subdue Sathan c. Written for the information and satisfaction of many mens mindes touching so weighty a matter but especially for the furthering of the Church of Scotlands full conformitie with that of England BY IAMES MAXVVELL Master of Artes c. PSAL. 122. verse 6. Pray for the peace of Ierusalem let them prosper that loue thee LONDON Printed by IOHN LEGATT Printer to the Vniuersitie of Cambridge 1617. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHERS IN GOD THE ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS HIS VERY GOOD LORDS AND OTHER LEARNED AND GRAVE PASTOVRS OF THE CHVRCH OF SCOTLAND IAMES MAXWELL WISHETH PEACE VNITIE AND CONCORD FROM THE GOD OF CONCORD AND PRINCE OF PEACE AND HVMBLY DEDICATETH FOR A TESTIMONIE OF HIS DVTY THIS PRESENT TREATISE OF CHRISTS DESCENDING INTO HELL A Demonstration of Christs Descending into Hell LIke as the dissensions and differences in matter of faith betwene Christian and Christian Greeke and Latine Papist and Protestant haue prooued the greatest scandall and offence to those that are without the bosome of the Church and the greatest hinderance of both Iewes and Gentiles conuersion vnto Christ that euer the hand of hell brought into the world or the diuell did deuise so the contentions and dissentions the diuisions and differences arising betweene Protestant and Protestant which haue a number of new denominations such as sorrow and shame will not so much as once suffer me to mention haue prooued questionlesse the greatest scandall of our reformed profession and the chiefest cause of many Papists auersenesse from Reformation And this may sufficiently appeare by their daily obiecting and hitting vs in the teeth with our diuisions and differences and telling vs that our Church is so farre denoide of Vnitie that euen the reformed subiects of one the same Soueraigne cannot be brought to an agreement in the matters and manner of Gods worship Witnesse say they there repugnant expositions vpon that article or particle of faith touching Christs descending into hell their discrepant doctrines touching the Princes ecclesiasticall power their generall auersenesse from Prelacie with their differences in matter of ceremonie Sacramentall Ministerie and Church-sernice And what other thing else say they can it be but a manifest token of a weake and ruinous Religion to say no worse when as the professours thereof Mat. 12.25 Mark 3.24.25 Luk. 11.17 can neither agree with other Christians nor yet with themselues according to that saying of our Sauiour Euery kingdome or house diuided against it selfe shall be brought to desolation For the preuenting of which euill and the remooning of which cursed scandall and cause of offence seeing that Almighty God hath raised vp our Soueraigne and endued him with a most diuine Spirit both for pregnancie and peaceablenesse far beyond all the other Princes of the earth yea and far beyond many professed diuines Isay 41 5 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 20 21 25. and that hee hath euen chosen our Iacob and taken him from the endes of the earth and called him before the chiefe thereof to speake with the Euangelicall Prophet Isay to be the chiefe instrument of so glorious a worke let vs in the consideration thereof both acknowledge the inestimablenesse of the blessing that Almightie God offereth vs by the hand of his seruant for Concord and Vnitie especially in the matters of God is an inestimable blessing vnto man and a thing most acceptable and agreable vnto God and let vs likewise acknowledge the fanourable prouidence of God towards vs disposing all things as for our greatest good so for our chiefe comfort and contentment in that he hath beene graciously pleased to picke out a King of the North to be the Bringer and Brocher of this blessing vnto vs according to that in the Prophet saying I haue raised vp from the North and he shall come Isay 41.25 from the East Sunne shall he call vpon my name and euen such a King of the North as hath loued vs so deerely as hee hath done and who would not for all the kingdomes of the world bring the Church of God or his owne natiue Country into any corrupt or dishonourable condition No I dare take it vpon my soule that it is his zeale and loue towards the glorie of God the honour and credite of our Country and the happie and more perfit constitution of our Church that hath set him a worke about so blessed a businesse as the working of a perfit agreement and full conformitie betweene the Churches of these two kingdomes For I suppose that no man is so far deuoide of comon sense but seeth sufficiētly how that both Pietie Policie Religion of Church and Reason of State doe require that Britaines which are the worshippers of one true God the seruants of one Sauiour the children of one Church and the subiects of one and the same Soueraigne should agree in all things belonging to Gods worship especially in all matters of faith such as is this present point of Christs descending into hell The which though all Christians doe professe to beleeue according to the letter yet we can not say that our verball or literall profession thereof is seconded with a solide consent in the meaning and sense For first the Papists vnderstand it of Christs descending in his soule to a certaine region or habitacle of hell called Limbus Patrum to deliuer the fathers an opinion voide of all good warrant for we shall make it more then apparant In our Latine disputation of the seate of soules both by Scripture and Doctors by authoritie and arguments that the soules of the beleeuing people vnder the law went not downe into any corner of hell for all that they can say to the contrary and though Zuinglius ioyne with them herein but to Paradise And as for our Protestant writers we see how some namely the Geneuians expound it of Christs suffering the sorrowes of hell in his soule before his death denying his descending in soule after death into hell to deliuer the faithfull from descending thither and to conquer and binde Sathan in his owne strongest holde though Mr. Caluin did not denie his foresaid locall descending after death but acknowledged it others expound it idly of Christs buriall others of his continuance in the graue vnder the power thereof for three daies others of his translating into the state of the dead and others most ridiculously haue deliuered that by the descending of Christs soule into hell is to bee vnderstood no other thing but the ascending thereof into heauen all which opinions are false fanaticall and friuolous and the doctrine of the Church of England and of some other reformed Protestants of Germanie is only orthodoxe and true to wit that our Sauiours soule beeing seuered from the Bodie which lay in the graue three daies went downe into the very loathsome dungeon of the damned for our sakes and not into any superiour Limbus Patrum as Papists do dreame partly to deliuer his elect children from descending thither and
name Thou shalt be to Aaron as God said the Lord to Moses whom he had made a soueraigne Prince ouer his people And againe I haue made thee a God to Pharaoh and Moses calleth the soueraigne Iudges by the name of Gods saying thou shalt not rayle vpon the Gods for so it is in the originall and the Psalmist to the same purpose speakes thus God stādeth in the assembly of Gods he iudgeth among Gods and againe he brings in the great God speaking thus of his little Gods I haue said ye are Gods yee are all children of the most high Sect. 9. In that Kings are called Gods That the Kingly dignitie is immediately from God wee learne sixe notable lessons hereafter following The first that the kingly power is immediately of and from God and not of man as both Geneuians and Romanes most erroniously doe hold for none can make of a man a God on earth but God in heauen neither is it in the power of man to make one Gods seruant or minister but we must leaue it vnto God himselfe to choose and ordaine his owne seruants And truely if the King were ordained of man as he is for the good of man and therefore is by Saint Peter called an ordinance of man the Apostle Paul would neuer haue named him Gods seruant and minister but mans 1. Pet. 2.13 Rom. 13.4.1 Chron 29.23 The King sitteth in the Lords throne saith the holy Chronicler now it belongeth not vnto man to set another man in Gods seate but must let this alone for God himselfe to doe The throne is Gods and not mans Psal 21.3.1 Sam. 9.15 16 17 10 1 24 13 13 14 16 1 2. 1. King 3.7 10.9 1 Chr 29 29 2 Chro 2.11 Nehe 13 26. Dan. 4.14.23 Prouerbs 8.15.16 Wisd 6.1 2.3 Rom. 13.1 4. and he that sitteth in it is Gods minister and not mans yea he is of God called God for man cannot make a man God and therefore Kings are immediately from God and not from man an argument that all the Geneuians and Romanes in the world shall neuer be able to answer And therefore to shut vp this first lesson for in our worke of kingly controuersies we disputeit more largely and accurately three Kings Dauid Salomor Hiram one Queene of Sheba one Prince Nehemiah one high Priest Samuel one chiefe Prophet Daniel one principall Apostle Paul yea Gods Angel and God himselfe doe all of them anouch that kings are chosen of God nominated sent crowned created and set in Gods throne by God himselfe and not by man Sect. 9. The second lesson that wee learne here is that the kingly dignitie is of all other dignities absolutely the greatest and the diuinest That the kingly dignity is the diuinest and greatest of all other Reuel 2. 3. Psal 82.6 Dan. 3.26 6.20 Ioh. 15.14 15. and not the priestly as both Romane Geneuians do erroniously suppose For first as none can be greater in heauen then the God of heauen or so great so none in earth can be greater then he who is called of God to be a God on earth nor none can beso great Secondly as the highest stile that can bee giuen to any is giuen to Kings so a lower stile is giuen to Prelates and Priests for they are in the Scripture no where called Gods but well are they named Angels so that as the Angels in heauen are inferiour to the God of heauen so are the Angels on earth to wit the chiefe Priests and Prelates inferiour vnto the Gods on earth which are Soueraigne Princes thirdly Princes are called the children of the most high where as Church-men are instiled onely the seruants and friends of the most high Psal 21.3 1. Chron. 29.23 Fourthly God putteth a crowne of golde vpon the Kings head and he setteth him in his owne throne to sit there for God as God so that as the Apostle speaking of the inferioritie of the Angels of heauen beeing compared with Christ the annointed of the Lord saith vnto which of the Angels said he at any time Heb. 1.13.14 sit at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstoole are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for their sakes which shall be heires of saluation In like manner may it be said in this matter touching the inferioritie of the Angels on earth that is prelates beeing compared with the Lords Christ and annointed one the Soueraigne Prince vnto which of the Angels on earth for Prelates are called Angels in the Reuelation seauen or eight times said the Lord euer sit in my throne Reuel 1.20 2.1.8 12 18 3 1 7 14. as hee saith vnto Kings yea I haue sought much in reading and could neuer finde in old Testament or new in Scripture or Father Greeke or Latine that euer the Lord said immediately or mediately vnto the great Archangel himselfe that sitteth in S. Angel sit thou in my throne for no man taketh or at least should take this honor vnto himselfe but he that is called of God as was Dauid or Salomon What are the angels on earth else then but as ministring spirits sent forth by the Gods on earth 2. Chro. 17 7 8 9. Exod 32.21.22 Numb 12 11 1. King 1.33 34. 2 Chton 29 11. Exod. 5.1 4 20 1 6.8 20. 10 20. 9 8 10 3 11 10 12 1. Psal 77 20. 2 Chron 24 12 13 14 31 13. the Christian Ichosophats to teach in Iuda through al the Cities of their kingdomes to minister the holy Sacraments to them that shal be heires of Saluation to gouerne the Church Fiftly the high priest Aaron calleth the Soueraigne Prince Moses his Lord and Salomon a king is called Zadoks the high Priest Lord Ezekiah a king calleth the priests his sons which doth argue the superioritie and maiestie of kings for the Lord is superior to his seruant and the Sonne inferiour to his father Sixtly the Spirit of God euery where placeth Kings before the chiefe Priests Moses and Aaron the King and Iehoiada Ezekiab the King and Azariah the chiefe of the house of God and preferreth the Princely dignitie before the priestly where they meete in one and the same person Moses in Genesis Gen. 14 18 Heb. 7 1 Exod 19.6 1. Pet. 2.9 Reuel 1.6 4.10 and Saint Paul to the Hebrewes doe obserue this order in Melchisedech whome they name a King and a Priest The same Moses or rather the Lord himselfe calleth his people a kingdome of Priests or a royall Priesthoode as speaketh Saint Peter and Saint Iohn in the Reauelation hath these words and made vs Kings and Priests vnto God and the same words are vsed of the foure and twenty Elders Seuenth ly Psal 2 6 20 9 24 7 8 9 10 29 10 95 3 98 6 Esther 13 9 15 14 3 12. Reuel 1.5 15 3 17 14 19 16
of equall dignitie and authoritie or whether or no there ought to bee amongst the multitude of Ministers some superiours to gouerne and some inferiours to be gouerned for good orders sake and to bee called for distinctions sake by different names applying or appropriating the common name of Bishop to the superiour and the common name of Presbyter Priest or Pastour to the inferiour And truly in the time of my owne Puritanisme and Geneuisme I was wont to presse this verball argument asmuch as any man to prooue thereby the paritie of pastours and there is not another argument to that purpose worth a pinne but in the end I found it both fallacious and friuolous for in the Scriptures Kings Apostles Act. 6. Rom. 13 4 1. Cor. 4 1. Colosi 1.25 1. Thess 3.2 1. Tim. 3.8.12 Prophets Euangelists Pastours and Deacous are called by the common name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministers or seruants of God and yet their Ministrations and seruices are not of the same nature nor of equall dignitie and the two names of presbyter or elder beeing referred to office and not to age and of Gouernour or Ruler or Ouerseer are conucrtible for euery Elder is a Gouernour and euery Gouernour is on Elder and yet the Elderships and Gouernments are distinct Numb 11 16.17 Ezra 10.8 Luk. 22.66 Act. 20.17 for some are called Lay-elders or elders of the people to wit in temporal matters and those were the Magistrates of the lewish Common-wealth and others are called Elders of the Church to wit Gouernours of the people in spirituall matters as Ministers of the Word and Sacraments so that both the one and the other were Elders and Gouernours and yet they were of different and distinct kindes the one temporall Elders and Gouernours of the people in the Common-weale the other spirituall Elders and Gouernours of the same people in the Church and semblably these spiritual Gouernours of the Church and Ministers of the word both Bishops and Presbyters or Priests are called by the common name of Presbyters Priests and Elders and likewise by the common name of Episcopi Bishops Superintendents or Ouerseers and yet they differ both in the obiect of their office and in their degree for the one are cheife Priests Elders of the Church and the other are inferiour Priests and Elders of the same Church the one are Bishops Superintendents and Ouerseers of the Laitie or people in spirituall things but the other are Bishops Superintendents and Ouerseers of the Clergie as well as of the Laitie and of their inferiour priests and pastours aswell as of the people in the same spirituall things In a word the Church of God being the best ordered Body that can be behoued to consist of Superiours to gouerne and of Inferiours to bee gouerned to wit of these two rankes Clergie and Laitte and as the Laitie was to bee gouerned by the Clergie as the children by the fathers and schollers by their masters so the Clergie being a great multitude was to haue order and gouernement in it selfe and therfore behoued to consist of superiours and inferiours likewise And to these ouerseers of the Church were assigned different names and titles for distinctions sake the Ouerseers or Rulers of the Church in the quarters of the world were called Patriarkes the Ouerseer and Ruler of the Church of a whole kingdome was called a Primate the Ouerseers and Rulers of the Clergie or Church in the seuerall Prouinces of a kingdome were called Archbishops and the Ouerseers or Rulers of the same Clergie in a diocesse or shiere were called Bishops like as the Ouerseers of the Laitie or people in a parish were called Presbyters Priests or Pastours for in the last Section of this worke wherein we doe entreate more at large of the honourable titles and maintenance of the ministerie we show likewise how that the Ministers of the Gospel ought not to disclaime the honourable stile and title of Priests Thus we see how that there must needs bee imparitie and inequalitie amongst Ministers except wee meane to make them a multitude without order and gouernment or else giue them from Geneua Lay-gouernours for amongst them the Elders of the Church which bee lay men being more in number to passe ouer their Lay-deacons doe gouerne the Ministers beeing the smaller number iudge and censure them both in life and doctrine and so are they well serued because they refused to bee gouerned by men of their owne order to wit by Bishops therefore God hath giuen them ouer to bee deluded derided debased and dishonoured by the Lay gouernment of those whom they ought to gouerne and rule as the Shepheard his sheepe the father his children the schoolemaster his schollers for amongst the Geneuians it is quite contrary where the Lay-elders as being more in number doe ouer-rule the Ministers as hath beene said But thankes bee vnto Almighty God for raising vp a Iacob from the North Isay 41.8 9 25. Reuel 1.20 12.7 and calling him from the endes of the earth to doe him seruice in restoring of his Church in the North to the ancient Angelicall forme and in banishing out of it the Grashopper-gouernment of Geneua and let all Britaines North and South Prouerb 30.27 euen as many as doe loue the likenesse of Ierusalems Angels better then of Geneuian Grashoppers say Amen Sect. 16 Thirdly the Church of England is more like the Church in heauen for holinesse then the Geneuian is The Church of England more heauen-like for holines Isay 6.1 2 3 Reul 4. 5.8 12.13 7.15 for in heauen the Angels and blessed Spirits keepe euery day holy incessantly praising God and saying holy holy holy is the Lord of hostes the whole world is full of his glory so saith the euangelicall Prophet Isay in the old Testament diuine S. Iohn in the new saith that they cease not day nor night to say and to sing holy holy holy Lord God almighty which was and which is and which is to come that they serue him day and night in his Temple saying Praise and honour and glory and power bee vnto him that sitteth vpon the throne and vnto the Lambe for euer more and the foure said Amen Now the Church of England is farre holier then the Geneuian because the Geneuians are not so holy as the Iewes were nor haue not so many holy dayes as they had for besides the two and fifty Sabbaths of the yeare Exod. 12.14 15 16 17 18. 13.6.7 20.8 9 10. 23.12 14 15 16 17. 38.18 Deut. 16. Ester 9.17 18 19 21 26 27 28 29. 30 31. 1. Machab. 4.43 44 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59. which are the Geneuian holy dayes they had other holy dayes and festiuities which they did obserue as of the Passeouer of the first fruites of Tabernacles and of Purim instituted by Queene Ester and Mordecai and of the dedication of the Altar instituted by Machabaeus But the English like