shalbe verified of any man we must no more deny y t he descended into the bottomles pit which is hell then y t he ascended into y e heauens both are necessary partes of our redemption euident proofes of his mighty operatioÌ„ We must be fréed froÌ„ hel before we can be placed in heauen and if Christ haue omitted either he hath performed neither What maruaile then if the ancient fathers with one consent make Christs descent to hel a material point of our redemption and presse it as an appendix to faith since it hath so good ground and iust proofe in the scriptures howsoeuer they or we doubt where the soules of the righteous were before Christs suffering Crux mors inferi salus nostra est saith Hilary The crosse death and descent of Christ to hell are our saluation Diuinitas neque corpus in monumento neque animaÌ„ in inferno destituit hoc est enim quod dictuÌ„ est per prophetaÌ„ non relinques animaÌ„ meaÌ„ apud inferos neque dabis sanctuÌ„ tuuÌ„ videre corruptionem Quocâ—rcain ANIMA quideÌ„ CHRISTI MORS DEVICTA EST resurrectioque ab inferis deprompta spiritibus annunciata est in corpore vero dei corruptio abolita est et incorruptibilitas é sepulchro emicuit Christs deity neither forsooke his body in the sepulchre nor his soule in hel For y t is y e meaning of the Prophet wheÌ„ he saith Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hel nor suffer thine holy one to see corruptioÌ„ Wherfore in THE SOVLE OF CHRIST DEATH VVAS CONQVERED and the rerurrection from hell performed and signified to the spirits that rose with him In the body of him that was God corruption was abolished incorruption shined out of the graue Yea Austen himself putteth great difference betwixt the certainly of Christes descent to hell and the vncertainty of deliuering of some soules thence which he found there as he imagineth Teneamus firmissimé Quod fides habet fundatissimâ auctoritate firmata quia Christus mortuus est secundum scripturas et caetera quae de illo testante veritate conscripta sunt in quibus etiam hoc est quod apud Inferos fuit solutis eoruÌ„ doloribus quibus euÌ„ erat impossibile teneri Let vs hold most firmly y t which y e faith containeth confirmed with most assured authority that Christ died according to the scriptures the rest y t is written of him by the testimony of the truth amongst y e which this is also to be nuÌ„bred y t he was in hel dissoluing y e pains therof Of which it was impossible he shuld be held Thus far doth Austen vrge the very articles of our faith confirmed by the scriptures that maketh him infer who then but an infidel wil deny that Christ was in hell But when he commeth to the second point of deliuering some from hel that were in the paines thereof he tempereth his stile and saith à quibus recte intelligitur soluisse liberasse quos voluit from which paines Christ may well be conceaued to haue loosed and deliuered whom he would that which Peter saith loosing the sorrowes of hel accipi potest in quibusdaÌ„ may be vnderstood of some whom he thought worthy to be deliuered For which since there can bee no sure proofe brought out of the worde of trueth we shall doe best to giue eare to his owne aduise in the like case Ergo fratres siue illud siue istud sit hîc me scrutatorem verbi dei non temerarium affirmatorem teneatis Therefore brethren whether this or that bee it heere take me as a searcher of the word of God and not as a rash affirmer All the defence that may be made out of the Scriptures that Christ deliuered some of the saints out of the present possession and power of hell is that which is written in the gospell of Saint Matthew touching the bodies of the saintes rising from death When Iesus yéelded vp the ghost Behold the vaile of the temple rent in twaine and the earth did quake and the stones did cleaue and the graues did open themselues and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose and came out of the graues after his resurrection and went into the holy cittie and appeared to many The death of the bodie as it is parte of the wages of sinne so is it the gate of hell and the Diuell is saide in the scriptures to haue the power thereof So that howsoeuer the soules of the iust were in the handes of God and at rest in Abrahams bosom their bodies lying dead in the graue rotten with corruption were within Satans walke and when Christ raised them out of their sepulchers to an happie life he tooke them from the power of darknes and translated them into the kingdome of light Death is an enemie though the last that shall be destroied and death as well as hell shall be cast into the lake of fire and therefore Christ tooke the keyes both of death and of hell and by his rising from the dead insulted against both ô death where is thy sting ô hell where is thy victory It is the force of sinne that killeth the bodie and likewise the force of sinne that rotteth the bodie sinne being the strength of hell against bodie and soule As then our soules are freed from the power of hell when our sinnes are remitted so our bodies are deliuered from the handfast of hel when corruption the consequent of sinne is abolished In this sense it may bee saide that Christ deliuered some from the power of hell that is their bodies from the sepulchers where they laie turned into dust For by death and corruption the sinnefull flesh of man is till the resurrection subiected to the range of Satan hee beeing the Prince of the ayre and gouernour of darknesse and ruler of death Saint Austen doubteth whether those bodies of the saints were wholie freed from corruption or laie down againe in death after they had giuen witnesse to Christs resurrection Scio quibusdam videri morte domini Christi iam talem resurrectionem praestitaÌ„ iustis qualis nobis in fine promittitur Qui vtique si non iterum repositis corporibus dormierunt videndum est quemadmodum Christus intelligatur primogenitus a mortuis si eum in illa resurrectione tot praecesserunt I know saith Austen some thinke that at the death of the Lord Christ the same kind of resurrection was performed to the iust which is promised to vs in the ende of the worlde but if they slept not againe by laying downe their bodies we must looke howe Christ can be vnderstood to be the first borne of the dead if so many went before him in that resurrection But his reasons are of no such force as to perswade that the bodies of the saintes which rose with Christ slept
againe in their graues and returned to corruption yea that would somewhat impeach the power of Christs resurrection if it were able to raise them to life but not preserue them in life and the whole fact will seeme rather an apparition then a true resurrection His first obiection is answered in the text it selfe For the saints did not rise before Christ but after Christ and so still Christ was the first borne from the dead The wordes of the text are manie bodies of the saintes which slept arose and came out of the graues AFTER HIS RESVRRECTION Nowe to thinke that they rose presentlie vpoÌ„ his death staied aliue in their graues till he was risen is a vaine imagination and a waie rather to punish them with a wearisome life then to prefer them to a comfortable resurrection His second reason hath some more shew but it is not sufficieÌ„t to conclude his intention It seemeth hard saith he that Dauid should not be in that resurrection of the iust if it were eternall of whose seede Christ is so often commended to vs with so great honor and euidence And if Dauid rose with them Peters proofe vnto the Iewes is verie weake when hee saith Dauid is deade and buried and his sepulchre remaineth with vs vnto this daie For if Dauids body were risen before the speaking of those words his sepulchre was emptie and concluded nothing for Peters purpose For aunswere heereto the holie Ghost had no meaning by Peters mouth to prooue that Dauid laie then in his graue when those wordes were spoken but onelie that Dauid saw corruption as his sepulchre remaining to that daie conuinced wherein his bodie was buried aboue a thousand yeares before Christes comming and consequentlie must néeds be turned into dust many hundreds before Peter spake the worde His prediction therfore that God would not suffer his holy one to see corruption could no waie pertaine to himselfe but must bee verified in some other which was Christ and so Peters argument was verie sound and cléere whether Dauids ashes were then in his sepulchre or no. Peters other allegation that Dauid is not ascended into heauen doth not hinder but Dauid might be translated into Paradise with the rest of the saints y t rose from the dead when Christ did but it is a iust probation that Dauids body was not then ascended when Christ sate in his humane flesh at the right hand of God which expresseth the power and glorie wherunto the bodie of Christ was exalted by his ascension into heauen So that here Austen hath some hold to proue that Dauid did not ascende in body when Christ did or at least not to heauen whither Christ ascended because in plaine wordes Peter saith Dauid is not ascended into heauen but either the bodies of y e saints slept againe when they had giuen testimony to Christs resurrection or they were placed in Paradise and there expect the number of their brethren which shall bee raised out of the dust or lastlie Dauid was none of those that were raised to beare witnesse of Christes resurrection but onelie such were chosen as were knowne to the persons then liuing in Hierusalem Whatsoeuer it was melius est dubitare de occultis quam litigare de incertis It is better as Austen saith to doubt of things vnknown and hid then to striue about things vncertain The last reason of S. Austen that God so prouided for vs that the fathers of the olde testament without vs should not be perfect proueth not that al â—he saints in Paradise lacke their bodies for then we must deny that Henoch was translated not to see death and that Elias was taken vp by a whirlewind into heaueÌ„ as also that he was seene on the mount talking with Christ which are directlie affirmed by the scriptures but it wil make some proofe that they haue not y e same perfection of ioie and blisse which they shall haue when all the members of Christ are receaued into glorie There remaineth one obiection which must be eased before I ende And that is Christ saide to the théefe which confessed him on the crosse This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise how then could Christs soule be thrée daies in hell except we grant it might be in manie places at once S. AusteÌ„ laboreth in his 57. epistle to remooue this stumbling blocke and after some turnes and wrenches he thus concludeth Est autem sensus multo expeditior ab his omnibus ambiguitaâ—â—bus liber si non secundum id quod homo erat sed secunduÌ„ id quod deus erat Christus dixisse accipiatur Hodie mecuÌ„ eris in paradiso Homo quippe Christus illo die secunduÌ„ carnem in sepulchro secundum animam in inferno futurus erat Deus vero ideÌ„ ipse Christus vbique semper est The far easier vnderstanding and free from al these ambiguities is if wee take Christ to speake those wordes This day shalt thou bee VVITH MEE in Paradise not of his manhoode but of his Godhead For the man Christ was that day in the graue according to his flesh and in hell as touching his soule but the same Christ as God is alwaies euery where And though this answere please that learned Father best that Christ shoulde speake of the theeues soule and his diuine presence in Paradise yet wee haue no warrant in the word of God so to fasten Christs soule vnto hel for the time of his death that it might not bee in Paradise before it descended into hell and he first shew himselfe to the saints to their vnspeakeable comfort before hee went to subiect the powers or darkenesse vnder his yoke That hee descended into the deep must be receaued because it is auouched by the apostle but what time he went or how long he staied as also what maner of triumph he brought thence cannot bee limited by anie mortall man In all these cases I thinke it safest to particularize nothing which is not defined in the worde of God there may be likelihoods but the consciences of the faithfull must not bee enforced except to certainties This is that I thought fit to be saide touching Christes descent to hell vrging the force and fruite of his going thither or appearing there to subiect the whole strength and kingdome of Satan vnto himselfe and to acquite all his members from comming thither but the time or manner of his descending I dare not determine least I should auert you from truth to fables Farre surer is the former doctrine teaching the redemption of mankinde by the death of Christ to bee all-sufficient and euerlasting wherein the scriptures being euident and the Fathers consonant I shall néede no moe words I wil therfore close them both with the confession of Fulgentius who liued 500. yeeres after Christ and so commend you to God Deus verus viuus imo deus veritas et vita aeterna nisi
become an ale-house where no maÌ„ should heare you but in the face of the world to bray after this sort is tolerable in no man but in you that neither know what you say nor see what you should prooue nor vnderstaÌ„d what maketh with you or against you You no sooner reade in any maÌ„ new or olde mention of Gods wrath or of death but you straight fansy that he meaneth your hel paines the death of the soule and so you play with the homilies allowed by the lawes of this Realme Where because you find that Christ interposed himselfe betweene the wrath of God vs to auert it from vs you forthwith resolue the Homilies teach your doctrine But awake Sir Refuter and you shall sée great difference betwixt the doctrine taught in the booke of Homilies and publikely approoued by the lawes of this Realme your frenzies that Christ DIED the DEATH of the SOVLE that the VVHOLE CVRSE of God was executed on Christ that he was by our sins defiled sinful hateful accursed that al the powers of his soule senses of his body were ouerwhelmed distracted and all confounded that he felt the verie Diuels to be instruments executing the wrath of God vpon him that the sufferings of Christs soule by Sympathie as you call it that is from and by the body make not to our redemption that Christs soule died and was crucified where it is absurd and most false to say Christ was made aliue ether in his humane soule or by the same these and an hundred such absurdities and impieties haue no allowance in the bookes of Homilies nor any thing sounding towards your hellish paines of the damned The doctrine there taught is sound true and plaine that we are redeemed by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus that such was the iust displeasure of God against our sinnes that though he were his owne son that vndertooke the cause for vs the iustice of God pursued him with most painfull smart and anguish euen vnto death and forced the weaknesse of his humane flesh to crie my God my God why hast thou forsaken mee But you content not your selfe with this you must haue him suffer the verie paines of the damned in Hell or nothing His bodilie death were it neuer soe paynefull and sharpe you make light account of the theeues crucified with Christ suffered you say as great bodily violence as he did yea wicked vngodly men indure with boldnes great ioy far more exquisite barbarous tormeÌ„ts sharper tortures as touching the body then Christ could endure and therefore in plaine words you saie such follie in the sonne of God bee it farre from yâ—u once to imagine as that he should stagger shrink or faile for any corporal tormentes whatsoeuer forgetting what Ambrose writeth Neque enim habent fortitu linis laudem qui stuporem magis vulnerum tulerunt quaÌ„ dolorem it can haue no praise of fortitude to be desperately confirmed rather then patientlie subiected vnto paine of torments And what AusteÌ„ confesseth Nihil erat tunc IN CARNE INTOLERABILIVS there was nothing more intolerable in the flâ—sh then the crosse of Christ as likewise what Bernarde resolueth Nec aliquo modo dubitandum quin infirmitatem exterminationem corporis incomparabilem sustinuerit it must not be doubted but Christ suffered incomparable weakenes and torment of body For this if you did striue it were to be tolerated for that which no father euer testified nor scripture euer affirmed when you shew your selfe so eager you bewray your humor you benefit not your cause Thou hast heard christian Reader what things I haue misliked in the first part of this opponents pamphlet but nothing more then this that he wasteth so manie wordes and neither expresseth what hee meaneth nor proueth what hee pretendeth All that he hath saide is this in effect Christ suffered in soule the wrath and curse of God foâ— our sinne or due to sinne but these are so generall termes that in parte they bee true in parte they bee false and therefore hee that walketh in these cloudes and descendeth not to particulars meaneth to hide his heade vnder the Couert of these generalities when neede is and out of these to fashion to himselfe such assertions as please best his humour The waâ—e to come by a trueth is to specifie the partes of Gods wrath and curse which they suppose Christ suffered and then shall wee in fewe wordes trie whether those sufferings accord with the rules and groundes of the scriptures or no. And this I foretell because if hee or anie other for him bee disposed to reuiue his cause hee must not bring a sacke full of words for so waightie matters but plainlie and particularlie declaring what he holdeth and proouing what he affirmeth go directly to the point and then by Gods grace we shall soone trie where trueth standeth But if anie man will draw the grounde of our redemption to generall and ambiguous termes which shall still increase contention to noe purpose I meane not to repell words with words till they answere these proofes I will not trouble my selfe with their emptie phrases In the second Question of Christs descent to hell I shall not hold thee long gentle reader because this babler forgetting what I sayd concerning the proofe and purpose of Christs descent to hell runneth a new course to Pagans and Poets for help to expound that article of our Creede and there presumeth himselfe to be so strong that of the rest he doth prate without reason or remembrance The end of Christs descent to hell I noted out of Athanasius Fulgentius and others and prooued their speach conformable to the Scriptures the places thou hast in the latter part of the treatise I meane not to increase this close with néedlesse repetitions The CoÌ„futer belike distracted and distempered with the cogitation and confusion of his hell paines vtterly mistaketh or forgetteth the whole He supposeth Christs descent to hell had none other purpose but to triumph and insult vpon the thrice miserable and wofull wretches in their present vnspeakeable damnation infinitely confounded alreadie inferreth Sure a verie sorie triumph this were for the sonne of God which euen among men were nothing but dishonorable but if his braines be so briâ—kle that he can neither conceaue nor carrie awaie what I sayd I must not beate it into his head that I then preached is here now printed let him refell it if hee can Soe when I made the subduing of hell and treading on Satan with all the power of darknesse a chiefe part of the glorie of Chrits resurrection this scorner in his foolish conceite mocketh at it and saith a worthie priuiledge surelie and verie honorable All men would thinke it a greater honour neuer to haue come in hell at all For his actuall triumphing in hell all the world knoweth is the most inglorious and vilest debasing In sadnes Syr refuter if
greate a commaunde in the Church of GOD that no worde maie bee vsed by anie man without your consent Doeth anie Father in expounding the Scriptures put the Cleargie for the people as if the rest had no part in the Kingdome of Christ but if they wanted a word to note them that were called to the publike seruice of Christes church and thought best to name them clerici clerkes what haue you to do with it or what reason to speake against it so long as the rest of Gods people are not thereby depriued of their parte in Gods heauenlie inheritance And what if they tooke this tearme from the scripture and deriued the verie word from the Apostles mouthes are you not well occupied to quarrel with them Peter doth twice vse that worde for a parte or place in the publike ministerie and seruice of the church with which the people did not meddle Iudas saieth Peter was numbred with vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and had his place in this ministerie So againe to Simon Magus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou hast no part nor lot in this businesse or function Where Peter in both places calleth the charge of an Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not that Iudas or the rest of the twelue were chosen by lots but that he had a part with them in that function As for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I thinke there bee more saide then you will be able to answere you know where to finde it Could you proue that the Apostles did make elders with the peoples voices which you shall neuer bee able to doe you had some reason to thinke the worde might importe some such thing but where the worde in his owne nature is but to stretch out the hande and it is certaine by the scriptures the Apostles in ordaining elders did vse imposition of handes which is plainelie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 electing by voices they did not vse for ought that can bee prooued what a malepart guest are you to saie It was a rife thing with the fathers yea with the ancientest of them to alter change the authentick vse of words because the Athenians in Demosthenes time had a course in their publike assemblies to giue their consentes to make lawes and decrées with holding vp their hands which he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But you bite on the bridle I perceiue and so you must till you learne to be more sober then to condemne so manie learned and religious fathers of ignorance and corruption which in such a companion as you are might well be beléeued in men of their religion and iudgement can by no reason be mistrusted â—â— is by the way because you glance at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though the rein you accuse not me that alleage them but the fathers themselues as corrupters of church discipline and peruerters of their own language howbeit hades is now in question and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore saie for hades what you can or rather for your selfe since all wise men will hold you more then rash and presumptuous if you condemne so many without great cause The classical writers you say the maisters of the Greek tongue do vse HADES in proper sense only in generall for the STATE OF THE DEADE the VVORLD OF THE DEADE the VVORLD OF SOVLES DEPARTED indifferently and indefinitely meaning as wel those in eternal ioies as those in paines Labour you Sir Refuter to bring into the créede the maribones of a gréeke phrase or an article of the christian faith if you be so idle headed that you striue to haue a new phrase into the Creede remember the kingdome of God is not in speach but in power If you intende an article of the faith pagans and Poets are no such classicall masters to be cited or followed in the mysteries of christian religion What if it were true which here as your maner is you auouch with a brazen face y â— Homer Plato Plutarch did so vse the word is it therfore a consequent the scripture must so speak how many hundred Gréeke words haue with Pagans their general significations which the holie ghost restraineth to expresse Gods truth and serue Gods will The gréeke wordes for Apostle elder Bishop Deacon Gospell Scripture faith hope repentance sinneâ— the law conscience concupisence and infinite such like doe they not with Pagans import one thing with Christians an other thing and that by the warrant of Gods worde touching hell it selfe with your classicall writers and maisters of the Gréeke tongue I meane euen Homer Plato and Plutarch are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taken for good and blessed spirits yea for Gods which the scriptures vse onlie for diuels Plutarchs booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Socrates spirit which thing also Plato mentioneth in his Apologie and dialogue De sapientia meaneth not Socrates Diuell neither doth Isocrates prescribe vnto Demonicus by this rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hee shoulde worship the diuell but rather God and yet by that word the new testameÌ„t and the Septuagint in the olde intend onelie diuels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the masters of the Greeke tongue is but a carper or reprehender insomuch that most of Platoes schollers were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet in the newe testament this is the proper name for the diuell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch doth take for the ayre and deriueth that word from colde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tartarus is so termed from colde whence Hesiode calleth it the ayrie tartare and he that shaketh and trembleth for cold is sayd tartarizein Yet your instructor maketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the tayle and prison in hell and saith S. Peter when hee telleth howe God condemned the Angels taketh all the words from Homer and HIS PROSE COMMENTARIE If he meane Eustathius the Christian Bishop it is a foule ouersigat if hee meane anie other he shall do well to proue and not to presume that Peter read Homer and his prose commentarie to expresse the punishment of Diuels Nowe if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haue other significations and acceptions with the masters as you make them of the gréeke tongue yet in the new testament are wholy onlie referred to note hell and the diuels thither adiudged whie may not the word HADES in like sort be taken from his prophane vse among the heathen writers and bee applied by the Euangelistes and Apostles to signifie hell yea if the opinion which the pagan Poets and prophane Philosophers helde of HADES were false and repugnant to the christian faith howe could the canonicall writers of the new testament vse the word and not change the sense dare you so much as dreame that the holy Ghost woulde canonize the Poets fables and the Philosophers fansies of the world to come or if you be so foolish as to forget the difference betwéene
the second of the Acts could hardly haue any good construction because it seemed farre fet and altogither repugnant to the proper signification of the wordes to take the soule for the bodie and hell for the graue and as for the locall descent of Christ to hell after death they counted that but a fable I was forced to promise that I would openlie deliuer which I thought was the likeliest and safest sense as well of that article in the Creede as of those wordes of Dauid fulfilled in the person of our Sauiour This occasion drew mee to the next question of Christes descent to hell Wherin I resolued as by perusing the later part of this treatise will better appeare that Christs descent to the verie place of hell after his death did best concord both with the Creede and with the truth of Christian religion so we tooke care not to swarue frō the Scriptures in setting downe the cause why he went thither which was to ouerthrow destroy the kingdom might of Satan in the place of his greatest strength euen in hel and as our head to free all his members from daunger and feare of comming thither the sorrowes and terrors whereof hee loosed vvith his presence treading them vnder his feete and rose againe into a blessed and immortall life leading captiuitie captiue and taking from hell and Satan all povver to preuaile against his elect Both these resolutions that Christ suffered not the true paines of hell in his soule on the crosse and that hee personallie conquered and disarmed the powers and terrours thereof before his resurrection some as in such cases is common misremembred some misconstrued and some misliked vvhereupon I vvas both aduised and intreated by men of greater place then I vvill name to put the effect of that vvhich I had deliuered in vvriting that by mine ovvne vvords and not by other mens conceits or reports the learned might iudge of the doctrine Which I did that verie Summer and had it readie for the presse before Bartlemewtide but that the Parliament of States approching wherein men shoulde be otherwise imploied and a great hurle raised against it by certaine popular preachers in that citie through whose mouthes the contrarie had often passed to the people as currant I was desired by the same persons againe to staie till that time of businesse were ouer past that heat of contradiction somewhat alaied and respite giuen that it might be trāslated into Latin which also is now performed as wel as published in English To whole coūsell I yeelded referring the time wholy to their iudgements notwithstanding I were by many traduced in many places as a teacher of strange and false doctrine But I haue beene and am the more willing to beare the reproches of maligners because I seeke not my selfe heerein but that the church of Christ heere in Englande should hold fast that ancient and sure foundation of faith which hitherto it hath kept and professe that doctrine touching our Redemption by Christ which as wel the publike lawes of this realme as all the catholike fathers do vphold and allow In setting downe the summe of that which I preached I neither do nor can promise thee gentle Reader the same words which I then spake I wrote them not but I assure thee before him that knoweth all things that I haue not swarued nor altered anie materiall point from the methode propositions proofes and conclusions which I then vsed nor from the wordes as farre as either my notes or my memory vpon the fresh foote coulde direct mee which I haue yet to shew Manie proofes and authorities I omitted in the pulpit which the time shut me from and some obiections I haue answered here more largelie then the course of Sermons would permit but here is the selfe same in effect which then I vttered and purposed if the time woulde haue suffered The manner of handling this question I alwaies wished might bee temperate and sober as best became christian professours and teachers least by catching aduantages besides the cause wee increased quarrels and so much regarded our credits that wee neglected the truth I haue therfore in the Treatise it selfe touched no mans name oppugned no mans wordes traduced no mans iudgement but admitting and retaining as much as I thought might stande with the truth I haue pared off certaine extremities and reiected certaine additions which the first inuentors did refraine for that Christ suffered the death of the soule or all the same tormentes which the damned do and shall are positions lately coined and deriued from the proportion of Gods iustice as they call it but as I thinke from presumption of mans reason intruding into Gods secrets The doctrine which I defend that we are sufficientlie redeemed by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus without adding of hell paines to bee suffered in the soule of Christ hath the constant full and expresse warrant of the Scriptures and the like approbation from al the fathers without exception And therefore howsoeuer some men may despise all ancient writers and frustrate the scriptures with their figures al sober and wise christians will I doubt not beware how they admit this strange and late found nouelty into their Creede or consciences The second point I presse nor with like vehemencie because it hath not like certaintie So long as we confesse which the Scriptures do confirme that Christs humane nature after his extreame humiliation on the Crosse before his resurrection conquered spoyled not death only but hell Satan also of al their power right ouer y e faithful ascending on hie lead captiuitie captiue tooke the keyes of death and of hell into his owne hands with the precise maner and hower I will not burden anie mans conscience that cannot be perswaded by reading the latter part of this treatise though I my selfe after long diligent search find no sense so agreeable to y e words of the Creede so answerable to the rules of the sacred Scriptures and so fullie followed by all the Fathers as Christs descent to the verie place of hell for the purposes aforesaid Hauing premonished thee Christian reader of thus much I am not willing to detayne thee anie longer from vewing and examining the booke it selfe but onelie to tell thee that whiles I stayed the printing hereof till others did like it as wel as my self one more hastie then either aduised or learned calling himselfe H. I. would needes traduce it and confute it before he saw it resting belike on such notes as his angry mind and brickle memorie tooke at the time when I preached of these points Wherein though others condemne his follie yet I commend his pollicie that least hee should trouble himselfe with more thē he could answere he thought it y e best way to come into the field alone and like a stout Champion fighting with his owne shadow to say no more thē he would be sure to deny or decline with one
shift or other To make the easier conquest of that I preached hee cleane changeth the state of the first Question hee offereth to prooue that which I neuer denied hee confuteth that which I neuer affirmed hee runneth at Random no man can tell whither hee peruerteth my wordes hee maymeth my reasons hee skippeth all my authorities hee scornefullie reiecteth the iudgement of the Fathers when I alleage them the Scriptures hee turneth and windeth at his pleasure he wadeth desperately through thicke and thinne in matters of most importance his best reason is euerie where his own opinion outfacing the world with his ignorance in summe he sheweth vs by his example what it is for a man in matters of faith to despise both authoritie and antiquity and trust onely to his own fancie Such an opponent the wiser sort will thinke I were better neglect then encounter which resolution I my selfe do retayne onely lest my silence should augment his boldnes I thought it not amisse in the conclusion seuered from the treatise to giue thee a tast of the rashnes and weaknes of his enterprise intreating thee in the meane time to reade aduisedly and iudge indifferently for that the cause is weighty and toucheth thee as neere as mee For if we suffer the mayne foundation of our faith and hope in Christ to be wrenched neuer so little awrie the whole building is more endangered then wee are ware of In Gods causes let Gods booke teach vs what to beleeue and what to professe If thou thinke it thy duetie in matters of faith to beware of vnwritten verities in the greatest point of all which is our redemption by Christ take heede thou easilie admit not vnwritten absurdities This matter began in more generall and more tolerable tearmes if they might bee rather soberly mitigated then too vehemently pressed but as when we runne downe an hill we can hardly staie so in matters of religion when we fal to inuenting beyond the scriptures we quickly misse and seldome recouer the truth Farewell gentle Reader and pray that our thoughts and wits may be subiected to the truth of Gods word and that wee loath not the simplicitie which is in Christ. THE FVLL REDEMPtion of mankind by the death and bloud of Christ. GALATH. 6. verse 14. Be it far from me to reioice but in the Crosse of Christ. AS the naturall man no where liketh nor alloweth the thinges of God because they seeme foolishnes vnto him so of all the waies and workes of God there is none that more displeaseth and offendeth the vnbeléeuer then the Crosse of Christ. Wee preach Christ crucified saith the Apostle to the Iewes a stumbling blocke to the Grecians foolishnesse The Grecians â—auoring nothing but worldlie wisedome and fleshlie reason counted it a méere folly for the sonne of God to leaue his Throne of glorie in the heauens and as a man amongst men to taste of maâ—â—e miseries and to suffer a cruell and shamefull death at the handes of his enemies The priâ—â— of our Redemption for whose sakes hee died and the power of his resurrection by which hee raised vs to the imitation and expectation of a better life they did neither conceiue nor beléeue and therefore they reiected his birth and speciallie his death as a dreame of simple and vnlearned men such as they tooke the Apostles to be The Iewes hauing their eares full of those excellent promises which God made by his prophets concerning the kingdome of the Messias and referring them to an earthlie king that should sit on the throne of Dauid brusing his enemies with a rod of Iron and ruling the world with iustice and equitie when they sawe the weake and base condition of our Sauiour in outward shew promising nothing but reproch and penurie they so disdained and detested him that they could not bee quiet till they had crucified him being then and euer since ashamed and gréeued that anie should saie or thinke he was the Messias so much spoken of in the prophets Thus the Iewes looking for wonders and the Grecians for Wisedome did both condemne the crosse of Christ the one of weakenesse the other of foolishnesse and for that cause fell at the stone of offence but such as were called both Iewes and Gentiles to bee heires of the promise did plainelie perceaue and fullie confesse Christ crucified to be the mightie power and manifold wisedome of God for their euerlasting ioie and blisse and were so far from being ashamed of Christs sufferings that they were willing partakers and open reioicers in the crosse of Christ as the Apostle here saieth of himselfe Be it farre from mee to reioice but in the Crosse of Christ by which the world is crucified to me and I to the world And indéede if we beholde Christ crucified with carnall eies as did the Iewes wee shall see nothing in him but earthlie weakenesse and deadlie woundes as they sawe but if we bende the eies of our faith to the trâ—th of his person and to the force and fruite of his death as must all his saints we shall finde the power and wisedome iustice and mercie of God so tempered in the crosse of Christ for our good that by his paines we are eased by his stripes we are healed his weakenesse is our strength his shame is our glorie and his death our life worthely therefore doth the Apostle professe that he did and we should not reioice but in the crosse of Christ. And where hee saith he did reioyce in nothing but in the crosse of Christ he thereby teacheth vs to repose all our faith and hope aswell as our ioy in the fauour of God which Christ hath purchased for vs by his death and bloud Reioice in hope saith the Apostle that is in the expectation not in the present fruition of heauenlie thinges which God hath prepared for all that loue him Now hope without faith there can bee none Faith is the ground worke of that wee hope for howe can we with patience looke for that which we doe not beléeue wee shall receiue The doubting of Gods promises is the plaine distrâ—sting of them and bréedeth rather a feare we shall misse them then an hope to enioie them and in feare there is PAINE as saint Iohn saith and no IOIE Then as there is no perfect ioie but in hope assured by faith so if we must not reioice but in the crosse of Christ our faith and hope must wholie depende on that peace and attonement which Christ hath made betwixt God and vs by the sheading of his precious bloud for our sakes that is by his crosse Since therefore Christ crucified is the wisedome and power of God to saue all that beléeue and the crosse of Christ is the ful support of all our faith hope and ioie there is no one point in christian religion that more mainelie concerneth and neerelie toucheth the saluation of our soules then the right vnderstanding and only relying on the crosse
earth with his bloud it was declared not to him who knewe it but vnto vs that he had obtained the effect of his praier with his bloud to purge the faith of his Disciples which earth lie frailtie did weaken and whatsoeuer offence the earth had taken at his death al that he dying should abolish yea with his innocent death he should raise vnto an heauenlie life the whole world then dead in their sinnes Bernard taketh hold on S. Pauls wordes where hee calleth Christes sweate by the name of teares and â—aith Ventum est adorationem vsque tertiò factus in Agoâ—ia orabat vbi quidem non solis oculis sed quasi omnibus membris sleuisse videtur vt totuÌ„ corpus eius quod est ecclesia totius corporis lachrymis purgaretur Christ came to praier and being in an agony he praied thrise where he seemed to weepe not onelie with his cies but with all the parts of his body that the whole body of his Church might bee purged with the teares of his whole body S. Paul alleageth the cries and teares of Christ in the garden as a proofe of his priesthood saith that not onlie He offered praiers supplications which was one part of y e priests office wherein hee was heard for the reuerence had of him But also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being sanctified to offer sacrifice for so the word doth often signifie or else consummated by the offering of himselfe on the crosse which was the other part of his priestlie function was made authour of eternall saluation to all that obey him being thus called and allowed of God to bee an high priest after the order of Melchizedec Christ readie to enter the garden saith Proâ—eis sanctifico meipsum for their sakes I sanctifie my selfe and sanctification properlie belonged to the priestes person before hee might appeare in Gods presence to offer for the sinnes of the people and by the rite of Moses lawe the priestes when they were sanctified vnto God had their bodies sprinkled with the bloud of their sacrifice from top to toe Christ then being the truth of all their figures as well in the sanctification as oblation of himselfe might miraculouslie sprinkle his whole bodie with his own bloud for it was aboue nature as Hilarie noteth and so consceraâ—e his person as approoued of God to be the true priest after the order of Melchizedec and voluntarilie dedicate his bloud to be shed for the remission of our sinnes which hee did of his owne accord yeeld to be disposed of at his fathers pleasure before the Iewes or Gentiles wounded his bodie that his whole passion which followed might bee a willing sacrifice and no forced violence by the handes or weapons of the wicked Christes agonie then being alleaged by the Apostle to demonstrate Christs priesthood must not rise from the terror of his own death but rather from the vehemencie of his praier for vs that it might bee aswell an intercession for sinners as a sanctification of himselfe to offer the sacrifice auaileable for the sinnes of the world To which if anie will adde the signification of the martyrs bloud which Austen speaketh of as if Christ in the garden did not onelie present his owne bloud to be the true propitiation of our sinnes but also the bloud of his martyrs to make their death acceptable to God that willinglie laide downe their liues for the witnes of his truth I can be well content to admit that exposition considering Christ must offer both the liues and deathes of all his saintes to God his father before they can be holie or precious in his sight But since Christes feare as they expound the Apostles words Hebre. 5. is made the groundworke of this conceipt let vs see whether their owne foundation wil not ouerthrow their owne building The paines of hell did Christ when hee praied in the garden feare them or no if hee did not feare them hee did not féele them for they are fearefull yea the verie expectation of them is verie dreadful as the Apostle saith Hebre. 10 and if he feared them not howe could they bee the cause of his agonie which these men so stiflie maintaine If he feared them he was fréed from them as they themselues interprete the worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for hee was heard in that he feared His praier was to haue that cup passe from him and God neuer denied whatsoeuer he asked I know saith Christ to his father that thou hearest me alwaies Whence they conclude he feared hell paines thence I infer hee suffered them not for being deliuered from the feare of hell approching he could not be left vnder the burden of hell abiding Againe if the suffering of hell were the cause of Christs agony the cause continuing the effect could not cease But his agonie ended in the garden how then could the paines of hell endure on the crosse and be lengthened almost to the end of his life Ierome saith vpon these wordes of Christ to his disciples Arise let vs go least they finde vs as though we were fearefull and drawing backe let vs of our owne accorde goe towardes them vt considentiam gaudium passuri videant that they may see the confidence and gladnesse of Christ going to his passion The continuance of Christes agonie they proue by his complaint on the crosse where not long before he yeelded vp his spirit he cried My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and these words they saie do plainelie conuince that Christ felt himselfe forsaken of God and that this was the true cause of his agonie whatsoeuer pretences are inuented by others to excuse or colour his feare Indeede this place must beare the burden of the whole frame for the rest are onlie signes of sorrowe and zeale the scriptures not expressing the cause but here are manifest wordes if wee mistake not their reference My father is greater then I am were words as cleare as daie light but the referring that to the diuine which hee spake of his humane nature bred the Arrian heresie My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee are not so plaine for the saints of God haue often complained vnto God that they were forsaken of him when he withdrew neither his fauour grace nor spirit from them but onelie withhelde his helpe or comfort for the time to make them more earnest to séeke and flie to him But were they neuer so pregnant if we applie them to the wrong part which God neuer forsooke we may incurre as grosse an errour as euer did Arrius And yet if we straine them to the vttermost they will neuer proue that Christ on the crosse suffered the paines of hell For if we should grant which were diuelish impietie to thinke that God forsooke Christes soule as verelie as euer hee did anie of the wicked heere on earth Cain Saul Iudas not excepted yet that doth not
conclude he suffered the true paines of hell For those in this life did not suffer as much as their soules doe now in hell make their case neuer so desperate And therefore I maruaile howe wise men were bewitched with the sound of these wordes which hence resolued that out of all question Christ suffered the paines of the damned in hell where as the wordes inferre no such thing though we stretch them neuer so farre For in spite of our hearts before we can bring that conclusion to follow this must be the iointure of our reason All men any way forsaken of God in this life are in the true paines of hell Christ was forsaken of God ergo he was in the true paines of hell Now howe fond false and absurd the generall assertion is that all anie way forsaken of God are in the true paines of hell to men of learning and religion néedeth no long discourse Cain was a runnagate and accursed by Gods mouth Esau was a prophane person and hated of God Saul was verie desperate when he sought to the witch for God was departed from him and become his enemie Iudas was the sonne of perdition and a diuell yea manie were starke mad and possessed with diuels and yet none of them in those verie tormentes which are reserued for the damned in hell The Gentiles as Paul saith were strangers from the life of God and had no hope and were without God in the world yet were they not in the paines of hell here on earth But I hope we be not so far drowned in the depth of hell that wee will for our fansie range the sonne of God and sauiour of the world in this rable of wicked and desperate castawaies and yet though men could be so dangerouslie deuoted to their dreames this prooueth not their purpose Desperation they may stumble at if they will presse the words without anie difference betwéen the dereliction of Gods saintes and his enemies but toleration of hell paines these words will neuer conclude vnlesse we make hell to be no iudgement nor punishment after this life but onelie a terror and horror of conscience such as pursueth the wicked here in reuenge of their sinnes When the godlie complaine as often they do in the scriptures that they were forsaken of God it is not onlie a plaine absurditie but a grosse impietie to conclude of their words that they then suffered the verie paines of the damned in hell For example Sion which is the whole church of God saith in the prophet Esay the Lorde hath forsaken me and God himselfe assureth her words to bee true For a while I forsooke thee for a moment in mine anger I hid my face from thee Was the whole church for that time in the true paines of hell Dauid saith of himselfe Thou hast reiected and abhorred thou hast beene angrie with thine annointed Was Dauid then in the verie paines of the damned of his whole realme he saith O God thou hast cast vs off and beene angry with vs. Did all the people then suffer the torments of hell reiecting and abhorring are wordes of greater dislike and more detestation then forsaking and yet they infer not the paines of hell Whie then doe wee so fondlie misconster the one when we well inough vnderstande the other why stumble we at a strawe when we canne step ouer a blocke To be forsaken of God as the wicked are is to bee depriued of his fauour grace and spirit and yet they are not forthwith in hell To be forsaken as the godlie complaine they are is to be voide of comfort or destitute of helpe when their enemies assault or afflict them which is nothing néere the state of the damned For as God is said to be present by his gifts and graces so he hideth his face or forsaketh vs when he refraineth his eie from watching his eare from hearing or his hand from helping vs in the miseries and aduersities of this life If I be thought partiall let vs heare what the ancient and learned fathers purposelie write of our sauiours complaint on the crosse in whome I finde sundrie and all godlie expositions according with the truth of the scriptures and no way bending or inclining to this late deuise of hell paines The first that as Christ is our heade and we his members in such sort ioyned in one bodie wiâ—h him that hee suffereth in vs and we in him so were we not onlie crucified and buried but also raised and glorified in him and with him and therefore hee shewed and vttered manie thinges in his passion which ought to be referred directlie to vs and not to him but as bearing our person and speaking in our names My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Hanc in se vocem transfigurauit Iesus vocem corporis fui hoc est ecclesiae This speech Christ transferred to himselfe saith Austen being the speach of his body which is the church The church suffered then in him when he suffered for the church euen as hee suffered in the church when the church suffered for him And as we heard the voice of the church suffering in Christ when he saide my God my God why hast thou forsaken me so haue we heard the voice of Christ suffering in his church when hee saide Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee And againe quid voluit dicere dominus non enim dereliquerat illuÌ„ deus cum ipse esset deus atque filius dei Quare dicitur nisiquia nos ibi eramus nisi quia corpus Christi ecclesia Why would the Lord saie my God my God why hast thou forsaken me God had not forsaken him for so much as he was God and the son of God Why then was it said but because we were there in him the church which was his bodie Sub redemptorum suorum voce clamabat deus deus meus quare me dereliquisti In the name of his redeemed Christ said my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Ex nostra persona verba illa proloquitur non enim ipse à deo destitutus fuit sednos In our person Christ speaketh these wordes for he was not forsaken of God but we The second exposition of these words is that Christes humane nature was not protected from the rage of the Iewes but left without helpe in the power of his enemies to bee vsed at their pleasures which he calleth a kind of forsaking For God then séemeth to leaue vs wheÌ„ he doth not defend vs from the furie of our foes which séeke our ouerthrow Erat aliqua causa eaque non parua quare Christum de manibus Iudaeorum non liberaret deus cumque in potestate saeuientium vsque ad mortis exitum derelinqueret There was a cause saieth Augustine and that no small cause why God did not deliuer Christ out of the handes of the Iewes but let
obedient to the death euen to the death of the crosse By his humilitie obedience and charity hee purged the pride rebellion and selfe-loue which our first father shewed when he fell and we all expresse in our sinnes and therefore as wee all died in Adams transgression so we are all iustified that is absolued from our sinnes and receaued into fauour by the obedience of Christ. Yea the obedience of Christ did in farre higher degrée please God the Father then the rebellion of Adam did displease him For there the vassall rebelled here the equall obeied there earth presumed to be like vnto God here God vouchsafed to bee the lowest amongst men there the creature neglected his maker here the creator so loued his enemies euen his persecutors that hee tooke the burthen from their shoulders and laid it on his owne contentedly giuing his life for them who cruellie tooke his life from him to conclude those were the sinnes of men these are the vertues of God which doe infinitelie counteruaile the other and for that cause the iustice of God is farre better satisfied with the obedience of Christ then with the vengeance it might iustlie haue executed on the sinnes of men For God hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked neither doth hee delight in mans destruction but with the obedience of his sonne he is well pleased and therein euen his soule delighteth This is my beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased Loe my chosen my soule taketh pleasure in him In which words God doth not onlie note the naturall loue betwixt his sonne and himselfe but he giueth full approbation of his obedience as being thereby throughlie satisfied for the sinne of man By Christs obedience I doe not meane the holinesse of his life or performance of the lawe but the obedience of the person vnto death euen the death of the Crosse which was voluntarilie offered by him not necessarily imposed on him aboue and besides the lawe and no way required in the lawe For it could be no dutie to God or man but onelie mercie and pitie towardes vs that caused the sonne of God to take our mortall and weake flesh vnto him and therein and therby to pay the ransome of our sinnes and to purchase eternall life for vs. He must be a Sauiour no debter a redéemer no prisoner Lord of all euen when hee humbled himselfe to be the seruant of all his diuine glorie power and maiestie make his sufferings to be of infinite force and value And from this dignitie and vnitie of his person which is the maine pillar of our redemption if we cast our eies on any other cause or deuise any new help to strengthen the merits of Christ wee dishonour and disable his diuinitie as if the sonne of God were not a full and sufficient price to ransome the bodies and soules of all mankind On this foundation doe the scriptures build the whole frame of mans redemption GOD purchased his church saith Paule WITH HIS OVVNE BLOVD GOD noting the dignitie HIS OVVNE the vnitie of his person and both importing a price far worthier then the thing purchased God spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for vs all In that he was the sonne of God al nations are counted vnto him or in ballance with him lesse thē nothing and vanitie in that he was giuen for vs the ransome excelleth the prisoner as much as God doth man We are reconciled to God by the death of his sonne Maruell we to sée Christs death of that power price with God that it appeased his wrath when he was angrie with vs as with his enemies when as his owne son being equall with him in the forme of God humbled himselfe to the death of the crosse for our sakes Fairer or fuller causes of our redemption we neede not aske the holie Ghost doth not expresse God cannot haue If the son of God be not able with his bloud to redeeme vs wee must giue ouer all hope and despaire For heauen cannot yéeld vs a greater value and the earth hath none like Wherfore if any man be disposed to seale his own condemnation with his own heart let him distrust the merits of Christs death but all that will be saued must acknowledge the infinite price of his death and bloud aboue our worth and we must learne being sinfull and wretched creatures not to amend the wordes of God in the mysterie of our redemption but suffer him that is trueth to be the guider of our faith and not by figures to frustrate all that is written in the word of God touching our saluation purchased by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus I am not the first that obserued or vrged this doctrine it is auncient and Catholike Cum super omnes esset Dei verbum merito suum ipsius templum corporale instrumentum pro omniū ammis pretium offerens id quod morti debebatur persoluit Where as the word or sonne of God saith Athanasius was aboue al worthily then by offering his owne temple bodily instrument as a price for the soules of all men did he pay that was due vnto death Cyril Si non esset deus quomodo ipse solus sufficeret ad hoc vt sit pretiū Sed sufficit solus pro omnibus mortuus quia super omnes est deus igitur est morte suae carnis à mundo mortē depellens If Christ were not God how could he alone suffice to be the ransome for al but he alone dead sufficeth for all because he is aboue all he is therefore God by the death of his flesh driuing away death from the worlde And againe Redempti sumus Christo proprium corpus dante pro nobis Sed si vt communis homo intelligeretur Christus quomodo corpus eius ad rependendum omnium vitam sufficeret At si deus fuit in carne qui dignissimus sufficiens ad redemptionem totius mundi per suum sanguinē merito fuit We are redeemed Christ giuing his own body for vs. But if Christ be taken to be no more then a man how should his body be sufficient to restore life to al men but if he were God in our flesh worthily thē did he suffice to redeem the whole world with his bloud Austen Si propter hominē mortuus est deus nō est victurus homo cum deo quomodo mortuus est deus accepit ex te vnde moreretur pro te nōposset mori nisi caro nōposset mori nisi mortale corpus If god died for mā shall not mā liue with god but how died god he took of thine wherin to die for thee There could nothing die but flesh there could die nothing but a mortal body And elsewhere an anciēt writer vnder his name if not himselfe Indubitanter credamus quod totum mundum redemit qui plus dedit quā totus mundus valeret
our sinnes that whom the Diuell iustlie held as guiltie of sinne and obnoxious to death those hee might woorthilie loose through him whome hee wrongfullie slue beeing guiltie of no sinne with this iustice the Diuell was conquered and with this band was hee bound that his goods might bee spoyled And so Saint Austen concludeth in expresse wordes that THE BLOVD OF CHRIST which the Diuell was permitted to shedde by the handes of the wicked VVAS GIVEN AS A PRICE IN OVR REDEMPTION Which when the Diuell had spilt it was reckoned to him as a ransom for vs since Christ owed none for himself so were we dismissed out of his power In hac redeÌ„ptione tanquaÌ„ pretiuÌ„ pro nobis datus est Christi sanguis quo accepto diabolus non ditatus sed ligatus est vt nos ab eius nexibus solueremur In this redemption the bloud of Christ was giuen as a ransome for vs which being receiued the diuell was not inriched but concluded that wee might bee loosed from his snares S. Ambrose affirmeth as much Si redempti sumus non corruptibilibus argento auro sed precioso sanguine domini nostri Iesu Christi quo vtique vendente NISI EO qui nostruÌ„ iam peccatricis successionis are quaesitum seruitium possidedat Sine dubio IPSE flagitabat pretium vt seruitio exueret quos tenebat obstrictos PretiuÌ„ autem nostrae liberationis erat sanguis domini Iesu quod necessario soluendum erat EI CVI peccatis nostris venditi eramus If we bee redeemed not with corruptible things as siluer and golde but with the precious bloud of our Lorde Iesus Christ who selling vs BVT HE that possessed vs as his seruants by reason of our sinfull succession doubtlesse euen HE required a ransome to dismisse vs from the seruitude which he had ouer vs. Now the price of our deliuerance was the bloud of the Lord Iesus which price was necessarilie to bee payde to HIM TO WHOM we were sold through our sinnes They which traduce this doctrine as inclining to Manicheisme had more neede of Elleborus to furge their braines then of authorities to perswade their hearts For since Christ paid no ransome for himselâ—e but for vs and his innocent bloud could not be shed but by the hands of the wicked what touch of vntruth can it haue that God accounted the bloud of Christ to bee of more value then all the sonnes of men and consequentlie that which the diuell eagerlie thirsted and wrongfullie shed to be reputed as mans ransome and a price most sufficient for all the world Yea the scripture which is the word of truth doth not onely teach vs who redeemed vs and with what price as God bought his Church with his owne bloud but in manifest words from whom we were redéemed euen from the power of DARKNES DEATH and HEL that being deliuered out of the hands of our enemies wee should serue God without feare in holines and righteousnes all the daies of our life Whether therefore wee resemble the bodie and bloud of Christ to a PRAY that brake the téeth of the deuourer to a BAITE that held fast the swallower to a PRICE that concluded the challenger to a RANSOME that fréed the prisoner or to a CONQVEST that ouerthrew the infulter in effect it is all one Satan by killing him that was the authour of life lost both him and all his members the Lorde rising againe by his owne power and raising them all that could not bee seuered from him by the might and merite of his death and suffering And so the godlie which now liue on the earth are not their OVVNE but his that bought them with a price being before solde vnder sinne whose seruants they were till Christ with his bloud redeemed them vnto GOD and made them kinges and priestes to God his father Venit redemptor dedit pretium fudit sanguinem suum emit orbem terrarum Videte quid dederit inuenite quid emerit Sanguis Christi pretium est tanti quid valet quid nisi totus orbis quid nisi omnes gentes The redeemer came saith Austen and paied the price hee shed his bloud and purchased the worlde Consider what he gaue and marke what he bought The bloud of Christ was y e price what was valued at so great a price What but the whole world what but al the nations of the earth Hic sanguis effusus omnem terrarum orbenâ— abluit hic sanguis antea semper praesignabatur in sacrificijs in iustorum caedibus Hic orbis terrarum est pretiuÌ„ Hoc Christus emit ecclesiam Hoc eam omâ—em adornauit This bloud saith Chrysostom being shed washed the whole world This bloud was euer before figured in the sacrifices and martyrdomes of the righteous This bloud is the price of the world with this Christ bought his Church with this he wholy adorned it Christus non esset condignum pretiuÌ„ totius creaturae redimendae neque sufficeret ad bene redimendam mundi vitam etiamsi suam deponeret animam vt pretium pro nobis ac etiam pretiosum sanguinem nisi vere esset filius tanquam ex deo deus Christ had not beene a iust price saith Cyril to redeeme all creatures nor sufficient to purchase the life of the world though he would haue laid down his life and his precious bloud as a ransome for vs if he had not beene the true sonne of God as it were God of God Where as now Vnus dignitate vniuersos superans pro omnibus mortuus est quaecunque sub coâ—lo sunt sanguine suo redemit deoque patrivniuersae terrae habitatores acquisiuit He alone exceeding al other in worth valew died for al by his bloud redeemed all things vnder heauen purchased to God his father the inhabitants of the whole earth But our sauior saith the son of man came dare animaÌ„ suaÌ„ redemptionem pro multis to giue his soule a ransome for many And Esay foretold as much that he should make his soule an offering for sin It is no great masterie to cite places of scripture in shew repugnant one to the other howbeit in trueth these are not contrarieties but coÌ„sequents to the former authorities For where the soule of man is the life of his bodie Christ could not die for our sinnes but he must laie down his soule to death that it might be separated from his bodie so giue HIS SOVLE that is his LIFE a ransome for many an offering for sin And so she very traÌ„slators y t otherwise fauor this opinion of hel paines do interprete those words The son of man came not to be serued but to serue to giue HIS LIFE a ransome for many And the like elsewhere Bonus pastor dat animaÌ„ pro ouibus The good shepheard giueth HIS LIFE for his sheep AnimaÌ„ meaÌ„
manner and merit of Christs suffering death on the crosse to saue vs from the wrath of God that was kindled against our transgressions And since the scriptures mention none other meanes of our redemption but the DEATH and BLOVD of the SONNE of God I hold them wisest that leaue deuising any better or other help for our saluation then God himselfe hath reuealed And as for the death of the soule I take that to be the greatest hinderance that maybe to the worke of our redemption and to shake the verie foundation of our faith and hope in the crosse of Christ. Which least I should seeme to say no way to proue let vs view the COMFORT of Christes crosse and thereby see howe his soule was affected towardes God euen whiles his bodie suffered that grieuous and opprobrious death of the crosse I haue often mused what made men of great learning and iudgement otherwise to swarue so much from the plain tenor of the scriptures and to imagine in the soule of our sauiour such doubt and feare of Gods fauour such horâ—ors and torments of hell that they sticke not to match them with the paines of the damned considering there is no manifest ground nor euident proofe of so dangerous doctâ—ine in the word of God but contrariwise when the scriptures describe Christ on the crosse they propose his bodie martyred with al kinde of crueltie but his soule cleaning to God with all perfection of constancie Read the xvi and xxii Psalme who will which purposelie treate of Christes passion and tell mee whether there bee so much as a worde importing anie distrust of Gods fauour or anie suspicion of the paines of hell suffered in the soule of Christ The first entrance of the xxii Psalme you will say is My God my God whie hast thou forsaken me This is that Helen that hath bewitched the world I meane the misconstring of these words Of which though I haue spoken before as much as may content any man that is not fastned to his fancies more then to the truth yet let vs shortlie see whether the rest of the Psalme admit their new found exposition or no. It followeth in the same place Thou didst bring me out of my mothers wombe thou gauest mee confidence at my mothers breasts On thee was I cast from my birth THOV ART MY GOD FROM MY MOTHERS BELLIE Bee not farre from mee for trouble is neere and there is none to helpe Bee not farre O Lord my strength hasten to helpe me I will declare thy name vnto my brethren in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee for HE HATH NOT DESPISED nor abhorred the weakenesse or basenesse of the poore neither HATH HE HID HIS FACE FROM HIM but when he called vnto him HE HEARD HIM Is this the praier of a man whose soule is forsaken of God Did he doubt of Gods fauour that with such confidence pronounced Thou gauest me assurance at my mothers breasts thou art my God from my mothers belly Was he perswaded that god had refused and left him when as he saith God hath not DESPISED y e weaknes of the poore he hath not hid his face from him when he called God heard him If these be flat contradictions to their imaginations why wrest they the first verse to euert all the rest Christ therfore in the beginning of the Psalm might well complain that god had for the time of his passion withheld his PROTECTION or diminished his CONSOLATION but in no wise that God had decreased his loue or shut vp his fauor towards the humane soule of his sonne Yea the next words are an explication of the former Why hast thou forsaken me and art so farre from mine helpe Not to helpe in trouble is to forsake though God bee not angrie with the soules of such as suffer affliction The very words agrée to GO FARRE OFF froÌ„ a man is to FORSAKE HIM so he that desireth God not to be far off praieth not to be forsaken but rather to receiue helpe in time of néed Uerilie S. Ambroses iudgement and reason doth satisfie me whatsoeuer it doth others Ille nunquam derelictus est à patre cum quo pater semper erat Sed secundum corpus in quo traditus est passioni vox ista processit quoniam derelinqui nobis videmur quando sumus in periculis constituti Christ was neuer forsaken of his Father with whome the father alwayes was but this complaint came from his bodie which was left to suffer death for so much as wee thinke our selues forsaken when wee are oppressed with anie troubles If the xxii Psalme content vs not let vs examine the sixteenth and there marke what the holie Ghost doth attribute to the soule of Christ in the middes of his sufferings on the Crosse and then iudge which opinion draweth nearest to the truth of the sacred Scriptures I haue alwayes SET the Lord BEFORE ME for hee IS AT MY RIGHT HAND THAT I SHOVLD NOT BE SHAKEN therefore my heart is glad my tongue reioiceth my flesh also shall REST IN HOPE Because thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell nor suffer thine holie one to see corruptioÌ„ Thou wilt SHEVV ME THE VVAY OF LIFE THE FVLNES OF IOY IS IN THY PRESENCE and delectation at thy right hand for euer Thrée plentifull and wonderfull graces of the holie Ghost are here described in our Sauiour as he hung on the crosse in the middest of his miseries abundance of FAITH assurance of HOPE persistance in IOY The ground of our faith is the truth of Gods word sealed in our hearts by the working of his spirite The faith of Christ had a farre stronger foundation and clearer reuelation then ours can possible haue He was hoped for by the Patriarks searched after by the Prophets he was the end of all the lawe and truth of all the former testament He was serued by Angels acknowledged by starres seas windes beasts fishes and trees hee was obeyed by diseases death and diuels the holie Ghost visiblie descended on him when hee was baptised the father by thunder from heauen often proclaimed him to be his welbeloued sonne and commaunded all men to heare him he knewe the thoughts of mens hearts yea the secrets of heauen he was transfigured in the Mount and tasted of that heauenlie glorie prepared for him The confessing him to bee the sonne of God openeth heauen preuaileth agaynst hell supporteth his Church and obtaineth blessednes This he heard with his eares sawe with his eyes and wrought with his hands yea he spake with his mouth knew in his heart that God had sanctified him and sent him to saue the world I aske now a meane diuine was it possible that Christ Iesus after all this intelligence euidence and experience both of his owne person who he was and of his fathers loue and purpose how setled determined and euerlasting it was should feare or
then descended Next that neither paradise nor Abrahams bosome which was the receptacle for y e soules of all the sonnes of Abraham that held the faith and did the works of Abraham was anie part or member of hell So that CHRISTS DESCENDING INTO HELL cannot be expounded of his conuersing with the spirites of the iust and perfect men after his death nor of his enduring the state of the deade since the place where their soules doe rest after death is no where in the scriptures called HELL or SHEOL or as S. Austen speaketh INFERI And this I take to be so cleere that neither Iewish Rabbines with their grammaticall obseruations nor Gréeke poets with their fantasticall imaginations may be suffered to contradict it Howe easie it is to wrangle with the words NEPHESH SHEOL and HADES a meane scholar maie soon perceiue but I hold it no sound course to fetch the explication of the mysteries of christian religion either from such impudent impugners of it as were the Rabbines or from such ignorant deluders of it as were the prophane poets who talke euerie where of heauen and hell according to the false and lewde perswasion of their own hearts And therfore they may spare their paines that promise vs so manie thousand deponentes both Iewish and heathen that Sheol and Hades do not signifie hell It wil trouble them more then they thinke to bring vs but one good proofe out of the scripture that the soules of the righteous before Christs comming were in Sheol or Hades and till they doe I rest on Saint Austens collection out of the wordes of Christ that Abrahams bosome is no péece nor part of Hades or Inferi which the hebrew calleth Sheol as being deuided from it with a mightie distance and that the soules of the iust departing this life before Christs death were CARIED VP BY THE ANGELS INTO ABRAHAMS BOSOME So that as yet wee haue not the true meaning of these words of our creed he was CRVCIFIED DEAD BVRIED HE DESCENDED INTO HEL neither doeth anie of the precedent opinions come nére the plaine and true exposition thereof For in my iudgement they must haue a sense both DIFFERENT in matter and CONSEQVENT in order euen as they lie before we can rightlie vnderstand thē First he must be DEAD then BVRIED in body which was laid in y e earth lastlie the soule after it was seuered by death from the bodie DESCENDED INTO HEL this third point he descended into hell must neither be ALLEGORIZED which in matters of faith is verie dangerous so long as the proper sense containeth a truth nor CONFOVNDED VVITH THE FORMER for so the Créed shal not shortly touch mysteries of religion but darckly trouble vs with phrases of variation And therefore for my part I retaine in expounding this Article 3. things DISTINCTION of matter CONSEQVENCE of order PROPRIETY of words and those thrée considered the sense of the Article maie must be that Christ after his BODY was BVRIED in SOVLE DESCENDED VNTO that place which the scripture properly calleth HEL this sense I find to be so far from any falsity or absurdity that it is more honorable to Christ and more comfortable to christians then any of the rest that we haue yet examined Which that you may the better perceiue giue me leaue somewhat farther to repeat the fruit and force of his glorious resurrection Christ is called the first fruits of them that slept not that neuer none before Christ was restored from the deade to liue héere on earth but though many were so reuiued againe yet from the foundation of the worlde not one was euer raised vnto a blessed and immortall life before Christ. Elias raised the widow of Sareptas sonne Elizeus the Sunamites Christ himselfe restored to life the daughter of Iairus the widowes onlie sonne of Naim and Lazarus yet all these after their returne to life were still subiect to sinne and death as they were before but he whom the scripture nameth the first begotten of the dead was indéede the first that euer rose from the deade into an happy and heauenly life For where man here on earth is beset with thrée dangers with SINNE during life with DEATH shortning life with HEL tormenting after life the iust vengeance of sinne deliuering the body to death the soule to hel the resurrection of Christ being the ful conquest of all his our enemies that impugne either his glory or our safety must ouerthrowe sinne death hel not in his own person onlie to whom no such thing was due but in our stéed for our good y t we might bee likewise fréed from the power of those foes and as members be ioyned vnto our head wholy without any hinderance euerlastingly without anie disturbance and ioyfully without any gréeuance Wherfore Christ rising into a SPIRITVAL IMMORTAL CELESTIAL life fréed vs from the dominion of sinne feare of death and fury of Satan and by quickening vs raising vs vp and setting vs together with himselfe in heauenly places hath not only giuen vs the victorie against sinne and death but euen trodden down Satan vnder our féet Of Christs conquest against sinne death I shall not néed to say much things not impugned require lesse paines to be defended his conquest ouerhel as in himself it shewed most power purchased most honor so from vs it deserueth greatest thanks as bringing vs greatest comfort that though sinne remaine death preuaile against our bodies there is yet no cause to feare or doubt the fulnesse and surenesse of our redemption since the strength of hell is altogether conquered abolished from the faithfull which before was the very sting of sinne and death As therfore Christ was deliuered to death for our sinnes and is risen againe for our iustification so by MERCY REMITTING and GRACE REPRESSING he pareth the branches and drieth the roote of sinne till the bodie of sinne and death turning to dust withering in the graue be restored againe after Christs example to perpetuall celestial life and blisse Insomuch that by lamenting sinne past and resisting sinne to come sin daily dieth in vs and the inward man of the heart being lightened and renewed by grace doth daily more and more by desire and delight of heauenly thinges aspire to the imitation and participation of Christes resurrection The force of sinne then being quenched by Christes dying vnto sinne and his rising againe vnto righteousnesse the power of death is abolished by the pardoning and decreasing of our sinnes that being nowe the passage to glorie for all repenters which before was the gate to hell for all transgressors In his owne person Christ shewed his conquest ouer death not by kéeping his flesh from death which he could easilie haue done but by sauing it from rotting in the sepulchre and by raising it againe into an immortall and glorious state that death being swallowed vp
righteous departed this life before Christes death to omit the place of the booke of Wisedome alreadie recited which expresselie gaine saieth this supposall of the fathers that the soules of the iust were both in hell and in torments there is nothing exactlie reuealed vnto vs in the scriptures that are canonicall till we come to the xvi of S. Lukes gospell where our Sauiour by the parabolicall historie of the wicked rich man and the godlie Lazarus teacheth vs what became of them both after their deathes and consequentlie what was the state of all the deade before his time to wit that they were either CARIED BY ANGELS TO ABRAHAMS BOSOME or PVNISHED IN THE FLAMES OF HELL These two places as they bee farre distant the one from the other both in SCITVATION and CONDITION the one beeing full of comfort the other of torment so in this they agrée that there coulde bee no ALTERATION in either The rich man in hell coulde neither obtaine anie meanes to bee refreshed no not a drop of water to coole his heate nor expect anie time to bee released Our Sauiour maketh Abraham to say to the rich man which must néedes be true between you and vs there is settled a great gulfe or mightie distance so that they which would go from hence to you cannot NEITHER CAN THEY COME FROM THENCE TO VS After this life there was no changing of places and namelie from hell there was no release This our Sauiour taught for a resolute trueth in his life time howe then coulde the soules of the iust bee released and reduced from hell by his descent If Abraham and Lazarus were not in hell but in a place of rest and comforte farre distant from hell howe then were all the righteous before Christes time not onlie in hell but in the sorrowes and paines of hell yea the son of God with his owne mouth so often in the new testament expressing the fire of hel to be vnquenchable and the worme there neuer to die how dare we without any warrant of the word of God first to bring al y e soules of the righteous before Christ from Abrahams bosome to hell and then to deliuer them thence without anie witnesse of the holie scriptures With one breath our Sauiour doth thrice pronounce in the gospell of Marke that in hell neither the fire quencheth not the worme dieth and presume wee to quench the one and kill the other without any scruple But the scripture saith the soules of the Patriarkes and Prophets were in hell and there to leaue them after Christs descent were euerlastinglie to condemne them The translators mistooke the word Sheôl calling that hel which indéed was the graue where the bodies of all the iust both before and after Christ were laid but the teacher of all truth whose doctrine wee by no meanes may distrust placeth Abraham in rest and maketh his bosome a receptacle for the soules of the righteous and therefore we may striue about words if we list but we must leaue the spirits of iust and perfit men before Christes comming that place which Christ teaching here on earth assured vs was assigned them of God And since by the doctrine of our sauiour they were not in hell it is more then manifest he did not fetch them thence by his descending thither As for the supposall of the fathers that Abraham Iacob Samuel and Dauid with the rest of the Patriarks and prophets were in hell it were easie to shew their varieties contrarieties if I tooke pleasure to discouer their weakenesse S. Austen in his 99. Epistle to Euodius and his 12. booke de genesi ad literam cap. 33. exactlie contradicteth the opinion of Tertullian Basil Hierom Ambrose that Abraham the rest of the Patriarks and Prophets were in hell prooueth that Abrahams bosome must not be thought to be any part or member of hell In his 57. Epistle to Dardanus hee saith non faciledixerim I cannot readily pronounce In his 20. booke de ciuitate dei cap. 15. he saith non absurde credividetur antiquos etiam sanctos apud inferos fuisse it seemeth no absurdity to beleeue that the Saints of the olde testament were in hell vntill the bloud of Christ and his descent to those places did deliuer them And thus he either some times spared the credites of those that were before him or else by writing hee so profited that where at first he doubted or yéelded to others at last he resolued the contrarie vpon the dewe examining the wordes of our Sauiour Tertullian likewise in his booke de anima saith Habes de paradiso à nobis libellum quo constituimus omnem anâ—mam apud inferos sequestrari in diem iudicij We haue written a booke touching paradice where wee defende that all soules are kept in hell vntill the day of iudgement And speaking namelie of Abrahams bosome Omnes ergo animae penes inferos inquis velis ac nolis supplicia iam illic refrigeria habes pauperem diuivem Cur enim non putes animam puniri foueri in inferis Are al soules then in hell you wil aske will you nill you you shall finde there punishmentes and refreshments as in Lazarus and the rich man And why shoulde you not thinke that the soule may bee both tormented and comforted in hell and yet in his fourth booke against Marcion hee contradicteth that false position and commeth soundlie to the truth Aliud inferi vt puto aliud quoque sinus Abrahae Nam magnum ait intercedere regiones istas profundum transitum vtrinque prohibere Sed nec alleuasset diues oculos quidem de longinquo nisi in superiora de altitudinis longinquo per immensam illam distantiaÌ„ sublimitatis profunditatis Eam itaque regioneÌ„ sâ—â—m dico Abrahae etsi non coelestem sublimiorem tamen Inferis Hel is one thing as I thinke and Abrahams bosome is another For Abraham sayeth a great depth is betweene these two regions and suffereth none to passe to and fro Neither coulde the rich man haue lift vp his eies but vnto places aboue him and far aboue him by reason of the infinite distance betwixt that heigth and that depth That region then I call Abrahams bosome which though it bee not heauen yet is it higher then hell Ambrose after the same maner sometimes saith that Abraham was apud Inferos in hell sometimes againe that Lazarus in Abrahae sinu recumbens vitam carpebat aeternam Lazarus lying in Abrahams bosome enioied euerlasting life and hard it is that eternall life should be in hell In the one and the same chapter he alloweth the perswasion of the heathen quod animae liberatae de corporibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peterent id est locum qui non videtur queÌ„ locum Latinè Infernum dicimus that soules departed from their bodies did go to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
death marke well the condition annexed to the proposition If our soules bee not redeemed by the death and bloud of Christ and then all these absurdities which you thought to fasten on mee â—all full on your owne head For if our soules be not redeemed by the bloud of Christ our bodies haue vtterlie no good euen no good at all by the death of Christ. They haue you saie Iustification mortification sanctifiâ—â—tion hope of resurrection besides the lawfull possession of earthly things Haue our bodies these things of themselues or from our soules first iustified mortified sanctified and assured of life I trust you dare not saie that our bodies haue anie of these but for and from the Soule Then if the soule be not redéemed by the death of Christ the bodie can haue none of these and consequentlie my words are sound and good yours if you stand to them against the condition annexed to mine are prophane and false But I alter my words you will saie to my best aduantage when I sée your obiections to preuent that danger It had bene fittest for you to haue staied the printing of mine owne wordes and then you might haue charged me with them and not bee repelled as a forgetteâ— or misconstruer of them or to haue gotten you a copie of that which I deliueerd out that verie summer to men of great honour and learning a yeere and more before I euer heard or thought of your pamphlet because I founde so manie humorous heades misconceaning and misreporting my wordes But your hastâ— was such you coulde not or your skill you woulde not staie the sight of mine owne wordes least they shoulde trouble you more then you were ware and therefore out of your owne ill conâ—eaued and worse digested Rapsodies you framâ— obiections as pleaseth your selfe which either were not mine or not so proposed by me And that maketh me pursue no more of your aunsweres by reason I spende more time in recalling you to the trueth of my wordes then in refelling your exceptions which haue neither waight nor witnesse more then the buzzing of your owne braine Let vs therefore view howe well you behaue your selfe in your owne proofes which you cannot forget or mistake In proposing the question and pursuing the proofes there is some hope christian Reader the holines of the confuters cause wil lead him to go plainly souÌ„dlie to work Thus therfore he beginneth The whole controuersy hath in it two points 1. That Christ suffered for vs the wrath of God 2. That after his death on the crosse he went not into hel in his soule Now then for the former thus we saie and constantly auow Christ Iesus did suffer in his whole manhoode for the redemption and satisfaction of our sinnes yea he suffered properly and immediatelie in his soule and not in his flesh only Therefore he suffered for vs the wrath of God This consequent is manifest and cannot be denied The antecedent or first part of the former generall reason is denied and confidentlie reiected yet how falselie by Gods helpe shal easily appeare Touching the first part of this controuersie were you awaked or a sléepe Sir refuter when I preached of these thinges that you so constantlie auowe this was the question whether Christ suffered for vs thâ— wrath of God or no if you were present and not a sleepe it is too much boldnes to outface the world in print that this was the position which I impugned There were too manie witnesses there for mee to denie or you to belie the question you knowe it well enough but you cannot tell how to proue that which I then reproued and therefore you shrink from that and dallie with generall and doubtfull termes which according as they are expounded may either make with you or against you The question proposed by me was whether it could be proued by the scriptures or by necessary consequent from them that Christ in his soule suffered the true paines of hell such as the damned doe suffer and wee shoulde haue suffered had we not beene redeemed by him I added if we tooke the paines of hell metaphoricallie for great and extreame sorrowes and paines as Dauid and Ionas did she speach might be tolerated but if wee tooke them properlie for the verie same which the damned doe and shall suffer in hell as there is no proofe for it so there is no truth in it To this you saie nothing and so to all wise men make a confession that you cannot iustifie that which I then disallowed Ye bee come since to tell vs that certainelie Christ suffered the wrath of God for vs which if it be granted you I doe not see what it canne helpe your cause or hurt mine For the wrath of God extendeth to all paines and punishmentes as well corporall as spirituall in this life and the next be they temporall or eternall So that no paine or punishment small or great coulde befall the bodie or soule of Christ but it must néedes procéed from the wrath of God Wherefore your idle discourse of 32. leaues in which you labor to proue that Christ suffered the wrath of God for sinne might wel haue bin spared Thrée lines directlie to the purpose had bin more worth then so many leaues thus wastfullie spent But in the ende you conclude like a Clark Christ suffered the wrath of God which we affirme is equall to hell it selfe and all the tormentes thereof What you affirme I little regarde what you can proue is that I intend And out of this proposition Christ suffered for vs the wrath of God for sinne you shall neuer conclude Ergo hee suffered the true paines of hel Were your proposition generall shal Christ suffered all the wrath of God for sinne that is the whole wrath of God and euery part thereof due to sinne you might well conclude Ergo he suffered the true paines of hell for hell indéede as it is the last so is it the greatest effect of Gods wrath against sin but from an indefinite proposition as yours is which maie signifie the VVHOLE or SOME PART of GODS VVRATH due to sinne you shall neuer inferre what part you list as here you doe Will you to make your consequent good amend your antecedent and make it generall that Christ suffered the whole wrath of God euery part thereof due to sinne Then heare good Sir mine answere That proposition besides that it no waie followeth vpon your first antecedeÌ„t Christ suffered properlie and immediatlie in his soule therefore he suffered the whole wrath of God and euery part thereof due to sinne besides I saie that there is no coherence no consequence betwixt these two propositions the later of them that Christ suffered the whole wrath of God due to sinne and euery part thereof is most impious and blasphemous For so neither vtter desperation nor finall reiection nor eternal damnation are excepted but Christ did and must suffer them all since they are
from the life of God of which death the Diuell is sayde to haue the power and execution Therefore in the former place death signifieth so to euen the death of the soule that is the torments and sorrowes due to the damned and consequently Christ suffered the death of the soule And because this reason will seeme altogether vnreasonable and harsh in the eares of some to saie the least of it let them soberlie consider it and it is most true and euident Or if this will not perswade men to beleeue that Christ died the death of the soule men liuing being surprised with grieuous sorrowes and paines will saie as Terence witnesseth occidi perij interij they die they perish So likewise the death of the soule sometimes maie bee vnderstoode and that most sitlie for the paines and sufferinges of Gods wrath which alwayes accompanie them that are separated from the grace and loue of God And if Terence bee not authoritie sufficient Saint Peter against whome lieth no exception saith that Christ in his suffering for vs was done to death in the flesh but made aliue by the spirite And in the Scripture whensoeuer the fleshe and the spirite are opposed togither the flesh is alwayes Christes whole humanitie I saie not his bodie onelie but his soule also From hence nowe it followeth that Christes soule also died and was crucified according to the death and crucifying which soules are subiect vnto and capable of I haue Christian Reader neither peruerted the reasons nor pared the authorities on which this Confuter groundeth his conclusion that Christ died the death of the soule and that Christs soule was also crucified as well as his bodie I haue onelie sette them togither that thou maiest with one view behold both the deepnes and soundnesse of this vpstart writer and in thy secrete and vpright iudgement is it not patience enough to heare and endure a two legged creature to talke in this sort without all learning religion or discretion controlling all the fathers as fooles for thinking otherwise then hee doth commaunding the Scriptures pretor-like to serue his ignorant and lewd assertions and estéeming none to be sober or considerate except they confesse his shamefull absurdities to bee most true and euident But I haue not learned nor vsed to giue reuiling spéeches the Lorde reprooue his follie Though it bee not worth the answering yet for their sakes that bee simple I will not refuse to speake to it and to let them see what difference there is betwixt truth and errour Your maine reason Sir Refuter is this in these wordes of the Apostle Christ through death abolished the diuell that had power of death This worde DEATH say you hath the same meaning in both places the proofe you make for it is this verie fond it were to take it here otherwise Your assumption is but death in the latter place questionlesse signifieth the death of the soule Therefore Christ died the death of the soule It were as easie for mee to saie it is not so as for you to saie it is so but that course which you holde is but prating of euerie thing it is no proouing of anie thing Howe manie kinds of death there are wee shall better learne by the graue father Saint Austen then by the young louers in Terence Dicitur mors prima dicitur secunda Primae mortis duae sunt partes vna qua peccatrix anima per culpam discessit a creatore suo altera qua indicante Deo exclusa est per poenam à corpore suo Mors autem secunda ipsa est corporis animae punitio sempiterna There is a first death and a second Death Of the first death there be two parts one when the sinfull soule by offending departed from her Creator the other whereby the soule for her punishment was excluded from her bodie by Gods iustice The second death is the euerlasting torment of bodie and soule The same partes and kindes of death are often repeated by him in his 13. booke de ciuitate Dei as namelie Mors animae fit cum eam deserit Deus sicut corporis cum id deserit anima Ergo vtriusque rei id est totius hominis mors est cum anima à Deo deserta deserit corpus Ita enim nec ipsa vixit ex deo nec corpus ex ipsa Huiusmodi autem totius hominis mortem illa sequitur quam secundam mortem diuinorum eloquiorum appellat authoritas Nam illa poena vltima sempiterna recte mors animae dicitur The death of the soule is when God forsaketh her as the death of the bodie is when the soule forsaketh the bodie So y e death of both that is of the whole man is when the soule forsaken of God forsaketh her bodie For so neither she liueth by God nor the bodie by her This death of the whole man that other death followeth which the diuine scriptures call the second death for that last and euerlasting punishment is rightlie called the death of the soule Here are thrée kinds of death sinne which separateth vs from God bodilie death which separateth the soule from the body and eternall damnation which tormenteth body and soule for euer In the Apostles words to the Hebrues that Christ through death abolished y e diuell that had power of death you wil by no meanes haue the death of the bodie intended that is a benefite and gaine to the godlie Then of sinne and eternall damnation the diuell must be said to haue power and indeede so he hath For hee is the perswader and leader to sinne and the executioner and tormentor in damnation And so by your diuinitie Christ must sinne and be euerlastinglie condemned to hell fire before he can abolish the Diuell that hath power of both these For he must abolish him by the same kind of death whereof hee hath power Looke Sir Refuter what an wholsome exposition of the Apostles words you haue made vs which the diuell himselfe durst not aduenture it is so blasphemous God forbid you will say this should be anie part of your meaning But if such bee your ignorant rashnesse that you will so expound scriptures as these consequents shall necessarie followe you must leaue writing and fall to learning an other while till you be able to foresée what may iustly be inferred vpon your positions Deaths of the soule there are none mentioned in anie Scripture or father but sinne and eternall damnation Leaue the patheticall hyperbolicall metaphoricall phrases of Terence to boies in the Grammer schoole speake at least like a diuine though you bee none If your cause bee so holie a truth as you talke of it hath both foundation and approbation in the Scriptures You shall not neede to runne to heathen Poets to prooue that the Sauiour of the worlde died the death of the soule What the death of the soule is what consequentes it hath and what maine
be stirred himselfe in his special and choise arguments as thou hast heard christiaÌ„ reader now drawing to an ende purposeth like a politicke captaine so to entrench himself that no force shal fetch him out of his hold And because wordes are the weapons that can endanger him he taketh the readie waie with them to turne wind them at his wil and so maketh anie thing to be euerie thing that nothing should hurt him The scriptures affirmeâ— that Christ crucified is the wisedome and power of God to all that be called and that we are reconciled to God by the death of his sonne and our sinnes redeemed and the diuel destroied by the death of Christ Iesus as also that hee suffered for vs in the flesh yea he suffered for our sinnes being put to death in the flesh And least it should hence bee collected that Christ died not y e death of the soule but rather the death of his bodie was a sufficient price for the life of the worlde the Refuter vndertaketh this place of Saint Peter that Christ was done to death in the flesh and thence will proue that the flesh comprehendeth bodie and soule and that the soule of Christ DIED and was crucified as well as the bodie Reason or authoritie besides his owne he bringeth none but out of the hinder part of his head he giueth an obseruation which if he saie the worde must needes prooue sounde and good and this it is Whensoeuer in scripture the flesh and the spirit are opposed together the flesh is alwaies Christes whole humanitie as well his soule as his bodie From whence it followeth that Christs soule also died and was crucified How proue you this note Sir Refuter had you saide that wheresoeuer the flesh of Christ liuing is spoken of there the flesh of a man endued with a humane soule is intended you had saide well for Christ was perfect man and perfect God in one and the same person but when you will stretch all the attributes of the bodie and make them common to the soule because Christ had a soule as well as a bodie it is no true obseruation deriued from the scripture but a partiall supposition intended to further your hellish sorrowes In the 26. of Matthew when Christ telleth his disciples that the spirit is readie but the flesh weake doth hee take spirit there for the godheade as if that were readie to suffer anie thing or for the soule which was willing but that the flesh was weake In the 24. of Luke when Christ saieth a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me haue had his soule flesh and bones and those to be seene as his bodie had To the Romanes when Paul saith Christ our Lord was made o the seede of Dauid according to the flesh and declared to be the sonne of God touching the spirit of sanctification by the resurrection from the deade will you conclude that Christes soule was made of the seede of Dauid and came from Dauids loines as Christes flesh did The like he repeateth in the same Epistle of the Israelites came Christ according to the flesh which is God ouer all to be blessed for euer whereâ—f your obseruation faile not Christes soule must be kinne to the Iewes as well as his flesh Whie thenâ— when Peter saith Christ was put to death according to the flesh but quickned by the spirit doe you make it so cleere a case that the worde flesh there compriseth both bodie and soule and therefore by Peters confession Christ died in soule as well as in bodie so when Paul saith Christ was crucified through infirmitie yet liueth through the power of God what leadeth you to imagine that his soule was crucified as well as his bodie who did crucifie him I praie you God or the Iewes Peter saieth to the Iewes Iesus of Nazareth a man approoued of God after you had taken with wicked hands you haue CRVCIFIED and slaine So againe the holy and iust one ye denied and killed the Lord of life And likewise By the name of Iesus whom ye haue crucified whom God raised againe from the deade doth this man heere stande whole who before was a creeple If the Iewes then crucified and killed the Lorde Iesus coulde they crucifie and kill his soule Are you so simple that you remember not the wordes of our Sauiour Feare not them which kill the bodie but are not able to kill the soule And you make it not an ouersight but a positiue point of your holie truth as you call it that Christes soule was crucified and died and consequentlie that the Iewes directlie against the wordes of Christ were able to kill and crucifie the soule of Christ. Will you saie that God crucified the soule of Christ for what will you not saie that say Christs soule was crucified died in what scripture shall wee reade that God crucified the soule as the Iewes did the bodie of Christ you woulde seeme to conclude it out of the scriptures which whensoeuer they speake of Christ crucified they note the shamefull and cruel death which the Iewes executed on him not anie thing that God did vnto him And out of that word euerie where in the scriptures referred to the Iewes to inferre that God also crucified his soule is as much madnesse as the former If you feare not the paines of hell because you are so well acquainted with them feare at least the shame of the worlde least they deride you to skorne as lacking that common vnderstanding which boies in the streetes and prentices in the shoppes haue But what if your selfe being be like amazed and as you saie of Christ all confounded in all the powers of your soule and senses of your bodie when you wrate in defence of your holie cause do contradict your selfe and call your owne assertion ABSVRD and MOST FALSE and that not ten or twelue leaues off but in the verie same place where you labour to iustifie this position and prouing and pronouncing it to be absurd and most false you presently conclude it as a principle of your newe faith well if it bee not so then I must confesse I was a sléepe when I thought you did so But if it fall out to be true which I saie I hope christian Reader thou wilt thinke my time anie waie better imploied then longer to reason with such a brainsicke babler The words of Peter are Christ hath once suffered for sinnes the iust for the vniust and was put to death in the flesh but quickned by the spirit Saint Austen writing vpon this place obserueth this for a sure rule to expounde the whole In eare quippe viuificatus est in qua fuerat mortificatus Christ was quickned in that verie part wherein hee suffered death or was put to death This rule hath in it a mightie truth that maie not be resisted For if any part of
For that which fell that rose againe that which fell not needed not rise Hee rose then according to the flesh which being dead did rise againe Ergo also he died in our nature which he tooke vnto him and suffered in the body which he tooke that we might beleeue he tooke a true bodie To the vnbeleeuer asking Shall I beleeue God in flesh God borne of a woman God crucified whipped dead wounded buried Austen answereth thy God remaineth vnchangeable feare not he perisheth not Christ was borne of a woman but in his flâ—sh Hee was an infant but in his flesh Hee sucked increased was nourished and grewe in age but in his flesh Wearied he slept but in his flesh Hee hungred and thirsted but in his flesh He was taken bound whipped mocked yea he was CRVCIFIED AND KILLED BVT IN HIS FLESH Why art thou afraid The word which was God remaineth for euer He that despiseth this humblenes of God wil neuer be cured from the deadly swelling of pride The Lord Iesus therefore by his flesh gaue hope to our flesh To be borne and to die were here on earth common to liue for euer was not here Christ found here our earthlie wares which were vilde and brought with him his heauenlie which were strange If thou feare his death loue his resurrection He came to the place of our pilgrimage to take that which aboundeth here eueÌ„ mocks whippes blowes spittings in his face reproches hanging the crosse and death These things abound in our region to this entertainment hee came What hath he giuen thee here Instruction exhortation and remission of sinnes What hath he promised thee O mortall man that thou shalt liue for euer Doest thou not beleeue it Beleeue it I say beleeue it It is more that he hath alreadie done then that hee hath promised It is more incredible that the eternall died then that the mortall shall liue for euer If God died for man shall not man liue with God But can God die Hee tooke from thee wherein to die for thee THERE COVLD NOT DIE BVT FLESH THERE COVLD NOT DIE BVT A MORTALL BODIE Hee clothed himselfe with that wherein hee might die for thee hee will clothe thee wherin thou shalt liue with him In that part Christ died in which thou shalt die in that part Christ rose in which thou shalt rise Thou wilt pardon mee Christian Reader if among so much lothsome stuffe of reprobate horrors damned paines and hellish torments as this Confuter hath heaped together I solace my selfe sometimes with the longer comfort of sounde and sweete doctrine so sincerelie and sensiblie deliuered by the learned and auncient Fathers I will alledge one place more wherein thou shalt see the full consent of prouinciall and generall Councels not to bee gainesaide by anie man that will beare the name of a Christian and so shutte vp this point Cyrill writing to Nestorius to stay and suppresse that false doctrine which hee beganne then to spreade teacheth vs verie plainelie howe the sonne of God is saide in the Scriptures to SVFFER DIE AND RISE AGAINE for vs and our saluation So wee saie the sonne of God suffered and rose againe not that the sonne of GOD suffered in his owne nature either the stripes or the boaring of the nailes or the rest of the woundes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Deitie coulde not suffer by reason it is no bodilie substance but because THAT BODIE which hee made his owne suffered these things himselfe is saide to suffer these things for vs. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that coulde not suffer was then in his bodie which suffered After the same manner wee thinke of his dying The sonne of God is by nature immortall incorruptible life and the giuer of life but because the bodie which was his owne tasted death for all by the fauour of God as Paule speaketh hee himselfe is saide to haue suffered death for vs not that hee had experience of death as touching his owne nature it were a madnesse so to thinke or say but for that as I saide euen nowe his flesh tasted death So his flesh rising againe it is called his Resurrection not that hee fell to corruption God forbidde but that his bodie rose againe When this stayed not the frenzie of Nestorius the heretike but that hee replied in swelling woordes Cyrill called a Councell at Alexandria and there with one consent they approoued the trueth and sent it vnto Nestorius to bee confessed in these woordes amongst others If anie man doe not confesse that the Sonne of GOD suffered in his fleshe was crucified in his flesh and tasted death in his flesh let him bee accursed Dilating this and the rest of their Articles in their Synodall Epistle sent to Nestorius they saie Wee confesse that the onelie begotten God euen the sonne borne of God his father though hee were impassible in his owne nature yet suffered hee in his flesh for vs according to the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and was in his bodie that was crucified accounting the sufferings of his owne flesh as proper vnto him though he were without suffering and by the grace of God tasted death for all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he gaue his owne bodie vnto death This doctrine came to bee scanned in the third generall Councell helde at Ephesus and being there deliberatelie read was woâ—de for worde allowed of the whole Councell as agréeable to the Scriptures and the Nicene fathers The like approbation it had not onelie in the Councell of Constantinople vnder Fluuianus but in the great councell of Chalcedon where the proceedings of both these Councels were a fresh examined and the former woordes of Cyrill repeaâ—ed and confirmed with the ful consent of that general Councel as most â—ound and catholike So that he shall ill deserue the name of a christian that after so manie fathers and Councels both Prouinciall and Generall will begin to teach vs a new faith and tell vs that the Scriptures meane Christ was crucified and died as wel in his soule as in his bodie since the whole Church with one assent hath euer so conceiued and expounded the Scriptures that Christes crucifying and dying must bee referred to his bodie and consequentlie that the ioynt sufferings of Christ the soule feeling what the bodie suffered were most auailable for our redemption For when they ascribe the crucifying and death of Christ to his bodie they doe not exclude the soule from the sense and feeling of the paine which is a naturall consequent to the coniunction with her bodie but they shew what part of Christs manhoode suffered the crosse and death that the Scriptures so much speake of and whereby wee are redeemed and reconciled vnto GOD. One place repeated in the Councell of Ephesus maie serue in steede of manie to declare their meaning Howe can the Creator of all thnges who is neither visible palpable nor mutable sustaine the Crosse
and soule of Christ were both free he did not suffer the true paines of hell nor the same torments which the damned do in hell and which wee should haue suffered had wee not béene redéemed This you saie is great iniquity yea plaine sophistry to amplifie against you and to make your most holie truth odious with the people onely by the ambiguitie of the worde hell Begin you nowe to finde the sensible absurditie of your mishapen fancie if you woulde haue taken the name of hell metaphoricallie for great and excéeding paines this question had béene sooner calmed and our Creede freed from your newe found exposition But to father your opinion vpon the créed with more likelihood where the word hell is properlie taken though you now hatch vs a new signification of hell out of Socrates you then vrged as your selfe in this present confutation do still vrge that Christ must haue the FVL VVAIGHT AND BVRDEN of our sinnes laid vpon him and suffer those sorrowes and paines for sinne VVHICH ELSE VVE SHOVLDE that his price VVAS THE SAME which else wee shoulde haue payde that seeing it was possible for him to feele THE FVLL SMART of our sinnes yea ALL OVR SMART and Gods strict iustice so required IT VVAS SO AND MVST BE SO as also that it is not proportionable with iustice that an easier punishment should satisfie for a greater sinne and of al absurdities the greatest that meere men shoulde suffer more deepelie then Christ did and therefore Christ sustained euen the sense of Gods wrath DVE to our sinnes and had the VVHOLE CVRSE of God for sinne executed on him that is the DEATH OF THE SOVLE and the TORMENTES and sorrowes DVE TO THE DAMNED Without anie Sophistrie Sir what is the FVLL BVRDEN of our sinnes and THE SAME PRICE which we should haue paide what is OVR FVLL SMART yea ALL OVR SMART and the VVHOLE CVRSE OF GOD what is the DEATH of the soule and the TORMENTS DVE TO THE DAMNED but those verie things which I by the warrant of Gods word told the people were prepared and threatned to the wicked and shall bee executed on them in hell as they shoulde haue bin on vs if we had not bin redéemed by the bloud of Christ you must recall all your reasons and vnsaie all these positions before you can auoid that which I obiect If Christ did and must by Gods iustice suffer the VVHOLE the SAME and ALL that was due to vs for our sinnes shewe me good Sir I praie you for I confesse it passeth my reach how you can free him from the darknes destruction reprobation malediction worme or fire of hel yea those words if you looke not well to them and rebate them in time with some fresh write they wil carrie with them both the PLACE and PERPETVITY of hell for both these were DVE to our sinnes and are parts of Gods CVRSE and should haue béene executed on vs as they shall bee on the damned and out of ALL the VVHOLE and the SAME how can you except anie but by an open Vray dire of dotage The local hel of the damned you speake not of Speake of what you will so long as your assertions in full and plaine termes inferre and conclude so much well your words may runne without your wits but I tell you trulie what is the consequent of them and leaue those wordes and then your most holie trueth is left naked without shew or shadow of proofe For these generals the VVHOLE the SAME and ALL giue life such as it is to your childish reasons Without them you cannot open your mouthe to make one conclusion But because hell fire so much crosseth your cause that you would faine be rid of it and burneth your fingers so fast Sir Refuter that you striue to cast water on it giue mee leaue a little to let you vnderstand it flameth more fiercelie then that you can quench it with the licour of your mouth And the rather for that in the eares of all men it is a most sensible reproofe of your vnsauorie position For if Christ suffered not the fire of hell in bodie nor soule then most apparantlie he suffered not the FVLL burden of our sinnes nor paid the SAME price which wee should haue paide nor endured ALL our smart nor felt the VVHOLE curse of God nor sustained the tormentes DVE to the DAMNED and therefore the true kindeling of this fire is the vtter quenching of your new deuised hell paines Knowe you therefore Sir Refuter that your metaphoricall fire in hell is a phantasticall errour of yours and you shall doe well to tremble at the terrible iudgement of God threatned in his worde with more religion then to cast off that fire as a toyish fable I shall not néede to rehearse how often it is denounced in the Scriptures and in what vehement and constant manner let vs learne rather carefullie to shunne the place then cunninglie to shift the word which they shall finde to bee no figure that feele it A fire saith God himselfe is kindled in my wrath and shall burne to the bottome of hell it shall eate through the earth and the depth thereof and shal inflame the foundations of the hils Behold saith Esay the Lord wil come with fire that he may recompence his anger with wrath and his indignation with the flame of fire for the Lorde shall iudge with fire The slaine of the Lorde shall bee manie their Worme shall not die neither shal their fire be quenched Which wordes our Sauiour directlie reffereth to hell It is better to enter into life haulting then hauing two legs to bee cast into hell into the fire that neuer shall bee quenched where their Worme dieth not and the fire neuer goeth out If wee sinne willinglie saieth the Apostle to the Hebrues there remaineth no more sacrifice for sinnes but a fearefull expectation of iudgement and raging fire which shal deuoure the aduersaries As Sodome and Gomorra and the cities about them are set forth for an ensample and suffer the vengeance of eternall fire The fearefull and vnbeleeuing the abhominable and murtherers and whoremongers and sorcerers and Idolaters and all lyars shal haue their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death To whome the Iudge shall saie when they shall see the truth thereof before their eies Depart from mee ye cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the Diuell and his angels For the Lord Iesus shall shewe himselfe from heauen with the Angels of his power in flaming fire rendering vengeāce to them which know not God and obey not the Gospell That the fire with which Christ shall appeare to iudge shall bee corporall and visible to all mens sights can bee no question it shall dissolue the heauens melt the elements and burne vp the earth with the workes that are therein as Peter
writer But keepe this lesson till you get none but Atheists and Infidels to bee your hearers they will thanke you for it Christian cares doe abhorre it and will detest your prophanes as much as they doe Ciceroes For if there bee no punishment in hell fure there is no hell and he that decreaseth the terror decreaseth the truth of it therefore the olde Latines did not erre But your New Orator thinketh hee may buyld and ouerturne hell and heauen at his pleasure As he dealeth with hell so doth he with heauen somtymes he will haue one and somtimes he cannot tell whether there bee any such habitation for soules or no. And the heauen which he would haue is a Mansion of his owne making Such authors you bring vs to expound the Creede and to outface all the Fathers that they themselues cannot tell what they say Where he purposely disputeth of the seate and sanctuarie for the soule after death he concludeth the whole discourâ—e as doubtfully as he beganne Si supremus ille dies non extinctionem sed commutationem affert loci quid optabilius sin autem perimit ac delet omninò quid melius quà m in medijs vitae laboribus obdormiscere et ita conniucâ—teÌ„ somno sepeliri sempiterno If the daie of our death bring not a perishing but changing of places what can be more to be wished for But if it vtterly quench and extinguish bodie and soule what can be more acceptable amidst the troubles of this life then as it were wincking to slumber and shutting our eies to fall into an euerlasting sleepe Habes somnum imaginem mortis eamque quotidie induis dubitas quin sensus in morte nullus sit quum in eius simulachro videas esse nullum sensum Thou hast sleepe which thou daylie triest for an image of death and doubtest thou but there is no sense in death when thou findest no sense in sleepe which is the patterne of death Now on the other side for Ciceroes heauen which you will needs bring into the Creede vnder the name of Inferi hee maketh it no reward of vertue nor gift of grace to be bestowed where it pleaseth God but he affirmeth there is a fierie aire aboue of which soules are made and therefore as soone as the soule is loosed from the bodie it flieth vpward as fier doth by a naturall motion vnto the place which is like to it selfe and there stayeth and is nourished with the selfe same things with which the starres are nourished Quae quum consteÌ„t perspicuum debet esse animos quum é corpore excesserint siue illi sint spirabiles siue igneâ— sublime ferri accedit vt eo facilius animus euadat ex hoc aere quem saepe iam crassum appello eumque perrumpat quod nihil est animo velocius Qui si permanet incorruptus suique similis necesse est ita feratur vt penetret diuidat omne coelum hoc in quo nubes imbres ventique coguntur Quam regionem quum superauâ—t animus naturamque sui similem contigit agnouit vinctus ex anima tenui ex ardore solis temperato ignibus insistit et finem altius se efferendi facit Quum enim sui similem leuitatem calorem adeptus est tanquam paribus examinatis ponderibus nullaÌ„ in partem mouetur Eáque ei demum naturalis est sedes quum ad sui similem penetrauit in quo nulla re egens alitur sustentatur ijsdem rebus quibus astra sustentantur aluntur It is long and tedious good reader to be troubled with these prophane follies but because the confuter laboureth so much to haue Ciceroes world of soules and his heauen into the Creede and in respect of him disgraceth all other writers as ignorant of the latine tongue these words will playnly shew thée what an audacious irreligious and heathenish attempt that is and how absurdly and lewdly he saith Cicero had learned to thinke wiselyer then they that said hell was below in the earth For they deliuered a trueth and this of Ciceroes is a false foolish and wicked fansie The English of his words is in effect this These things being certain it ought to be a cleare case that our soules when they leaue the bodie whether they be of an aerie or fierie nature do mooue vpward A good helpe for the soule with more ease to passe and breake through this grosse ayre heere below is this y t nothing is swifter than the soule Which remayning vncorrupt and alwaies like it selfe OF NECESSITIE MVST ASCEND and pearce and deuide all THIS HEAVEN or ayre in which the cloudes windes and rayne engender Which region when the soule hath once passed and touched and perceiued a nature like to it selfe mixed of a subtile ayre and the temperate heate of the sunne in that fierie region IT STAYETH and maketh an ende OF ASCENDING ANY HIGHER For when it hath gotten like both heate and purenes of the ayre balanced as it were with equall waights it moueth no way AND THIS IS THE NATVRAL SEATE OF THE SOVLE when it commeth to a like ayre to it selfe in which needing nothing IT IS NOVRISHED and fed with THE SELFESAME THINGS VVITH VVHICH THE STARRES ARE NOVRISHED and sustayned Ciceroes heaueÌ„ is nothing but an heap of heathenish impieties The first that the substance of the soule consisteth of fier or ayre the second that of necessitie it ascendeth vpward as fier doth The third that when it commeth to a pure ayre and temperate heate of the sunne it stayeth there and ascendeth no higher The fourth that this is the naturall seat for the soule and thence it moueth no way The fift that it is there nourished and sustayned with the selfe same things with which the starres are The consequents to this heauen are most horrible First that all soules by necessitie of their nature being in this place there are consequently none in HELL nor none in heauen and so both those places are vtterly emptied by your eloquent Master Next that when the starres skies shall be melted and dissolued with fier then must the soules of all men be likewise dissolued consisting of the same matter which they doe and so vtterly extinguish Lastly Gods promises and threats are all frustrate if he can doe his enemies no more hurt nor his seruants more good then this heauen affoordeth And therfore if you bring the world of soules or this heauen into the Créede I must refuse the Article for open and euident points of Infidelitie which I suppose the Apostles nor Apostolicke men neuer meant when they made the Créede Yet this place such as it is Cicero you say called it Inferi Syr if you leaue lying you must leaue writing For you can skant write a true word Cicero doth no where call this place Inferi but howsoeuer he had his priuate conceits as a Philosopher yet when he spake before the senate or the people
the Créede which the church of Christ proposed to euerie childe to learne and to euerie catechist to knowe But nowe wee are returned to the scriptures againe for Fathers they leaue as corrupters of the olde both faith and phrase wee shall goe through with more ease and ende with more speede That Sheol or Hades doe signifie heauen either in the Scriptures of the olde or newe Testament or with the Septuagint which are the translators of the Hebrue into Gréek I vtterlie denie and no man liuing shall euer bee able to make anie proofe thereof on which issue I am content to ioyne with any man that is learned and sober for the hazard of either of our credits If Sheol and Hades in the scriptures neuer signifie heauen then can they not signifie THE VVORLD OF SOVLES for so much as there is no one place common to all soules departed this life but some are in hell and some in heauen and for one word to signifie both hell and heauen so farre distant one from the other and so much repugnant one to the other is somwhat strange except it could be strongly proued Chaos did import the whole masse of heauen and earth before they were distinguished but since they were seuered and setled by the wonderful wisedome and mighty power of God so far apart one from the other and so much vnlike one to the other there are wordes in the scripture which note all that God made but none that comprise heauen and hell excluding the rest S. Paul vseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the creature and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the making of the world and our sauiour vseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this world and the next where nothing is excepted but that heauen and hel should come to be included in one word the rest excluded I see neither whie nor howe it should be For where wordes are common some thinges must also be common as néedefull to bee expressed by those wordes but to soules in heauen and hell no positiue thing is common all things are rather contrarie Their bodies they want in both places because they are soules otherwise their states be as repugnant in all points as light and darknesse Christ and Belial yea as heauen and hell in which they are therefore as light and darknes faith and infidelitie truth and errour haue no common worde to compâ—ise them being contraries each to other no more haue heauen and hell as they are she rewardes of the iust and vniust for so much as all things in either are directlie repugnant each to other Again that SHEOL or HADES may possiblie signifie heauen I vtterly deny because in heauen besides the soules of men there are the elect angels of God to whom if anie man dare applie SHEOL or HADES he must giue me leaue to thinke his iudgement to be weake and his faith vnsound Sheol and Hades you will saie signifie all that are deade in either place But you must remember that both these wordes in the Scriptures doe properlie signifie places and not peâ—sons For though the ancient Gréekes vsed the word HADES first for a person and then for the place which that person gouerned yet the holie ghost knowing that the person which the Pagans meant was in déede the Diuell vseth the worde for the place and not for the person except the texte bee figuratiue In Sheol it was neuer doubted but that it alwaies signified a place and neuer anie person Nowe if neither Sheol nor Hades canne signifie both places I meane heauen and hell then canne they not signifie the worlde of soules for they bee dispersed in both those places It cannot be denied you wil saie but the olde testament referreth Sheôl as the Septuagint doe Hades both to the godlie and to the wicked after death It is most true that Sheôl in Hebrew and Hades in Greeke are applied in the olde Testament both to the good and bad The Question is not to what men but to which parts of men good or bad Sheol and Hades are referred To the bodies of men good and bad lying deade in the graue they are sometimes applied to the soules of the godlie as detained in either they are neuer applied Sheol and consequentlie HADES with the Septuagint importeth the whole death that is due to sinne and euerie part thereof but by no meanes heauen where the soules of the saintes are nor anie part of that blisse which they possesse Since then as well the death of the bodie in this worlde as the death of the soule in the next worlde were the wages of sinne Sheol and Hades doe sometimes signifie the generall state of deade bodies as when the Scripture describeth rottennesse silence forgetfulnesse senselessenesse contempt dishonour and such like to bee in Sheol And the same worde when it is referred to the soules of the wicked as there detained or of the godlie as thence deliuered for so much as the soule cannot be inclosed in the graue of necessitie the pit prepared for the soules of sinners must bee by all such textes of Scriptures intended But that Sheol or Hades shoulde signifie the worlde of Soules as well in heauen as in Hell neither hath this Refuter brought anie Texte or reason for it neither will hee euer bee able to prooue it And howsoeuer one of late hath taken vppon him to talke of those thinges like one of the Titanes with bigge and bombasted tearmes I seeing nothing in that fardell of his but Riddles and raylinges meane not to alter my course Then touching the sense of Sheol in the olde Testament I take it to bee cleare that it sometimes signifieth the graue or the state of deade bodies but neuer the world of soules which phrase the Refuter hath caught by the ende hoping at length to conueie it into the Creede But hee must first shewe vs where hee findeth anie such thing in the Scriptures before wee maie suffer him to make it an Article of our faith Against it euerie place is a proofe but for it none that I reade or they haue yet alleaged They shifte handes and in steede of the worlde of soules they bring in the graue or the state of deade bodies which is but a vaine flourish to propose one thing and to prooue an other And though you Sir Refuter goe to varying of phrases which I thinke is your best skill as The state of the deade the worlde of the deade the worlde of soules departed yet I must let you vnderstande there is great difference betwixt these speeches Sheol may extend to their bodies whose soules doe liue in heauen to their soules it cannot and therefore you must not chop in the one for the other as your instructor doth who when he would proue the world of soules falleth vp aboue head and eares into the graue The one you shall euerie where light on of the other there is no mention As when Iacob said to