23.43.46 the other in that he said a dying Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit but neither doth the one nor the other argument conclude punctually First the argument doth not follow Christs Spirit was in his fathers hands Ergo it was not in hell for Gods hands is in hell aswell as in heauen according to that of the Psalmist speaking of our Sauiour belike by way of prophesie If I ascend into heauen thou art there if I lie downe in hell thou art there Psal 139 8 yea the hand of the Father was with his Sonne in hell in a fatherly manner fortifying him in his conflict against the furie of the whole infernall forces like as his hand and Spirit was with him to raise him vp from the dead Rom. 8.11 as the Apostle teacheth Neither doth the other argument follow Christ was that day or night in Paradise Ergo he did not descend into hell for to speake nothing of his beeing in Paradise in his Godhead I say that in his very soule hee might without all repugnancie haue gone first to Paradise which was the place due vnto him beeing considered as a most perfit and iust man free from sinne and afterwards to hell which was the place due to all sinners and euen to him in so farre as hee became the pledge and surety for sinners a sufferer for them both of death and dishonour and a deliuerer of them from sinne and Sathan from Gods hatred and hell But Godwilling in our Latine disputation of the Seate of soules we shall handle the point of our Sauiours going to Paradise more accurately where wee shall likewise dispute the question of the place situation existence and vse of the terrestriall Paradise and shall by certaine probable arguments make it apparant how that it was created in the heart of the world vpwards like as hell was created in the heart of the earth downwards And there shall wee refute an errour of the learned Spanish Iesuite Pererius and of our Geneuians touching the non-existence of Paradise like as in our worke called Dies Domini which deliuereth the doctrine of Hebrewes Greekes and Latines Theologians Philosophers and Historians touching the worlds beginning lasting and ending wee doe refute the same Iesuites and some of our owne Protestants common errour touching the worlds beginning in the moneth of September and that by diuers new arguments besides the authorities of Theologians Astrologians and Philosophers VI. Sixtly as the holy Scripture doth auouch our Sauiours descending into hell in his soule after death in the foresaid fiue respects so doth the Catholicke or vniuersall Churches common Confession of faith auerre it as may appeare by our common Creed commonly called the Creede of the Apostles wherein after the mention of our Sauiours buriall is immediately subioyned his descending into hell like as after his rising from the dead he is said to haue ascended into heauen Neither could this point haue beene expressed in plainer words then it is for plainnesse was fittest for the expression of the common faith of Christians The motion of ascending and the place thereof heauen are both of them taken literally and properly and therefore their contraries descending and hell must likewise be properly taken without running to a figure And we may as well denie that in the Creed ascending signifieth a local motion vpwards and that heauen signifieth the seate of God and the receptacle of the blessed Spirits and with all say that by our Sauiours ascending into heauen is signified no other thing else but his enioying of some spirituall solace and heauenly ioy as to denie that his descending is a locall motion downewards and that hell is the seate of Sathan and of his slaues and as to say with the Genenians that by Christs descending into hell is nothing else meant but his feeling of some spirituall sorrowes or hellish horror If hell must be taken by a figure in the Creed then heauen in the same Creede shall bee but another figure and so should our Creed be but a Creed of figures and our faith a faith of figures And to say that there are many Creedes and confessions of faith wherein there is no mention made of Christs descending into hell it doth not argue that the authors and makers of those confessions did not beleeue this point for other clauses are likewise often wanting as namely in the Nicene Creede these words Borne of the Virgin Mary he was buried hee sitteth on the right hand of God I beleeue the Catholike Church the communion of Saints the resurrestion of the body and the life euerlasting aswell as those wordes he descended into hell And yet the Fathers no doubt were aswell perswaded of these things they left out as they were of those things they put in Againe it is sufficient that in none of the Creedes and confessions that euer were published aboue threescore the descending of Christ into hell is denied for yee shall not reade in one of them all such a clause I beleeue that Christs soule beeing seuered from the body went not downe into hell but ascended vp into heauen But not onely is it not denied so much as in one Creede of many but also it is affirmed expressely in some Creedes as namely in that of the Apostles and in that of Saint Athanasius and implicitly it is in all the Creedes and confessions that euer were made for more then fifteene hundreth yeares together for it is implied in the word suffered and in the word died For in Christ the Mediatours death are these three parts the separation of the soule from the body the collocation of the body being dead in the graue as being the bodies chamber of death and the migration of the seuered soule into the blacke house of death which is hell where it behooued the soules of all men to bee imprisoned except the Sonne of God by descending into that dungeon had deliuered and exempted all beleeuing soules from descending Psal 107.14 16. Iob 38.17 For he it was that brake those gates of brasse and brast the barres of yron asunder and to him the gates of hell and of death were opened for feare It is certaine that Christs soule went to some place after death and in the Creede wee finde no place mentioned but hell or heauen now in it there is mention made of his descending into hell after death but there is no mention made of his soules ascending vntill at what time being risen after forty daies aboade with his Disciples hee ascended visibly in his whole humane nature And that he ascended not into heauen before that time wee may gather it out of his owne wordes to Mary Magdalen Ioh. 20.17 saying Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father there is not so much as one letter in the whole Scripture that sheweth that our Sauiour was to ascend twice to heauen or that his soule was to descend twice from heauen the which double
5 6 7 8. for the expressing of his owne inward action but the Spirit of God doth designe the outward act of signing for the expressing of his owne inward action of spirituall sealing as both Ezekiel in the olde Testament and Saint Iohn in the new doe witnesse and therefore the Church may and ought to vse the same outward act of signing Tenthly the Church is bound to declare and notifie the grace of Gods Spirit working in men and euen to make men as sensible of the workes of Gods Spirit in them as they can conueniently now it is one of the workes of Gods Spirit and a chiefe worke too to seale men in their soules inwardly and to stampe them as it were with the print of his Image vnto the day of redemption 2. Cor. 1.22 5.5 Ephes 1.13 4.30 as the Apostle speaketh and therefore for the Church to make men sensible of this internall and mysticall sealing of Gods Spirit by the meanes of such a conuenient and decent sensible signe as that of the Crosse though there were no particular mention at all made in the whole Scripture of any such externall gesture or act of signing on the fore-head must needes be lawful and commendable Eleuenthly by this Signe the Church putteth her children in minde of their owne miserie and of Gods mercy of Christs loue towards them and of their duty and affection towards him for his vnspeakeable loue and therefore it tendeth to edification Twelfthly this ceremonie was receiued and practised of the primitiue Church neither is there any ecclesiasticall writer or Father Greeke or Latine but maketh honourable mention of it as we shall shew particularly in our Commentaries of the persecution and peace of the Church and therefore we ought to vse it now if it were no more but to shew our conformitie with the primitiue Church for the daughter ought to follow the footesteps of her mother in all lawfull and commendable actions and ought not to depart from her otherwise shee shall both dishonour her mother and discredit her selfe And questionlesse the want of this primitiue ceremonie and others the like in some reformed Churches hath brought a most dangerous discredite vpon the reformation and made it obnoxious vnto the suspition and odious imputation of the same noueltie in the very substance which it carrieth amongst them in the out side circumstance And therfore those venerable Bishops that reformed the Church of England considering wisely with themselues how that men are so apt to censure of the inside by the outside especially in Church matters and to iudge of doctrine and pietie by the externall discipline and ceremonie retained stil the primitiue discipline and auncient ceremonies of that Church but banished the abuses And would to God the Church of Geneua had done the like for so our common aduersaries should not haue had so good and iust cause as they haue to hit them in the teeth with their noueltie as though their Church had newly crept or leapt out of the Leman nian lake or had beene conceiued of Caluin and borne of Beza Thirtenthly and lastly the enemies of the signe of the crosse can not bring so much as one good authoritie or probable argument for their opinion not the letter of the Scripture for they see that the letter fauoureth it both in the olde Testament and new not the sense of the Scripture as it hath beene deliuered by the fathers of the Church for they know that they are all for it and as for reasons deriued from the light of nature or Scripture from Theologie or Philosophie Diuinitie or humanitie they can bring none worth the hearing for I haue read diligently their bookes and was once a Puritane my selfe except it bee this one The Church of Rome hath abused the signe of the crosse and therefore the reformed Church ought to forbeare it least wee should seeme to fauour or follow their abuses But I wonder but they should remember better that olde maxime abusus non tollit vsum some folkes abusing of a thing doth not hinder or let but that others may vse it aright And doe they not thinke that the Church of Rome doth abuse praying and preaching and Churches and pulpits and kneeling and Godfathers and Godmothers aswell as crossing and yet we doe not forbeare these things because of their abuse neither is there any reason why we should doe so but rather great reason to the contrary The Church of Rome doth abuse ceremonies therfore the reformed Church ought to vse them aright to the end that in so doing shee may both show her selfe like and conforme vnto her Mother the Primitiue Church and by her good example doe what shee can out of Christian charity to reforme and amend her straying sister the deformed Romish Church And so I end this my plaine disputation for the signe of the crosse in Baptisme beseeching my countrymen to take it in good part euen for his sake that suffered vpon the Crosse The Church of England more heauen like for honour of the Ministery Sect. 21. Eightly the Church of England is liker then the Geneuian to the heauenly Church in the dignitie and honourable estate of the Ministerie In heauen Gods Ministers are honoured with the holiest stile of Priests and with the highest stile of Princes for as vnder the highest of Priests they are Priests so vnder the highest of Princes they are Princes And therefore we reade in the Reuelation how that blessed Saint Iohn calleth the Bishops of the seauen Churches by the honourable stiles of Kings and Angels Reuel a. 1.4 5 6 2. 3. 5.3 9 10 12 13 14 7 10 12 8 3.4 and the foure and twentie Elders doe magnifie the Lambe for making them vnto God Kings and Priests to raigne or rule vpon the earth Answerably whereunto in the Church of England the reuerend Fathers of the Church are graced by the Soueraigne Prince representing the Lambe and the Lyon of the tribe of Iudah with the honourable title and dignitie of Lords and Barons And good reason surely seeing that the Gouernours of the Church vnder the Gospell are to be rather more then lesse honoured then were the Gouernours of the Church vnder the law in so farre as the Ministerie of the Gospell is much more honourable and glorious then that of the law 2. Cor. 3.7 8 9 10 11. as the Apostle expressely auoucheth And that the Ministers and Gouernours of the Church vnder the olde Testament were called by honourable titles it may appeare in that Moses a prophet Exod. 3. 4 16 18 1. Sam. 1.3.9 15 7 8 9 10 15 16 17 Deut. 17 8 9 10 11 12 2. Chron. 17 7 19 8 9.10 11 Ezech. 44 24 1. Sam. 1.9.14 15 16 17 18 26 4 18 1. King 17 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20.21 22 23 24 18 3 4 7 9 12 13 2. King 1.13 14 4
thereon but was free among the dead as it is in the eighty eight Psalme that is to say Psal 88.4 5 6 free from the tormenting flames and paines of hel fire And though he was laid in the lowest pit in darknes and in the deepe as the Psalmist there subioyneth immediately prophesying of Christs descending into the lowest hell and not into any vpper Limbus patrum and that he was brought downe into the diuels darke dungeon into the den of the roaring and deuouring Lyon to haue seased vpon his soule and to haue kept it captiue yet was the diuell disappointed and was so far from detaining our Sauiours soule in captiuitie as that he himselfe was by him captiuated boūd vp in chaines of darkenes for the Apostle to the Ephesians Ephes 4.8 testifieth that he led captiuitie captiue So that he that did once lye downe and couch as a Lyon as the Patriarke Iacob in blessing his Son Iudah prophesied of Iesus Gen. 49.6 Reuel 5.5 the Lyon of the tribe of Iudah so soone as the denouring olde Lyon the diuell hauing him in his denne began to rowse and stirre him vp and to encounter with him for then was the King of heauens great Lyon baiting hee left of to be Couchant and became Rampant and graspling with him gaue him the foile and entered to the spoyle according as Iacob had prophesied saying Iudah as a Lyons whelpe Isay 53.12 shalt thou come vp from the spoile and Isay likewise in the place before alleadged saying He shall deuide the spoile with the strong as the A postle in the Epistle to the Colossians testifieth that he did saying and hath spoiled the principalities and powers Colos 2.15 and hath made a show of them openly II. Secondly our Sauiours descent into hell is in the Scripture not onely by typicall prefigurations both personall and reall as hath bin now shewed but also by expresse propheticall predictions For Dauid who was both a type and a Prophet of Christ prophesieth of it in many places Psal 16.10 18.5 30.3 88.6 and namely in the 16. Psalme saying Thou wile not leaue my soule in hell and in the 18. The sorrowes of hell hane compassed me and in the 13. Lord thou hast led forth my soule out of hell and in the 88 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit in darkenesse and in the depth and so hath Zacharie prophesied of his descending into the very dungeon of the damned Zach. 9.11 12 and not into any Limbus patrum as the Papists suppose when he saith in his ninth chapter prophesying there of Christ I haue loosed thy prisoners out of the pit wherin is no water And if any one aske what these prisoners were that were thus loosed by our Sauiours descending I answer that all the elect soules of Gods children were in effect prisoners of hell and that they were indeed deliuered and loosed out of that prison by the vertue of Christs personall descending though they were not presentially and personally there themselues For God doth deliuer men from dangers and euils tam praeueniendo quam subueniendo aswell by preuention before the fall as by subuention when they haue fallen The Romane Doctors indeed expound this place of Christs descending into a certaine blacke border of hell which they call Limbus patrum to deliuer the Patriarkes soules from thence for as for the pit or prison of the damned from thence they hold there is no redemption But truly they are deceiued in their opinion for the pit or prison whereunto our Sauiour did descend is called the lowest pit in the Scripture and so must needes bee the prison of the damned Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit in darkenes Psal 88.6 and in the deepe saith the Prophet Dauid prophecying of his Sons descending into the Iowest hell And the Prophet Zacharie calling it a pit without water intimateth that it is a pit full of fire and consequently no Limbus patrum nor blacke border of hell fire but hell fire it selfe And in our Latine disputation of the Seate of Soules as we shall proue both by Scriptures authoritie and Fathers testimonie that the soules of the faithfull Iewes before Christ were in no subterraneall pit or prison but in Paradise so shall we dispute another noble question whether or no the soules of the vertuous Gentiles were deliuered from the lowest pit Zach 9.11 12 Psal 107.10 11 12 13 14. at our Sauiours descending and whether this place of Zacharie of our Sauiours loosing of those prisoners of hope out of the pit wherin is no water and that of the Psalmist of the breaking of the bondes of such as did dwell in darkenes and sit in the shaddow of death and that of the Prophet Isay Isay 61.1 prophecying of our Sauiours preaching libertie to the captiues and to them that are bound Luke 418. 1. Pet. 3.18 19 20. 4.5 6. the opening of the prison as it is likewise in the Gospell of S. Luke and those words of S. Peter when hee saith that our Sauiour being dead in his body but quick or liuing in his Spirit for so readeth the Syrian text went by the same Spirit and preached to the Spirits in prison which were in times past disobediēt And finally those other words of the same Apostle for vnto this purpose was the Gospell preached also vnto the dead that they might bee condemned according to men in the flesh but might liue according to God in the spirit Isay 53.12 Mat. 12.29 Ephes 4.8 Colos 2.15 whether I say these places of Scripture and others the like wherein mention is made of our Sauiours spoyling of hell and Sathan and of his leading captiuitie captiue may perhaps be probably vnderstood of his powerfull and mercifull deliuering from hell some of the soules of the vertuous Gentiles as of their Philosophers Law giuers Gouernours Kings Queenes and other priuate persons renowned for their wisedome prudence fortitude temperance bounty chastity iustice mercy and generally for their ciuill carriage and morall conuersation such as were Hermes Trismegistus Zoroaster Socrates Plato Aristotle Pythagoras Homer Phocilides Theognis Epictetus Cicero and such as were Hercules Theseus Cyrus Solon Lycurgus Aristides Cimon Timotheus Epamis nondas Tarina Camilla Nicaula Pauthaea Penelope Artemisia and others the like For my owne part I doe professe such loue to those vertuous wights for their vertues sake that I had rather condemne twenty such opinions as that of the subterraneall Limbus patrum then to damne eternally the soule of one Socrates or of one Cyrus let alone of a Salomon concerning whom we shall likewise dispute the question whether his soule went to Paradise or to the hell of the damned and shall proove the saluation of his soule against Cardinall Bellarmine and other his Romish damners by many authorities arguments III. Thirdly our Sauiours descending into hell Iob 38.17 is in the Scripture by pregnant historicall allusion In
the booke of Iob the greeke interpreters allude thereunto most euidently for the English of the Septuagints reading of the 17. verse of the 38. chapter is thus Were the gates of hell opened vnto thee for feare and did the Porters of hell at the sight of thee shrinke for feare and in the translation according to the hebrew it is thus Haue the gates of death beene opened vnto thee or hast thou seene the gates of the shaddow of death and in the Gospell Mat. 12.24 25 26 29 28 29. our Sauiour himselfe alludeth disertly thereunto when he saith in the Gospell Else how can a man enter into a strong mans holde except he first bind the strong man and then spoile his house where note how that immediately before hee spake of his casting out of diuels and his ouercomming of them which argueth that Christ was to conquer the diuell for all his strength in his owne house and both to foyle him and spoile him in his owne strongest hold IIII. Fourthly our Sauiours locall descending into hell is in the Scripture by Euangelicall explication or application for S. Matthew in the same twelfth chapter Mat. 12.39 40 where he entreateth of our Sauiours casting out of diuels and of his entering into the strong mans house to binde him and spoile him testifieth that Ionah in his being three daies and three nights in the Whales belly was a type or figure of our Sauiours being three daies three nights in the heart of the earth which cannot be vnderstood of the place of his Body but of the seate of his soule as wee haue showed before V. Fifthly Mat. 10.2 Act. 2.26.27 30.31 Christs locall descent into hell is in Scripture by Apostolicall asseueration For first S. Peter the prime Apostle in the second of the Acts mentioning both the parts of our Sauiours humanitie to wit his soule and flesh showeth how God had preordained that neither should his soule be subiect to detention or destruction in hell nor yet his body to detention or corruption in the graue Psal 16.8 9 and he expoundeth the Prophet Dauids words in the sixteenth Psalm Thou will not leaue my soule in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption of the resurrection of Christ that his soule should not be left in hell neither his flesh should see corruption For as the resurrectiō could not be atchiued without a combination of Christs body and his soule 1. Pet. 3.18.19 4.6 so it behoued the soule aswell to rise in a manner out of hell where it lay downe like the Lyon couchant of the tribe of Iudah as the body to rise out of the graue or tombe where it was laide The same Apostle in his first Epistle teacheth the same doctrine in two seuerall places the one where he saith that Christ beeing put to death concerning the flesh but quickned in the Spirit according to the greeke text or being quicke and liuing in the Spirit according to the Syrian went by the same Spirit and preached vnto the Spirits in prison the other where he saith that the Gospell was preached vnto the dead to the end that they might liue according to God in the Spirit And as S. Peter the prime Apostle for so the Scripture calleth him in the three places now alleadged affirmeth Christs descending into hell in his soule Mat. 10.2 Mark 3.16 so S. Paul in as many places doth the like The first place is in the tenth to the Romanes where he affirmeth both his ascending into heauen and his descending into the deepe or bottomlesse pit which is hell Rom. 10.6.7 Say not in thine heart saith hee who shall ascend into heauen that is to bring Christ from aboue or who shall descend into the a byssus deepe or bottomles pit that is to bring Christ from the dead where note that the Greeke word abyssus which our English haue translated the deepe is neuer taken for the graue but for hell and the bottomlesse pit it is often taken as in Luke the eight Luk. 8.31 Reuela 9.1.2.11 11.7 20.1.3.7.10.14.15 in the ninth of the Reuelation thrise in the eleuenth once and in the twentieth twise where it is likewise called Sathans prison and the lake of fire and brimstone The second place where S. Paul teacheth Christs descent into hell is the fourth to the Ephesians thus Now in that hee ascended what is it but that bee also descended first into the lowest parts of the earth where the lower or lowest parts of the earth can signifie no other thing but that Ephes 4.8.9 10. which he calleth the deepe or bottomlesse pit in the Epistle to the Romanes for as he maketh an expresse opposition betweene ascending and descending which are contrary motions so doth he between the two opposite places to wit the highest part of heauen and the lowest part of the earth The third and the last place is the second to the Colossians where speaking of our Sauiours Mediatourship hee vseth these words amongst other Colos 2.15 And hath spoiled the principalities and powers and hath made a show of them openly and hath triumpbed ouer them in himselfe for so readeth the Syrian text and the Greeke text likewise in most part of bookes together with the Latine of Saint Hierome of Erasmus of Delanus of Castalso of Stephanus of the Tigurins or Leo Iuda and of Arrias Montanus where as the Geneuian translation of Beza attributeth this triumph to Christ on the Crosse contrary to the common translation and exposition of tenne of the Doctors of the Primitiue Church as shall bee shewed other where And truely Christ did triumph ouer the Principalities and powers when as hee did binde Sathan and by his presence terrifie the whole infernall forces the which thing hee did not on the crosse for there hee suffered himselfe to bee foyled and ouercome but hee did it in Sathans owne house and strongest holde So that his triumph began in hell in respect of his soules diuine vanquishing of the diuell like as it began in the graue in respect of his Bodies powerfull rising from death to life and it was finished both in soule and body when hee gloriously ascended into heauen So that they are mightily deceiued which doe thinke our Sauiour triumphed ouer Sathan and hell vpon the crosse for atriumph doth alwaies follow vpon a perfit victorie and doth not goe before it much lesse before the conflict as our Geneuians would ridiculously haue it Thus we see twentie expresse passages of Scripture for our Sauiours descending into hell after death for so many haue we alleadged from the first to the last where as the Geneuians can not produce so much as one text bearing that Christs soule went not to hell only out of two texts in the Gospell they draw an argument against his descending the one in that he said to the penitent thiefe To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Ioh.
descension and ascension are inferred necessarily of the Geneuian doctrine And as the word died in the Creede doth imply our Sauiours descending in soule to the house of death though not to dye for Christs soule could not dye but to ouercome death and to destroy the author of death the diuell as the Apostle speaketh so doth the word of suffering the like 1. Cor. 15.55 Heb. 2.14 For Christ suffered the greatest humiliation and deiection that could be for mans cause and therefore it behooued his soule to be humbled vnto hell and without this hee had not beene subiected to the highest degree of humiliation in his soule as hee was to bee answerably to the humiliation of his body which was in the highest degree euen vnto the death of the crosse like as for that cause God exalted him both in body and soule in the highest degree Philip. 2.6 7 8 9 10 11. as the Apostle teacheth So that we see that Christs locall descending into hell is denied in no Creede but expressed in some and implied in all VII Seauenthly the locall descent of Christs soule into hell is confirmed by the common consent and constant profession of the Doctors of the primitiue Church in their Sermons Homilies Commentaries Expositions and Glosses vpon the places of Scripture aboue alleadged about twenty in number and vpon the Creede especially this article thereof as shall bee shewed more particularly in our Latine worke by the expresse testimonies of these three and forty Fathers Doctours and writers Hebrewes Greekes and Latines Thaddaeus Ignatius Iustinus Martyr Irenaeus Tertullianus Origines Cyprianus Arnobius Lactantius Eusebius Athanasius Hilarius Socrates Basilius Gregorius Nazianzenus Ambrosius Hieronimus Ruffinus Epiphanius Chrysostomus Augustinus Cassianus Caesarius Philippus Presbyter Cyrillus Primasius Euthymius Theodoretus Leo Vigilius Fulgentius Cassiodorus Beda Titus Bostrensis Didimus Ioannes Damascenus Theophylactus Oecumenius Bernardus Prudentius Petrus Chrysologus Rabbi Hoccadosh Rab. Simeon whereunto shal be added some sixe or seauen Councels as of Ephesus Chalcedon Alexandria Constantinople Toledo Arles and others So that if the Fathers of the Church haue any weight or authority amongst the Geneuians they shall soone see themselues in a manifest errour which God grant they may as soone amend VIII Eightly Christs locall descent into hell after death is confirmed by the ingenuous reception and subscription of the most part of learned protestant writers as we shall show in our Latine worke by the testimonies of some thirty to wit Luther Calum Peter Martyr Bullmger Pomeran Pellican Chytraeus Aepinus Bucer Illyricus Selneccer Lossius Hemingius Aretius Rulandus Marlerat Vrbanus Rhegius Lauater Vitus Theodorus Mylius Musculus Mollerus Westhemerus Heresbachius Felinus our countrimen Alexander Alesius or Aeleis Bishop Latimer and Robert Samuel Martyrs Deane Nowell Master Foxe with the reuerend Bishops and learned Doctors of Fngland in the time of King Edward the sixt and afterwards to this present day of the happy raigne of King Iames the sixt together with the whole Lutheran Protestants in Denmarke Norway Sweden Poland Boheme Hungary and other parts of Germany with some of those whome they call Caluinians as namely that most learned and iudicious Italian diuine Hieronymus Zanchius IX Ninethly the doctrine of Christs locall descending into hell is prooued by irrefragable reasons for first the doctrine of the Church of England doth illustrate commend and magnifie the loue of God towards mankinde where as the doctrine of Geneua obscureth ecclypseth and diminisheth it exceeding much For it is an argument of great loue that the Sonne of God would daigne to descend from his throne and seate of maiestie into this earth of vilitie and misery which is his foote-stoole but it is an argument of farre greater loue that for our sakes he would yet descēd lower euen so low as to take upon him the shape of a seruant and in that shape to suffer so shamefull a death as that vpon the crosse but it argueth the highest degree of loue that could bee in that for our sakes hee would descend so low as into the lowest hell the vile and loathsome dungeon of the damned to the end that we should not descend thither nor be damned Secondly the very Ground whereupon the Geneuians doe found their doctrine of Christs suffering the pangs of hell doth prooue pregnantly this very point which they denie of Christs descending into hell in his soule The ground is this It behooued the Mediatour of sinfull mankinde to suffer what was due to sinfull mankinde whereupon it followeth necessarily that he suffered the highest degree of humiliation to wit to be humbled vnto hell in his soule as his Bodie was humbled vnto the shame of the crosse the graue for sinfull mankinde had deserued this deiection and should haue beene humbled so farre for his sinfull and proud rebelling against God if our Redeemer had not humbled himselfe in our stead and for our sakes to exempt and deliuer vs from this ignominie Yea their very doctrine is contradictory to it selfe for they hold that Christ was to suffer the torments of hell in his soule and yet they will not haue him goe to hell which two assertions cannot well stand together for though that the soule may feele the horror or apprehend the feare terror of hell out of hel Psal 18.4 5 Mat. 26.37.38 39 42 46 Mar. 14.33 34 35 36 15 34 that our Sauiours soule did so in the garden and vpon the crosse according as the Prophet Dauid had prophesied of him saying the sorrowes of death and of hell haue compassed me about and as our Sauiour said of himselfe My soule is very heauy euen vnto the death and as the Euangelists doe testifie of him that hee began to waxe sorrowfull and grieuously troubled to bee afraid and in great beauinesse and euen in such an agonie vpon the apprehension of the fearefull cup of Gods wrath that he sweat drops of blood and afterwards cried out that he felt himselfe in a manner forsaken of his Father for our sakes for a while all which soule-suffering the Apostle Peter calleth by the name of the sorrowes of death and Dauid the sorrowes of hell though I say that our Sauiour suffered in his soule for our sakes these horrours and terrors of hell in the very garden and on the crosse yet he could not suffer the pangs paines or torments of hell without being in hell no more then one can enioy the ioyes of heauen out of heauen But the truth is that Christs soule was no more capable of those torments of hell then it was of desperation or damnation And though he descended into hell yet it was not to suffer torment but only the highest degree of humiliation and debasement and with all to begin his highest exaltation in the same very place where his lowest humiliation did end Thirdly the doctrine of the Church of England doth magnifie and set out the Maiestie of Christs victorie and conquest where as the doctrine