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
partly to binde Sathan in chaines of darkenesse and to triumph ouer him in his strongest hold The which doctrine is verified and iustified both by Scriptures authoritie and Churches testimony euen both by Gods word and mans First by typicall prefiguration secondly by propheticall prediction thirdly by pregnant historicall allusion fourthly by euangelicall explication and application fiftly by apostolicall asseueration sixtly by all ancient Christians common and Catholike confession seuenthly by Primitiue Doctors consent vnanime profession eightly by the most part of learned Protestants ingenuous reception subscription ninthly by irrefragable reason and demonstration tenthly and lastly by the consideration of such opposions dissentions and contradictions as the oppugners of our Sauiours locall descending haue fallen into about this point and of the absurde vnlearned and ridiculous yea impious expositions that the Genenians haue deuised of such Scriptures as do most cleerly euince the truth of this article The impiousnesse of which their doctrine shall appeare by our showing how in some things they doe iumpe with the Iewish enemies and opposers of the Messias his suffering death and descending into hell to destroy the author of death and in some things with the ancient Hereticks Arrians and Apollinarians which did denie our Sauiours humane reasonable soule and therefore did expound those places of Scripture wherin mention is made of the beeing of our Sauiours soule in hell after his death in the same manner that the Geneuians and other vpstarts haue done of the preciser sort Whereas the Doctors of the Primitiue Church which oppugned those heretickes did expound them as the Church of England I meane the reuerend Bishops and other learned Doctors thereof that haue beene since the daies of King Edward the sixt of famous memorie vntill this present time of the happie raigne of our most learned and religious Soueraigne King Iames the sixt Which being well considered the Church of Scotland shall see how that they haue a thousand times better reason for them to ioyne with the Church of England and with the ancient orthodoxe and true Catholike Christians then to iumpe with the new Geneuians or any of the condemned hereticks in the expounding such places of Scripture I. And first I say that there is in the Scripture Gen. 37.24 Ionah 1.17 2.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 typicall prefiguration both personall and reall of our Sauiours descending into hell namely Iosephs putting into the pit without water by his brethren mentioned in the 37. chapter of Genesis and Ionah his being in the belly of the Whale in the midst of the sea three daies three nights as it is in the first and second chapters of his prophesie And therein our Sauiour himselfe affirmeth that Ionah was a type or figure of him and that his foresaid condition was a figure or signe of his owne being after death in the hart of the earth Mat. 12.39.40 as it is in the twelfth of S. Matthewes Gospell for as Ionas saith our Sauiour was three daies and three nights in the whales belly so shall the sonne of man be three daies and three nights in the bea rt of the earth The which cannot be vnderstood of our Sauiours buriall as our Geneuians would make vs beleeue for his graue was not neere the heart of the earth nor Christs body was not in the belly of the earth but both were in the head face or top of the earth and not within it but without it for it was a tombe hewen out of a rocke as it is in the Gospell and so those words of Ionah were verified in the person of Iesus really Mat. 27.60 Out of the belly of hell cried I and againe Thou hast brought vp my soule from the pit for as Ionab was in the middest of danger without danger in the bottome of the sea without being drowned so was our Redeemer Iesus in the middest of danger without danger and euen in the bottome of the fiery pit without being burned or consumed thereby as Ionah was in the belly of the Whale without being destroyed so was Iesus his soule in Leuiathans belly which is hell without being deuoured of Leuiathan the roaring and denouring Lyon And as Ionah as brought vp from the bottome of the sea so was Iesus his soule brought vp from the bottome of the pit wherein is no water but all fire and is so deepe that it is said to bee without bottome And as Iosephs being in that pit without water and Ionahs being in the Whales belly and in the bottome of the sea were personall types and prefigurations of our Sauiours beeing in hell so haue we in the Scripture reall types and prefigurations thereof for as the bloody Sacrifices of the law did shaddow out our Sauiours bloody sacrificing of his blessed Body vpon the Crosse for our sins in which doing he shut vp all those bodily and bloody sacrifices with a solemne Consummatum est saying it is finished so the burnt offerings of the law did fore shew how our Sauiour should offer his soule for an holocaust or burnt offering Ioh. 19.30 according as the Euangelical Prophet Isay had fore tolde saying in the fiftie three chapter He was taken out from prison and from iudgement and was cut out of the land of the liuing for the transgression of my people was he plagued Isay 53.8 9 10.11.12 hee made his graue with the wicked and with the rich in his death though he had done no wickednesse and hee shall make his soule an offering for sinne c. Hee shall diuide the spoile with the strong because hee had powred out his soule vnto death In which words the Prophet pointeth out our Sauiours imprisonment araignement iudgement execution the crucifying and burying of his bodie which was the bloody sacrifice that put an end vnto all bloody sacrifices with his powring out of his soule vnto death and making it an offering for sinne to wit a burnt offering Where obserue well that though our Sauiour offered his very soule to be a burnt offering for the expiation of the sinnes of our soules as hee had done before his bodie for a bloody sacrifice to expiate the sinnes of our bodies yet had not the flames of hel any power thereupon in which respect the three children were a type of him in their walking in the midst of the seuen times hote fiery furnace Dan. 3.21 22 23 24 25 26 27 6 16 22 23 without any hurt as it is in the third of Daniel Yea Daniel himselfe being in the Lyons den without any harme as it is in the sixt chapter was a type and figure of our Sauiours conquering condition in hell that though hee had offered the Lambe of his blessed body to the shambles of the shame full and accursed crosse to be slaine and the Turtleedoue of his diuine soule to the hote furnace to be burnt such burning loue he bare vs yet could not hell fire take any hold
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
in well doing if any man to wit beeing a brother obey not our sayings note him by a letter and haue no compante with him that he may be ashamed yet count him not as an enemie but admonish him as abrother And though it bee true that the beleeuing Soueraigne aswel as the Subiect is a brother in Christianitie and might well haue beene so called by our blessed Sauiour and his Apostle yet I say it doth not appeare that they vnderstood by the title of brother in those places but such as did then beleeue the Gospell who were all subiects for as yet there were no beleeuing Soueraignes yea both our Sauiours and the Apostles words doe euince that a King though hee bee a beleeuer and so a brother yet that he can not bee brought in amongst those excommunicable brothers because the excommunicated brother must be vnto the other brethren as an Heathen and a Publican as our Sauiour commandeth that is to say they must auoide his conuersation and decline his companie and flee his familiaritie as the Aposlle expoundeth it But so it is that subiects can not by any meanes shunne or abhorre the presence and conuersation of their Soueraigne both because of duty and because of necessitie As for duty the lawes of nature and of Scripture of reason and religion of Church State doe oblige subiects to doe their duty to their Soueraigne be he neuer so bad and therefore they must repaire vnto his presence and conuerse with him whensoeuer it pleaseth him to command And as for necessitie subiects can not choose but repaire to the Prince to haue iuslice and such other helpe as they sland in need of at his hands And therefore I say though both Rome and Geneua should ioyne their iarring and warring wits together yet they shall neuer bee able to solue or satisfie this argument Mat. 18.17 1. Cor. 5.5.9.11 2. Thess 3.14 1. Tim. 1.20 all excommunicated persons presence societie and companie is to be shunned as a Heathens a Publicanes or which is worse as a man 's deliuered to the Diuell But no Kings presence society and conuersation can bee shunned of their subiects for both duty and necessitie binde them to the contrary Ergo no Kings can be excommunicated or thus the effects of excommunication can not haue place in the person of a Prince as for example his presence and conuersation can not be declined of his subiects without both sinne and their great hurt and therefore the censure it selfe hath no place in Princes Ninthly the excommunication of an vniuersalitie or multitude as of a whole citie Body Common-wealth or kingdome is in the iudgement of all thought a thing vnlawfull and semblably the excommunication of the Soueraigne as he that representeth the whole Body of his kingdome must bee vnlawfull neither can the head be punished without the sensible hurt of the whole body Tenthly God is a God of order not of disorder or confusion 1. Cor. 14.33 as the Apostle speaketh and therefore hee hath not giuen the inferiours power to punish corporally or spiritually their superiours for this were most contrary to order consequently he hath not giuen subiects any power vpon their Soueraigne nor Priests any power to punish Princes for both people and priests be inferiours and their Soueraigne is their superiour they are as members of the body taken seuerally the commons as feete the Nobles as hands the Priests as eyes or they are as the bodie being taken coniunctly but the Soueraigne is as the head higher then all the other members and aboue the whole body and as the soule more diuine excellent and eminent then the whole body the subiects are as seruants the Soueraigne as the Master or Lord the people as the children and the Prince as their common father It is against good nature and order for the inferiour members to rise or rebell against the supreame member for the body to beate or breake the owne head and it is repugnant both to good nature and grace for children to stretch forth the hand to chastise or punish their father bee hee neuer so furious And as for the chiefē Priests and Prelates they are as Angels and Archangels indeed but the Soueraigne Prince is as the God of Angels and Archangels farre aboue their reach Eleuenthly if it belongeth not vnto one man or more men to beate punish iudge or condemne another mans seruant as the Apostle S. lames teacheth saying Who art thou that iudgest another man Iam. 4.12 Rom. 14.4 and the Apostle S. Paul likewise saying Who art thou that condemnest another mans seruant then it belongeth much lesse to one man or more to iudge punish excommunicate depose or condemne Gods chiefe seruant Rom 13 4. now the Prince is Gods seruant saith the same Aposlle and in the same Epistle to the Romanes and I wish that both Romanes and Geneuians would weigh those words better then they do and therefore who is hee that condemneth such a seruant as is not only another mans seruant but euen the best mans seruant to with Christs and his chiefe seruant yea Gods seruant He standeth or falleth to his owne master saith the Apostle and that is neither the Pope of Rome nor the master Minister of Geneua but God and Christ who will not haue his seruant subiect to the proud censure eitheir of the Romane Consistorie or of the Geneuian Presbyterie The Apostle would not presume to iudge them that are without the Church because they belonged to Gods iudgement in propriety what haue I to doe to iudge them also which are without saith he doe ye not iudge them that are within but God iudgeth them that are without and shall we thinke that he would haue presumed to iudge those that God hath placed aboue the Church I meane Christian Princes 1. Cor. 5.12.13 who though they be within the bosome of the Church as Christians yet are they without or aboue the reach of the hands of the Church as the nursing-fathers and heads of the Church on earth vnder Christ the Soueraigne King of the Church whose immediate seruants they are and therefore as his peculiars are subiect to nones iudgement but his only Twelfthly if seruants must be subiect to their masters with all feare and not only to the good and courteous but also to the froward as the Apostle Saint Peter teacheth 1. Pet. 2.13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23. then must subiects be loy all and dutifull to their Soueraigne and not only to the good but also to the euill for as the family is a little kingdome and the master of the family a little king and the sonnes and sernants of the family are the subiects of this little kingdome so is the kingdome a great family the King the great master of this great family and his subiects are the children and seruants of the same family Thirteenthly if the Angels of heauens Church from their heauenly seates
and habitations doe not exclaime or giue out railing iudgement against Princes before the Lord though they see and know their wickednesse much better then men doe 2. Pet. 2.10 11 and that they be aboue them in dignitie power and place as the Aposlle S. Peter doth auouch and witnes then much lesse must the Angels of the Church on earth Romane or Geneuian from their earthly seats and pulpits Consistories or Presbyteries exclaime against Princes be they neuer so wicked or yet proclaime any railing iudgement against them seeing they are not only inferiour vnto the Angels in heauen which spare them but euen vnto the Princes themselues which are Gods by their place though in their persons they were neuer so prophane And I wish with all my heart that the great Angel that sitteth in S. Angel would now at last learne this Angelicall lesson of those Angelicall Doctors in heauen and of his owne supposed Euangelicall Predecessor Saint Peter who professeth in expresse words that it is one of the properties of false Prophets to despise Princes and to speake euill of them that are in dignitie and authoritie Iude. v. 8.9 10 Where as the Angels which are greater both in power and might giue not railing Iudgement against them and the same thing is said of Saint Iude. Fourtenthly if a most holy Angel yea euen Michael the highest Archangel durst not raile vpon the diuell who is all wickednesse nor blame him with cursed speaking when as he strone against him and disputed about the bodie of Moses as the holy Apostle Iude witnesseth how then dare subiects which be sinfull men themselues raile vpon the Prince or how dare either the Romane Archangel that sitteth in S. Angel or the Angelings of Geneua from their consist orie or presbyterie or yet from their pulpits pronounce any curse or excommunication against Princes or deliuer them vnto the diuell though they were liker little diuels then little Gods on earth by reason of their wicked liuing And if wee must not so much as raile vpon wicked Kings nor reuile and diffame them with our tongues much lesse must wee hurt them with our hands or offer their persons any violence If ye loue them which loue you saith our Sauiour and dee good to them which doe good to you what thanke haue yee or what reward Mat. 5.46 47 Luk. 6.32 33 doe not the Publicanes and sinners euen the same and the like may be said in this case if Christians loue and loyally obey such Princes as loue them and if they speake well of such gouernours as doe wel to them and submit themselues to such Princes as are vertuous godly and iust what thanke or what reward haue they or what singular worke doe they worthy of a singular reward doe not the heathen and infidels euen the same and as our Sauiour said to his Disciples Except your righteousnesse exceede the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisies and not only of publicanes sinners Mat. 5.10 ye shall not enter into the kingdome of God So may it bee said to Christian subiects except your obedience subiection patience in the behalfe of your Princes and Rulers exceede the obedience subiection patience of heathen and vnbeleeuing subiects in the behalfe of their Soueraignes yee cannot bee subiects of the kingdome of heauen Fifteenthly Subiects ought to bee most tender and carefull of the saluation of their Soueraigne and therefore they ought not to seclude him from the vse of the ordinary meanes of his amendment his sanctification and saluation as from the hearing of the word the prayers of the Church and the receiuing of the Sacrament Sixteenthly a wicked Prince in receiuing the Sacrament either receiueth it worthily and penitently and so is pardoned or else vnworthily and impenitently and so is plagued of God according to that of the Apostle Hee that eateth and drinketh vnworthily 1. Cor. 11.28.29 eateth and drinketh his owne damnation because he discerneth not the Lords body and so hee is either made better or worse if better then it should not haue beene well done to keep him from the Communion if worse then God himselfe hath punished and plagued him with his owne hand which is much more fit then that any of his owne Subiects should presume to punish him So that it is euery way more for the glory of God and the good of the Church that a Prince be admitted to the Sacrament then that hee be secluded there-fro for either Gods mercie is manifested when as receiuing it worthily and wel he amendeth his manners or his iustice is executed and notified when as receiuing it vnworthily he runneth into some greater sinne or incurreth some temporall or spiritual iudgement and both the wayes Gods glorie is more and more demonstrated and the Church edified by so notable an example Seuenteenthly and lastly our most blessed Sauiour when he exhorteth vs vnto perfection saith thus Loue your enemies Mat. 5.44 45 48. Luk. 6.27 28 35. blesse them that curse you doe good to them that hate you pray for them which hurt you wrongfully trouble and persecute you that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heauen who is kinde and good both vnto the good and the euill and the Apostle Saint Paul writing to the Romanes saith the same Blesse them which persecute you Blesse and curse not recompence to no man euill for euill auenge not your selues but rather giue place vnto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine Rom. 12.14 17 19 21. I will repay saith the Lord. Whereof it followeth that if Princes bee our foes which ought to bee our friends yea our fathers and so both hate vs and hurt vs which are their subiects yet wee ought to loue them and helpe them what wee can though they doe euill to vs yet wee ought to doe good to them though they oppresse and persecute vs yet wee ought to pray for them though they speake euill of vs yet wee ought to speake well of them though they grieue vs yet we ought not to grudge against them though they require too much of vs and more then we can well spare yet we ought not to refuse them much lesse to resist them or rebell against them though they haue many imperfections yet wee ought not to aggrauate them or blaze them abroad by slandrous wordes or infamous writes yea rather wee ought to extenuate and to lessen them hide them couer them and excuse them Finally though they seeke to kill both our bodies and our soules yet we ought to seeke the preseruation of their bodies and the saluation of their soules and in so doing we subiects shall be perfit as the children of the most high and our reward shall be great and inestimable in the heauens Sect. 15. The Church of England more Angelicall or Angel-like We haue shewed at large the perfection of the Church of England in regard of the diuine condition of the
and almost necessarie to vse that gesture which doth most signifie and declare and vsually accompanie the greatest humilitie and reuerence and what other gesture can this bee but kneeling which is more reuerent then standing like as this is more reuerent then sitting and therefore Saint Iohn sawe the foure and twenty Elders first sitting vpon seates then rising and standing Reuel 4.4 10. 5.6 7 8 14 and after that falling downe or kneeling before the Lambe in imitation whereof all good Christians ought to kneele before the holy Lambe when they receiue his blessed body as it were out of his owne heauenly hands for the spirituall foode of their soules which do assuredly feede vpon his flesh by faith in a mysticall spirituall and sacramentall manner Againe I aske of our Geneuites if it be not lawfull to thanke God in receiuing of the Sacrament of thanksgiuing which I thinke wil not be denied In the next place I aske if it bee not lawfull to vse in our thanksgiuing the gesture that the seruants of God haue alwaies vsed in their other religious thanksgiuings and if not why shall that gesture which is lawfull in all other religious thanksgiuings bee vnlawfull in this and if it be lawfull in this aswell as in all other then let them shew me what other gesture it was but kneeling and if kneeling be the fittest gesture for the expressing of a most humble thanksgiuing such as we should offer vnto God in this Sacrament of thanksgiuing then why doe we not kneele with the Church of England rather then sitte or stand after the homely yea vnholy and vnhumble manner of Geneua Sect. 18. Fifthly The Church of England more heanen-like for harmonie Reuel 5.8 9. 14.2 3. 15.2 3 4. 19. the Church of England is more like the Church of God in heauen for heauenly harmonie then the Geneuian is for in Gods Church in heauen those holy and vnspotted Priests are painted out in seauen or eight places of the Reuelation singing new songs vnto God in most melodious manner both with voices and instruments and namely with Harpes and answerable thereunto in the English Church wee haue the harmonious consort and musicall concord of voices and instruments especially of Organes in the praising of God with Hymnes Psalmes and songs The which kinde of musicall instrument beeing as it were animated with the melodie of Singing-mens voices doth most of all other represent that which Saint Iohn heard in heauen like a voyce of a great multitude and as the voyce of many waters and as the voyce of strong thundrings saying and singing HALLELVIAH Of the which my sticall musicke I shall God willing deliuer many notable considerations and most comfortable Contemplations in our worke called Dies Domini And there I shal prooue both by Scriptures and Fathers authoritie and by irrefragable reasons euidencie the lawfulnesse and commendablenesse of the musicall consent of voyces and instruments in the seruice of God and that the alternatiue Church singing of the Quire diuided into two parts is conformable vnto the manner of the heauenly Churches musicke as may be gathered out of the prophecie of Isay who in his vision of the maiestie of God and his glorious Seraphims Isay 6.1 2 3 saith that one cryed to another and said holy holy holy is the Lord of Hostes the whole world is full of his glory And truley the Doctours of the Church and other ecclesiasticall writers doe witnesse in expresse words as shall be shewed in our said worke that the first Christians were wont to sitte one for against another as wee see they doe now adaies in the Quire and to inuite or cohort alternatiuely or by turnes one another to the praising of God by singing of Psalmes So that I cannot but wonder how our Geneuians can say any thing against so auncient and christian a custome or yet against the vsing of some instruments in the singing of Psalmes especially when as the word Psalme doth signifie either the melodie of the instrument or Organ alone or else the harmonie of the instrumentall noise and the musicall voice going together so that indeed there cannot be a Psalme there may well be a Song without an instruments sound and if we haue our Psalmes originally from Ierusalem and not from Rome from the Prophet Dauid and not from the Pope why may we not with the same Dauid vse in struments and organes especially when as the Spirit of God by him exhorteth men thereunto so often in the same Booke of the Psalmes which wee reade and sing euery day in our Churches yea with such an exhortation hee shutteth vp his Psalmes saying Praise ye him with Virginals and Organes Psal 150.4 1. Cor. 14 26 Ephes 5.18 19 20 Coloss 3.16 And that we might know that the praising of God vpon instruments was not a meere lewish Ceremonie and to last only vntill the comming of Christ and no longer the Apostle Saint Paul writing to the Corinthians sheweth that the Christians in his time in their assemblies were wont to sing Psalmes that is to say to ioyne the melodie of instruments with spirituall hymnes and songs for somuch doth the word Psalme in Greeke signifie and therefore the same Apostle distinguished betweene Psalmes and Songs both in his Epistle to the Ephesians and in his Epistle to the Colossians where hee exhorteth the faithfull to the melodious singing of Psalmes Hymnes and Spirituall Songs But if neither the example of king Dauid and the Church of Ierusalem both in King Dauids time and Saint Iames the first Bishop thereof nor the practise of the Primitiue Church within the first 500. yeares can induce vs to a liking of this kinde of Church musicke and of Organs melody yet let this mooue vs to like it that the Pope doth dislike it for otherwise hee would not want Organs in his chappel as he doth whereof I gather this new argument in fauour of Organs at least for the Kings Chappell If it be fit that our Kings Chappell bee vnlike vnto the Popes then is it fit that their bee Organs in our Kings Chappel for there are none in the Popes but the former is fit at least in the opinion of Puritaines and Precisians which would faine wee were vnlike the Pope in each indifferent thing and therefore the latter is fit likewise Sect. 19. Sixtly The Church of England more heauen-like for habite as the English Church is more heauenly for harmonie and therein resembleth neerer the Church of God and Angels then the Geneuian doth so is shee more heauenly for habite The ministers of the triumphant Church euen those blessed spirits that doe offer vp incessantly the sweet incense and sacrifice of praise vnto God are said to bee suted in pure white linnen as wee may reade in the Reuelation in some ten or eleuen places in sixe seuerall chapters Reuel 3.4 5.18 4 4 6 11 7 9 13 14 15 6 19 8 14 Dan.
with their hands in dishonour of Christ yea more for an instrument of his destruction Almightie God hath made it the in strument of their highest honour and happiest condition euen of their saluation and therefore the outward expression of this confession by a gesture Mat. 28 18 19 externall act or signe of the hands must needs be Christian and commendable Fourthly our Sauiour Christ commanding to teach and baptize both Iewes and Gentiles commandeth questionlesse to expresse and declare the nature and vse of Baptisme and consequently commandeth to vse the signe of the crosse for this ceremonie serueth to declare the nature and vse of this Sacrament in that thereby wee are baptized into the death of Christ vpon the crosse and that our olde man is crucified with him and euen nailed to his crosse as the Apostle speaketh saying Rom. 6.4 5 6 7 8 Philip. 2.8 Coloss 2.12 Galat. 2 19 5 24. Know ye not that all we which haue bin baptized into Iesus Christ haue beene baptized into his death we are buried then with him by Baptisme into his death that like as Christ was raised vp from the dead by the glory of the father so wee also should walke in newnesse of life For if wee be planted with him to the similitude of his death euen so shall wee bee to the simi-litude of his resurrection knowing this that our olde man is crucified with him that the body of sinne might bee destroyed Whereby wee are taught that in Baptisme their must bee a three-folde similitude or representation to wit of Christs dying burying and rising bodily and of our dying burying and rising spiritually with him Now I aske what similitude there is in Baptisme of Christs ignominous death vpon the crosse or of his bodily crucifying and of the spirituall crucifying of our old man with him setting aside the signe of the crosse The sprinkling on of the water doth represent only a shedding of his blood but not necessarily a shedding of it vntill death for Christ might haue shed his blood without dying And as for the immersion or dipping of the baptized body into the water it doth represent his burying directly like as the emersion or rising of the body out of the water representeth his rising out of the graue but it doth not directly represent his dying and though it doth by way of consequence represent his death in respect that ordinarily none are buried but the dead yet it doth not for all that set before our eyes the kinde of his death nor yet the accursed and ignominious manner thereof which are two circumstances of especiall moment and consideration For our Sauiours death was not a natural death for he died not in his bed as we say and so was buried but the death that hee died was a violent death and wrought by the hand of man Neither was it an easie or an honest violent death but the most painefull and shamefull of all other and euen an accursed death as both in the law and in the Epistle of the Gospell wee are taught all which circumstances are represented and set before our eyes only by this ceremonie of the signe of the crosse Deut. 2.23 Gal. 3.13 Fifthly if it be lawfull for a Minister to expresse the mysteries and meaning of the Scripture of God by a Sermon as euery one will grant that it is then shall it bee as lawfull to expresse the mysteries of Gods Sacrament by a ceremonie for there is the like reason for the one and for the other For seeing the Sacrament of God aswell as the word of God hath something to bee explicated and declared and that the best explication and declaration is made by things of the like nature it followeth that as the audible word is explicated and declared by a sermon and by words to the eare so the visible Sacrament being a ceremonie is to be explicated and declared by a ceremonie to the eye such as is the signe of the crosse hee that addeth vnto word or Sacrament for perfection is a blasphemer and a deceiuer but hee that addeth vnto word or Sacrament either other words and rites for explanation and declaration is a true Doctor Sixtly by this signe the Church doth confesse her owne miserie and wretchednesse in that wee did euen crucifie Christ with our sinful hands by our sinnes as much as the Iewes did that set vp the crosse with their vnhallowed hands this confession is lawfull and good and therefore the declaration of it by a sensible signe can not be vnlawfvll or euill Seauenthly Galat. 3.13 Ephes 2.14.15 16 17 by this signe the Church confesseth her faith in Christ crucified that hee hath redeemed vs from the curse of the law by the curse of his crosse and reconciled vs vnto God by the blessed peace of his crosse as the Apostle speaketh this confession is Christian and therefore the declaration thereof by a sensible signe externall act or gesture of the bodie cannot bee Antichristian as our Geneuians would haue vs to beleeue Eightly by this signe the Church declaclareth her Christian disposition and resolution of fighting vnder the banner of Christ against sinne and Sathan and of suffering persecution for the crosse of Christ as the Apostle speaketh shee declareth her Christian endeauour in crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof Galat. 5.24 6 12 14 and testifieth her faithfull affection in not being ashamed of the crosse of Christ but that shee glorieth and reioyceth in it according to that of the Apostle God forbid that I should reioyce Mat. 26.39 Mark 14.35 Act. 7.60 9.40 20.36 Ephes 3.14 Luk. 18.13 Mat. 14.19 Ioh. 11.41 17.1 1. Tim. 2.8 1. Cor. 11.4 but in the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ whereby the world is crucified vnto mee and I vnto the world This disposition resolution endeuour and affection is most commendable and Christianâ— and therefore the testification declaration or notification thereof must needs be so likewise For if it be lawfull and laudable for the Church to declare the inward humilitie of the heart by the outward bowing of the body or knees and the casting downe of the eyes the inward sorrow of the soule for sinne by an externall beating of the breast the inward confidence or affiance in God in expecting at his hands euery good thing by the visible lifting vp of the hands and eyes vnto heauen and finally the internall reuerence of the heart by an externall bare head why may not the same Church aswell declare the inward reioycing and glorying of the heart in the crosse of Christ by such a sensible signe made with the hands especially it being made with the hands of the Minister who is the likest to vse it aright and the best able to free it from abuse Ninethly the Church may and ought to vse that outward act which the Spirit of God himselfe doth designe Eze. 9.4 5 6. Reuel 7.1 2 3 4
1 2 16 27 28 37 5 15 16 17 18 8 9 12 Act. 10.25 16.24 25 26 27 28 29 Gen 40.8 41 14 15 16 25 40 41 42 43 44 Dan. 2.28 29 30 36 48 49 5 29 6 1 2 3. Psal 45.9 13 16 was likewise a Prince Eli and Samuel Priests were Princes and Iudges and the Priests iudged of some ciuill causes together with the other temporall Iudges The chiefe Priests which taught the people of Iuda are called Princes whom King Iehesophat had appointed to be Iudges vnder him both in ecclessiastical and temporal causes as betweene blood and blood betweene law and precept statutes and iudgements Anna called Eli the the chiefe Priest her Lord the widdow of Zarepta the widdow of Bethel the Shunamite Gentlewoman Obadiah King Achabs steward the good Captaine sent by King Ahaziah Naeamen the King of Syrta his Generall Hazael one of the Princes of Benhadad King of Aram did all of them honour the chiefe Prophets of God Eliah and Elisha with the stile of Lords and bowed before them And so did Cornelius the Captaine and likewise the Iaylor to the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul to passe ouer that Ioseph a Patriarke and a Prophet of the Church was likewise a chiefe Prince vnder the King of Egypt euen the next vnto the King Daniel another chiefe Prophet of the Church was likewise a Prince and the next person to the King of Babel Nebuchadnezzar and his three fellowes Shadrach Messach and Abednego were made Gouernours ouer the Prouinces of Babel and the same Prophet Daniel was by King Belshazzar made the third Ruler in the kingdome and by King Darius the first and chiefe Ruler ouer the whole kingdome And the Prophet Dauid prophecying of the splendour and dignitie of the Fathers of the Church vnder the Gospel vseth these words In stead of thy Fathers shall thy Children be thou shalt make them Princes through all the earth meaning that of the Children of the Church there should be chosen such as should bee Fathers and Rulers of the Church as Arch-Bishops and Bishops which should bee honoured throughout the whole Christian world as Lords and Princes For the holy Prophet as hee describeth typically Christ as the King of the Catholike Church and none but he to be King and the Church as the Queene and Spouse of this King so doth be signifie vnto vs that the Princes of this King and kingdome are the Rulers and Gouernours of the Church aboue named which of the Children of the Church should bee made Fathers of the Church and should be honoured as Princes as hath binsaid And this prophesie is most cleerly accōplished and verified in the Church of England not of Geneua nor any Geneuian vnto whose Ministers God hath not graunted so much honour as they who haue vnhappily dishonoured and debased themselues in bringing in their Lay-elders to bee Church gouernours in stead of the Bishops I say they haue debased themselues most ridiculously because that they haue submitted themselues who should be as Fathers and Schoolemasters vnto their owne children and Schollers for by those Lay-elders they are elected they are iudged and censured in matters both of life and doctrine they are suspended or remooued from their ministerie and yet they are but meere Lay-men generally voide of learning as being for the most part tradesmen and artificers and some country gentlemen So that there is as great disorder in the Geneuian Church and as grosse absurditie as if the children should command their Fathers in the house or the Schollers correct their Masters in the Schoole or as if the Sheepe should pull the pastorall crooke out of their Sheepheards hand And though that our Geneuians do deriue their Lay-elders and Eldership from the Synedrie of the Iewes for I graunt them with all my heart that the chiefe perfections of the Iewish Church ought to bee found in the Christian Church which thing if they vnderstood well they should see their grosse errours yet I must tel them that they haue nothing like but the name For first the Iewish Elders were inferiour magistrates ordained primarily by the Soueraigne and chiefest magistrate Moses to assist him in matters of Iudgemēt Numbers 11.16 17 Ezr. 10.8 Luk. 22.66 Act. 5.27 wheras the Geneuiā are not Iudges or any such publike persons appointed by the Prince but priuate persons picked out of the Parish by the Preacher and some other with him Secondly the Iewish Elders iudged and censured the Laitie and therefore were called the Elders of the people wheras the Geneuiā presume to censure correct their Clergie Thirdly and lastly the Iewish Elders concurred with the Princes of the Priests as their assistants or officers in matters of iudgement and debate but the Geneuian haue no Princes of Priests Deut. 17.8.9.10.11 12,2 Chron. 19 8 9 10.11 Ezech. 44.4 or Prince-Church gouernours as Primates Archbishops or Bishops to giue assistance vnto whereby it doth appeare that the Iudges and Iustices of Peace in England are like those Elders of the Iewes especially the Iudges of Ecclesiasticall courts called by the names of Chancellour Commissary Deane of the Arches Officiall and the like and in no wise the Elders after the Geneuian forme Moreouer as the Ministers of the heauenly Church are called Priests so are the Ministers of the Church of England honoured Reuel 4.8 9 10.11 5 8 7 10 12 8 3 4 Heb. 13.15 Hos 14.3 with the same holy title and stile Those Angelicall Priests doe offer vp vnto God the spirituall sacrifice of prayer and praise and answerably thereunto our English Euangelicall Priests offer vnto God the like spirituall sacrifice as the Apostle prescribeth saying Let vs therefore by him offer the sacrifice of praise alwaies to God that is the fruite of the lippes which confesse his name Publike prayer and praise is a sacrifice and therfore the Minister that offereth it is a Priest neither could he blesse publikely the people except hee were a Priest for Church-benediction is a part of the Priests function nor yet Minister any of the two Sacraments in both which there is a spirituall sacrifice for by Baptisme our bodies and soules are offered vnto God by the hand of his Priest Rom. 12.1 Mat. 26.27.28 29 30. 28 19 Ioh. 6.32 33 41 51 Reue l. 2 17 a reasonable and liuing sacrifice and in the Eucharist or Sacrament of the Lords Supper he offereth vnto God in our name the spirituall sacrifice of thankesgiuing for giuing the substance of his blessed body both corporally for vs a bloodie sacrifice vpon the crosse and spiritually vnto vs in the Sacrament of bread wine and euen for feeding of vs in a my sticall and supernaturall manner with his flesh which is that hidden Manna of heauen Reuel 1.4 5 6 5.10 Heb. 7.15 17 21 24 26 28 8 1 2 3. promised in the Reuelation to those that ouercome To bee briefe the blessed Apostle
slay him that is his portion shall bee with hypocrites and the generation of vipers for the old Serpent that wicked viper shall slay his soule hee shall not see the riuers nor the floods and streames of hony and butter that is to say hee shall not taste of the happinesse of the heauenly Canaan Hee on earth shut God from his inheritance on earth but in the end God shall shut him out of the earth and debarre him from heauen hurle him headlong into hell He shall restore the labour and shall deuoure no more euen according to the substance shall bee his exchange Vers 18 19 20 21 22 23 and he shall enioy it no more For he hath vndone many he hath forsaken the poore and hath spoyled houses which hee built not euen Church-mens houses yea Gods house and God himselfe hath he spoiled Surely he shall feele no quietnesse in his body neither shall hee reserue of that which he desired there shal none of his meate beleft therfore none of his shall hope for his goods As if hee should say because hee would needes deuoure Gods meate and the dyet of his Ministers therefore God shal send the deuourer to eate vp his meate For when hee shall bee filled with his abundance that is with Gods portion and Church mens prouision He shall be in paine and the hand of all the wicked shall assaile him that is to say because he was so wicked as to stretch out his hand to spoile God therefore God shall make many wicked mens hands to spoile him He shal be about to fill his belly to wit with Gods Ministers meate but God shall send vpon him his fierce wrath and shall cause to raine vpon him euen vpon his meat As if he should say Gods Ministers meate shall doe him no good for God shall either draw it out of his belly or else he shall turne it in the midst of his bowels into the gall of aspes And not only shall God draw his own Ministers meate out of the God-spoilers miserable belly but he shall also draw the sacrilegious soule out of the deuouring body it shal burne in the fire that is not blowne that is in hell fire that needeth no blowing The heauen shall declare his wickednesse for he was so wicked and impious Verse 26 27 28 29 as to spoile the God of heauen and the earth shall rise vp against him for he was so vngratious as to robbe Gods Ministers and houshold seruants on earth the increase of his house shall goe away it shall flow away in the day of his wrath As if he should say the mans house that is increased builded or reared vp by the decrease or robbery of Gods house it shall not alwaies stand the grease and fatnesse of it shall flow away like water the pelfe and wealth thereof shall vanish and melt away like the fat of Lambes or as doth the snow before the Sun Such is the portion of the wicked from God and the heritage that he shall haue at Gods hands as if he should say desolation and destruction in substance in body and soule shall be the portion and heritage of all impenitent vnrestoring God-spoilers vnworthy of the title of Gospellers men worse then idolaters which doe indeed turne the true God into an idol as the other doe an idol into God and worship feare neither true nor false deitie A false God they know not and the true God they will not acknowledge for otherwise they would stand in awe to spoile God of his portion and to bereaue him of his inheritance And therefore to shut vp this pleading for Gods Priests and their honourable maintenance let me pray beseech all Britaines especially my deere country-men of Scotland that if they desire either to be rich heere or happie hereafter that they would be bountiful liberal to Gods seruants that euery man that hath takē from the Church any thing or withholden from Churchmen their Tithes in whole or in part by sacrilegious impropriation or wicked vsurpation Luk. 19.8 that he would restore with repenting Zacheus fourefolde or at least the principall stocke which he hath in his hands Let him I say listen with all diligence and conscience vnto the precept of the most high vttered by the mouth of his prophet Malachie saying Malach. 3.10.11.12 bring euery Tithe into the storehouse that there may be meate in mine house and prooue me withall saith the Lord of hoasts If I wil not open the windowes of heauen vnto you and powre you out a blessing without measure and I wil reproue the deuourer for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruite of the ground neither shall your vine be barren in the field saith the Lord of hoastes and all nations shall call you blessed because ye shall be a pleasant land Lastly let vs all listen vnto the godly and graue exhortation of wise king Salomon saying honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruites of all thine encrease Prouerb 3.9 so shall thy barnes be filled with abundance and thy presse shall ouerflow with new wine and let vs with our whole hearts applaude our owne Salomons glorious and diuine endeauours tending to the perfit constitution of our Church and to the aduancing of Almightie Gods sincere worship and let vs blesse the God of Iacob for raising vp vnto vs from the North a Iacob to be aninstrument of such blessednesse vnto both North and South according to that which he once promised by his Prophet Isay 4 3 6. Isay 4.1 25. I will say to the North giue and to the South keepe not backe And againe I haue raised vp from the North and be shall come from the east Sunne shall hee call vpon my name and yet againe Vers 8.9 10.11 12 speaking of the conuersion of the Ilands and endes of the earth vnto Christ as if hee pointed at our Iacob Thou Iacob whom I haue chosen I haue taken thee from the endes of the earth and called thee before the chiefe thereof and said vnto thee thou art my seruant I haue chosen thee be not afraid for I am with thee behold all they that prouoke thee shall be ashamed and they that striue with thee shall perish Euen blessed be the God of Iacob for giuing vs a Iacob to be the instrument of so great blessednesse vnto this I le and to the Church thereof and grant that wee may with both hands and hearts lay hold on such blessed occasions as he doth now tender vs by the hand of his blessed Iacob for the amending of the defects of our Church where through all nations may call vs a blessed people Amen FINIS A DEMONSTRATIVE DEFENCE OR TENFOLD PROBATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHVRCH OF ENGLAND TOVCHING one of the most important points of our Creed necessary to be vnderstood of all Christians which is of our Sauiours descending into hell after death to binde and
of Geneua doth obscure and diminish the Maiestie thereof For who knoweth not but that it is a greater glorie for a King or Captaine to vanquish and conquer his enemie in his owne kingdome and to make his enemies owne pallace his prison then to doe it elsewhere Wherefore seeing our Sauiour atchieued the greatest and the most glorious conquest that euer was and triumphed the most magnificently Mat. 12.29 we must needs beleeue that he did it in Sathans the strong ones owne house castle and kingdome as it is in the Gospell and as the Church of England together with the Primitiue doth beleeue and teach and not that he did it out of hell or on the crosse as they iargon at Geneua X. Tenthly and lastly the veritie of the Church of Englands doctrine touching our Sauiours descending into hell may appeare by the contradictions oppositions and dissentions and fanaticall expositions of such as haue oppugned it or dissented from it some expounding those words hee descended into hell of our Sauiours buriall others of his detention in the graue and the most part of his suffering the paines and torments of hell in the garden and on the crosse some haue expounded it of his translating into the state of the dead and some haue beene so fanaticall as to say that his descending into hell meaneth no other matter but the ascending of his soule into heauen after death And as some of them haue most vnlearnedly and ridiculously vnderstood heauen by hell in the Creed and ascending by descending which is all one with the taking water for fire or God for the diuell so haue they as vnlearnedly and ridiculously construed diuers other places of Scripture In the sixteene Psalme by the Hebrew word NEPHESH Psal 16 10. Act. 2.27 and in the second of the Actes by the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both which doe signifie the soule they vnderstand the body which is the contrary part and the other halfe of man a thing that no learning diuine or humane will suffer And though a man perhaps might excuse such a simple or single Ignoramus as this yet how can he excuse it when it is doubled for those Geneuians will haue the word soule to signifie the body and a dead body which in all learning diuine or humane signifieth alwaies a liuing substance and either the principall part which is the soule and that properly or else the whole person figuratiuely And as these admirable Metamorphosers of Geneua turne in one place hell into heauen and descending into ascending euen blacke into white and in another place Christs liuing soule they turne into his dead Body so doe they turne hell into the graue for the Hebrew word SHEOL and the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doe properly and principally signifie hell as the learned in these languages doe well know and as we shall show particularly otherwhere by alleadging the testimonies of the best Hebricians and Grecians but especially when the word of Soule is thereunto annexed as it is in the sixteenth Psalme and in the second of the Actes they do translate Graue and not Hell which is not only the secondary and improper signification of those two words but also quite repugnant to those texts of Scripture wherein mention is made of the conditiō of Christs soule For though it be true that the said two words doe sometimes signifie the graue yet it is but secondarily and improperly and when the word of Body or flesh is ioyned thereunto but neuer when the word of Soule is annexed as it is in those two places of Scripture and because they see the absurditie that should insue of saying that Christs soule should be buried in a graue therefore for preuenting one absurditie they runne into another for as they turne hell into graue so doe they Christs liuing soule into his dead body the most blockish and stockish abusing of Scripture that euer was heard tell off yea more the most impious for in so doing they ioyne with the professed enemies of Christ both Iewes Arrian and Apollinarian Heretickes For first such Geneuian expositors ioyne with the Iewes who as Aepinus the Protestant Superintendent of Hamburge writeth vpon the sixteenth Psalme to ouerthrow the certainty of our faith concerning Christs descension into hell and his resurrection did by the word soule vnderstand life though it bee not so bad nor so farre fetcht as Bezas dead bodie and by the word hell they vnderstand graue as the Geneuians doe And next they ioyne and iumpe with the old Arrian and Apollinarian Heretickes which denied our Sauiours true humane soule and therefore vnderstood those Scriptures as the Geneuians doe and not as the orthodoxe fathers vnderstood them that out of those Scriptures refuted their fooleries as Athanasius Theodoretus Epiphanius Cyprianus Augustinus Fulgentius Hieronymus Ambrosius Philippus Presbyter Ruffinus Cassiodorus Euthymius Beda Petrus Chrysologus and others whom the Church of England doth follow all which shall be God-willing particularly prooued in our Latine worke And the Geneuians doe ioyne with the same Apollinarian heretickes in vnderstanding by the Spirit of Christ in the third chapter of the first Epistle of Saint Peter 1. Pet. 3.18.19 his Diuinitie or God-head and not his humane Spirit though the other halfe of his humanitie to wit his flesh bee there mentioned with it like as in the same text they turne Christs person into Noahs and Christs preaching in Spirit vnto dead mens spirits after his passion into Noahs preaching in body vnto liuing men many hundreth yeares before the passion and incarnation Where note how that contrary to all learning diuine and humane they expound the word Spirit of a liuing man and not of the soule of one deceased And in the same absurd manner they turne Christs wrastling vpon the crosse into triumphing and make him to sing his owne triumph before his full and absolute victorie Finally as in expounding the Gospel they turne the heart or middle of the earth into a Tombe Math. 12.40 27.60 which was not so much as within the foreskin if I may so speake of the earth so in expounding the Epistle they turne the lower or lowest parts of the earth Eph. 4.8.9 whereinto our Sauiours soule descended into the vpmost parts or surface of the earth where in body hee conuersed when hee was vpon earth So that they turning thus vpside downe both in Gospell and Epistle as they doe we haue as little cause to iumpe or ioyne with Geneua in this point as wee haue to runne with Rome for the finding out of their fanaticall Limbus Patrum And thus I haue by a ten-fold probation cleered the truth of the doctrine of the Church of England touching our Sauiours descending into hell and haue with all dispelled the cloudes and mistes both of Romane and Geneuian opinions For as it is most certaine that our Sauiours soule did after death descend into hell which our Geneuians doe most vnlearnedly and