you so perfect in the length of the waie from hell to Paradise and the wearines of Christs soule in going to both that you be sure he could not do both that daie You thinke belike Christ would not goe thither but to view the deuils one by one and call their names to sée who were absent You haue forgotten that with his presence or with his word whiles hee liued here on earth hee could torment the diuels and therefore if it pleased him but to shewe himselfe who hee was whom they had so despitefullie pursued by the handes and tongues of the wicked on the Crosse all hell must not onelie bende and bowe vnto him but feare and fall before him Againe what coulde hinder though he did not descende that daie which hee died but hee might so doe the daie that hee rose and euen when hee was to rise to loose all the strength of hell before him and to let Satan see that his kingdome was ouerthrowne by that death at which hee so much insulted and reioyced The time I doe not determine though I thinke it pertained rather to the glorie of his resurrection then otherwise as I
the redemption of mankind is altogither vncertain and vnsufficient if our head being God and man could doe no more but by long struggling wind himselfe out of Satans clawes We must confesse an other kind of conquest before the kingdome of Christ can ouerrule all as it must and his Church bee secure from the gates of hell to wit that ALL POVVER in heauen and earth was giuen vnto him that EVERIE KNEE in heauen and earth and hell bowed vnto him that he had and hath THE KEIES of death and OF HELL and could RVLE his enemies with a rodde of yron and breake them like a potters vessell that by his death hee DESTROIED him that was the ruler of death euen the diuell This conquest Christ purchased by his passion but he did not execute it till his resurrection otherwise he could not haue died if death on the crosse had beene throughlie conquered But hee was humbled and exinanited on the crosse euen vnto death that he might after in his resurrection bee exalted and replenished with all honour power and principalitie in heauen earth and hell Howbeit of the time VVHEN hee triumphed wee shall afterwarde speake we nowe obserue VVHAT hee did in his triumph ouer hell and Satan and by the Scriptures wee finde that Christ ENTERED Satans house TIED him and SPOILED his goodes or as the Apostle expresseth it hee SPOILED POVVERS PRINCIPALITIES MADE AN OPEN SHEVV of them and TRIVMPHED OVER THEM IN HIS OVVNE PERSON And least I be thought to pretend an ancient and vniforme reading of Paules wordes in this place without iust proofe let vs see what ancient fathers haue followed the same The Siriacke translation of the newe Testament which is of no small antiquitie readeth IN SEMETIPSO IN HIS OVVNE PERSON as I doe So do Origen in Epistola ad Romanos lib. 5. cap. 5. Epiphanius in Anchorato contra Pneumatomacheos haeres 74. Chrysostome homili 6. in 2. ca. ad Colos and Theodorete likewise in 2. cap. ad Colos. Of the Latine Fathers in whome it maie better bee distinguished the booke de Trinitate vnder Tertullians name Augustine contra Faustum lib. 16. cap. 29. Epistola 59. a Hilarius de Trinitate lib. 1. lib. 9. Fulgentius ad Thrasimundum lib. 3. Hieronymus in cap. 2. ad Colos. Ambrose vpon the same place Ruffinus in Symbolum Apostolicum and so throughout the Latine Church without anie dissenting Onelie the Greeke collections vnder Oâ—cumenius name referre that triumph which saint Paul here speaketh of to the Crosse saying that Christ shamed and confounded the diuell on the crosse in that he was openlie crucified in the eies of all the people And although I condemne not the sense as false that Christ wrestled with Satan on the crosse and euen there ouermaistred his power yet that Christ had no further or greater triumph ouer hell and Satan then by dying on the crosse in the sight of men doth vtterlie abolish the glorie of his resurrection and contradicteth the whole course of the scriptures By his suffering and dying on the crosse hee deserued and purchased the exaltation and triumph which he had afterwards when he rose from the dead and euen before he died he was fullie assured that neither his soule should be left in hell nor his flesh see corruption but that God would raise him again and giue him all power in heauen and earth and make all knees in heauen earth and hell to bow vnto him and place him at his right hand in the brightnesse of eternall glorie It may therefore be confessed beléeued that Christ ouerthrew Satan on the crosse and so triumphed in spirit against him or had a spirituall triumph ouer him as Dauid foretolde when he said in the person of Christ Mine heart was glad and my tongue ioyfull yea my flesh shall rest in hope but that the glorie of his resurrection did not farre excell the shame of his passion and that his rising from the deade was no more victorious and triumphant then his yeelding himselfe vnto death is directlie repugnant to the truth of the scriptures Though he were CRVCIFIED THROVGH INFIRMITIE yet liueth he saith Paul through THE POVVER of God So that to die euen in Christ was infirmitie though voluntarie to liue againe as hee liueth in the height of celestiall glorie was a cleare demonstration of the power of God in him He was declared to be the son of God in power by the resurrection from the dead Insomuch that if Christ had died and not risen againe his conquest had not beene woorth the speaking of If Christ bee not raised your faith is in vaine saith Paule and ye are yet in your sinnes Christes death then without his resurrection had béene a full conquest of Satan ouer Christ and all his members That which Paule sayeth is true as well in Christ as in vs It is sowen in dishonour it is raised in glorie it is sowen in VVEAKENESSE it is raised in power Since then in the death and crosse of Christ the holie ghost noteth reproach shame and weakenesse wee do foulie erre if wee ascribe no greater nor other triumph to Christ ouer death and hell then his crosse and passion These things Christ was to suffer and so to enter into his glorie but we must make as great difference betwixt his dying and his rising againe as wee woulde betwixt his weakenesse and his power his conflict and his conquest his depression and his exaltation his suffering in reproch and his raigning in glorie For the better euidence whereof you shall see the holie scriptures at large expresse the verie same parts and the verie same time which I obserued vnto you Christ humbled himselfe and became obedient vnto the death euen the death of the crosse WHEREFORE God also highly EXALTED him and gaue him a name aboue euery name that at the name of Iesus euery KNEE SHOVLD BOVV of things IN HEAVEN IN EARTH AND BENEATH THE EARTH Under the earth are no reasonable creatures to kneele to Christs person and scepter but the damned spirits and soules in hell except we take holde of Purgatorie or Limbus patrum the elect in heauen doe willinglie serue him such as liue on earth doe endure his iustice or loue his mercie the spirits beneath doe finde his truth and feele his hand the most aduerse acknowledge his name and feare his force This exaltation of Christ to raigne ouer heauen earth and hell came after his death as being the rewarde and effect of his obedience vnto death So saith the Apostle He humbled himselfe and became obedient to the death euen the death of the Crosse. WHEREFORE or for which cause God highlie exalted him that in the name of Iesus all knees in heauen earth and hell should bowe Then on the crosse or afore his death the time was not yet come that Christ should be thus exalted but there rather was the time
and place of his humiliation and when he rose againe all power in heauen and earth was giuen vnto him I was dead saith hee himselfe and behold I am aliue for euermore and I HAVE THE KEIES OF HELL AND OF DEATH that is all power ouer death and hell to shut and no man may open to open and no man may shut The Prophet Esay pointeth to the verie same CAVSE and TIME of Christes exaltation BECAVSE he hath powred out his soule vnto death THEREFORE will I giue him his portion with the great and hee shall diuide the spoiles with the mightie If FOR THAT CAVSE then AFTER THAT TIME Christ diuided the spoyles of the mightie or as the Apostle speaketh hee spoyled powers and principalities And noting exactlie the TIME of Christes triumph the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ASCENDING ON HIGH HE LED CAPTIVITIE CAPTIVE This that hee ascended what meaneth it but that hee first descended into the lower partes of the earth Christ did not leade captiuitie captiue when hee descended into the lower partes of the earth but when hee ascended from thence The Diuels then which helde vs in captiuitie were themselues leade captiue when Christ ascended from the lower partes of the earth and then were powers and principalities SPOILED and openlie SHEVVED Christ TRIVMPHING OVER THEM not on the Crosse at the time of his passion but IN HIS OVVNE PERSON at the time of his resurrection and ascension An effect of this triumph is this that an Angell was sent in the Reuelation of Saint Iohn from heauen hauing the key of the bottomlesse pit and a great chaine in his hand And hee tooke the Dragon that olde Serpent which is the diuel Satan and bound him a thousand yeares And cast him into the bottomles pit and shut him vp and sealed vpō him that he should deceiue the people no more If a messenger from Christ had this power ouer Satan to binde him and shut him vp what commaund then had Christ himselfe ouer hell and Satan And how wholesome and gladsome a thing is it for vs to beléeue and confesse that Christ Iesus our Lord and sauiour hath Satan and all the pawers of hell chained at his will and by his conquest ouer them so ruleth and restraineth them that they can not stirre but by his leaue and appointment and thus shall he hold them captiue till hee deliuer the kingdome to God his father and throughly tread both death and Satan vnder our feete This doctrine I trust maintaineth no superstition but sound and true religion as well touching the partes as the time of Christs conquest and triumph ouer death and hell It resteth now to search what part of Christ had this triumph ouer hell for so much as Christ consisted of two natures diuine and humane his manhood by death was then diuided into two places the bodie being separate from the soule and lying in the dust of the earth but without corruption And first we must not referre this triumph to his diuine nature by reason it was no maisterie for god to conquer his vassall The seede of the woman must bruize the serpents heade and not the maker of heauen and earth with his almightie power maiestie Besides the godhead of Christ coulde neither truly DESCEND nor ASCEND as being euery where present nor be EXALTED as being equall with the highest nor RECEIVE GIFT as hauing all fulnes in it but that nature which led captiuity captiue did first DESCEND into y e lower parts of the earth after ASCENDED was EXALTED and RECEAVED this power and honour as a GIFT from God in respect of his obedience patience and humilitie The places are before alleaged there is no néede to repeat them It was then Christes humane nature which God so highlie EXALTED for his former obedience vnto death and to which all power was giuen in heauen and earth his diuine was euer in euen degree with his father full of maiestie power and glorie It is not to be neglected that Ireneus saith Si homo non vicisset inimicum hominis non iusté victus esset inimicus If a man had not ouercome the enemy of man the enemie had not lawfully beene ouercome Which proportion of iustice the Apostle vrgeth when he saith as by a man came death so by a man came the resurrection of the dead Since then the humane nature of Christ by condition might and by desert must bee exalted aboue all creatures and by the rule of iustice had the conquest of satan and his kingdome it is no harde matter to discerne which part of Christs manhood must ouerthrow death and which must triumph ouer hell The bodie of man whiles the first death lasteth is not due to hell it must lie dead and senselesse in the earth and so can neither liue nor feele the paines of hell Christes bodie then lying in the graue without SENSE MOTION OR LIFE could haue no conquest ouer hell ouer death it had being preserued in the graue without all corruption and raised from the deade to a blessed and immortall state without all imperfection Ouer hel it had none because that part of Christ which did conquere hel must haue as well MOTION TO DESCEND thither and POVVER TO REPRESSE there the rage of satā as also LIFE AND SENSE TO SPOILE powers and principalities and by leading them captiue to make an open shewe of them from al which the first death kept the bodie of Christ till the time that his soule ascending with triumph from hell tooke his body from death and so made a perfect conquest ouer hell and death not onlie for his owne person to whome all power was giuen in heauen and earth but for his members also for whose safety he tooke from Satan the keyes of hell and of death that he himselfe might be Lord of the dead the liuing So that now the power of hell is destroied and Satan restrained and the faithfull freed from all feare assured that the gates of hel shal not preuaile against them And this is that victorie which God threatened to death and hell by his prophet saying I will redeeme them from THE POVVER OF HEL I will deliuer them from death O death I will be thy death O HEL I VVIL BE THY DESTRVCTION repentance is hid from mine eyes So agréeable is this doctrine to the christian faith so comfortable to all the godly that few would refuse it except such as are waspishlie wedded to their owne fansies if it might appeare where this is written in the scriptures The which desire of religious mindes whiles I labor to satisfie I must forwarne them how easie it is for cōtentious spirits to frustrate the strength of all that God saith if they may be suffered with diuerse significations figuratiue interpretations to elude when they list the words of the holie ghost decline the literall
haue in the treatise more at large expressed Was not his soule you will aske IN HIS Fathers handes till the time of his Resurrection Who doubteth that As if to subdue hell with the glorie of his presence did not prooue the hande of GOD to bee rather mightilie with him then anie waie to leaue him and that to bee true which was forespoken by Dauid in his person Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell The handes of God you thinke signifie heere his ioyfull presence and the possession of heauen Who tolde you so Was Dauid dying when hee saide Into thine handes I commende my spirite thou hast redeemed mee Lord God of truth Was Sion not on earth but in heauen when the Prophet saith of her Thou shalt bee a crowne of glorie in the hand of the Lord and a royall Diademe in the hande of thy God it shall no more bee saide to thy land Desolate for thy land shall haue an husbande Was the king of Iudah then in heauen when God saide of him Though Coniah the sonne of Iehoiakim king of Iudah were the Signet of my right hand yet would I plucke thee thence Gods hand signifieth his power and protection and could there greater fauour power or protection bee shewed to the soule of Christ then for God in raising him from the dead not onelie to treade death but euen hell and Satan vnder his feete Call you this a most inglorious and vile debasing for the humane nature of Christ to haue all power in heauen and earth in which Hell also must bee comprised to bee deliuered vnto him and to bee made Lorde ouer all not onelie men and Angels but euen enemies and diuels From this honour and power whereof it is said Thou hast subiected all things vnder his feete maie no creature in heauen nor in hell be excepted And therefore if this bee a vile debasement I knowe not what glorie meaneth The purpose then of Christes descent to hell giueth honour to him ouer all his enemies and comfort to vs against the power and terrour of hell which wee see dissolued and spoyled by our heade in our names and for our sakes for so much as beeing ioyned to him as members of his bodie of his flesh and of his bones hell hath nowe no more right to vs then to him since it is not possible but the heade muste bee where the members are And Christ himselfe hungreth and thirsteth and is naked and sicke imprisoned and persecuted in euerie one of his members euen in the basest and lowest of them and this no more impeacheth the all sufficient merite of Christes Crosse then his resurrection from the dead doeth the third daie after his death and all things finished on the Crosse needefull to bee suffered for our redemption which in your â—ranticke humour you seeme to detest as BLASPHEMOVS The proofe that hee went thither you will saie is all if that were once cleered the rest woulde soone bee accorded I maie not for your pleasure Sir Refuter stande to rippe vppe and repeate the thinges which were then deliuered and are now published there you may looke If you like them not giue mee some reason besides your owne rouing conceit and it shall bee soone answered It is no where written in the Scriptures you will saie Saint Austen iudiciallie and resolutelie telleth you it is written in the Prophet Dauid and so expounded by Saint Peter and of that iudgement were all the Fathers of Christes Church without exception Athanasius saith it is a parte of the Catholike faith without beleeuing the which we can not be saued And sâ—re the words be plaine enough if you leaue wresting them from their right and true signification to serue your affections What can be plainer Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell besides the Article of our Créede He descended into hell Your answer is This is euident that the worde hell in our vulgar Creede is vnfit corrupt and starke naught For this I affirme it is onelie the Fathers abusiue speaking and altering the vsuall and auuÌ„cient sense of Hades that hath bredde this errour of Christes descending into hell Their vnapt and perilous translating into Latine Inferi and our naughtie and corrupt translation in English hell hath confirmed the same And note here first it is a thing too rife with the Fathers yea with some of the auncieâ—test of them to alter and chaunge the authenticke vse of words whereby consequentlie it is easie for errours and grosse mistakings to creepe in As Chirotonia to signifie ordination of Ministers when it signifyeth authenticallie the peoples giuing of voices in election Kleros to signifie onelie the Cleargie when it signifieth all the flocke Euen so trulie the Greeke fathers vse Hades and the Latine Inferi to signifie hell properlie and particularlie that is the place of the damned But this is a meere and plaine abusion of these wordes and speciallie of our worde most in question that is Hades They haue much altered and changed the authenticke and true vse thereof You begin nowe to shewe your selfe in your right hue All the Greeke and Latin fathers that euer were in the Church of Christ all the English teachers that haue béene since this nation receiued the faith neuer vnderstood the signification of the word Hades til you came of late to bring vs newes of Socrates fansie and Ciceros diuinitie to correct the Creede Ignatius Clemens Origen Athanasius Eusebius Basil Nazianzene Epiphanius Chrysostome Cyril Eustathius Theodotete with a thousand more naturallie borne Greekes and manie of them nothing inferiour to Plato or whom you can name euen for their eloquence in the Greeke tongue were they all ignorant of the worde Hades which boies in Grammar schoole doe well vnderstande Or did they all conspire one after another to falsifie the faith Irenaeus Tertullian Cyprian Lactantius Ierome Ambrose Austen Hillarie Prudentius Prosper Fulgentius with infinite others great Schollers and pillars in the Church of GOD had none of them the skill to knowe what Infernum or Inferi meant till you sprang vp to restore the Latine tongue to his originall integritie Or did they all concurre purposelie to corrupt the Creede Which will you take from all these fathers religion or learning If you leaue them so much vnderstanding as the boies haue nowe in Paules Schoole they coulde not mistake either Hades or Inferi And therefore you may talke thus long enough before you shall gette anie sober Reader to beleeue you He must bee as farre infected with this frenzie as you your selfe are before this will anie way sinke into his head that none of these vnderstoode their owne naturall language But they haue mistaken other wordes you saie as well as these namelie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In deede you or they haue grosselie mistaken the one the other is not that I knowe in question vnlesse you take vppon you so
the Créede which the church of Christ proposed to euerie childe to learne and to euerie catechist to knowe But nowe wee are returned to the scriptures againe for Fathers they leaue as corrupters of the olde both faith and phrase wee shall goe through with more ease and ende with more speede That Sheol or Hades doe signifie heauen either in the Scriptures of the olde or newe Testament or with the Septuagint which are the translators of the Hebrue into Gréek I vtterlie denie and no man liuing shall euer bee able to make anie proofe thereof on which issue I am content to ioyne with any man that is learned and sober for the hazard of either of our credits If Sheol and Hades in the scriptures neuer signifie heauen then can they not signifie THE VVORLD OF SOVLES for so much as there is no one place common to all soules departed this life but some are in hell and some in heauen and for one word to signifie both hell and heauen so farre distant one from the other and so much repugnant one to the other is somwhat strange except it could be strongly proued Chaos did import the whole masse of heauen and earth before they were distinguished but since they were seuered and setled by the wonderful wisedome and mighty power of God so far apart one from the other and so much vnlike one to the other there are wordes in the scripture which note all that God made but none that comprise heauen and hell excluding the rest S. Paul vseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the creature and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the making of the world and our sauiour vseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this world and the next where nothing is excepted but that heauen and hel should come to be included in one word the rest excluded I see neither whie nor howe it should be For where wordes are common some thinges must also be common as néedefull to bee expressed by those wordes but to soules in heauen and hell no positiue thing is common all things are rather contrarie Their bodies they want in both places because they are soules otherwise their states be as repugnant in all points as light and darknesse Christ and Belial yea as heauen and hell in which they are therefore as light and darknes faith and infidelitie truth and errour haue no common worde to compâ—ise them being contraries each to other no more haue heauen and hell as they are she rewardes of the iust and vniust for so much as all things in either are directlie repugnant each to other Again that SHEOL or HADES may possiblie signifie heauen I vtterly deny because in heauen besides the soules of men there are the elect angels of God to whom if anie man dare applie SHEOL or HADES he must giue me leaue to thinke his iudgement to be weake and his faith vnsound Sheol and Hades you will saie signifie all that are deade in either place But you must remember that both these wordes in the Scriptures doe properlie signifie places and not peâ—sons For though the ancient Gréekes vsed the word HADES first for a person and then for the place which that person gouerned yet the holie ghost knowing that the person which the Pagans meant was in déede the Diuell vseth the worde for the place and not for the person except the texte bee figuratiue In Sheol it was neuer doubted but that it alwaies signified a place and neuer anie person Nowe if neither Sheol nor Hades canne signifie both places I meane heauen and hell then canne they not signifie the worlde of soules for they bee dispersed in both those places It cannot be denied you wil saie but the olde testament referreth Sheôl as the Septuagint doe Hades both to the godlie and to the wicked after death It is most true that Sheôl in Hebrew and Hades in Greeke are applied in the olde Testament both to the good and bad The Question is not to what men but to which parts of men good or bad Sheol and Hades are referred To the bodies of men good and bad lying deade in the graue they are sometimes applied to the soules of the godlie as detained in either they are neuer applied Sheol and consequentlie HADES with the Septuagint importeth the whole death that is due to sinne and euerie part thereof but by no meanes heauen where the soules of the saintes are nor anie part of that blisse which they possesse Since then as well the death of the bodie in this worlde as the death of the soule in the next worlde were the wages of sinne Sheol and Hades doe sometimes signifie the generall state of deade bodies as when the Scripture describeth rottennesse silence forgetfulnesse senselessenesse contempt dishonour and such like to bee in Sheol And the same worde when it is referred to the soules of the wicked as there detained or of the godlie as thence deliuered for so much as the soule cannot be inclosed in the graue of necessitie the pit prepared for the soules of sinners must bee by all such textes of Scriptures intended But that Sheol or Hades shoulde signifie the worlde of Soules as well in heauen as in Hell neither hath this Refuter brought anie Texte or reason for it neither will hee euer bee able to prooue it And howsoeuer one of late hath taken vppon him to talke of those thinges like one of the Titanes with bigge and bombasted tearmes I seeing nothing in that fardell of his but Riddles and raylinges meane not to alter my course Then touching the sense of Sheol in the olde Testament I take it to bee cleare that it sometimes signifieth the graue or the state of deade bodies but neuer the world of soules which phrase the Refuter hath caught by the ende hoping at length to conueie it into the Creede But hee must first shewe vs where hee findeth anie such thing in the Scriptures before wee maie suffer him to make it an Article of our faith Against it euerie place is a proofe but for it none that I reade or they haue yet alleaged They shifte handes and in steede of the worlde of soules they bring in the graue or the state of deade bodies which is but a vaine flourish to propose one thing and to prooue an other And though you Sir Refuter goe to varying of phrases which I thinke is your best skill as The state of the deade the worlde of the deade the worlde of soules departed yet I must let you vnderstande there is great difference betwixt these speeches Sheol may extend to their bodies whose soules doe liue in heauen to their soules it cannot and therefore you must not chop in the one for the other as your instructor doth who when he would proue the world of soules falleth vp aboue head and eares into the graue The one you shall euerie where light on of the other there is no mention As when Iacob said to
hell nor suffer thine holie one to see corruption Both these being iointlie spoken of Christ must both bee iointlie verified in Christ wherefore Christes soule must then not bee left in hell when his flesh lying in the earth sawe no corruption They may not bee seuered in performance which the holie ghost knitteth together in coherence Lastlie Peter in plaine words saâ—eth Dauid spake this of Christs resurrection If this concerned his resurrection then not his passion on the crosse but after death and before he rose as his flesh saw no corruption So his soule was not left in hell Yea God raised him vp as Peter saith breaking the sorrowes of death or hell before him of which it was impossible he should be held not that hee was euer in them and so loosed them as a man doth chaines where with hee was once bound but as the snares of hunters saith Austen are broken Ne teneant non quia tenuerunt before they take hold not after they haue taken holde For Christ was to rise againe not as others before him were restored to this present life but as the full and first conquerour of death and hell hee was to rise both in bodie and soule to eternall celestial glory and therfore he brake when he rose the paines and powers of death and hell that they should not preuaile for euer against him or his The other places of the Psalmes haue as manie aunsweres as they haue wordes for euerie word is an answere First Dauid speaketh of himselfe not of Christ and Dauids words to Christs person we may not refer at our pleasures without farther and better warrant Againe Dauid doth not saie the TORMENTS but the SNARES or STREIGHTS of DEATH as well as of HELL for the worde Sheol indifferentlie signifieth both if there bee none other circumstance to limite it to either and Dauid by the rules of diuinitie was neuer here on earth in the true paines of the damned haue FOVND me out or BESET and besieged mee but not oppressed nor ouerwhelmed me And if we take the name of HELL neuer so properlie it is no inconuenience that the gates of hell I meane the craft and power of Satan should hunt after the godlie heere on earth and seéke to entrap euen Christ himselfe but the true paines of hell the wicked and desperate do not suffer in this life much lesse the elect least of all Christ. It is a iudgement following death and maie no more be defended to bee here on earth then the ioies of heauen may be possessed in this life In the causes why Christ should suffer the paines of hell we may do well not to be too forwarde with the rules of reason as well for that there is no proportion betwixt the person of Christ and vs as also for that wee may not sit iudges with God and prescribe when or howe his iustice should bee satisfied It is requisite in our selues to confesse that as both parts of man sinned in Adam so the wages of sinne which is euerlasting death is due to both and as the soule shoulde haue principallie enioied God which is her life if shee had persisted in obedience so in falling from God her losse and smart must of the twaine bee farre the greater though the bodie shall not wante both grieuaunce and vengeance intolerable but if wee stretch these rules to Christ and subiect his person as our suretie to the verie SAME WAGES of sinne which we should haue suffered I knowe not howe in fewer wordes a man maie couch more grosse and open impiety For we should haue béene WHOLY SEVERED IVSTLY HATED and VTTERLY REIECTED from God yea ETERNALLY CONDEMNED BODIE AND SOVLE to hell fire May anie of these thinges be affirmed or imagined of Christ without hainous and horrible blasphemie This was the wages of our sinne must he endure THE SAME before wee can bee redéemed or Gods iustice be satisfied I hope no sound diuine will so conclude They will release eternall death to the dignitie of Christs person but he was as they saie for the time to taste the verie same death both in soule and bodie which wee should haue done and which in vs should haue béene euerlasting First by their leaues hell in the scriptures is an euerlasting torment and therefore if the excellencie of Christes person exempt him from euerlasting miserie that cléerelie quiteth him in bodie and soule from suffering hell Againe as sinne is the voluntarie defection of the soule from God so hell is the TOTAL if not FINAL EXCLVSION of the soule from all fellowship with God lesse thâ—n the death of soule it cannot be It is the wages of sinne and therefore it must bee the death as well of the soule as of the bodie and chiefelie of the soule because the soule of man is the principall agent in sinne S. Iohn calleth hell the second death If then the soule of Christ suffered either hell or the wages of our sinne of necessitie for the time it must be dead The wages of sinne is death If for the time Christes soule were dead it had no communion with God nor God with it no more then death hath with life or darkenes with light It lost for that time all faith and loue of God For by faith the iust doe liue and he that abideth in loue abideth in God And since God is the life of the soule Christ could not suffer the death of the soule which is the wages of our sinne no not for a day or an houre but he must be seuered from God forsaken of God Mors animae fit cum eam deserit deus the death of the soule is when God forsaketh it Mors est spiritus a deo deseri it is the death of the spirit to bee forsaken of God Mors animae deus amissus the losse of God is the death of the soule To lose God or to be forsaken of God is to haue no coniunction nor fellowship with God the soule then that is dead is excluded from the fauour and grace truth and spirit of God and if anie bee so irreligious or impious as once to affirme these thinges of Christ he may auouch that Christs soule suffered the true wages of our sin but if we abhorre these things as sacrilegious and monstrous absurdities as I doubt not but we do then certainelie the soule of Christ could not bee dead no not for an instant and consequentlie the true wages of our sinne the soule of Christ could not receaue nor suffer on the crosse or in the garden but wee must rather giue eare to Peter which saith Christ bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree where he was quickened in spirite though mortified in flesh and strengthened in the inward man by the ioy proposed for which hee sustained the crosse and despised the shame thereof Christ then tooke the burden of our sinnes from vs and laied it
on his owne shoulders yea the Lorde Laid vpon him the iniquity of vs all but when it came to light vpon him the verie iustice of God found great difference betwixt his person and ours and so great that what should haue condemned vs bodie and soule for euer that could take no hold on him but so far forth as he did voluntarilie yeeld himselfe to bee obedient vnto the death of the crosse and in our flesh to quench the curse of the lawe pronounced againsâ— our sinnes insomuch that neither sinne nor death were able to sease on his bodie till he did of his owne accord resigne it into their handes If we thinke it strange to sée so much difference betwixt him and vs we must remember wee were sinnefull he was innocent we were defiled hee was holie we were hatefull he was beloued we were the seruants of sinne and enemies vnto God he was the Lord of life and of glorie we were seuered and estranged from God both in bodie and soule his verie flesh was personallie vnited and inseparablie ioined vnto God besides that himselfe was the true and euerliuing sonne of God What maruell then if sinne which should haue wrought in vs an eternall destruction both of body and soule could not farther preuaile in him but to the wounding of his flesh and shedding of his bloud for the iust and full satisfaction of all our sinnes euen in the righteous and sincere iudgement of God Though therefore THE SAME PART might and did suffer in Christ which sinned in man I meane the soule yet by no meanes could it receaue THE SAME WAGES which we should haue receiued And since hell is the greatest vengeance that God inflicteth for sinne if Christes soule were frée from anie it must néedes be cléered and acquited from that which is greatest and most repugnant to the fulnesse of grace truth and spirit that dwell in the humane soule of Christ but hereof I shall haue occasion to speake afterward againe The signes that Christ suffered the paines of hell are left and those are his agonie in the garden and his complaint on the crosse that he was forsaken Of Christs agonie since the scriptures haue nor reuealed the right cause it is cut losâ—tie to examen presumption to determine impossibilitie to conclude certainelie what was the true cause thereof Howbeit if we will néedes coniecture at causes wee must take héede that with our obscure and priuate guesses we do not contradict such plaine and euident places as testifie the perfection and coniunction of Christs humane nature with this diuine and so wrong the person of our Sauiour This rule remembred though I bee most willing to refraine the searching of that which is concealed from vs yet since they make this the most aduantage of their cause that there caÌ„not be anie other reason assigned of Christes sorrow besides his suffering the paines of hell I will let you vnderstand how manie there might be besides that which they bringâ— and that theirs of all others is least probable if not altogether intolerable I will offer you sixe causes that might be of Christs agonie euerie one of them more likelie and more godlie then this deuise of hell paines others at their leasures maie thinke on moe which I shall be content to heare Those sixe are these Christs SVBMISSION to the maiestie of God sitting in iudgement The REIECTION of the Iewes The DISPERSION of his Church The LAMENTATION of mans sinne The DEPRECATION of Gods wrath The VOLVNTARY DEDICATION of his bloud to be shed for the sinnes of the world and sanctificatioÌ„ of his person to offer his true eternal sacrifice So great is the MAIESTY OF GOD euerie where and at all times but speciallie sitting in iudgment and so farre excelling the capacitie of all his creatures that no flesh lining is able to appeare before him without feare and trembling The day of the Lord whensoeuer hee riseth to iudge is great and fearefull and who shall indure it When God gaue his lawe which was but the rule of his iudgement so terrible was the sight that Moses said I feare and tremble My flesh saith Dauid to God trembleth for feare of thee and I am afraide of thy iudgements Since then it is a point not onelie confessed but vrged by the defenders of this new deuise that Christ appeared here before the tribunall of God to submit himselfe to his fathers pleasure and the wordes of Christ in that twelfth of Iohn tend to that effect where he saith Nowe euen at hand is the iudgement of the world Now euen shortlie shall the prince of this world be cast out and if I were lift vp from the earth I will draw all vnto me whie might not the humane nature of Christ tremble before the maiestie of that iudge whose glorie the Seraphins in heauen doe not behold without yealing their faces whereby Christ teacheth vs not to presse into Gods presence whiles wee are loden with sin but in much feare and trembling since he would not appeare before God to take our sinnes on him but in this agonie The REIECTION OF THE IEWES might be another cause of his agonie He wept ouer their cittie when he beheld it and remembred the subuersion of it how woulde he then be grieued when he foresawe the finall reiection of y e whole nation and his bloud to be laid on them and their children for euer for their sakes Moses desired To bee wiped out of Gods booke and Paule could haue wished himselfe to be separated from Christ for his brethren the Israelites If the seruants of Christ had so great heauinesse and sorrow in their hearts for their kinsmen according to the flesh what agonie must it néedes bréede in their king and Messias in whome were the bowels of mercie and pittie to sée the wicked rage of the people kindling Gods fearefull vengeance against themselues and their ofspring by putting him to a most cruell and shamefull death that came to redéeme them from sin and death This cause is obserued by Ambrose Hierom Augustine and Bede Nec illud distat à vero si tristis erat pro persecutoribus neither is that dissonant from truth saith Ambrose if he were heauy in soule for his persecutors whom hee knewe should dearelie pay for their sacrilegious putting him to death Hee was not then afraide to die but hee was loath to haue them though they were euill to perish least his passion should bee their destruction which hee meant for the saluation of all Christs soule was not heauie saith Ierom and Bede for any feare of his passioÌ„ but for that most vnhappy Iudas for the scandall of all his Apostles for the reiection of the Iewes and subuersion of wretched Ierusalem And Austen If wee saie the Lorde was sorrowfull for the Iewes when his passion drewe neere where they would commit so haynous a sinne non incongruè
PROPITIATE the Iudge It doth SEALE THE COVENANT of mercie grace glorie betwixt God man It doth CONCLVDE and bind the diuell what more can be required I verily cannot coÌ„iecture If the blood of Christ performe al these things for vs more we can not aske or expect why shrinke we from it as vnable to saue vs except it be supplied with the paines of hell Whether I affirme any thing of mine owne or deliuer you that which is plainly taught in y e scriptures iudge you Ye were REDEEMED saith Peter by the pretious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe vnspotred and vndefiled Christ by his own bloud saith Paul entered once into the holy place OBTAINING eternall REDEMPTION The bloud of Iesus Christ CLENSETH VS froÌ„ all our sinnes He WASHED vs from our sinnes in his bloud Beeing now IVSTIFIED by his bloud we shall bee saued from wrath through him Iesus suffered that hee might sanctifie the people with his bloud By Christ then wee haue redemption through his bloud euen the remission of sinnes and nowe in Christ Iesus yee which once were farre off are made neere by the bloud of Christ. For it hath pleased the Father by him to reconcile all thinges vnto himselfe And to pacifie through the bloud of his Crosse both thinges in earth and things in heauen Whome God hath purposed to bee a Reconciliation through fayth in his bloud And therefore the new testament is sealed with Christes bloud This is saith hee my bloud of the new Testament which is shed for manie for the remission of sinnes Yee are come to Iesus the mediatour of the newe Testament saith Paul to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things then that of Abell For Abels bloud cried for vengeance but Christs bloud speaketh for mercie and grace And for that cause Paul calleth it The bloud of the euerlasting Testament For this is the Testament that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes sayeth the Lorde I will put my lawes in their minde and in their heart I will write them and I will bee their God and they shall bee my people I will be mercifull to their vnrighteousnesse and I will remember their sinnes and iniquities no more This testament of mercie grace and glorie is confirmed by the death of Christ and sealed with his bloud which if we weaken or frustrate with our inuentions or additions wee must looke for that fearefull iudgement which the Apostle threatneth He that despiseth Moses lawe dieth without mercie vnder two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shal he be worthie which treadeth vnder foote the sonne of God and counteth vnholie the bloud of the Testament wherewith he was sanctified and reprocheth the spirite of grace The wrong that is offered to the bloud of the newe Testament treadeth vnder foote the sonne of God and reprocheth the spirit of grace Now howe can we more vnsanctifie the bloud of the Testament then to make it so vnprecious that it cannot redeeme vs without the paines of hell or to set vp another price for which we haue no expresse record against or aboue the bloud of Christ by which we are cleansed from our sinnes and reconciled to God I knowe they will and must answere the paines of hell are contained in the bloud of Christ for so much as he suffered the one in â—heir imagination when hee shed the other Could they prooue by expresse and infallible testimonies which they cannot do that Christ suffered in soul the paines of the damned they had some reason to comprise the one within the other but no such thing being warranted or witnessed in the scriptures they must take héed that they do not elude rather then expound the words of the holie ghost with a perpetuall Synecdoche which shall frustrate the very force of all those euident and vehement speeches For it is strange to mee first that without iust proofe any such thing should be ioined to the bloud of Christ to helpe the price thereof Next that the holie ghost should alwayes vrge the one and as if were continuallie forget the other Thirdlie the things which are named in the Scriptures as they were the last so are they the chiefest parts of Christs sufferings the rest being vnderstood as antecedent to them and not eminent aboue them Nowe the CROSSE BLOVD and DEATH oâ— Christ are euerie where mentioned in the scriptures as the verie ground worke and pillars of our redemption Lastlie the bodie of Christ wounded and his bloud shed for the remission of sinnes are the seales that confirme and ratifie the new testament and therefore they giue chiefest power and strength to the whole couenant as appeareth by the Sacraments which import vnto vs not the paines of hell but the death and bloud of Christ as the right and true meanes of our redemption Know ye not saith Paule that all we which haue beene baptised into Iesus Christ haue beene baptised into his death Wee are buried then with him by baptisme into his death And speaking of the Lords Supper he saith As often as ye shall eate this bread and drinke this cuppe ye shewe the Lords death vntill he come The cuppe of blessing which wee blesse is it not the communion of Christes blood The bread which we breake is it not the communion of Christs bodie By these we are grafted into Christ by these wee are quickned nourished into life euerlasting And these propose vnto vs no inuisible paines of hell but the bodie of Christ wounded and his bloud shed for the remitting of our sinnes â—ow vniting vs vnto Christ that we may be members of his bodie of his flesh and of his bones Yea what an vnthankefull part were it for the captiues that are inlarged to chalenge the ransome which was paide for their fréedome as defectiue when the aduersarie from whom we were bought receyued it by the rule of Gods iustice as a price most sufficient for vs all that were deliuered F I will redeeme them from the power of hell I will ransome them from death saith God by his Prophet g you were bought with a PRICE saith Paul The price then which Christ paid must be fully worth the thing redéemed For since it pleased God not by force to take vs from Satan but with a price to buie vs out of his hands it were dishonour to God and a kinde of reproch to giue lesse for vs then might counteruaile vs. And therefore let vs rest assured that the price which Christ payed for vs was of farre greater value then we were not onelie in the vpright iudgement of God but euen in the malicious and furious desire of Satan who thirsted after the bloud of the sonne of God with greedier â—awes then after all the worlde besydes and tryumphed more in bringing him to a shamefull death then in
pono pro ouibus meis I lay down my LIFE for my sheep Diligit me pater quia pono animaÌ„ meaÌ„ vt iteruÌ„ sumaÌ„ eam My father loueth me because I lay downe my life to take it againe And indéed that phrase PONTRE ANIMAM in the Scriptures doth alwaies note a voluntary yeelding of the life which is A LAYING ASIDE OF THE SOVLE for y e loue of others as where Peter saith Ponam animam meaÌ„ pro te he did not meane he would go to hel for his master there was no cause nor néede thereof but I wil lay down MY LIFE for thee And when S. Iohn telleth vs Quoniam ille animaÌ„ suaÌ„ posuit pro nobis nos debemus animas ponere pro fratribus hee doth not charge vs to hazard our soules by sin or hel for others but insomuch as Christ gaue HIS LIFE for vs wee ought to GIVE OVR LIVES for our brethren So that for Christ to LAY ASIDE HIS SOVLE or to POVRE IT OVT VNTO DEATH was not to suffer hell paines for our sakes but to die for our sins al those places are rather coherent theÌ„ dissident to the rest of y e scriptures which I alleaged And yet because the ancient fathers some times saie that Christ gaue his soule for our soules as hee did his flesh for our flesh the scriptures often affirme hee gaue himselfe I will come to the third effect of Christs crosse which is the MIGHTY POVVER OF HIS DEATH and there examine what part of Christ died for our sinnes and howe by his death the guilt of sinne the curse of the lawe the sting of death and the strength of Satan are not onelie weakened and wasted but extinguished and abolished that they shal neuer preuaile against him or his elect That the Sonne of God loued vs gaue himselfe for vs making the purgatioÌ„ of our sinnes in his own person by the sacrifice of himself to put away sinne is a case so cléere that it néed not to be prooued much lesse may be doubted without apparant subuersion of the christian faith but whether Christ suffered the death of the whole man his soule tasting for the time an inwarde and spirituall death in satisfaction of our sinnes as his flesh did an externall corporall dissolution of nature this by some men is questioned in our daies That for our sakes he humbled himself was obedient vnto death euen the death of y e crosse is out of al doubt the Euangelists describe the maner of his death the apostles the cause to wit the REDEMPTION of our sins the CONFIRMATION of the new testament the RECONCILIATION of man to God the DESTRVCTION of him that was ruler of death the IMITATION of his obedience who suffered for vs leauing an exaÌ„ple y t we should follow his steps Al this he performed with y e death of his flesh the Scriptures no where mentioning anie other kinde of death that I can read Where a testament is there must be the death of him that made the testament r For the testameÌ„t is confirmed when men are dead Christ is the mediator of the new Testament that through death which was for the redemption of the trespasses in the former Testament they which are called might receiue the promise of eternall inheritance This plainelie expresseth the death of the bodie For God forbid mens Testaments should be frustrate till their soules haue tasted the second death but from the death of the bodie all testaments take their force Wherefore the new testament is confirmed by the bodilie death of Christ and there neede no paines of hell before it can be good You y â— in times past were strangers and enemies in mind by euill works hath he nowe reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to make you holie vndefiled and faultlesse before him Paul thought it not enough to saie Wee were reconciled vnto God by the death of his sonne but that death he addeth was IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH to exclude all supposals of the death of the soule since THE BLOVD OF CHRISTS CROSSE did PACIFY thinges in earth and in heauen For so much as the children were partakers of flesh and bloud hee also did therein partake with them that through death hee might destroy him that had power of death euen the deuill The death of the spirit maie bee without fâ—esh and bloud as we see in the Deuils who are dead in spirite But Christ tooke flesh and bloud that by the death of his flesh hee might destroie the deuill that insulted and raigned ouer the weakenesse of mans flesh Wee are buried with Christ by baptisme into his death and if we bee grafted with him into the similitude of his death we shalbe likewise into his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sinne might bee destroied that henceforth wee shoulde not serue sinne for hee that is dead is freed from sinne So manie wordes so manie reasons to prooue that Christ died not for vs the death of the soule but onelie of the bodie Wee are buried with him by Baptisme his bodie not his soule was buried Wee are grafted into the similitude of his death not the soule but sinne dieth in vs when we are grafted into Christ for hee quickeneth our spirits Our olde man was crucified with him his soule was not crucified but his flesh that the body of sinne might be destroied by the death of the soule the body of sinne is strengthned and encreased That henceforth we should not serue sinne they must needes serue sinne whose soules are deade with sinne He that is dead is freed from sinne but he that is deade in spirit is subiected to the force furie of sinne The death of Christ then is mentioned no where in the Scriptures but the verie words or circumstances doe cléerely confirme that they speake of the death which he suffered for vs on the crosse IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH That Christ did or could suffer the death of the soule is a position far from the words but farther from the groundes of the sacred scriptures For in God there is no death and without God there is no life of the soule So that it is neither possible for the soule ioyned with God to die nor for the soule separated from God to liue Then if Christs soule were at anie time deade it lost all coniunction and communion with God and consequentlie the personall vnion of God and man in Christ was for that time dissolued and the grace and presence of Gods spirit were vtterlie taken from him and so during that space there coulde bee in Christ neither obedience humility patieÌ„ce holines nor loue which are the fruits of Gods spirit yea the soule of Christ if it were but for an houre depriued of Gods grace and spirit must néedes for that time be subiected to all
descending into hell as you expound it was his conuersing among the soules of the dead Those soules then were in a place and that place by your construction the Creed calleth Hell Their state you will say is called hell but not their place A wittie difference I assure you The place for soules after this life is answerable to their state If their state bee hell their place can neither bee Heauen nor Paradise As is their receptacle so is their rest the place doth bring either ioy or paine which is their state So that if Christ descending into hell conuersed with the soules of the righteous of force the soules of the righteous were in hell which is the selfe same errour that you woulde seeme by your newe founde interpretation to preuent But the state of the â—eade is in Hebrew noted by the worde Sheôl and thither Christ descended And the state or place whither Christ descended is in the Creede named hell and so Sheôl is that which the Creede calleth hell In deede some say that Sheôl doth neuer in the olde testament signifie the place of the damned but I must be borne with if I bee not of their minde Manie men saie that they neuer proue and some speake they know not what As both partes of man sinned in the first transgression so was there a pit of perdition prouided for either part the graue for the bodie which there should rot and hell for the soule which there should bee tormented with euerlasting fire Both these pits because they alwayes expect and exact as their due the bodies and soules of mortall and sinfull men and neuer are satisfied are contained in the word Sheôl and are not distinguished by the nature of the worde which is common to both but by the circumstances added which are proper to either For example when the word Sheôl is qualified with an OPPOSITION to heauen with a differeÌ„ce of SCITVATION as the LOVVER PIT with an ADDITION of the soule there suffering or of the pain there suffered all these are proofs that the word Sheôl which is otherwise indifferent must there be taken not for the buriall of the body nor for the change from this life but â—or the state of destruction and place of damnation Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I slie from thy presence If I ascend into heauen thou art there If I lodge BENEATH IN HEL thou art there Opposite to heauen is not the graue where the bodies of all gods saints do lie but hell as being the farthest from it and most repugnaÌ„t to it since from hel to heauen there is no passage for man but from the graue to heauen is the assured hope of all the faithfull This opposition our Sauiour expressing in the new testament saith And thou Capernaum which art exalted to heauen shalt bee thrust downe to hell Christ doth not threaten the contemners of his doctrine and myracles with the graue which is common to all the godlie but with perpetuall destruction and punishment proportionable to the height of their pride which must needes be hell And so much followeth in plaine wordes in the next verse I say to you it shall be easier for them of the land of Sodome in the day of iudgement then for thee In the daie of iudgement as death so the graue are at an ende for the bodies of the wicked shall then liue for euer and then shall Capernaum be cast downe to hell for the contempt of Christs preaching As hel is the farthest place from heauen that can be named so it is the lowest and therefore by the lower pit is ment not the graue but hell which in scituation is far lower then y e outside of the earth where men are buried Canst thou by searching find out God canst thou find out the perfection of the almightie to the height of heauen what canst thou do it is deeper then hell how canst thou know it Gods perfection is higher then the highest place which is heauen deeper then the deepest place which is hel To compare his power or iustice with the depth of the graue which is not foure yeards déepe at the most were a very slender comparison for the incomprehensible greatnes of god but since in height depth it excéedeth all things there can be no doubt but it is compared with the highest déepest places that are which are heauen and hel In like sort Thou hast deliuered my soule from the lowest pit can not be ment of the graue For mens souls are not inclosed in graues with their bodies but as the pit prouided for the body is the higher of the twaine and the pit prepared for the soule is the lower so the lowest pit out of question is hell where the soules of such as are reiected from God are detained against the day of vengeance And albeit some of these spéeches may perchance admit an allegoricall sense and so signifie the greatest and extreamest dangers that might be yet the ground of the allegorie dependeth on the nature of hell and not of the graue because of the two sortes of pittes hell is the lowest and made to receaue the soules of men which the graue doth not A fire saith God by Moses is kindled in my wrath and shall burne to the bottome of hell and set on fire the foundations of the mountaines Fire in the graue there is none in hell there is neither can the sepulcher where mens bodies lie buried be the bottome of hell For so shall we make the place of hell higher then the earth which the scripture euerie where crosseth when it calleth hell the deepe or lowest pit A fire then burning to the bottome of hell and inflaming the verie foundations of the hils can haue no resemblance to the graue nor performance in the graue but Sheol in that scripture as in manie others must signifie the verie place of the damned which we call hell The wordes then of the Créede hee descended into hell since the defenders of this thirde opinion doe not referre to the bodie of Christ buried but to the soule of Christ after death it is euident by their position that not onelie Christs soule after this life descended to hell but all the soules of the iust and righteous leauing this worlde before Christes comming descended likewise into hell And this euasion of theirs that Sheol in Hebrew signifieth the state of the deade after this life be it good or bad standeth them in little stéed For first they doe not auoid that obscure and idle repetition wherewith the second opinion was charged that after a plaine and easie article hee was deade the selfe same thing should bee iterated againe with a verie darke and doubtfull kind of hebraisme he descended into Sheôl By this former he was dead euerie man must néedes conceaue not onelie the separation of the soule from the bodie but also the subiection of either
If he were not drawne against his will hee consented to come both which are absurd to beleeue of so iust a person And this is the sleight of Satan that to deceiue the more hee maketh as if the iust were in his hands The storie doth describe the mind of Saul and the shew of Samuel expressing what was seene and said but pretermitting how true or false either was For what saith it Saul hearing in what habite the spirite was raised vnderstoode it to be Samuel It reporteth what Saul conceiued and because hee conceiued amisse hee adored another then God against the scripture and thinking it to bee Samuel worshipped the Diuell that Satan might reape the fruite of his fallacie For if Samuel had indeede appeared vnto him the iust person woulde neuer haue suffered himselfe to bee worshipped which preached God alone to be worshipped And how did the man of god that was with Abraham in rest say to that pestilent man worthie of hell fire to morrowe thou shalt bee with me By these two wayes Satan afore he was ware betraied his fraudulent subtiltie because he suffered himselfe to be worshipped vnder the habite and name of Samuel against Gods lawe and lied that Saul loden with sinne should after death be with righteous Samuel whereas there is a great distance betwixt the iust and vniust after this life and Saul went hence to him whom he worshipped If the fathers so much varie and dissent from themselues and from others whie do I presse their testimonie touching Christs descent to hell I presse them no further then they accord with the words of the scripture and with the grounds of faith wherein they all concurre with one consent When they swarue aside or part asunder I dissemble it not wishing the reader as not to regarde their priuate opinions without good proofe so not to reiect their general confession in matters of faith agreeing with the scriptures without better demonstration then I yet sée made for the contrarie That the diuell was destroied and man deliuered by Christes death from the feare of death is no supposall of mine or theirs but the manifest conclusion of the holy ghost That Christ in his owne person spoiled powers and principalities and openly triumphed ouer them that death and hell might bee swallowed vp in victorie is not mans imagination but the Apostles resolution That Christs soule was in hell and there not forsaken if Dauids prediction and Peters application were not plaine inough S. Lukes interpretation is so pregnant that without wrong to the word it can not bee pared Lay these togither and sée what they lacke of Christs soule descending into hell His being there must néeds inferre his descending thither And yet least some scrupulous person should stick at the phrase of Christs DESCENDING INTO HEL I think S. Paul hath words equiualent to them Ascending on high he led captiuitie captiue That he ascended what is it but that he FIRST DESCENDED into the lower partes of the earth He that descended is euen the same that ascended aboue al the heauens that he might fil al. If hell be any where there can be no doubt but it must be in the lower parts of the earth From the earth vpward is heauen where hell can not be Christ then DESCENDED into the lower partes of the earth and thence ledde captiuitie captiue that hee might fill all places with his presence Christs sepulchre was in the higher parts of the earth hewen out in a rock and thence he might lead the death of the bodie captiue but not the diuell that was ruler ouer death and had a chalenge to the soules of men that came not neare their graues Since then ascending from the lower parts of the earth he lead captiue all y e powers that held man in bondage and those chiefelie were the powers of hell which had interest into the soule of man by reason of sinne it must needes bee that Christ descended to those partes of the earth where mans captiuitie was strongest which is in hell and thence fréed him by his presence and led those captiues that ruled ouer him as conquerour of all the power of the deuill and darkenesse whose prisoner man was before hee was redeemed Againe hee first descended to the lowest and then ascended to the highest that he might fill all places with his presence If hee descended not to hell howe filled hee that place where hee neuer was except with the brightnesse of his diuine glorie which is euerie where present without descending or ascending But the Apostle saith he descended to the lowest and ascended to the highest that he might fill all places with the presence of his manhoode all knees in heauen earth and hell bowing vnto the exaltation of his humane nature And if the lower partes of the earth whither Christ descended to leade captiuitie captiue bee not lowe enough to shewe the scituation of hell Saint Paul hath plainer wordes of Christes descending as lowe as might bee when he writeth to the Romanes in this wise Say not in thine heart who shall ascende into heauen that is to bring Christ downe from aboue or who shal DESCEND INTO THE DEEPE that is to bring Christ backe from the deade Christ dying DESCENDED INTO THE DEEPE as rising from the deade hee ascended into heauen Nowe the deepe is so lowe that no place canne be lower yea hell it selfe and the prison of Diuels is knowne by that name in the newe Testament When the spirits that possessed the mad man amongst the Gadarens were to bee cast out by Christ they besought him that hee would not commaund them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to departe into the deepe In the Reuelation of Saint Iohn hell is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pit of the deepe and the Diuell is there named the Angell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the deepe yea the verie place where the Diuell is shut vp is expressed by that word I sawe an Angell saith Saint Iohn come downe from heauen hauing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the key of the deepe and a great chaine in his hand And he took the dragon that olde serpent which is called the diuell and bounde him and cast him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the deep shut him vp If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be a bottomles deep then which can nothing be déeper if in the scriptures it properly signifie the verie dungeon of hel where the diuels are kept the Apostle then auouching that Christ when hee died DESCENDED 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 INTO THE BOTTOMLES DEEP doth cléerely confirme that he descended into hell As therefore if we aske who can descend into the deep or ascend into heauen we reuerse Christs being among the dead and his sitting at the right hand of God in the heauens so if wee confesse thē both to be verified in Christ but in Christ they neuer were nor euer
of Gods fiery wrath equall to hell And where Cain saide The horror of my sinne is heauier then I can beare you doubt not but Christ as touching the vehemencie of the paine was as sharpelie touched euen as the Reprobates themselues yea if it may be more extraordinarilie You that are so well acquainted with the horrors of the Reprobate for their sinnes that you dare attribute them to Christ can you tell what they are is it speculation that you speake of or experience that you dare thus subiect the sonne of God to the same terrors and horrors of conscience which namelie Cain as you saie and other reprobates haue felt I praie you Sir in so waightie matters as maie amounte to heresie and open blasphemy plaie not with generall termes so as neither you vnderstande your selfe nor anie man else can conceiue your meaning The terrors of â—he wicked in this life wee can coniecture you canne perhaps liuelie describe them but for ought that wee learne by the scriptures they are such as without horrible impietie you cannot ascribe vnto the Sauiour of the worlde Remorse of sinne committed vexing and gnawing the conscience is the first of their paines which suffereth them night nor daie to take anie test Secondlie the feare that God whome they haue despised hath likewise reiected them and is become their enemie and therefore from him they looke for nothing but the iust vengeance of their sinnes both in this life and the nexte so pursueth them that they tremble and slie when no man followeth them Thirdlie the griefe to forsee themselues excluded from the fellowship of that ioie and blisse which is prouided for the saintes of GOD which Chrysostom saieth is far more bitter then the paine of hel doth make them sinke for sorrowe Lastlie the continuall terrour of that dreadfull iudgement which shall be pronounced of that horrible confusion which then shall ouerwhelme them and of those eternall and intollerable flames of fire in which they shall burne the verie terrour I saie and horrour thereof doeth so afflict and torment them as if they presentlie felt it More wordes may bee vsed and perhaps more vehement to amplifie their paine but these are the partes and causes of that feare and horrour which pursueth the wicked for their haynous offences Can anie of these Sir Refuter bee applied to Christ Dare you but offer so much as the mention of the least of them to bee founde in the sonne of GOD I thinke you bare not I hope you will not What meaneth then this matching of Christ with Cain yea this touching of Christ deeper then anie of the Reprobate In horrour and paine you saie Christ was like them who be separated in deede from the grace and loue of God yet himselfe neuer separated but alwaies most intirely beloued The horrour and paine which the Reprobate heere feele riseth from the remorse of their owne conscience and from the distrust and feare of their owne hearts which pursueth them euen in this life before iudgement The execution of his terrible vengeance indéede God hath reserued to the next life The greatest terror that the Apostle noteth in the wicked here in this world is a feareful expectation of iudgment and of burning fire which shall deuour tâ—e aduersaries What horror then like the reprobate coulde the conscience of Christ féele that had no remorse distrust or feare of anie such thing as they haue but was assured and secured of Gods euerlasting fauour and loue in the highest degree was there paine without horrour and feare in the soule of Christ if you meane the paine that is consequent to our naturall affections as to sorrowe and feare you saie nothing to the purpose Saint Iohn saith timor habet poenam Feare hath in it paine and so hath sorrowe euen as hope hath ioye Reioice in hope but this is not the paine which the Reprobate feele much lesse which the damned suffer I trust their paine is more then a naturall oppressing and afflicting of the heart with humane feare and sorrowe And therefore if I conceaue anie thing you misse the truth verie much Sir Confuter when you saie that Christ was touched in horrour and paine as déepelie as the Reprobates are and yet your conceite reacheth farther For you defende that he suffered as much as the damned in hell which is more then the reprobates doe in earth howsoeuer to shewe your learning you make hell and heauen heere on earth For my selfe Christian Reader whence I thinke the astonishment of Christ in the garden might rise thou hast it in the treatise before I shall not néed to repeat it againe In like maner you extend Christes agonie too farre for where it was an agonie of minde which did not bereaue him neither of sense memorie nor vnderstanding you haue brought vs a fardell of phrases to expresse that all the senses of his bodie and al the powers of his soule were amazed astonished distempered disturbed distracted forgetfull ouerwhelmed and all confounded and you thinke you neuer haue words enough to expresse your follie in dreaming of the greatest astonishment that maie be because the scripture saieth he began to beastonished But Sir how proue you this you saie as in feares and sorrowes there bee diâ—ers degrées so are there likewise in astonishmeÌ„ts To be astonished is to ioine feare with admiration which draweth the minde so wholie to think on some speciall thing aboue our reach that during the time we turne not our selues to anie other cogitation Euen as the eie if it be bent intentiuelie to behold anie thing for that present it discerneth nothing else So fareth it with y e soule if she wholie addict her selfe to thinke on anie matter she is amused if it bee more then she conceaueth or more fearefull then she well indureth she is amazed or astonished but not of necessitie so that she looseth either sense or memorie onelie for that time she conuerteth neither to anie other obiect The present beholding of the diuine maiestie sitting in iudgement and of his iustice armed with infinite power to reuenge the sinnes of men might iustlie astonish the humane soule of Christ seeing the rewithal how mightilie God was prouoked by the manifold and wilfull transgressions of men but this religious astonishment though it might for a season suspend all other thoughtes in our Sauiour yet is there no neede it shoulde depriue him of vnderstanding sense or memorie When Paul saieth worke your saluation with feare and trembling doth hee meane they should want memorie or vnderstanding When Moses receaued the law from God so terrible was the sight that hee saide I tremble and quake Was Moses 〈◊〉 voide of sense or reason at that present An horrible terror saith Dauid hath taken mee for the vngodlie that forsake thy lawe Was Dauid for their sakes besides himselfe and all confounded in bodie and soule as you speake here of Christ Our whole conuersation
and death Wee saie the sonne of God sustained the Crosse and death in his owne flesh that hee might deliuer vs from death and corruption Hee laide downe his soule for vs not as an alien and straunger to the sonne of God but vnspeakeablie vnited vnto him as himselfe saith I haue power to lay downe my soule and I haue power to take it againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is proper to the soule to bee pensiue to feele paine and griefe to depart from the bodie as it is proper to the flesh to be wearied to be crucified to be raised againe So the violence was offered to the bodie the sense whereof reached vnto the soule and these are the sufferings of the crosse and of death which the Scriptures attribute to the sonne of God for our saluation Insomuch that your long discourse of the proper and immediate suffering of Christes soule for sinne without and besides the bodie maie be hanged on the hedge as discording both from the scriptures and all the Catholike fathers that either haue priuatelie testified the truth by their writings or publiklie confirmed it by their assemblies And as for your hellish paines when your selfe can tell what they are and make some better proofe then yet you haue done that they were or might be in the soule of Christ you shal receiue further answere These are the Refuters exquisite arguments which he calleth his speciall reasons being indeede rather so manie monsters in Christian Religion then matters to perswade anie man were he neuer so simple and but that a straunge faith muste needes haue such straunge groundes as these bee I shoulde thinke hee did rather expose this conceyte of Hell paines to bee derided of the worlde then to bee beleeued hee euerie where so secondeth his badde cause with woorse proofes but where better foode wanteth Akornes are good meate and blacke Moores maie bee beautifull when others bee awaie I woulde heere make an ende of his first parte but that as his manner is when hee hath stumbled absurdlie a long while at hell hee steppeth on the suddaine as vnhandsomelie to heauen Knowe therefore saieth hee hell as we take it is euen in this life founde sometime as heauen is likewise for as touching materiall fire in hell what a toyish fable is that else I praie you how may the soules of the damned suffer by materiall fier seeing they are spirits and therefore with them and fier materiall there can be no communiâ—n But let it bee as it may be the locall hell of the damned we speake not of You slacke your hell paines Sir Resuter towardes the ende as if all this while you had beene too hot in them and heere you giue thrée qualifications to them or rather contradictions to your former spéeches Hell as you take it is SOMETIMES found in this life But two leaues before you tolde vs the paines and sufferings of Gods wrath which are the hell that you saie Christ suffered ALVVAIES accompanie them that are separated from the grace loue of God how commeth ALVVAIES to bee so quicklie changed into SOMTIMES were there fewer wicked when you spake the last wordes then when you spake the first or are you better aduised remembring what a grosse absurditie it woulde bee to cast all infidels and hypocrits wicked and disobedient persons into hel torments all the time of this life before the iudgment of God taketh hold of them Secondlie as there is heauen euen in this life in some measure euen so saie you there may be hell You doe not meane that here on earth are the verie same ioies and blisse that are in heauen nor anie way equall to them if you did it were a lewder absurditie then the former For here we reioice that our names are written in heauen as the Apostle teacheth vs to doe wee reioice vnder the hope of the glorie of God Now hope that is seene is not hope For howe can a man hope for that which hee seeth or possesseth but when we hope for that we see not we doe with patience abide for it In this life wee walke by faith not by sight and whiles we dwell in the bodie we are absent from the Lord. For though we be now the sonnes of God it appeareth not as yet what we shal be our life is hid with Christ in God when Christ who is our life shall appeare then shall wee also appeare with him in glorie If you therefore affirme of heauen as you do of hell that the VERIE SAME ioies which are in heauen or EQVALL with them are here sometime found on earth it is a wicked errour flatlie repugning to the trueth of Gods promises and to the verie nature of our Christian faith and hope For faith is the grounde of thinges hoped for and the euidence of thinges not yet appearing but if you meane that as wee conceaue HOPE of heauenlie blisse so wee must néedes REIOYCE in it this position is verie true but plainelie opposite to your imagination of hell paines For then must there in this life bee no more felte of hell but the FEARE thereof and the griefe arising from that feare euen as the HOPE of heauen maintaineth our ioye Nowe in Christ coulde neither the feare of hell possiblie bee founde nor anie griefe or sorrowe arising from anie such feare since there was in his soule no wante of faith nor hope no not anie the least diminution of either as your selfe confesse but as the Apostle saieth FOR THE IOY THAT VVAS SET BEFORE HIM he endured the paine of the crosse and despised the shame And here you may see by your owne comparison the follie of your owne assertion For if your hellish sorrow be the only true and perfectly accepted sacrifice to God as you saie and without faith it is impossible to please God which alwaies hath hope and consequentlie the ioie of saluation annexed vnto it which you call heauen then can no man please God or offer anie sacrifice to God till hee bee both in hell and heauen at one and the same time and the ioyes of heauen are so coupled with the paines of hell that none of the faithfull can be in the one without the other but in both togither And thus haue you brought heauen and hell not onelie to bee euerie where but by your corrupt conceites to bee alwaies linked together Lastlie â—he fire of hell doeth somewhat trouble you and therefore you labour vtterly to quench it and aske what a toyish fable is that but good Sir if you would bring no more fables then I doe you might haue spared not euerie leafe but euerie line in this your vnaduised pamphlet I spake not in my sermon one word either of materiall or corporall fire in hell but I vrged the fire of hel to be a true created fire and not any metaphoricall flame as you here dreame from which since the bodie
is certain bodies shall be tormented And if the diuell and his angels being incorporall shal be tormented with CORPORALL FIER what maruell if the soules before they receiue their bodies feele corporall torments Neither were they the first that made this resolutioÌ„ that an actuall and sensible fier shal torment the bodies soules of the damned the Church of Christ from the beginning beléeued y e same The prophane Philosophers saith Tertullian know the difference of this common and that hid fier so far distant is this which serueth mans vse froÌ„ y t which in Gods iudgement appeareth whether it flash with thunder from heauen or break through the earth by the tops of hils For that consumeth not what it burneth but rather repayreth what it eateth as the mountaines euer burning doe still continue and he that is blasted from heauen liueth and turneth not to ashes This is a testimonie of that eternall fier this is an example of that perpetuall iudgement which maintaineth punishmeÌ„t The hils burne and dure how then shall the wicked and the enemies of God Lactantius in like sort The holy Scriptures teach vs how the wicked shall be punished Because they sinned in their bodies they shall take their flesh again that they may be punished in their bodies yet that flesh which God will clothe man with shall not bee like this earthly â—lesh but indissoluble and remaining for euer that it may suffice for torment and for euerlasting fier The nature of which fier is diuerse from this which wee vse about the necessaries of this life For that fier alwaies liueth and burneth of it selfe without any nourishment The same diuine fier therefore with one and the same strength and power shall burne and continue the wicked and shall yeeld it selfe euerlasting maintenance so as it shall only burne and torment without any decay to the bodie Cyprian is often and earnest in this cause Cremabit addictos ardens semper gehenna viuacibus flammis vorax poena nec erit vnde habere torment a vel requiem possint aliquando vel finem Hell alwaies burning shall broyle them that are adiudged to it and paine shall deuoure them with continuall flames neither shall their torments haue ease or end And againe Saeuiens locus cui gehenna nomen est eructantibus flammis per horrendam spissae caliginis noctem saeua semper incendia camini fumantis expirat globus ignium atratus obstruitur in varios poenae exitus relaxatur The cruell place which is called hell casteth vp fearfull fiers like a burning chimney the flames breaking through the horrible darknes of y â— thick mist a whole globe of blackish fier standing and resoluing into diuers sorts of torments Stridorem illum DentiuÌ„ flammae inextinguibiles agitabunt immortales miseri viueÌ„t inter incendia inconsumptibiles flammae nuduÌ„ corpus allambent Vnquenchable flames shall force that gnashing of teeth immortall wretches shall liue in the midst of fier and flames neuer consuming shall wrap their naked bodies Hell as Chrysostome writeth hath fier and darknes but far worse then these which we are acquainted with For if there be fier saith he how is there darknesse thou seest that fier is more grieuous then this our fier for it hath no light if it bee fier how doth it burne for euer thou seest it is worse then ours for that is not to be quenched and therfore is called vnquenchable Let vs then thinke with our selues how great a miserie it is to burne for euer to be in darknes to make continuall lamentation and to gnash the teeth and not to be regarded if darknes alone doe so terrifie and trouble our hearts what shall it do when such griefes flames of fier come with it Minutius Felix in his dialogue betwixt an Ethnicke and a Christian cited by Lactantius in his first booke De falsa religione cap. 11. saith As the lightnings touch mens bodies but consume them not and the flames of the hils Aetna Vesuuius and of other parts of the earth do burne not waste so that punishing fier in hell feedeth not vpon the decayes of their bodies that burne but continueth without eating or wasting their bodies The same comparison doth Pacianus y t died vnder Theodosius make in his exhortation vnto repentance against the Nouatians Post animarum teÌ„pestiua supplicia rediuiuis quoque perpetua corporibus poena seruatur After the due punishment of the soules of the wicked a perpetuall torment is prepared for their bodies that shall be restored to life The force whereof you may coniecture by the things which are in this world AEtna Lisaniculus and Vesuuius in Campania doe cast out vnceasing flames of fier and to manifest to vs the perpetuitie of that terrible iudgement they still breake waste and yet neuer end Sibylla whom Lactantius Eusebius and Austen alledge and allow as inspired by God describeth the last iudgemeÌ„t with these words The earth cleauing shall lay open the dungeon of hell all kings shall come before the Tribunall of God and a flood of fire and brimstone shall fall from heauen vpon the wicked Christus in suo tunc terrore videbitur eÃque ignis iudicij in reproborum vindicta famulabitur quia videlicet Ignis ille Iudicij qui coelum aerem terram concremat peccatores inuoluit quos proculdubio in poena suae damnationis confringit Christ then shall be seene in his terror and the fier of iudgement shall serue him to reuenge the Reprobate by reason the very fier of iudgement which melteth the heauens the ayre and the earth wrappeth in sinners whom doubtlesse it crusheth in the torment of their damnation Yea the flame of hell shineth not to the Reprobate for their comfort and yet giueth light for their punishment that to the eyes of the damned though the fier of their torment shine with no brightnes yet it sheweth for their further griefe in what sort they are punished How thinke you Sir Refuter is it a TOYISH FABLE worthy of such contempt as you make it or a point of Christian doctrine deliuered by the Prophets and Apostles and receiued by the Fathers in all ages in Christs Church that the FIRE of hell shalbe VISIBLE and SENSIBLE to the bodies of the wicked and shall ETERNALLY and CORPORALLY punish the damned according to their deserts without quenching it selfe or consuming theÌ„ And your foolish Philosophie that things corporall cannot worke vpon things spiritual must giue place to the power and will of the Almightie by whose appointment wee see in this life nothing more common theÌ„ that the soule which is spirituall suffereth from her bodie all kindes of paines and therefore it is as easie for God to make the soule feele fier in the next life without the bodie as with the bodie whose power if it please you to impugne you must leaue the name of a Christian
light and daâ—kenes truth falshood wil any wise man entertaine your poetical furies The Gentiles you will sate tooke HADES for the worlds of the deade the worlde of soules departed generallie and indefinitelie were they in hell or in heauen and this is no error you think against the faith But this is an open falshood coÌ„mitted against your owne classicall writers and if your cunning in the greeke Poets bee no profounder the boies in Grammer schooles will deride it I praie you sir by your Greeke Poets Homer Hesiode and others what is HADES originallie the name of a person or of a place I aske you none other question but that which euerie childe acquainted with your Poets canne readilie tell which your maisters of the Gréeke tongue Plutarch and Plato confesse which euerie speech that you or your Instructor bringeth out of his Poets doth confirme And here christian Reader I must praie thy patience and pardon if I turne from the scriptures and fathers to the Poets and their fables I haue no desire to it nor delight in it but such is the insolence of these men grounded vpon ignoraÌ„ce that it may not bee endured and without some entering into these matters it will not bee displaied I will saie no more then I must néedes and omit what is not materiall Homer the first and eldest of your classicall writers imagineth that the thrée sonnes of Saturnus whom hee supposeth to bee Gods deuided the gouernement of the whole worlde betwéene them Iupiter taking the skie and the aire Neptune the water with her déepes and riuers and Pluto the heart of the earth with all the dead of what sort soeuer This thirde sonne of Saturne and owner of the deade is hee that Homer and all the Poets call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HADES his name being diuerslie declined and inflected to serue their verse but still the same person Homer in the 15. of his Iliades maketh Neptune thus to speake We are three brethren the sonnes of Saturne by Rhea Iupiter and I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the third is HADES the ruler of those y t lie dead in the earth The whole was deuided into three parts my lot was to dwell alwaies in the sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and HADES lot was to haue the darke mist and to Iupiter fell by lot the large heauen with the skie and clowdes This HADES or God of the deade Homer calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the god vnder the earth and giueth him in the same booke these properties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HADES implacable fierce for that cause of all y e gods the most odious to men Hesiode agréeth with Homer that Rhea companying with Saturne brought him notable children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 euen mightie HADES that dwelleth in housen vnder the earth and hath a cruell and mercilesse heart The same Hades he maketh the gouernour of the deade as Homer doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HADES was afraid that is ruler of the deade vnder the earth This is that hades which you so much talke of to whose house your Poets make all the dead iust vniust good and bad to come and therefore the most of your authorities out of the Greeke Poets and others haue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnderstanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shewe that the deade go or come to HADES HOVSE or dwelling The rest of your classicall writers and masters of the Gréeke tongue both Plato and Plutarch alleadge and approue this fable of Homer Plato in his dialogue of rhetorick called Gorgias maketh Socrates thus to saie Heare then a very excellent tale which you will thinke a fable but I a good lesson That which I will saie I will speake to you for a trueth As Homer reporteth Iupiter Neptune and Pluto deuided the gouernement after they receaued it of their father There was a lawe touching men vnder Saturnus and euer was and still is with the gods that such men as led a iust and holie life when they departed hence shoulde goe to the Iles of the blessed and there liue in all happinesse without any euill and they that had beene wicked and vngodlie should goe to the prison of punishment and vengeance which is called Tartarus The iudges of these matters in Saturnes time and in the beginning of Iupiters raigne were the liuing of such as yet liued and gaue iudgement the same daie that each man should die wherefore their iudgement was corrupt PLVTO theÌ„ and the Gardians of the blessed Ilands going to Iupiter tolde him that there came vnto them men to either place vnmeete for that condition To whome Iupiter aunswered I will see it redressed The iudgementes are therefore now amisse because they that are iudged are couered round for they are iudged aliue and so many that haue wicked soules are compassed with beauty nobility riches and manie come to the place of iudgement depose they liued honestlie and so the iudges are astonished as also the iudges theÌ„selues are clogged hauing their soules wrapped with their eies and eares and the rest of their bodie First therfore men must be kept from foreseeing the time of their death TheÌ„ they must be iudged wheÌ„ they are naked from all these thinges that is after death and the Iudge likewise must be deade also that he may be free froÌ„ these lets and wiâ—h his soule he must view the soule of euery man newly dead forsaken of all his kind stripped of al worldly pompe that the iudgement may be sincere And I foreseeing this before you haue appointed Iudges two of my sons Minos Rhadamanthus out of Asia and a third which is Aeacus out of Europe These when they are dead shall iudge in an open meade in the meeting of three waies whereof two shall leade one to the Iles of the blessed another to Tartarus The soules of Asia shall be iudged by RhadamaÌ„thus those of Europe by Aeacus to Minos will I giue the prerogatiue to decide y e doubts that shall arise in either place y t the iudgmeÌ„t may be very eueÌ„ which shal send soules to their places This is that wich I haue heard beleeue to be true by their speeches am perswaded there is some such thing Thus far Plutarch citeth out of Plato y e iudges places for the dead al this within Plutoes kingdom vnder y e earth which they call HADES where as well the places pleasures for the good as the prisons punishmentes for the bad are in their conceit prepared sètled And this if you doubt read either Vlisses descent to HADES described by Homer in the 11. book of his Odisseas or Aeneas iourney to hel set forth by Virgil in the sixt booke of his Aeneidos or Dyonisius voiage to see Euripides expressed by Aristophanes as also the like aduentures of Hercules
Theseus mentioned by Euripides others you shall see THE VVORLD OF THE DEAD or THE VVORLD OF SOVLES be they good or bad to be in Plutoes kingdom which the gréek Poets cal HADES therfore vnlesse the distemper of your braines make you weary of Christian religion and incline you to Paganisme I doe not see what reason moueth you to bring Homers HADES to expounde the Creede And were you permitted so to doe what gaine you by it For Homers HADES is y e region vnder the earth where the good are kept in pleasant fields and the wicked in places of punishment and this is euidentlie the hell of the Poets and Pagans to which by your own classical authentical exposition Christ did descend if their HADES be receaued into the creede But Plato the wise Maister taketh it sometime for heauen as namelie in his Phaedone where speaking in the person of Socrates a little before his death he saith The soule beeing an inuisible thing goeth hence to another place like to it selfe that is to a noble pure and inuisible in HADES in truth to a good and wise God whither if God will my soule shall presentlie goe Did you not propose Plato to bee an expounder of the Creede and preferre him as a wise maister before all the fathers because you thinke hee fitteth your humour right I coulde suffer him to haue his praise but in this case I must saie of him as Tertullian doeth Doleo bona fide Platonem omnium haereticorum condimentorium factum Illius est enim in Phaedone quod animae hinc euntes sint illinc inde hinc I am sorie in good sadnesse that Plato is becom the Apothecary of al heresies For it is his opinion euen in his Thaedone that soules go hence thither and thence hither Your wise Masters report of HADES and PLVTO was the priuate opinion of Socrates against the common consent of Homer and all the poets and against the receiued perswasion of the people The conceite it selfe is full of pride errour and paganish infidelitie absurditie and blasphemie And yet all this being verie true Platoes wordes importe no such thing as you imagine that HADES is that heauen where God and his saintes remaine And therefore Sir Confuter if you be wearie as well of the Apostles as of the fathers and insteed of Christ will haue Plato to teach men the mysteries of the kingdome of heauen Englande where God be thanked there is a religious vertuous and wise prince ruling with christian lawes and a number of learned and graue both Counsellors Bishops Iudges and others that will endure no such prophanenes is no fit place for you to bring in Platoes heauen If I proue not these exceptions which I take to your wise maisters imagination let me beare the shame if I do look you your fellowes how well you deserue of Christian religion to make the saintes to rest and Christ to raigne either in Platoes heauen or in Homers hades For the first it is euident the Poets all wiâ—h one consent placed HADES BELOVVE VNDER THE EARTH and not aboue in the skies nor in heauen Homer and Hesiod you haue hearde Aristophanes maketh Dionysius desirous to see Euripides nowe deade and therefore sendeth him to Hercules to learne the waie to whome professing that no man shall perswade him not to goe to Euripides Hercules replieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wilt thou goe TO HADES BELOVVE to see him where Plutoes kingdome is described aunswerable to the rest of the Poets In Euripides the ghost of Polydor beginneth the first tragedie thus Here am I come leauing the dennes of the dead and the gates of darkenesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where HADES hath his seate seuered from the gods Pindarus speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the godlie that are in HADES saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them the strength of the sonne doth lighten the NIGHT that is there BELOVV Euripides maketh Hercules after the murther of his wife and children to saie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dying I will go vnder the earth whence I came Nowe whence Hercules came is expressed before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 returning from the darke chambers of the queene of HADES BELOVV In like sort Sophocles maketh Aiax to saie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rest I will speake to the spirites BELOVV IN HADES So Hercules remembring his workes saith with these armes I drew by force that inexpugnable Monster 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the three headed whelpe of HADES VNDER EARTH Simonides shewing how manie waies men end their liues some by sickenesse some by warre some by sea saith such as are tamed or conquered in warre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HADES sendeth vnder the blacke earth Orpheus one of the eldest Maisters of the Greeke tongue without comparison that liued in the time of the Iudges of Israel as Suidas testifieth and not so farre infected with fables as those Philosophers and Poets that came after him describing the true God that as he saith Moses wrote of calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the king of the heaueÌ„s of the earth of the sea AND OF HADES before whom Diuels do tremble and the whole companie of gods or Angels doe feare Where in olde Greeke and good diuinitie HADES is seuered from heauen sea and earth and consequentlie must be properlie HELL And so if you runne ouer all the Poets you shall finde that with one generall consent they placed Hades not onelie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 below but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnder the earth This was the opinion of the people The common people saith Lucian perswaded by Homer Hesiodus and the rest of the poets and taking their poems for a law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beleeue HADES to be a deepe place vnder the earth and that Pluto Iupiters brother raigneth ouer that gulph the kingdome of the deade falling to him by lotte and hee ordering howe they shall liue there belowe The place was so called from the name of the person whome they supposed to bee gouernour of it otherwise HADES was the proper name of Pluto as Plato himselfe confesseth in Cratylo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As for HADES the most part of men seeme to me to conceiue by the name that which is darke or which can not bee seene and fearing the name they call him PLVTO And howsoeuer Socrates in that place with a very false and â—ond reason goeth about to proue that the name of HADES as hee thinketh was not thence deriued but rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from knowing al good things which in déede is but a iest and by no possibilitie can come within the compasse of that word yet both Plutarch and the prose commentator vpon Homer neglect this vtterly and vphold that which Socrates refused 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades and Acheron saith Plutarch haue their names from the
aire that is not seene nor hath any colour And in his discourse whether a secrete and silent life be best or no Plutarch proposeth this etymologie as truer elder theÌ„ Soâ—rates fancie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men ACCORDING TO THE AVNCIENT TRADITIONS OF THEIR FATHERS thinking the sunne to be Apollo named him Delius and Pythius And the RVLER of the contrarie destinie to life and light whether he bee a God or a DIVEL they termed HADES being the MASTER of dark night and dead sleepe for that when wee depart hence wee go into an vnknowne and vnseene place So that Socrates deriuation of Hades was both false and newe euen as his opinion of HADES to be an eloquent and bountifull God and his reason is woorst of all that because men returne not backe againe after death therefore HADES doeth detaine them with eloquent perswasions and great rewards which maketh him to be called Pluto For the scripture assureth vs that men dead can not returne againe though they were neuer so willing and though God of his goodnes bestoweth euerlasting blisse on his Saints yet the rest would faine bee rid of their eternall miserie and can not neither are they held in their state with faire promises or large benefites but by the vnalterable rigor of Gods iustice Eustathius vpon Homers wordes that Achilles sent many a worthie soule to HADES saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a darke place vnder the earth not to be seene appointed for soules and is deriued from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the priuatiue and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to see and is called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by contraction HADES So when Homer bringeth in Hectors wife complaining of her miserie and saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou husband art gone to HADES house vnder the dennes of the earth Eustathius addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is a place vnder the earth and so hidde from vs. Therefore it is called Hades that is an inuisible aire which wee can not see And howsoeuer Socrates pleased himselfe in framing this heauen as you call it for himselfe and a fewe others for hee admitteth none but Philosophers into it Lucian in his Dialogues of the dead bitterlie mocketh him as being in Hell with all the rest howsoeuer he dreamed of an heauen for himselfe after his departure hence How Paganish and not onelie ridiculous but blasphemous Platoes heauen is appeareth by this that Socrates maketh SVVANNES his fellow seruants to Phoebus imagineth they sing that day they die 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FORESEEING THE GOOD THINGS THEY SHALL HAVE IN HADES And further saith that wheÌ„ they perceiue they must die then chiefly and most of al they sing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reioycing that they SHALL GO TO GOD whose seruants they are And those wordes which Socrates spake of Swannes foreséeing THE GOOD THINGS IN HADES you Sir Confuter in the abundance of your wit note to proue HADES to be heauen And to this heauen though Socrates admitte Swannes yet he accepteth no men but such as haue béene Philosophers those of the purest sort As for such as vse popular and ciuil vertues as iustice and temperance gotten by care and continuance without Philosophie his words are expressely these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is fit that such soules should returne againe into some such politicall and tame kinde either of BEES VVASPES or EMMETS after that into men again But into the kinred of the Gods it is not lawful for anie to come that hath not beene a Philosopher and verie pure at his departing hence Others that were slouthfull and filled their bellies hee saith must be turned into Asses and such other beasts and oppressours and wrong doers into Wolues Kites and Hawkes Of these his plaine resolution is that such soules wander vntill by the earnest loue of their bodilie nature which followeth them they PVT ON BODIES againe And such bodies of birds and beasts they put on as resemble the manners of their former life Here is a goodly world of soules to be brought out of Plato into the Créede and Socrates heauen why you should fansie I cannot gesse except it be that none but very pure and precise persons shall come thither to whom you would faine be the ringleader But this is not all In making HADES AND PLVTO by which the Poets meane the diuell to bée a wise and bountifull God hath not your wise Master fitted his new heauen with an excellent head Plutarch moueth the doubt whether HADES be a God or a DIVELL that hath power ouer darknes and death Homer Hesiode affirme he dwelleth vnder the earth and is implacable cruell and hated of men Porphyrie no meane follower of Plato concludeth PLVTO which is all one with HADES as Plato confesseth to be the chiefe of all wicked spirits Porphyries words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We doe not without cause coniecture that all wicked spirites are vnder Serapis being led so to thinke not onely by his ceremonies but because offerings to pacifie and sacrifices auerting rage are done to PLVTO as we haue shewed in our first booke Now Serapis is all one god with Pluto and therefore he is the greatest prince of Diuels and one that giueth charmes to driue away spirits Loe here is Socrates wise and bountifull god HADES AND PLVTO concluded by a great Platonicke to be the chiefe diuell whose iudgement Eusebius followeth And in déede considering his place where he dwelleth his rage that he vseth against men for which hee is so feared and hated of them and his sacrifices in which hee delighteth as also his power ouer death and darkenesse it is a cléere case that Platoes HADES OR PLVTO is the great diuell in hell whose craftes and sleighâ—s because hée knew not as a Pagan he hath promoted him to bee a wise and liberall god and you haue learnedly cited this wise deuise to make him ruler of your heauen whither you send Christ and his Saints to liue there for euer Now were it graunted vnto you that Pluto and HADES which by the description of all your classicall Poets is in déede the diuell were one of Platoes gods are you so little acquainted either with Plato or with Paganisme that you presently conclude hee is the true God of Heauen Or that this inuisible place must néedes bee the kingdome of God Looke but in the latter end of this booke which you alleage for this very purpose and there you shall sée what pretie fansies Socrates hath of another inuisible earth farre aboue this and waters likewise and trees and flowers and fruites and beastes and men that liue longer than we doe here below and without sicknes where also there are temples woods in which the gods dwell familiarly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That to see that earth is the sight of the blessed But what
be these wicked fancies either to the Créede or to Christian Religion Séeing therefore your Gréeke Poets with one consent make HADES to be a god below vnder the earth and put vnder his power as well the Elisian fields and seates for the iust soules as the prisons and dungeons for the vniust and this fantasticall conceite of Socrates touching a speciall place for himselfe and such Philosophers as hee was together with Swannes beasts trees flowers fruites as it was singular and secret to himselfe so it was most absurd and wicked you may by no meanes bring your Classicall writers that were Pagans to expounde the Créede much lesse must you binde the holy Ghost in the new Testament to vse the word HADES as the infidels did since the holy Ghost onely knoweth and speaketh trueth and their imaginations of the dead or as you speake of the world of soules was not onely false and foolish but impious and blasphemous And yet if you doe admit them to bée interpreters of the Créede which I vtterlie refuse for the causes I haue tolde you they make directly against you For HADES with them was the Ruler or place of soules that were beneath vnder the earth were they in rest or in paine and that Christian Religion will assure you must néedes be hell howsoeuer to beare out your broken matter you beginne halfe to doubt where hell is The authenticke authors of the Greeke tongue vsed hades for the place of the blessed soules you say and not properlie for hell So Leonidas cheered vp his men not to feare such a blessed death to suppe in hell had beene a colde comfort vnto them You reade nothing your selfe belike that you hit nothing right In Plutarch whome you alleage this is no comfort giuen by Leonidas but hée séeing the Persians now in sight as his men were dining and in number so infinite aboue his who were but an handfull willeth them to make short and saith So dine as men that must suppe in HADES that is care not for meate since death is so neere but prepare to fight for your Countrey It sheweth a resolution to dye but no consolation after death more than they knew before which was that in HADES were places as well for the good to rest as for the bad to bée punished but both were below vnder earth and in Plutoes kingdome as the Gentiles supposed Neither did Homer meane to make a new heauen for such as Achilles slue but to send them to the place where hée thought all soules did abide and therefore hée put Achilles soule in Plutoes region vnder the earth as well as the rest of the Grecians and Troians that died in that Battaile And because your Proctor will néedes haue the words that Achilles spirite spake to Vlisses at his descent to hell to bee a dictionarie for hades what place it is against which if the Creede had gone it had been a skoffe to all Hellas and had hindered all the proceeding of the Gospell Let vs sée whether his owne dictionarie will not returne all his allegations vppon his owne head If HADES in the Créede must bee the same place where Achilles spirite was whither Vlisses descended and where he saw and spake with so many Ghostes then apparantly HADES must bée the Poets HELL At Vlisses entrance Homer telling how the soules came about him saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The soules flocked together out of Erebus now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the very place where the Poets place Cerberus and whence the same Poet saith Hercules 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Was sent to fetch from Erebus the dogge of HATEFVLL HADES Againe Vlisses mother asking him how hee came to that place saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My sonne how camest thou vnder this darke mist Of Aiax Ghost who would not for anger speake to Vlisses Homer saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee went away to other soules in Erebus There Vlisses saith hée saw Sisyphus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suffering grieuous torments as also Titius and Tantalus to endure the like There he saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hercules strength a Ghost for hee himselfe was in ioye with the immortall Gods There Achilles spirite tooke so small comfort that when Vlisses said There is none happier then thou Achilles before whiles thou liuedst wee honoured thee as a God and now art thou a great commaunder among the Dead bee not therefore so fadde hée replied Praise not death to mee Vlisses I had rather serue any poore man on earth as his drudge though hee were scant able to liue then to raigne here ouer all the dead If the place bee darke and déepe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If Cerberus bée there which the Poets make the very kéeper of hell if there bée grieuous and cruell punishmentes for such as deserue them if the best haue there so little ioye of the place as Homer maketh Achilles ghost here to confesse what place can this bée but that hell which all the Poets acknowledge though in some part thereof there hée worse punishmentes then in other This is not that Tartarus you will saye which the Poets make the â—ayle and Prison for the wicked What is that to the purpose if some punishmentes in hell bée worse than other Looke to those whome the Poets place without the dungeon and sée whether they bée in heauen or no And because you and your friends talke so much of the worlde of Soules and of heauen to bée found in HADES and INFERI and your selfe bring Virgill as one of your Classicall authors to proue this matter Who though hee were a Poet and fayned many things yet hee spake you say familiarlie and after the vulgar vse and for the substance of the matter vttered touching heauen and hell the opinion of the worlde then I must pray the Readers leaue and patience whiles I follow you in your owne fantasticall deuise though against mine owne liking to let the simple sée what your world of soules and your heauen is euen in those very writers which you produce for this purpose and whether they bée fitte things to bée Presidents for the Créede or no. In Plutoes kingdome vnder earth whether Aeneas went to sée his Father Anchises Virgil your authenticke author maketh besides Tartarus and your goodly Elisian fields the eternall habitation as you call it of the blessed many lodgings As first for sicknes care weeping pouertie labour warres discord dreames and death besides for Centaures Briareus Hidra Chimera Gorgon Harpies and Gerion and sundrie other monsters There wander the Ghosts whose bodies are not buried a hundred yeare before they can get ouer the foule and silthie riuer of Styx The other side of Styx is kept by Cerberus the Dogge with thrée heads where first are placed the soules of infants weeping and crying then such as were vniustly condemned to death
next such as being wearie of their liues killed themselues now willing to suffer pouertie or any paine on earth so they might returne to life againe In the fourth place are Lugentes Campi the wofull fields of such as died for loue in the fift Warriers and such as pursued each other with the sword where Aeneas saw all the Grecians and Troians that dyed at the siege of Troy Of all these places where yet are no punishments the Poet maketh Deiphobus to say to Aeneas what cause driueth thée Vt tristes sine fole domos loca turbida adires To come to the wofull housen without sunne and lothsome placesâ— Then leadeth the left hand to Tartarus which these men so much harpe at compassed with fierie Phlegeton and there are the punishments of the wicked then Plutoes palace and on the right hand Amaena vireta fortunatorum nemorum sedésque beatae The sweete springs of the fortunate woods and the blessed seats Here is the heauen which this confuter alleageth out of Virgil and here Aeneas found his father Anchises in a greene vale viewing the soules that dranke of the water of obliuion and were tâ— take new bodies on earth againe His words are Animae quibus altera fato Corpora debentur Lethei ad â—luminis vndam Securos latices long a obliuia potant The soules who by destinie are to take bodies the second time doe here at the Riuer of Lethe drinke the waters of vtter forgetfulnes no way remembring whatsoeuer they saw or knew either whiles they first liued or during the time of their abode vnder earth And because it séemed strange to Aeneas that soules should come to take other bodies though this be right Platoes fansie in his Phaedone Anchises telleth his sonne the secrets of Platoes Purgatorie heauen and resurrection as Virgil conceiued them who was a great Platonist When men die saith he all the infections of their bodies cannot presently be taken from their soules Ergo exercentur poenis veterúmque maloruÌ„ supplicia expendunt Therefore the soules of such as are curable for the desperate and insanable are cast into Tartarus and neuer come thence by Platoes owne words are purged with paines and abide the punishment of their former infection some are hanged vp to the winde some are plunged vnder water some are clensed by fier Quisque suos patimur manes exinde per amplum Mittimur Elysium pauci laeta aruatenemus Donec longa dies perfecto temporis orbe Concretam exemit labem purúmque reliquit Aethereum sensum atque auraï simplicis ignem Has omnes vbi mille rotam voluêre per annos Letheum ad fluuium Deus euocat agmine longo Scilicet immemores supera vt conuexa reuisant Rursus incipiant in corpora velle reuerti Wee euery one of vs suffer our clensing and after that wee are sent out into the large Elysian fieldes where but a fewe of vs inhabite these pleasant places vntill long time hath taken awaye the bodilie infection and leaueth the aethereall sense pure and the vigour of the fierie and simple ayre Then after a thousand yeares God calleth all these soules thus purged and placed in the fortunate seates to the flood of Lethe that they may goe to the earth againe with vtter forgetfulnesse of all things and beginne to desire to returne to new bodies To these Elysian fields when Aeneas should come the Poet maketh Sybilla say Ad genitorem imas Erebi descendit ad vmbras Aeneas descendeth to his father euen to the soules below in Erebus And that Erebus is one of the infernall Gods as the Poets call them can bee no question For when Dido minding to kill her selfe prepared Sacra Ioui stygio Sacrifices to the infernall Iupiter the Poet maketh her Priest to inuocate Tercentum tonat ore deos Erebúmque Chaósque Three hundred gods and Erebus and Chaos This is the worlde of Soules that Virgil deliuered in his time which hée collected out of Plato this is the heauen that is contayned in HADES and INFERI Iudge thou Christian Reader whether this be not the high way to Paganisme to tell vs that this is the heauen where the Saints of God are in rest and whether Christ ascended For my part but that I thinke this confuter talketh of that hée knoweth not I must haue proclaymed him for a Pagan and therefore after hée séeth it if hée persist to say that heauen is either Homers HADES or Virgils INFERI I may not spare to discharge the dutie of a Christian man to let the whole realme vnderstand that this is open infidelitie cloaked vnder the name of Puritie Platoes world of Soules where it altereth from this is rather worse than better For hée saith the soules of euill men are clogged with their bodilie vncleanenes and wander 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about tombes and graues as it is said and then put on the bodies of beastes birds or wormes And yâ—u Sir Confuter lighting on the first part of those wordes openly falsifie them and lewdly misapply them For in stéede of as it is said you translate as it is commonly said and by that worde COMMONLY of your owne adding and referred to the former words where there is a manifest distinction or pause betwixt them you bid the reader note that HADES is commonly called heauen For thus you write Againe Plato saith of heauen that it is an vnseene estate euen HADES as it is commonly called which you will by the side to be noted where Plato in that place speaketh not one word of heauen But such is the miserie of your cause you must belie your authors or else you will lacke proofes for your humours And touching the soules of all men that are borne Plato holdeth their soules had bodies before and staye in HADES vntill the time come that they must haue bodies againe and therefore all our knowledge heere is but the remembring of that wée knew before when our soules were in other bodies which is the opinion that Tertullian chargeth him with His owne wordes are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is an auncient assertion which wee remember that soules departing hence are there and come hither againe and are new borne from the dead And least you should thinke hée did not consent to it hée saith somewhat after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wee are not deceiued confessing all this but there is in very trueth a returning of soules to liue againe on earth and of the dead spring the liuing Consult you and your Instructor whether you will bring this HADES or world of soules into the Créede or whether the thiefe from the Crosse ascended to this heauen together with the soule of our Sauiour But if these bee intolerable and abominable heresies to haue soules passe from bodie to bodie and Platoes HADES be nothing else but a continuall chopping and changing of soules from life to death and from death to life againe hale
backe your HADES from the Créede howsoeuer your Hellas will take pepper in the nose to sée her follies refused Cicero is your last authenticke writer that you bring to proue Inferi to bée heauen out of whom you note thrée things First that he vtterlie misliked the opinion of the olde Latines that thought the world of the dead was vnder the earth and therefore gaue this terme INFERI to signifie the same this hee openly misliketh that the damned soules were beneath in the earth or at least in such kinde of torments as many did imagine How much more did he condemne them that thought all the deceased soules were beneath vnder or in the earth The blessed hee thought rather as Plato did to ascend vp to heauen Secondly you note That although hee reiected the opinion of the former Latines yet hee retayned the Latine phrase as being now common and familiar euery where which rose of olde from that opinion thinking all the dead after this life to be infra beneath He had learned to thinke wiselier but yet he spake so as the vulgar phrase had preuailed according to Aristotles rule we must thinke as the wise doe but speake as the people doe Thirdly Tullie saith of this opinion followed great errors If a man would hire you to speake against your selfe you cannot doe it in playner manner than here you doe You confesse that Cicero was the first for before him you bring none that misliked the opinion of the olde Latines whose seate and tongue in Italie was then 1200. yeares olde that the world of the dead was vnder the earth and to signifie so much they vsed the worde Inferi which had continued in the mouthes of all men learned and vnlearned till Ciceroes time to expresse the state of the dead Secondly you say the phrase was so common and familiar euery where for the worlde of the dead that Cicero himselfe though hee thought otherwise durst not depart from the vulgare phrase which had so generally preuayled Then by your owne confession wée haue thus much that Inferi for twelue hundred yeares in the mouthes of all men ignorant and learned among the Latines and Romanes did signifie the state of such soules as were vnder the earth Now let Cicero say what he can to the contrarie his authoritie is no waie so great that it should ouerwaigh so long and setled a consent Great errors followed hereof Tullie saith And you affirme the like but not so great as Tullie himselfe mayntayned in reiecting that opinion For he in some pride of his tongue and conceite of his wit brought heauen and hell to be vtterly nothing That the old Latines thought all men after death to go vnder the earth I sée no proofe I find rather the contrarie confessed by your owne author He alleageth out of Ennius Romulus in caelo cum dijs agit aeuum vt fama assentiens dixit Ennius Romulus leadeth his life in heauen with the Gods as Ennius approuing the fame writeth And againe Abijt ad Deos Hercules Vetera iam ista religione omnium consecrata Hercules is gone to the Gods These things are ancient and sealed with the religious consent of all men So that Ciceroes words which you alleage cannot import that they thought so of all men for then they must so haue thought of Romulus and Hercules which Cicero confesseth all men acknowledge to be in heauen but they supposed so of most men which amongst Pagans as they were was no such great error as you would make it nor any way so great as that which Cicero laboured to establish in place thereof For he through the insolencie of his opinion of himselfe or inconstancie of his disposition or both would somtimes haue an Inferi or hell below and sometimes he would haue none Examples whereof are euident in his writings In his spleene against Antonie he saith Illi igitur impij quos occidistis distis etiam ad Inferos poenas parricidij luent vos autom qui extremum spiritum in victoria effudistis piorum estis locum et sedem consequuti Those wicked whom ye slew shall IN HELL suffer the punishment of their parricide you that lost your liues in obtayning the victorie haue obtayned the place and seate of the blessed In his brauerie defending Cluentius he cast it all off as a foolish fable Quid tandem illi mali mors attulit nisi forte ineptijs ac fabulis ducimur vt existimemus illum apud Inferos impiorum supplicia perferre et actum esse praecipitem in sceleratorum sedem atque regionem quae si falsa sunt id quod â—mnes intelligunt quid ei tandem aliud mors eripuit praeter doloris sensum What harme could Cluentius do vnto Oppianicus condemned and banished for his lewdnes by killing him vnlesse wee beleeue toyes and fables to thinke he endured the punishment of the wicked in hell and that he was cast headlong into the region and prison of the vngodly which conceits if they bee false as all men may easily vnderstand what hurt could death doe him but take from him all sense of griefe To make a reason for his Client that by killing his aduersarie afflicted with penury and miserie he should rather doe him a good turne then a spite he vtterly reiecteth as a fable that the wicked haue any punishments after this life which in the former place against Antonius souldiers he vrged as vehemently for a truth And though in this place he taxe as you say the ignorance of the olde Latines yet in an other place hée commendeth their wisedome for the self same position Itaque vt aliqua in vita formido improbis esset posita apud Inferos eiusmodi quaedam illi Antiqui supplicia impijs coÌ„stituta esse volueruÌ„i quod videliceâ— intelligebant his remetis non esse mortem ipsam pertime scendam Therfore to terrifie the wicked in this life THOSE AVNCIENT Fathers held there were some such punishments appointed IN HELL for the wicked because they saw without theÌ„ death was no way to be feared And Sir Refuter are you a Christian that thinke it worth the noting out of a prophane Orator that it is a foolish fable to thinke the wicked are punished after this life in hell Uphold you the proude and lewd conceite of a PagaÌ„ against the setled and reuealed iudgements of God by his word dare you adde of your owne head for your author hath no such word that the ignorance OF THE TRVTH beganne this opinion that Inferiwere vnder the earth and the terrors of hell also I see your deuise you would haue hell euerie where and TORMENTS OF HELL you would haue none but such as Christ by your assertion suffered in his soule here on earth and because you want good authoritie to countenance this matter you reade vs a Lecture out of Cicero that he thought so before you and that he is a verie authenticke and Classicall
SOVLES From thence you leape to the Reuelation and there when Saint Iohn sawe one sitting on a pale horse whose name was death and HADES followed after him that is saie you the world of the dead It cannot be hell certainely because hel slaieth none in that sort Againe to saie preciselie that the fourth part of the world should go to hell I take it to bee a strange phrase in scripture Here first is a plaine proofe that death and HADES are two seuerall things the one following after the other For nothing doth follow it selfe The doubt is now what HADES importeth The world of the dead saie you The worlde of the dead if thereby you mean dead bodies is al one with death if you vnderstand the world of soules that hath two partes heauen and hell which of these two did follow after death to destroy the fourth part of the earth the kingdome of heauen is neuer proposed in the scriptures as a destroyer but the diuell hath his proper name in this booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the destroyer Againe this vision S. Iohn saw at the opening of the fourth Seale but the world of soules in heauen was shewed him in the opening of the fift Seale which presentlie followeth in the next verse in these words And when the lambe had opened the fift Seale I saw saith Iohn vnder the altar the soules of men slayne for the word of God and for the testimonie of the Lambe The world of soules in heauen was séene in the opening of the fift seale therefore that world of soules was not séene in the opening of the fourth Seale but of force if by HADES you will vnderstand anie world of soules it must be of those that were in HELL Howbeit because hee did accompanie death that was sent to destroy I take it rather to bee the power of the deuill that is there described then anie world of soules as you dreame And that the diuell destroyeth as well the bodie as the soule if it be strange to you you are a greater stranger in the Scriptures then you would seeme to bee Who threw the house vpon the heads of Iobs Children can you tell or who smote Iob himselfe with that loathsome disease But the fourth part of the earth you saie could not go to hell God graunt no more then the fourth part go thither Neuer reade you many called and few chosen and though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the Sea yet but a remnant shall be saued And why might not the dragon as well deuoure the fourth part of y e earth as draw downe from heauē with his tayle the third part of the starres Or if there you take a certayne number for an vncertain which is S. Iohns manner of writing in this booke why not as well here as else where these therefore are a couple of idle quarrels if these be your best you are more willing then able to do harme But by y e same words in the same booke we shall better vnderstand what is ment by HADES then by your wandring and weake gloze Death and HADES saith S. Iohn were cast into the lake of fier It were absurd you adde to saie death and hell were cast into hell True but more absurd and more blasphemous to saie that death and the world of soules shall bee cast into the lake of fier For then not onlie the Saints of God but heauen it selfe should bee cast into hell fier Yet if we take the containing for the contained which is the most vsuall phrase of the Scripture as wo be to thee Chorazin wo to thee Bethsaida thou Capernaum as likewise Ierusalem Ierusalem which killest the prophets it shal be easier for Tyrus Sydon with a thousand such euery wher occurrent then is it an easie true speach that hel to witte the powers of hell euen the diuels themselues shall be cast into the lake of fier And so doth Andreas Bishop of Cesaria expound it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked spirits the possessours of HADES shall be cast into hel fier And so Bede Mors Infernus missi sunt in stagnum ignis Diabolum dicit et suos quem supra in equo pallido sedentem Infernus sequebatur Death hel shall be cast into the lake of fier He meaneth the diuel his whō before sitting on a pale horse hell followed As yet then HADES in the new Testament is not onlie a thing different from death but euen hell it selfe and your world of soules in none of these texts can find any hold or help Let vs sée the rest That Christ triumphed ouer hell and Satan not ouer death onely the Apostle fully affirmeth when he saith Christ spoyled principalities powers made an open shew of them and triumphed ouer them in his owne person that likewise hee hath the keyes of hell and not of death onlie S. Iohn plainlie sheweth when he saw an angell come down from heauen hauing the key of the bottomeles pit and there binding shutting vp the diuell The same key of the bottomeles pit was in the 9 Chapter of the Reuelation giuen to the Star that slidde from heauen This keye must Christ haue for hee saith of himselfe that he hath the key of Dauid which openeth and no man shutteth which shutteth and no man openeth Since then there are keyes not of heauen onlie which Christ committed to Peter and his fellow labourers but of the bottomles pitte where Satan lyeth bound which of force must bee HELL when Christ professeth in the first of the Reuelation that he hath the keyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of death and of HADES who séeth not that HADES there must signifie hell it selfe the key whereof is so expreslie mentioned in that booke And so when the Apostle maketh two parts of Christs conquest against death and hell ô death where is thy sting ô HADES where is thy victorie what reason is there to exclude out of these words Christs victorie ouer HELL since the same Apostle witnesseth that Christ had a glorious triumph against hell and the word HADES in all the places of the new Testament which we haue yet viewed inferreth hell The Apostle you saie speaketh not of the Damnation of the wicked but of the resurrectiō of the dead And so do I and therefore inferre that when the bodies of the saints shall be raised from death whose soules be already saued from hell then shall these words be openlie verified ô death where is thy sting ô hell where is thy victorie For since by sinne hell gate possession of both parts of man as well of his bodie as of his soule the full deliuerance of man must free both parts and the full conquest ouer hell is the losse of both parts which in the resurrection of the dead shall be performed and
vnto Sheol that is to his Graue refusing to take anie comfort whiles he liued since his sonne was dead You like a tyrant ouer the Scriptures will haue what sense pleaseth you in euerie place and then you saie it is plaine and common In déede your ignorance and insolencie is verie plaine and common but the interpretations which you make of Scripture be absurde and more then foolish A man liuing maie well be said to descend into his graue liuing hee standeth dying he lieth downe and the face of the earth on which we are is higher then the bowels of the earth where wee lie buried but of a soule ascending vp to heauen to say it descendeth to hell is a phrase of your making and fit for your faith which is guided more by will then by truth When you proue these two points that HADES is HEAVEN in the Scriptures and that DESCENDING IS ASCENDING we will hearken to your exposition till then wee will leaue it as a distemper of your vnsetled braine For the last exposition of the three which remaineth I haue shewed thée Christian reader by the particular circumstances of the Scriptures that in the continuall vse of the new Testament HADES signifieth HELL which is the place where the wicked after this life are in torments I haue also in the sermons before examined the words of Dauid alledged and applied by Peter to Christ Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell whence Peter concludeth Christs soule was not left in hel as likewise the words of Paul importing that Christ descended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the bottomlesse deepe which worde throughout the new testament doth signifie nothing but HEL I haue noted how anciently Christs local descent to hel was preached in the church euen by one of the seuentie disciples that were conuersant with Christ continued to this daie with the full consent of the fathers both Greeke Latin without exception and by the whole church of Christ receiued I must not iterate that which there is so latelie written The words are faire and plain there is no danger nor difficultie in them the end of Christes descending thither being both honourable to him and comfortable to vs as I haue before deliuered it Lastly I see no cause either in this Confuters ridiculous pamphlet or in his abettors tempestuous and furious libell why anie man should dislike or distrust this exposition as vnfit for the wordes or vnsound for the faith of the Creede To load thee with authorities were to make an other volume thou shalt onelie see I haue not deuised it of mine owne heade but that it hath both antiquitie for it and authoritie with it and so I will make an ende Cyprian in his Sermon of Christs passion Ipse dicit ad patreÌ„ non derelinques animaÌ„ meam in inferno nec sines corrumpi carnem meam in sepulchro quia vbi in praesentia illius effractis inferis est captiuata captiuitas praesentata victrice anima in praesentia patris ad corpus suum siue dilatione reuersus est Christ saieth to his Father Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell nor suffer my flesh to rotte in the graue because as soone as captiuitie was subdued hell being broken vppe in his presence and his triumphing soule presented to the sight of his Father hee without delay returned to his bodie Arnobius writing vppon the hundreth thirtie and seuenth Psalme Postea vidit Inferos longè factus est non solum à coelis sed ab ipsa terra Abyssi profunda descendens scidit quia indereuerteretur ad superos quia a superis remearet ad coelos Afterward Christ went to hell and was farre not onelie from heauen but from the earth descending hee brake the bottomlesse deepe that hee might thence returne to life and from thence to heauen Lactantius in his verses of the resurrection saith Tristia cessarunt infernae vincula legis Expauâ—tque Chaos luminis ore premi Depereunt tenebrae Christi fâ—elgore fugatae Aeternae noctis pallia crassa cadunt The fearefull bands of the infernall power ceased and Chaos was afraid to be oppressed with the light of his presence The darknesse of hell was chased away with the brightnes of Christ and the grosse couerings of eternall night vanished Athanasius Ipse est dei virtus qui infernum expugnauit imperium Diaboli demolitus est qui Deus in descendeÌ„do deus in ascendendo corpus suum à morte excitatum patri repraesentauit ac vindicauit à morte sub â—uius imperio tenebatur Christ is the power of God which surprised hell and ouerthrewe the kingdome of the diuell who beeing God in descending and God in ascending presented his body raised from death to his father and tooke it from death vnder whose power it was helde Hilarius Hic ergo vnus est mortem in inferno perimens spei nostrae fidem resurrectione confirmans corruptionem carnis humanae gloria sui corporis perimens Christ alone is hee that in hell killed death confirmed our hope with his resurrection and destroied the corruption of mans flesh with the glorie of his owne bodie Basil Habes ergo myrrham ob sepulturam guttam ob descensionem ad infernum quod non inefficax in sepulchro permanserit sed ad infernum descenderit gratia dispensationis circa resurrectionem absoluendae vt quae de seipso erant oracula Prophetarum vniuersa expleret Thou hast in this Psalme myrrhe for his buriall dropping for his descent to hell because hee lay not in his graue without force but descended into hell to dispatch thinges needfull for his resurrection that hee might fulfill all that the Prophets forespake of him Nazianzene maketh Christes mother to say of him At vbi veneris in atram nocte Plutonis domum Infernum acerbo iaculo defixeris But when thou wentest to the house of Pluto where darke night is thou diddest thrust thorow hell with a wounding speare Fulgentius Dauid spake of Christes resurrection that his soule was not left in hell nor his flesh saw corruption In this then the Godheade of Christ shewed the power of his impassibilitie that being euery where alwaies and vnspeakeablie present it wanted not to his flesh when it suffered not his soule to feele any paine in hell neither forsooke his soule in hell whiles it kept his flesh from rotting in the graue Beda our countriman shall be the last My flesh saith Dauid of Christ shal rest in hope expounding in what hope to wit in this hope that though my soule descend to hell yet thou wilt not leaue it to be possessed of hel The rest go all cléer that way applying y e words of Dauid cited by Peter Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell to Christs descent thither after death And howsoeuer the fathers incline to thinke as Ierom did that the saints before Christes comming
were inclosed in a place vnder the earth expecting Christs comming to bee carried vp to heauen of which I haue spoken as much as is néedfull in the treatise before yet they absolutelie acknowledge that Christ descending destroyed the kingdome of Satan and fréed all the faithfull from euer comming thither The rest of the Confuters talke is like y e froth of the sea which wind waues roll to and fro sometimes he runneth this way and then backe againe another way saying and vnsaying hee knoweth not how nor what Sometimes he saith the Creede and namely this article Christ descended to Hades could not bee made long after the Apostles time whereof Ignatius and others most ancient do speake In another place he saith We find almost all the Creedes certainlie the most ancientest and the best of them to want these wordes of Christs descending into hell In one place he saith The Creedes which we find in Ignatius Irenaeus Iustinus Martyr TertulliaÌ„ Origen Athanasius Augustinus the Nicene CoÌ„stantinopolitan Toletan Ephesine al these neuer thought that Christs going downe to hell was anie distinct or certaine Article of the Christian faith And yet before he confessed y â— Ignatius and others most auncient doe speake namelie of this Article But Sir haue these Creedes which here you cite all the rest of the Articles that are in the Apostles Creede I hope there want in some of them a good manie For these rehearsals in the eldest Fathers doe but touche some of the Articles of the Creede and shewe that there was such a compendious briefe of the Faith receiued amongst Christians from the beginning The Councels of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and others want euerie one of them sundrie Articles that are in the Apostles Creede and adde other that are not there so as in deede they are rather expositions then recitals of the Apostles Créed And yet I hope Athanasius creede hath this Article in precise wordes and rehearseth it as a part of the Catholike faith that Christ descended into Hell Neither is there anie one of these Fathers whome heere you haue named as Ignatius Irenaeus Iustinus Martyr Tertullian Origene Augustine but they expresselie touche and teache Christes locall descent to Hell as all the rest doe without exception And if Councels will content you you shall not goe farre for both Prouinciall and Generall The Councell of Alexandria that wrote to represse the heresie of Nestorius maketh the spoiling of hell a part of Christes resurrection and saieth Tertia Die reuixit expolians infernum Christ rose againe the thirde daie hauing spoyled hell This confession was read and allowed as Catholike in the first generall Councell of Ephesus in the great Councell of Chalcedon and in the fifth generall Councell of Constantinople So that fathers and Councels both decumenicall and prouinciall haue receiued and approoued this article euen from the foundation of Christs church as a part of Christes resurrection howsoeuer they did not alwayes annexe it to their Creedes With like follie and inconstancie he saith it is the naturall and necessarie deuision of the articles of the Creede that these Christ suffered was crucified dead buried descended into hell should concerne Christs humiliation and hee supposeth euerie sensible man will confesse so much whereas he himselfe expoundeth the last of them to haue this meaning that Christes soule ascended to heauen Now to ascend to heauen euery boy knoweth is a part of Christes exaltation and not of his humiliation Howe his note booke deuideth the Creede I know not but Saint Paule whence this diuision hath his ground saieth this is Christs exaltation that at the name of Iesus euerie knee should bow of things in heauen earth and vnder the earth which is hell His humiliation stretcheth no farther then the death of the Crosse then beginneth his exaltation With like discretion when I alledged the Parable from Christes owne mouth that his triumph ouer Satan must haue thrée parts the ouerrunning the binding the spoyling of Satan and his kingdome and further from that Parable I deriued nothing This wisdome to shew himselfe learned crieth out a fine toy or rather a shamefull gloze by vnsauorie allegorizing to corrupt the Text. Is this a good waie to prooue Articles of the fayth videlicet by Allegories As if the moste parte of Christes doctrine were not deliuered by Parables and Allegories The parables of the Sower of the labourers in the vineyard the husbandmen killing the heire of good trees straight gates of the lost sheepe vniust Steward and vnrighteous Iudge of Tares sowed by the enemie and haruest at the end of the world of the great Supper and wedding garment of the wounded Samaritane and wise virgins of the prodigall sonne and euill seruants one y t neglected his masters talent the other that imprisoned his fellow of the rich man Lazarus to be short the allegories of light of salt of leauen of chafâ—e of the vyne and branches of the good shepheard and a thousand such in the prophets Euangelists and Apostles do they teach no matters of faith What Buzzard was euer so blind as so to saie no points of faith maie be prooued by allegories Had I extended the Parable farder then Christ himselfe did or applied it to anie other purpose then he did there might haue beene some cause of quarrell but kéeping my selfe preciselie both to the Scope and words of our Sauiour I could not tread awrie But in a brauerie to chalenge all the Parables and allegories in the Scriptures as vnfitte to teach points of faith neuer came in anie sober mans head As you vse the Scriptures so you vse the Synode of this Realme that is you arrogantlie and absurdlie falsifie it The manifest meaning of the whole Synode of this Realme which is our publik doctrine and established by law in England APPARENTLY RENOVNCETH saie you this doctrine of Christs going downe to the hell of the damned If you prooue that you saie I must confesse it is verie materiall by Gods grace I my selfe will reuoke all that I haue said in this point but if you brag not onlie without cause but against the verie trueth and tenor of their proceedings are you not worthie in steede of H. I. to be named W. F but let vs heare how this appeareth Euen thus the Synode before holden in king Edwards time affirmed this doctrine directly and expresly in their article of Christs descent to hell This Synode comming after repeateth and ratisieth apart of that article in expresse words but part of it euen all and euerie whit that containeth this doctrine expreslie of Christs going downe to the hell of the damned all this I saie our Synode anno 1562 cutteth off it putteth out it casteth awaie The words are these of the former Synode Quemadmodum Christus pro nobis mortuus est sepultus ita est etiam credendus