Answer to a Jesuit in Ireland — James Ussher

Answer to a Jesuit in Ireland · James Ussher

OF LIMBVS PATRVM; And CHRISTS DESCENT INTO HELL.

HEre doth our Challenger undertake to prove against us; not only that there is Limbus Patrum, but that our Saviour also descended into Hell, to deliver the ancient Fathers of the Old Testament; because before his Passion none ever entred into Heaven. That there was such a thing as Limbus Patrum, I have heard it said: but what it is now, the Doctors varie, yet agree all in this; that Limbus it may well be, but Limbus Patrum sure it is not. aAn ab eo loco distinctus fue…it, in quo nunc in…a…tes sine baptismo de vitâ decedent…s recipi creduntu…, Theologi dubitan…; nec est qui…quam de re dubiâ temerè pronuntiandum …o. Maldon. …omment. in Luc. …6.22.Whether it were distinct from that place, in which the infants that depart out of this life without baptisme are now beleeved to be received, the Divines doe doubt; neyther is there any thing to be rashly pronounced of so doubtfull a matter: saith Maldonat the Iesuite. The Dominican Friars, that wrote against the Grecians at Constantinople in the yeare 1252 resolve, that bIn quem (limbum) aute adventū Christi sancti Patres descendebant: nunc vero pueri, qu… absque baptismo decedunt, sine poenâ sensibili, detinentur. …act. contr. Graec. in tomo auctorum á P. Situartio edit. pag. 565.into this Limbus the holy Fathers before the comming of Christ did descend; but now the children that depart vvithout baptisme, are detained there: so that in their iudgement, that which was the Limbus of Fathers, is now become the Limbus of Children. The more common opinion is, that these be two distinct places: and that the one is appointed for unbaptized infants, but the other cNunc vacuus remanet. Bell…r. de Purgator. lib. 2 cap. 6.now remayneth voide, and so dManet autem, manebitque, licèt vacuus, hic infernus; ut testimonium perhibeat tùm justitiae, tùm misericordiae Dei. Henric. Vicus, de …es…ensu Christi ad inf…ros, sect. 41. Vi…. Abu…us. Paradox 5 cap. 183.shall remaine, that it may beare witnesse aswell of the justice as of the merciemercy of God. If you demand, how it came to be thus voyd, & emptied of the old inhabitants: the answer is here given; that our Saviour descended into Hell purposely …o deliver from hence the ancient Fathers of the Old Testament. But eAliud enim Inferi; ut puto, aliud quoque Abrahae sinus. Tertull. advers. Mar…ion lib. 4. ca…. 34Hell is one thing, I ween, saith Tertullian, and Abrahams b…some (where the Fathers of the old Testament rested) another: fNon uti que sinus ille Abrahae, id est, secret… cujusdā quietis habitatio, aliqua pars Inserorum esse credenda est. Augustin epist. 99. ad Euodium.neyther is it to be beleeved, that the bosome of Abraham, being the habitation of a secret kinde of rest, was any part of Hell; saith S. Augustin. To say then, that our Saviour descended into Hell, to deliver the ancient Fathers of the old Testament out of Limbus Patrum: would by this construction prove as strange a tale, as if it had beene reported, that Caesar made a voyage into Brittaine, to set his friends at libertie in Greece.

Yea, but before Christs Passion none ever entred into Heaven: saith our Challenger. The proposition that Cardinall Bellarmine taketh upon him to prove, where he handleth this controversie, is: gQuòd animae piorum nō fuerint in coelo ante Christi ascensionem. Be…larmin. de Ch…ist. lib. 4. cap. 11.that the soules of the godly were not in Heaven before the As…ension of Christ. Our Iesuite, it seemeth, considered here with himselfe, that Christ had promised unto the penitent theefe upon the crosse; that not before his ascension only, but also before his resurrection, even hLuk. 23.43.that day he should be with him in Paradise: that is to say, in the kingdome of heaven; as the iVera ergo expositio est Theophylacti, Ambrosij, Bedae, & aliorum, qui per paradisum intelligunt regnum coelorum. Bellarm. de Sanct Beatit. lib. 1. cap. 3.Cardina…l himselfe doth prove, both by the authoritie of S. k2. Cori…. 12.2.4.Paul, making Paradise and the third heaven to be the selfe same thing, and by the testimony of the ancient expositors of the place. This, belike, stuck somewhat in our Iesuites stomack: who being loath to interpret this of his Limbus Patrum (as lHenr. Vic. de des…ens. ad infer. sect 41 pag. 129. Vide Thom. in 3. part. Sum quaest. 52. art. 4.. ad …. & Lyranu…s in Luc. 23.43.others of that side had done) and to maintaine that Paradise, in stead of the third Heaven, should signifie the third or the fourth Hell; thought it best to shift the matter handsomely away, by taking upon him to defend, that, not before Christs ascension (least that of the Thiefe should crosse him) but before his passion none ever entred into Heaven. But if none before our Saviours Passion did ever enter into Heaven: whither shall we say that Elias did enter? The Scripture assureth us, that he went up into heaven: (2. Kings, 2.11▪) & of this Mattathias put his sonnes in mind upon his death-bedd; that mforeign ▪ 1. Maccab. 2.58.Elias being zealous and fervent for the law, was taken up into heaven. Elias and Moses both, before the passion of Christ are described to be nLuk. 9.31.in glory: oLuk. 16.22, 25.Lazarus is carried by the Angells into a place of comfort, and not of imprisonment: in a word, all the Fathers pHebr. 11.1…, 14, 16.accounted themselves to be strangers and pilgrims in this earth, seeking for a better countrey, that is, an heavenly, as well as qHebr. 13.14.we doe; and therefore having ended their pilgrimage, they arrived at the country they sought for, as well as wee. They rAct. 15.11.beleeved to be saved through the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ, as well as we; they sHabak 2 4. Rom 1.16, 17.lived by that faith, as well as we; they t1. Thess. 4.16.dyed in Christ, as well as we; they received uRom. 4.6, 7, 8, 9. Gal. 3.8, 9.remission of sinnes, imputation of righteousnes, and the blessednesse arising therefrom, as well as we: and the mediation of our Saviour being of that present efficacie, that it tooke away sinne and brought in righteousnesse from the very beginning of the world, it had vertue sufficient to free men from the penaltie of losse as well as from the penalty of sense, and to bring them unto him in whose xPsal. 16 11.presence is fulnesse of joy, as to deliver them from the y…uk. 16.28.place of torment where zMatth. 8.11, 12.there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The first that ever assigned a resting place in Hell to the Fathers of the old Testament, was (as farre as wee can finde) Marcion the heretick: aSed Marcion aliorsum cogit, scilicet utramque mercedem Creatoris, sive tormēti sive refrigerij, apud inferos determinet eis positam qui Legi & Prophetis obedierint; Christi veró & Dei sui coel…stem desiniat sinum & portum. Tertullian. lib. 4. contra Marcion. cap. 34. Vid. etiā lib. 3. cap. 24.who determined that both kinde of rewards, whether of torment or of refreshing, was appointed in Hell for them that did obey the Law and the Prophets. Wherein he was gainsayd by such as wrote against him, not only for making that the place of their eternal rest; but also for lodging them there at all, and imagining that Abrahams bosome was any part of Hell. This appeareth plainly by the disputation, set out among the workes of Origen, betwixt Marcus the Marcionite, & Adamantius the defender of the Catholicke cause: who touching the *In D. Bez… Grae…olitino Euangeliorum ve…e…and…e vit… statis e…emplari, quod in pu…licâ Cant…brigie…sis academi…e Bibliothecâ asservatur; historiae h…ic praet…i…t… tur i…a pr…es…tio. foreign. … …imilis e…iam in Missali R…m…no …feriâ 5 post Dominicam 2. Quadragesimae) legebatur: Dixit Iesus discipulis suis parabolam hanc. Verùm in Missali reformato duae po…teriores voces sublatae nuper sunt.parabolicall historie of the rich man & Lazarus in the sixteenth of S. Luke, are brought in reasoning after this maner. bforeign. Ori…en. Dialog. 2. contra Marcion.MARCUS. He saith that A…raham is in hell, and not in the kingdome of heaven. ADAMANTIUS. Reade whether he sayt… that Abraham was in Hell. MARC. In that the rich man and he talked one to the other, it appeareth that they were together. ADAMANT. That they talked one with another, thou hearest; but the great gulfe spoken of, that thou hearest not. For the middle space betwixt heaven and earth he calleth a gulfe. MARC. Can a man therefore see from earth unto heaven? it is impossible. Can any man lifting up his eyes behold from the earth, or from hell rather see into heaven? If not; it is plain, that a vally only was set betwixt them. ADAMANT. Bodily eyes use to see those things only that are neere: but spirituall eyes reach farre. and it is manifest, that they who have here put off their body, doe see one another with the eyes of their soule. For marke how the Gospell doth say, that he lifted up his eyes. toward heaven one useth to lift them up, and not toward the earth. In like maner doth cRespondebimus, & hâc ipsâ scripturâ revincente oculos ejus, quae ab infernis discernit Abrahae sinum pauperi. Aliud enim Inferi, ut puto, aliud quoque Abrahae sinus. Nam & magnum ait intercedere regiones istas prosundum, & transitum utrinque prohibere Sed nec allevâsset dives oculos, & quidem de longinquo, nisi in superiora, & de altitudinis longinquo per im…ensam illā distantiam sublimitatis & profunditatis. Tertull. advers. Marcion, lib. 4 cap 34.Tertullian also retort the same place of Scripture against Marcion, and prove that it maketh a plaine difference betweene Hell and the bosome of Abraham. For it affirmeth (saith he) both that a great deepe is interposed betwixt those regions, and that it suffereth no passage from eyther side. Neyther could the rich man have lifted up his eyes, and that afarre off, unlesse it had beene unto places above him, and very farre above him, by reason of the mightie distance betwixt that height and that depth. Thus farre Tertullian: who though he come short of Adamantius, in dEam itaque reg…onem sinū dico Abrahae, etsi non coelestem, sublimiorem tamen inferis, interim refrigeriū, praebituram animabus justorū, donec consummatio rerum resurrectionem omnium p…nitudine mercedis expungat. I…. I…id.making Abrahams bosome not to be any part of Heaven, although no member at all of Hell; yet doth he concurre with him in this, that it is a place of blisse, and a common receptacle wherein the soules of all the faithfull as well of the new as of the old Testament doe still remaine, in expectation of the generall resurrection▪ which quite marteth the Limbus Patrum of our Romanists, and the journey which they fancie our Saviour to have taken for the fetching of the Fathers from thence.

With these two doth S. Augustin also ioyne, in his 99. epistle to Euodius: concerning whose iudgement herein, I will not say the deceitfull, but the exceeding partiall dealing of Cardinall Bellarmine can verie hardly be excused. eAugustinu…, etsi in epist. 99. ambigere videtur, an sinus Abraham, ubi erant animae Patrum olim, in inferno esset an alibi: tamē lib. 20 de civit. Dei, cap 15. affi…at in inferno fuisse; ut caeteri omnes Patre… semper docuerunt. Bellarmin de Christ. lib. 4. cap. 11. in fine.Although Augustin (saith he) in his 99. epistle do seeme to doubt, whether the bosome of Abraham, where the soules of the Fathers were in times past, should be in Hell or somewhere else: yet in the 20. booke of the Citie of God, the 15. chapter, he affirmeth that it was in Hell; as all the rest of the Fathers have alwayes taught. If S. Augustin in that epistle were of the minde (as hee was indeed) that Abrahams bosome was no part of Hell: he was not the first inventer of that doctrine; others taught it before him, and opposed Marcion for teaching otherwise. foreign: alone he went not, two there were at least (as we have seen) that walked along with him in the same way. But for that which he is said to have doubted off in one place, and to have affirmed in another: if the indifferent Reader will be pleased but to view both the places, he shall easily discerne that the Cardinall looked not into these things with a single eye. In his 99. epistle,fQuanquam in his ipsis tanti magistri verbis, ubi ait dixisse Abraham, Inter vos & nos chaos magnum firmatum est; satis, ut opinor, appareat non esse quandam partē & quasi membrum Inferorum tantae illius felicitatis sinum. Aug…st. epist 99. from that speech of Abraham; Betweene you and us there is a great gulfe fixed: he maketh this inference. In these words it appeareth sufficiently, as I thinke, that the bosome of so great happinesse is not any part and member of Hell. These seem unto the Cardinall to be the words of a doubtfull man: with what words then, when he is better resolved, doth he affirme the matter ? With these forsooth. gSi enim non asburdé credividetur, antiquos etiam sanctos, qui venturi Christi ténuerunt fidē, locis quidem á tormentis impiorum remotissimis, sed apud inferos fuisse, donec eos inde sanguis Christi, & ad ea loca descensus c…ueret: profectò deinceps boni fideles effuso illo pretio jam redempti, prorsùs inferos nesciunt, do…ec etiam receptis corporibus bona recipiant quae merentur. Id. de Civit. Dei, lib. 20. cap. 15.If it do seem no absurditie to beleeve, that the old Saincts which held the faith of Christ to come, were in places most remote from the torments of the wicked, but yet in Hell; untill the blood of Christ, and his descent into those places, did deliver them: truely from henceforth the good and faithfull, who are redeemed with that price already shed, know not Hell at all. If, satis ut opinor apparet, [it appeareth sufficiently, as I thinke,] must import doubting; and, si non absurdé credi videtur, [if it doe seeme no absurditie to beleeve,] affirming: I know not, I must confesse, what to make of mens speeches.

The truth is: S. Augustin in handling this question discovereth himselfe to be neyther of the Iesuits temper nor beleefe. He esteemed not this to be such an article of faith, that they who agreed not therein must needs be held to be of different religions: as he doth modestly propound the reasons which induced him to think that Abrahams bosome was no member of Hell; so doth he not lightly reiect the opinion of those that thought otherwise, but leaveth it still as a disputable point. hVtrùm sinus ille Abrahae ubi dives impius, cùm in tormentis esset inferni, requiescentem pauperem vidit, vel paradisi censendus vocabulo, vel ad inferos pertinere existimandus sit; non facilè dixerim. I…. epist 57.Whether that bosome of Abraham where the wicked rich man, when he was in the torments of Hell, did behold the poore man resting, were eyther to be accounted by the name of Paradise, or esteemed to appertaine unto Hell, I cannot readily affirme: saith he in one place. and in another: iEtenim apud inferos ut…ùm in locis quibusdā fuisset jam Abraham; non satis possumus definire. Id. in Psal. 85.Whether Abraham were then at any certaine place in Hell, we cannot certainly define. and in his 12. book de Genesi ad literam: kProinde, ut dixi, nondū inveni, & adhue quaero nec mihi occurrit inferos alicubi in bono posuisse Scripturā duntaxat Canonicam. Non autē in bono accipiendum sinum Abrahae, & illam requiem, quò ab angelis pius pauper ablatus est, nescio utrum quisquam possit audire: & ideò quo modo eum apud inferos credamus esse, non video. Id. de Gen ad lit. l…b. 12. cap. 33.I have not hitherto found, and I doe yet inquire, neyther doe I remember that the canonicall Scripture doth any where put Hell in the good part. Now that the bosome of Abraham and that rest, unto which the godly poore man was carried by the Angel, should not be taken in the good part, I know not whether any good man can endure to heare: and therefore how we may beleeve that it is in Hell I doe not see. Where it may further also be observed, that S. Augustin doth here assigne no other place to this godly poore man, then he doth unto the soules of all the faithfull that have departed since the comming of our Saviour Christ: the question with him being alike of them both, whether the place of their rest be designed by the name of Hell or Paradise. Therefore he saith: lQuanquam & illud me nondum invenisse confiteor, inferos appellatos, ubi justorum animae requiescunt. Id. ibid.I confesse, I have not yet found, that it is called Hell, where the soules of just men doe rest. and againe: mQuanto magis ergo post hanc vitam etiam sinus ille Abrahae Paradisus dici potest; ubi jam nulla tentatio, ubi tanta requies post omnes dolores vitae hujus? Ne que enim & lux ibi non est propria quaedam & sui generis, & profectò magna; quam dives ille de tormentis & tenebris inferorū, tam u…i que de longinquo cùm magnū chaos esset in medio, sic tamen vidit ut ibi illu quondā contemptū pauperē agnosceret. Id. ibid. cap. 34.How much more after this life may that bosome of Abraham be called Paradise; where now there is no temptation, where there is so great rest after all the griefes of this life? For neyther is there wanting there a proper kinde of light and of it owne kinde, a…d doubtlesse great; which that rich man out of the torments and darknesse of Hell, (even from so remote a place, where a great gulfe was placed in the midst) did so behold, that he might there take notice of the poore man whom sometime he had despised. and elsewhere, expounding that place in the 16. of S. Luke: nSinus Abrahae, …equies …st bea…on… pauperum, quorū est r…gnu coelotum, in quo post hanc vitā recipiuntur. Id. Quaestion. Eli… …el. lib. 2. cap. 38.The bosome of Abraham, saith he, is the rest of the blessed poore, whose is the kingdome of heaven, in which after this life they are received.

Bede in his Commentaries upon the same place, and Strabus in the ordinary Glosse doe directly follow S. Augustin in this exposition: and the Greeke interpreter of S Luke (who wrongly beareth the name of Titus Bostrensis, and Chrysos…om) for proofe thereof produceth the testimonie of oPer sinum Abrahae, Isaac, & …acob, sanctus Dionysius Areopagita divinissimas illas fo…tunatas que sedes designatas asserit, quae omnes justos post …ehe…ssimā consummationem intia sese recipiunt. …it. Bo…r. in Luc. cap. 16. in ipso fine.Di…nysius Areopagita, affirming that by the bosome of Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob, those most divine and blessed seates are designed, w…ich doe receive within them all just men after their most happy consummation. The words that he hath relation unto, be these, in the 7. chapter of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy. pforeign Diot… Eccl Hi…r cap. 7.The bosomes of the blessed Pa…riarches and of all the rest of the Saincts are, as I thinke, the most divine and blessed resting places, which doe recei…e all such as are like unto God, into that never-fading and most blessed perfection that is therein. Hitherto appertaine those passages in S. Ambrose. qVeni in gremium Iacob: ut sicut Lazarus p…uper in Abrahae simi, ita etiam tu in Iacob patriarchae tramquillitate requiescas. Sinu… enim Patriarcharum recessus quidam est quietis aeternae. Ambros. orat. de obitu Valentinian… Imp.Come into the bosome of Iacob: that as poore Lazarus did in the bosome of Abraham, so thou also mayst rest in the tranquillitie of the patriarch Iacob. For the bosome of the Patriarches is a certaine retyring place of everlasting rest. rIbimus ubi sinum suum Abrahā sanctus expandit, ut suscipiat pauperes, sicur suscepit & Lazarū: in quo sinu requiescunt, qui in hoc seculo gravia atque aspera pertulerunt. Id de bono mortis. cap. 12.We shall goe where holy Abraham openeth his bosome, to receive the poore, as he did receive Lazarus: in which bosome they doe rest, who in this world have endured grievous and sharpe things. sIn Paradisum ascenditur, in Infernū descenditur. Descendant, inquit, in infernum viventes. Ideoque Lazarus pauper per angelos in Abrahae sinum est elevatus. Id. in Psalm. 48.Into Paradise is a ascent, into Hell a descent. Let them descend, saith he, quick into Hell. And therefore poore Lazarus was by the Angels lifted up into Abrahams bosome. tVide illuna pauperem bonis omnibus abundantem, quem sancti Patriarchae requies beata circumdabat. Id. ibid.Behold that poore man abounding with all good things, whom the blessed rest of the holy Patriarch did compasse about. uLazarus in Abrahae sinu recumbens, vitam carpebat aeternam. Id. in Psal. 118. serm. 3.Lazarus lying in Abrahams bosome, enjoyed everlasting life.

S. Chrysostom, or whosoever else was the author of that homily touching the Rich man and Lazarus, upon those wordes of the text, that the rich man lifting up his eyes beheld Lazarus in Abrahams bosome, moveth this question: xforeign.Chrysost. homil. in Divit. & Lazar. tom. 5. edit. Savil. pag. 730.Why Lazarus did not see the rich man, as well as the rich man is said to see Lazarus? and giveth this answer thereunto: because *Etenebris autem quae sunt in luce tuemur. Quod contrà facere in tenebris é luce nequimus. Lucret. de rer. nat. lib. 4.he that is in the light doth not see him that standeth in the darke, but hee that is in the darke beholdeth him that is in the light; taking it for granted, that Abrahams bosome was a place of light and not of darkenesse. He that wrote the Homily upon that sentence of the Psalme, What man is he that would have life and desireth to see good dayes? who is commonly also, though not rightly, accounted to be Chrysostom; goeth further and saith, that the rich man yErexit oculos in coelum de loco tormentorum, & clamavitad patrem Abraham. Homil. in illud Psalm. 33. Quis est homo. tom. 1. Oper. Chrysost.lifted up his eyes unto Heaven out of the place of torments, and cryed unto father Abraham: yea he expressely affirmeth there, that zBeatus pauper migravit ad. oelum; & dives pu…pu…â tectus mansit in inferno. …. id.the blessed poore man did go unto Heaven, and the rich man covered with purple did remaine in Hell. which agreeth well with that undoubted saying of S. Chrysostome himselfe: aforeign. Chrysost. lib. 1. de Provident. ad Stager. tom. 6. …dit Savil. pag. 96.Lazarus, who vvas worthy of Heaven and the kingdome that is there, being full of sores was exposed to the tongues of doggs, and strove with perpetuall hunger. and with that which he writeth elsewhere: that bforeign.Id. in illud: Intrate per ang…st port. t…m. 5. edit. Savil. pag. 179.after famine, and soares, and lying in the porch, he enjoyed that refreshing which is impossible to be expressed by speech, even cforeign. Ibid. pag. 180.unspeakable good things. Whereunto may be added that collection of his out of the words of our Saviour: Many shall come from the East and West, and shall sit downe with Abraham, and Isaak, and Iacob, in the kingdome of heaven, Matth. 8.11. that this kingdome is dforeign. Id. in Matth. homil. 26. edit. Graec. 27. Latin.designed here by a new terme of the bosome of Abraham; and the eforeign, etc Ibid.consummation of all good called by the name of the bosomes of the Patriarches.

S. Basil in his sermon of Fasting, placeth Lazarus in Paradise. fforeign; Basil. homil. 1. de Ieiunio.Dost not thou see Lazarus (saith he) how he entred by fasting into Paradise? and the ancient compiler of the Latin sermon translated from thence, frameth his exhortation accordingly, gVtamur ergo & nos hâc viâ quâ rediri ad Paradisum potest. etc. Illuc praecessit Lazarus Serm de Ieiunio, Zenoni Veronensi perpe…àem attributus.Let us therefore use this way, whereby we may returne unto Paradise. Thither is Lazarus gone before us. Asterius Bishop of Amasea placeth him in hforeign. Asterius, in homil. de divite & Lazaro.a sweet and joyous state: Cyrill Bishop of Alexandria, in iforeign. Cyrill. Alexandr. homil. Paschal. 11.unexpected delights: Salvianus, in blisse and everlasting wealth. kPauper beatitudinem emit mendicitate; dives suppliciū facultate. Pauper cum pen… tus nil haberet, emit a…ternas divitias egestate. Salvian. Massil. lib. 3. ad Eccles. Catholic. advers. avaritiā. Prior e…iam sententiae habetur apud authorem serm. 227. de Tempore, tom. 10. Oper. Augustini.The poore man (saith he) bought blisse with beggerie; the rich man punishment with wealth. The poore man, when he had just nothing, bought everlasting riches with penury. Gregory Nazianzen saith, he lforeign Gregor. Nazianz. orat. 16. de pauperum amore, pag. 262. edit Graecolat.was enriched with refreshment in the bosomes of Abraham, that are so much to be mforeign. Id. orat. 44. in Pentecost. pag. 714.desired. Prudentius, in his poeticall vaine, describeth him to be there hedged about with floures, as being in the garden of Paradise, even in the same paradise wherein pure soules do now rest since the ascension of Christ. for thus he writeth:

nPrudent. Cathemerin…. Hymn. 10.Sed dum resolubile corpus

Revocas Deus, atque reformas;

Quânam regione jubebis

Animam requiescere puram?

Gremio senis abdita sancti

Recubabit, ubi est Eleazar;

Quem floribus undique septum

Dives procul adspicit ardens.

Sequimur tua dicta Redemptor,

Quibus atrâ é morte triumphans,

Tua per vestigia mandas

Socium crucis ire latronem.

So where Iob sayeth; Naked came I out of my mothers wombe, and naked shall I returne thither: the Greeke scholies expound it thus: Thither: oNimirum ad Deum; ad illum, inquam, beatum finem & requietem. Catena Graec. in Iob. cap. 1. à P. Comitolo conversa.namely unto God, unto that blessed end and rest. which the author of the Commentaries upon Iob ascribed to Origen, expresseth thus at large. pIllo, inquit, ibo, ubi sunt tabernacula justorū, ubi sunt sanctorum gloriae, ubi est fidelium requies, ubi est piorum consolatio, ubi est misericor dium ha…reditas, ubi est immaculatorum beatitudo, ubi est veracium laetitia & consolatio. Illuc ibo, ubi est lux & vita, ubi est gloria & jucunditas, ubi est laetitia & exultatio; vel unde aufugit dolor, tristitia & gemitus, ubi obliviscuntur priores tribulationes has quae sunt in corpore super terram. Illuc ibo, ubi est tribulationum depositio, ubi est remuncratio laborum, ubi Abrahae sinus, ubi Isaac proprietas, ubi Israel familiaritas, ubi sanctorum animae, ubi angelorum chori, ubi archangelorum voces, ubi spiritus sancti illuminatio, ubi Christi regnum, ubi aeterni Dei patris infecta gloria atque beatus conspectus. Origen. in Iob. lib. 1.Thither will I goe, saith he, where are the tabernacles of the righteous, where the glories of the Saints are, where is the rest of the faithfull, where is the consolation of the godly, where is the inheritance of the mercifull, where is the blisse of the undefiled, where is the joy and consolation of such as love the truth. Thither will I goe, where is light and life, where is glory & jocundnesse, where is joy and exultation: whence griefe and heavinesse and groning flie away, where they forgett the former tribulations that they sustayned in their body upon the earth. Thither will I goe, where there is a laying aside of tribulations, where there this a recompense of labors, where is the bosome of Abraham, where the proprietie of Isaac, where the familiarity of Israel; where be the soules of the Saints, vvhere the quire of Angels, where the voyces of Archangels, where the illumination of the holy Ghost, where the kingdome of Christ, where the endlesse glory and blessed sight of the eternall God the father. What difference I pray you now, is there betwixt this Limbus Patrum and Heaven it selfe?

Of Abrahams bosome Gregory Nyssen writeth after this maner.qforeign. Gregor. Nyssen. Dialog de Animâ & Resurrect. tom. 2. Oper. pag. 651. As by a certaine abuse of speech we call a baye of the sea an arme or bosome: so it seemeth to me that the word doth signifie the exhibitiō of those unmeasurable good things by the name of a bosome; into which good bosome, or baye, all men that sayle by a vertuous course through this present life, when they loose from hence, put in their soules as it were into a haven free from danger of waves and tempests. and in another place.rforeign. Id tractat. 2. de Psalm. inscript. cap. 6. (tom. 1. Oper. pag. 304.) If one hearing of a bosome, as it were a certaine large baye of the sea; should conceive the fulnesse of good things to be meant thereby where the Patriarch is named, and that Lazarus is therein: he should not thinke amisse. True it is indeed, that diverse of the Doctors who make Abrahams bosome to be a place of glorie, do yet distinguish it from Heaven: but it is to be considered withall that they hold the same opinion indifferently, of the place whereunto the soules of all godly men are received, aswell under the state of the New as of the Old Testament. For they did not hold (as our Romanistes doe now) that Christ by his descension emptyed Limbus, & removed the bosome of Abraham from Hell into Heaven: their Limbus is now as full of Fathers as ever it was, and is the common receptacle wherein they suppose all good soules to remaine untill the generall resurrection; before which time they admit neyther the Fathers nor us unto the possession of the kingdome of Heaven. sforeign Id. de Hominis Opificio, cap. 22.For Abraham (saith Gregory Nyssen) and the other Patriarches, although they had a desire to see those good things, and never left seeking that heavenly countrey, as the Apostle saith: yet are they notwithstanding that, even yet in expectancie of this favour; God having provided some better thing for us, according to the saying of S. Paul, that they without us should not be made perfect. So Tertullian: tVnde apparet sapienti cuique qui aliquando Elysios audierit, esse aliquam localem determinationem, quae sinus dicta sit Abrahae, ad recipiendas animas filiorum ejus etiam ex Nationibus, patris scilicèt multarum Nationum in Abrahae censum deputandarum, & câdē fide quâ & Abraham Deo credidit, nullo sub jogo legis, nec in signo circumcisionis. Eam itaque regionem sinum dico Abrahae, etsi non coelestem sublimio…em tamen inferis, interim refrigeriū praebiturā animabus justorū, donec consummatio rerum resurrectionem omniū plenitudine mercedis expungat. Tertullian. lib. 4. coutr. Marci…n. cap. 34.It appeareth to every wise man, that hath ever heard of the Elysian fields, that there is some locall determination, which is called Ab…ahams bosome, to receive the soules of his sonnes, even of the Gentiles; he being the Father of many nations that were to bee accounted of Abrahams family, and of the same faith wherewith Abraham beleeved God, under no yoke of the law, nor in t…e signe of Circumcision. That region t…erefore doe I call the bosome of Abraham, although not heavenly yet higher than hell, which shall give rest in the meane season to the soules of the righteous, untill the consummation of thin…s doe finish the resurrection of all, with the fulnesse of reward. And we have heard S. Hilary say before, that uExeuntes de corpore ad in…io…tum illum regni coelestis per custodiam Domini fideles omnes reservabuntur: in sinu scilic…t interim Abrahae collocati, quò adire impios interjectum chaos inhibet, quous que introeundi rursum in regnum coelorum tempus adveniat. Huar. in Psalm 120.all the faithfull, when they are gone out of the body, shall be reserved by the Lords custody for that entrie into the heavenly kingdome; being in the meane time placed in the bosome of Abraham, whither the wicked are hindred from comming by the gulfe interposed betwixt them, untill the time of entring into the kingdome of heaven doe come. and againe. xTestes nobis Euangelicus dives & pauper: quorum unu …angeli in sedibus beatorum & in Abrahae sinu lo…averunt, aliū statim poenae regio suscepit. id. in Ps…lm. 2.The rich and the poore man in the Gospell do serve us for witnesses: one of whom the Angels did place in the seates of the Blessed and in Abrahams bosome; the other the region of punishment did presently receive. yIndicij enim dies, vel beatitudinis retr…butio est aeterna vel po…na… Tempus veró mortis habet unumquemque suis legibus, dum ad judi…ium unumqu… q…e aut Abraham reservat aut poena. Jd. ibid.For the day of judgement is the everlasting retribution eyther of blisse or paine: but the time of death hath every one under his lawes, while eyther Abraham or punishment reserveth every one unto judgement.

The difference betwixt the Doctors in their iudgement concerning the bosome of Abraham, and the resting of the ancient Fathers therein, wee finde noted in part in those expositions upon the Gospell, which goe under the name of Theophilus Bishop of Antioch and Eucherius Bishop of Lyons. zIn hoc quod apud …nfe… Abrahamum vidit, haec subesse á quibusdā ratio putatur; quòd omnes Sancti ante adventum Domini nostri Iesu Christi etiam ad inserna, licet in r…f…igerij locum, descendisse dicuntur. Alij opinantur locum illum in quo Abraham erat, ab illis inferni locis seorsim in superioribus fuisse cō stitutum: propter quod dicat Dominus de illo Divite, quòd elevans oculos suos cùm esset in tormentis, vidit Abraham de longé. Theophil. Antioch. Allegor. in Johann. lib. 4. …ucher. Lugd. de quaestionib. novi Testam in Lucâ.In that the rich man (say they) did in Hell behold Abraham, this by some is thought to be the reason: because all the Saints before the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ, are said to have descended into Hell, although into a place of refreshment. Others thinke, that the place wherein Abraham was, did lye apart from those places of Hell, situated in places above: for which the Lord should say of that rich man, that lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham a far off. The former of these opinions is delivered by some of the Doctors doubtfully, by others more resolutely. Primasius setteth it downe with S. Augustins qualification: aSi non absurdé credi videtur Primasius, lib. 5 in Apocalyps. cap 20 secutus Augustinum, lib. 20. de Civil. Dei, cap. 15.It s…em…th that without absurditie it may be beleeved. The author of the imperfect worke upon Matthew saith, that bVis autem manifesté scire, quoniam ante Christum coeli si aperiebantur, iterùm claudebantur Na… justi quidem forsitan ascendebant in coelum; peccatores autem nequaquam. Ideò autem dixi, forsitan, ne quibusdam placeat etiam ante Christi adventum justorum animas ascendere potuisse in coelum Alioqui nullam animam ante Christum arbitror ascendisse in co… lum, ex quo peccavit Adam, & clausi sunt ei coeli: sed omnes in inferno detentas. Op. imper…. in Matt…. homil. 4. int…r Opera Ch…ysostomi.peradventure the just did ascend into heave… before the comming of Christ: yet that he doth thinke, …hat no soule before Christ did ascend into heaven, since Adam sinned and the heavens were shut against him; but all were detayned in Hell. and, cVt enim arbitror, etiam patres nostri Abraham, Isaac, & Iacob, & totus chorus sanctorum Vatum & justorum, Christi adventu perfru…ti sunt Catena Graeca in Cantica utrius que Testamenti, ab Ant. Carafâ convers. tom. 1. Operū Theo…oreti, pag. 729. edit. Colon. 1573.as I doe thinke, saith the Greeke expositor of Zacharies Hymne likewise, even our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob, and the whole queere of the holy Prophets and just men, did enjoy the comming of Christ. Of which comming to visite the Fathers in Hell, dHieronym. ep. 151. ad Algas. quaest. 1. & lib. 2. …ommentar. in Matth. cap. 11.S. Hierome, eRuffin. in exposit. Symboli.Ruffinus, fVen. Fortunat. in exposit. Symboli.Venantius Fortunatus, gGregor. lib. 1. in Ezechiel. homil. 1. & in Euangel. hom. 6.Gregory, hJulian. Tolet. lib. 2. contra Iudaeos.Iulianus Toletanus, and iEuseb. Homil. in Euangel. Dominic. 3. Adventus.Eusebius Emissenus (as he is commonly called) interpret that question propounded by the Baptist unto our Saviour. kMatth. 11.3. Luk. 7.19, 20.Art thou he that should come, or looke we for another? which exposition is by S.lChrysost. in Matth. 11. hom. 36. edit. Graec. vel 37. Latin. Chrysostome iustly reiected, as utterly impertinent and ridiculous. Anastasius Sinaita affirmeth very boldly, that mforeign. Anastas. Sinait. (al. Nicaenus) quaest. 112.all the soules aswell of the just as the unjust were under the hand of the Divell, untill Christ descending into Hell said unto those that vvere in bonds, Come forth, and to those that were indurance, Be at libertie. For nNon enim solùm interitū corporū dissolvit in sepulchro; sed & captivas animas ex inferno, in quo per tyrannidem detinebantur, liberavit, & fortasse non per tyrannidem, sed pro multis debitis detinebantur: quibus persolutis, qui propter liberationem descenderat, reduxit magnam copiam captivorum. Anastas. Sinait. de rect. dogmatib. o…at. 5.he did not only (saith he in another place) dissolve the corruption of the bodies in the grave: but also delivered the captive soules out of Hell, vvherein they were by tyrannie detained, and peradventure not by tyrannie neyther, but for many debts. which being payed, he that descended for their deliverie, brought backe with him a great company of captives. and thus was oIn eo spoliati sunt Inferni. In eo liberatus est Adamus ex moeroribus. Id. in Hexaemer. l…b. 7.Hell spoyled, and Adam delivered from his griefes. Which is agreeable to that which we reade in the works of Athanasius: that pforeign, (sive foreign Athanas. de sa…utari adventu Christi, advers. Apollinar.the soule of Adam was detayned in the condemnation of death, and cryed continually unto the Lord; such as had pleased God, and were justified in the law of nature, being detayned together with Adam, and lamenting and crying out with him. and that the Divell, qforeign. Author ser…onis in Passionem & Crucem Dom. inter opera Athanasij.beholding himselfe spoyled, did bemoane himselfe; and beholding those that sometime were weeping under him, now singing in the Lord, did rent himselfe.

Others are more favourable to the soules of the Fathers, though they place them in Hell: for they hold them to have beene there in a state of blisse, and not of miserie. Thus the author of the Latin homily concerning the Rich man and Lazarus, which is commonly fathered upon Chrysostom, notwithstanding he affirmeth that rSimul que considerandum, quód Abrahā apud inseros erat: necdum enim Christus resurrexerat, qui illum in Paradisum duceret. Antequàm Christus moreretur, nemo in Paradisum conscenderat, nisi latro. Rhomphaea illa flammea, & vertigo illa claudebat paradisum. Non poterat aliqui… intrare in Paradisum, quem Christus clauserat: latro primus cum Christo intravit. Homil. in Luc. 16. de Divit. tomo 2. Oper. Chrysost. Lati….Abraham was in Hell, and that before the comming of Christ, none ever entred into Paradise: yet doth he acknowledge in the meane time that Lazarus did remaine there in a kinde of Paradise. For sParadisus pauperis, sinus erat Abrahae, Ibid.the bosome of Abraham, saith he, vvas the poore mans Paradise. and againe. tDicat mihi aliquis: In inferno est Paradisus? Ego hoc dico, quia sinus Abrahae Paradisi veritas est: sed & sanctissimum Paradisum fateor. Ibid.Some man may say unto me: Is there a Paradise in Hell? I say this, that the bosome of Abraham is the truth of Paradise: Yea and I confesse it to be a most holy Paradise. So Tertullian in the fourth booke of his Verses against Marcion, placeth Abrahams bosome under the earth, but in an open and lightsome seate, farre removed from the fire and from the darknesse of Hell:

— sub corpore terrae

In parte ignotâ quidam locus exstat apertus,

Luce uConfer locum ex Augustino, de Genesi ad li…et. lib. 12. cap. 34. suprà citatum, in fine pag. 259.sua fretus; Abrahae sinus iste vocatur,

Altior á tenebris, longé semotus ab igne,

Sub terrâ tamen.

Yea he maketh it to be one house with that which is eternall in the heaven, distinguisht onelyonly from it, as the outer and the inner Temple (or the Sanctum and the Sanctum Sanctorum) were in the time of the Law, by the Vayle that hung between: which vayle being rent at the passion of Christ, he saith these two were made one everlasting house.

Tempore divisa & spatio, & ratione ligata

Vna domus, quamvis velo partita videtur.

At que adeò passo Domino velamine rupto,

Coelestes patuere plagae, coelataque sancta;

Atque duplex quondam, facta est domus una perennis.

Yet elsewhere hee maketh up the partition againe: maintaining very stiffly, that the gates of xNulli patet coelum t…r…á a…huc salvâ, ne dixerim clau…â. Cum transactione enim mundi reserabuntur regna coelorum. Tertull. de A…imâ, cap. 5….Heaven remaine still shut against all men, untill the end of the world come and the day of the last judgement. Only yQ…omodo Perpetua for…issima martyr sub die passionis in revelatione Paradisi, solos illic commartyre… suos ridit; nisi quia nullis romphaea Paradisi janitrix cedit, nisi qui in Christo decesse…i…t? Tota Paradisi clavis tuus sanguis est. Ibid. Vid. etiā lib. de Resurrect. carn cap. 4….Paradise he leaveth open for Martyrs (as that other author of the latin Homily zSi persecutio venerit, imitemur latronem: si pax fuerit, imitemur Lazarum Si martyrium fecerimus, statim intrabimus Paradisum: si paupertatis poenam sustinuerimus, statim in sinum Abrahae. Habet & sanguis, habet & pax loca sua: habet & paupertas martyrium suum, & egestas benè tolerata facit marty…ium; sed egestas propter Christum, non propter necessitatem. Homil. de Divite. inter …pera Chrysost.seemeth also to doe:) but the soules of the rest of the faithfull he aHabes etiam de Paradiso á nobis libellum, quo constituimus o…nem animam apud inferos sequestrari in diem Domini. Tertull. de Ani… cap. 55 Omnes ergo animae penes inferos? inquis, Velis ac nolis, & supplicia jam illic & refrigeria habes, pauperem & divitem. &c Cur enim non p…tes animam & puniri & fov…ri in inferis, interim sub expectati…ne utrius que judicij in quâdam usurpatione & candidâ ejus? Ibid. cap ult.sequest…eth into Hell, there to remaine bQuòd si Christus Deus, quia & homo, mortuus secundùm scriptu…as, & sepultus secundùm ea dem, hic quoque legi satisfecit, formâ humanae mortis apud inferos functus; nec antè ascendit in sublimiora coelorum, quàm descendit in inferiora terrarum, ut illic Patriarchas & Prophetas compotes sui faceret: habes, & regionem inferûm subterraneam credere, & illos cubito pellere, qui satis superbé non putent animas fidelium inferis dignas; servi super magistrum, aspernati si fortè in Abrahae sinu, expectandae resurrectionis solatium earpere. Ibid. cap. 55.in Abrahams bosome untill the time of the generall resurrection. And to this part of Hell doth he imagine Christ to have descended, not with purpose to fetch the soules of the Fathers from thence (which is the only errand that our Romanistes conceive he had thither) but, ut illic Patriarchas & Prophetas compotes sui faceret, that he might there make the Patriarches and Prophets partakers of his presence.

S. Hierome saith, that cDominus noster Iesus Ch…istus ad forna…em descendit inferni, in quo cla…s…, & p…ccatorum. & justo…um animae ten…bantur. ut absq…e executi…ne & noxâ …ui, …os qui tenebantur in…lusi, m…rtis vinculi lib raret. Id lib. … in Dan…el cap. 3.our Lord Iesus Christ descended into the furnace of Hell, wherein the soules both of sinners and of just men were held shut; that without any burning or hurt unto himselfe, he might free from the bonds of death those that were held shut up in that place: and that hee dInvo…avit ergo rede…ptor …oster nomen Domini d… lacu nov…ssimo, cùm in virtute divinitatis descendit ad inferos, & destructis claustris Tartari, suos quos ibi reperit eruens, victo… ad superos ascen…it. Id. lib. 2. in Lament. Ierem. cap. 3.called upon the name of the Lord out of the lowermost lake, when by the power of his divinitie hee descended into Hell, and having destroyed the barres of Tartarus, (or the dungeon of Hell) bringing from thence such of his as he found there, ascended conquerour up againe. He saith further, that eInfernus locus suppliciorum at que cruciatuum est, in quo videtur dives purpuratus: ad quem descendit & Dominus, ut vinctos de carcere dimitteret. Id. lib. 6 in Esai. cap. 14.Hell is the place of punishments and tortures, in which the rich man that was cloathed in pu…ple is see…e: unto which also the Lord did descend, that he might let forth those that were bound out of prison. Lastly, fDescendit ergo in inferiora terrae, & ascendit super omnes coelos filius Dei: ut non tantùm legem prophetasque compleret, sed & alias quasdam occultas dispensationes, quas solus ipse novit cum patre. Ne que enim scire possumus, quomodo & angelis & his qui in inferno erant, sanguis Christi profuerit; & tamen quin profuerit, nescire non possumus. Id. lib. 2. in. phes. cap 4.t…e Sonne of God (saith he, following Origen, as it seemeth, too unaduisedly here) descended into the lowermost parts of the earth, and ascended above all heavens: that he might not only fulfill the law and the prophets, but certaine other hidden dispensations also, which hee alone doth know with the Father. For wee cannot understand, how the bloud of Christ did profite both the Angels and those that were in Hell; and yet that it did profite them, wee cannot be ignorant. Thus farre S. Hierome; touching Christs descent into the lowermost Hell: which Thomas and the other Schoolemen will not admitt that hee ever came unto. Yet this must they of force grant, if they will stand to the authority of the Fathers. gRestabat tamen ad plenū nostrae redemptionis effectū, ut illuc usque homo sine peccato á Deo susceptus descenderet, quous que homo separatus á Deo, peccati merito cecidisset; id est, ad Infernum, ubi solebat peccatoris anima torqueri, & a… Sepulchrū, ubi consueverat peccatoris caro corrumpi: sic tamen, ut nec Christi caro in sepulchro corrumperetur, nec inferni doloribus anima torqueretur. Quoniam anima immunis á peccato, non erat subdenda supplicio: & carnem sine peccato nō debuit vitiare corruptio Fulgent ad Trasimund lib. 3. cap. 30.It remayned, saith Fulgentius, for the full effecting of our redemption, that man assumed by God without sinne, should thither descend, whither man separated from God should have fallen by the desert of sinne; that is, unto Hell, where the soule of the sinner was wont to be tormented, and to the Grave, where the flesh of the sinner was accustomed to bee corrupted: yet so, that neyther the flesh of Christ should be corrupted in the Grave nor his soule be tormented with the paines of Hell. Because the soule free from sinne, was not to be subjected to such punishment: neither ought corruption to tainte the flesh without sinne. hHoc autem ideò factum est, ut per morientem temporaliter carnem justi, donaretur vita aeterna carni; & per descendentem ad infernum animam justi, dolores solverentur inferni Ibid.And this hee saith was done for this end: that by the flesh of the just dying temporally, everlasting life might be given to our flesh; and by the soule of the just descending into Hell, the paines of hell might be loosed.

It is the saying of S. Ambrose, that iExpers pec…ati Christus, cùm ad tartari…ma descendens, seras inferni januas que confringens, vinctas peccato animas mortis dominatione destructâ, é diaboli faucibus revocavit ad vitam. Ambros. de mysterio Paschae, cap 4.Christ being voyd of sinne, when hee did descend into the lowermost parts of Tartarus, breaking the barres & gates of Hell, called backe unto life out of the jawes of the Divell the soules that were bound with sinne, having destroyed the dominion of death: and of Eusebius Emissenus or Gallicanus (or who ever was the author of the sixt Paschall homily attributed to him) that kDeposito quidem corpore imas at que abditas Tartari sedes filius hominis penetravit: sed ubi retentus esse inter mortuos putabatur, ibi vincula mortuorum ligatâ morte laxavit. Euseb. homil. 6. de Pas…ha.the sonne of man laying aside his body, pierced the lowest & hidden seates of Tartarus: but where he was thought to have beene detained among the dead, there binding death; did hee loose the bonds of the dead. Presently lConfestim igitur aeterna nox inferorum Christo descendente resplenduit: siluit stridor lugentium ille, soluta sunt onera catenarū, dirupta ceciderunt vincula damnatorum. Attonitae mentis obstupue…e tortores: omnis simul impia officina contremuit, cùm Christum repenté in suis sedibus vidit. Ib. homil. 1. Caesarius Arelatens. de Pasch. hom. 3.therefore, saith Caesarius (in his third Paschall homily; w^ch is the same with the first of those that goe under the name of the former Eusebius) the everlasting night of Hell at Christs descending shined bright: the gnashing of the mourners ceased, the burthens of the chaines were loosed, the bursted bands of the damned fell from them. The tormentors astonished in minde were amazed: the whole jmpious shoppe trembled together, when they beheld Christ suddainly in their dwellings: So Arnoldus Bonaevallensis in his booke de Cardinalibus operibus Christi (commonly attributed to S. Cyprian) noteth, that at that time mAb inferna. lib. tormentis cessatum est. Arnald. abb. Bonaevallis, tract. de Vnctione Chrismatis, in fine.there was a cessation from infernall torments: which by nArator, historiae Apostolicae lib. 1.Arator is thus more amply expressed in verse.

—pavidis resplenduit umbris

Pallida regna petens, propriâ quem luce corruscum

Non potuit fuscare chaeos. fugere dolores,

Infernus tunc esse timet, nullum que coërcens

In se poena redit, nova tortor ad otia languet:

Tartara moesta gemunt, quia vincula cuncta quiescunt.

Mors ibi quid faceret, quò vitae portitor ibat?

S. Augustine doth thus deliver his opinion touching this matter. oChristi animam venisse usque ad ea loca, in quibus peccatores cruciantur, ut eos solveret á tormentis, quos esse solvendos occultâ nobis suâ justitiâ judicabat, non immeritò creditur. Augustin. de Genesi ad literam, lib. 12. cap. 33.That Christs soule came unto those places wherein sinners are punished, that hee might loose them from torments, whom by his hidden justice he judged fit to be loosed; is not without cause beleeved. pNec ipsam tamen rerum partem noster salvator mortuus pro nobis visitare contempsit; ut inde solveret quos esse solvendos secundùm divinam secretamque justitiam ignorare non potuit. Jbid. cap. 34.Neyther did our Saviour being dead for us, scorne to visite those parts: that hee might loose from thence such as hee could not bee ignorant, according to his divine and secret justice, were not to bee loosed. qSed quia evid…ntia testimonia & infernum commemorāt & dolores; nulla causa occurrit, cur illò credatur venisse salvator, nisi ut ab ejus doloribus salvos faceret. Sed utrùm omnes quos in eis inven…t, an quosdam quos illo beneficio dignos judicavit, adhuc requiro. Fuisse tamē cum apud inferos, & in eorū doloribus constitutis hoc beneficiū praestitisse, non dubito. Id. epist. 99. ad Euodium.But whether hee loosed all that hee found in those paines, or some whom hee thought worthy of that benefit, I yet enquire. For that he was in hell, and bestowed this benefit upon some that did lye in the paines thereof, I doe not doubt. Thus did S. Augustine write unto Euodias, who inquired of him; whether rSi omnes inde solvit salvator, & sicut …equirens scripsisti, exinanivit inferna. Item: Si, ut quaerēdo dicis, exinaniti sunt inferi. Jb.our Saviour loosed all from thence, and emptied Hell? which was in those dayes a great question: and gave occasion to that speech of Gregory Nazianzen. sforeign Greg Nazianz orat. 42. quae est 2. in Pascha.If hee descend into Hell, goe thou downe with him (namely in contemplation and meditation) learne the mysteries of Christs doings there, what the dispensation and what the reason was of his double descent (to wit, from heaven unto earth, & from earth unto hell:) whether at his appearing he simply saved all, or there also such only as did beleeve. What Clemēs Alexandrinus his opinion was herein, every one knoweth, that tforeign, etc. Clem. Alexandr. lib. 6. Strom.our Lord descended for no other cause into Hell, but to preach the Gospell; and that uforeign (leg.foreign. Ibid.such as lived a good life before the time of the Gospell, whether Iewes or Grecians, although they were in hell and in durance, yet hearing the voyce of our Lord (eyther from himselfe immediatly or by the working of his Apostles) were presently converted and did beleeve: in a word, that xforeign, Ibid.in Hell things were so ordred, that evē there all the soules, having heard this preaching might eyther shew their repentance, or acknowledge their punishment to be just, because they did not beleeve. Hereupon, when Celsus the Philosopher made this objection concerning our Saviour: yforeign. Cels.Surely you will not say of him, that when hee could not perswade those that were heere, hee went unto Hell to perswade those that were there. Origen, the scholler of Clemens, sticketh not to returne unto him this answere. zforeign. Origen. lib. 2. contra Celsum.Whether he will or no, wee say this, that both being in the bodie hee did perswade, not a few, but so many that for the multitude of those that were perswaded by him he was layd in wayt for: and after his soule was separated from his body, hee had conference with soules separated from their bodies; converting of them unto himselfe such as would, or such as he discerned to bee more fit for reasons best knowne unto himselfe.

The like effect of Christs preaching in Hell, is delivered by aAnastas Sinait. vel Nicaen. quaest 111.Anastasius Sinaita, bIobius, de V…rbo inca…natio lib 9. cap. 38. in Photij Bibliothecâ, volum. 222.Iobius or Iovius, cIo. Damascen. de Or…hodoxâ fide, lib. 3. cap ult. & in Serm. de Defunct.Damascen, dOecumen. in 1. Petr. 3.Oecumenius, eMich. Glyc. part. 2. Annalium.Michael Glycas, and his transcriber fTheodor. Metochit. in Historiâ Romanâ, á Meursio nuper editâ: quae ex Glycâ tota est de sumpta.Theodorus Metochites. Procopius saith; that gforeign. Procop. in Esai. cap. 42.hee preached to the spirits that were in Hell, restrayned in the prison house, releasing them all from the bonds of necessity. wherein he followeth S. Cyrill of Alexandria, writing upon the same place, hQuòd spiritibus in inferno praedicatum abierit, & detentis in domo custodiae apparuerit Christus, & omnes vinculis liberaverit, & necessitate, & poenâ, & supplicio Cyrill. Ale…andr. fin. lib. 3. in Esai. cap. 42.that Christ went to preach to the spirits in Hell, and appeared to them that were detayned in the prison house; and freed them all f…om bonds and necessitie, and paine, and punishment. The same S. Cyrill in his Paschall homilies affirmeth more directly, that our Saviour iforeign. Id. Homil. Paschal. 20.entring into the lowermost dennes of Hell, and preaching to the spirits that were there; kforeign. Id. hom. 11.emptied that unsatiable denne of death, lforeign. Id. hom. 6.spoyled Hell of spirits, and having thus mforeign. Id. homil. 7.spoyled all Hell, left the Divell there solitarie and alone. nNam Christo ad inferos descendente, non sanctorum animae tantùm liberatae sunt inde; sed omnes adeò priùs in Diaboli errore, & simulachro…ū cultu servitutem servientes, aucti agnitione Dei, salutem sunt consecuti: quare & gratias agebant, Deum laudantes. Andronic. Dialog. contra Iudaeos, cap. 60.For when Christ descended into Hell, sayth Andronicus, not onelyonly the soules of the Saints were delivered from thence; but all those that before did serve in the error of the Divell and the worship of idols, being enriched with the knowledge of God, obtayned salvation: for which also they gave thankes, praysing God. Whereupon the author of one of the sermons upon the Ascension, fathered upon S. Chrysostom, bringeth in the Divell complayning, that the sonne of Mary, oOmnibus, qui jam inde ab initio apud me fuerant, tanquam accipiter celeriter advolans, abrep…is; desertum me reliquit. Chrysost. in Ascens. Domini, serm. 8. á Ger. Vossio edit.having taken away from him all those that were with him from the verie beginning, had left him desolate. whereas the true Chrysostom doth at large confute this fond opinion: censuring the maintayners thereof, as the pforeign. Chrysost. in Matth. cap. 11. homil. 36. edit. Graec. vel 37. Latin.bringers in of old wives conceytes and Iewish fables. Yea qAlij sunt haeretici, qui dicunt Dominum in infernum descendisse, & omnibus post mortem etiam ibidem renunciâsse (se nunciâsse, corrigendum est ex Gregorio) ut confitentes ibidē salvarentur. Philastr. Bri…ciens. de Haeresib. ca…. 74.Philastrius, & S. rAlia (haeresis) descendente ad inferos Christo credidisse incredulos, & omnes inde existimat liberatos. Augustin. de Haeresib. cap. 79.Augustin out of him, doth brand such for hereticks: whose testimonie also is urged by S. Gregory against George and Theodore, two of the clergie of Constantinople; who held in his time (as many others did before and after them) that sOmnipotentem Dominum salvatorem nostrum Iesum Christū ad inferos descendentē, omnes qui illic confiterentur eū Deū, salvâsse at que á poenis debitis libe…âsse Vid. Gregor. lib. 6. epist. 15. & in Euangel. hom. …2.our omnipotent Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ descending into Hell, did save all those vvho there confessed him to be God, and did deliver them from the paines that were due unto them. and when Clement our countryman, about 150. years after, did renue that old error in Germanie, that tQui contra fidem sanctorū contendit, dicens; quòd Christus filius Dei descendens ad inferos, omnes quos inferni carcer detinuit inde liberâsset, credulos & incredulos, laudatores Dei simul & cultores idolorum. Bonifa…. Moguntin. ad Zachariā P. e…ist. 135.the sonne of God descending into Hell delivered from thence all such as that infernall prison did detayne, beleevers and unbeleevers, praysers of God and worshippers of idols: the uDominum Iesum Christū descendentem ad inferos, omnes pios & impios exinde praedicat abstraxisse, ab omni sit sacerdotali officio nudatus, & anathematis vinculo obligatus; pariter que Dei judicio condemnatus, vel omnis qui ejus sacrilegis consenserit praedicationibus. S…nod. Romana sub Zachariâ P. an. 745. ha…ita: Ibid. & Concilior tom. 3.Romane Synod held by Pope Zacharie condemned him and his followers for it.

But to leave Clemens Scotus, and to returne unto Clemens Alexandrinus, at whom Philastrius may seeme to have aymed specially: it is confessed by our Adversaries, that he fell into this error, partly being xDeceptus fuit superficie verborū Petri; quem non animadvertit longé distinctiù loqui, at que primâ facie videatur. Henric. Vicus, d… D…s…ens. Christi ad inferos. sect. 43.deceived with the superficiall consideration of the wordes of S. Pet…r, touching Christs preaching to the spirits in prison, yDelusus authoritate Hermetis, putat Christū euangeliū praedicâsse damnatis, & eorum aliquos liberâsse, qui ex gentilibus sancté vixerant. Alphons. Mendoz. in Controvers. Theologic. quaest. 1. positiv. sect. 4 secu…us And…adium lib. 2. Defens fidei Tridentinae.1. Pet. 3.19. partly being deluded with the authority of Hermes, the supposed scholler of S. Paul; by whose zforeign. He…mes in Past…re, lib. 3. simili…ud. 9. Citatur á Clemen. Al…xandrino, lib. 2. Stromat.dreames he was perswaded to beleeve, that not onelyonly Christ himselfe, but his Apostles also did descend into Hell, to preach there unto the dead & to baptize them. But touching the wordes of S. Peter is the maine doubt: whether they are to bee referred unto Christs preaching by the ministerie of Noë unto the world of the ungodly; or unto his owne immediate preaching to the spirits in Hell after his death upon the Crosse. For seeing it was the spirit of Christ which spake in the Prophets, (as S. a1. Pet. 1.11.Peter sheweth in this same Epistle) and among them was Noë b2. Pet. 2.5.a preacher of righteousnesse (as hee declareth in the next:) even as in S. Paul, Christ is sayd to have cEphes. 2.17.come and preached to the Ephesians, namely by his spirit in the mouth of his Apostles; so likewise in S. Peter may he be sayd to have gone and preached to the old world, dNehem. 9.30. Zachar. 7.12. 1. Sam. 23.2.by his spirit in the mouth of his Prophets (and of Noë in particular) when God having said that his Spirit eGenes. 6.3.should not alwayes strive with man, because he was flesh, did in his long suffering wait the expiration of the time which he then did set for his amendment, even an hundred and twentie yeares. For which exposition the Aethiopian Translation maketh something: where the Spirit, by which Christ is sayd to have beene quickned and to have preached, is by the Interpreter termed Manphes Kades, that is, the Holy Spirit. the addition of which epithet wee may observe also to bee used by S. Paul in the mention of the resurrection, and by S. Luke in the matter of the preaching of our Saviour Christ. for of the one we read, Rom. 1.4. that he was declared to be the Sonne of God, with power, according to the Spirit of Holinesse, (or, the most holy Spirit) by the Resurrection from the dead. and of the other, Act. 1.2. that hee gave commandements to the Apostles by the holy Spirit.

Thus doth S. Hierome relate, that fVir prudentissimus. Hiero…ym. lib. 15. in Esai. cap. 54.a most prudent man (for so he termeth him) did understand this place: gPraedicavit spiritibus in carcere constitutis, quando Dei patientia expectabat in diebus Noë, diluviū impijs inferens. Jbid.He preached to the spirits put in prison; when the patience of God did wayte in the dayes of Noë, bringing in the flood upon the wicked. as if this preaching were then performed, when the patience of God did expect the conversion of those wicked men in the dayes of Noë. S. Augustine more directly, wisheth us to hConsidera tamen ne fortè totum illud, quod de conclusis in carcere spiritibus, qui in diebus Noë nō crediderāt, Petrus Apostolus dicit, omnino ad inferos non pertineat; sed ad il…a potiùs tempora, quorum formam ad haec tempora translit. August. …p 99consider, least happily all that which the Apostle Peter speaketh of the spirits shut up in prison, which beleeved not in the dayes of Noë, pertaine nothing at all unto Hell, but rather to those times which hee compareth as a patterne with our times. For Christ (sayth he) iQuoniam priusquàm veniret in carne pro nobis moriturus, quod semel fecit, saepè anteà veniebat in spiritu ad quos volebat, visis eos admonens sicut volebat utique in spiritu; quo spiritu & vivificatus est, cùm in passione esset carne mortificatus. Ibid.before ever hee came in the flesh to die for us, which once he did, came often before in the spirit to such as hee pleased, admonishing them by visions in the spirit as hee pleased: by which spirit hee was also quickened, when in his passion hee was mortified in the flesh. Venerable Bede, and Walafridus Strabus in the Ordinarie Glosse after him, set downe their mindes herein yet more resolutely. kQui nostris temporibus in carne veniens iter vitae mundo praedicavit, ipse etiam ante diluvium eis qui tunc increduli erant & carnaliter vivebant, spiritu veniens praedicavit. Ipse enim per spiritum sanctum erat in Noë, caeterisque qui tunc fuere sanctis; & per eorum bonam conversationem, pravis illius aevi hominibus, ut ad meliora converterentur praedicavit. Bed. in 1. Pe…. 3. & Gloss. ordinar. ibid.He who in our times comming in the flesh, preached the way of life unto the world, even he himselfe also before the flood, comming in the spirit preached unto them, which then were unbeleevers and lived carnally. For by his holy spirit hee was in Noë, and the rest of the holy men which were at that time; and by their good conve…sation, preached to the wicked men of that age, that they might bee converted to a better course of life. The same exposition is followed by Anselmus Laudunensis in the Interlineary Glosse, lThom. 3. part. Sum. quaest. 52. artic. …. ad 3.Thomas Aquinas in his Summe, and diverse others in their Commentaries upon this place. Yea since the Councell of Trent, and in a booke written in defence of the faith of Trent, Doctor Andradius professeth that hee thinketh this to bee the plaine meaning of the place. mIn quo spiri…u jam olim ipse veniens (ne nunc primùm Eccl…siae curā eum suscepisse arbitraremur) praedicavit spiritibus illis, qui nunc in carcere meritas jam infidelitatis suae poenas luunt; quippe qui Noë …ecta monenti, & arcam Dei jussu construenti, fidem habere nunquàm voluerunt, quamvis Dei illos patientia diutissimè, hoc est, centum aut eo ampliùs annos expectaret. Andrad. Defens. Tridentinae fidei, lib. 2.In which spirit he himselfe long since comming (that we may not imagine, that hee now first undertooke the care of his Church) did preach unto those spirits, which now in prison doe suffer the d…served paines of their infidelitie; forasmuch as they would not beleeve Noë giving them good counsaile, and building the Arke by Gods appointment, notwi…hstanding the patience of God did wayt for them very long, to wit, a hundred yeares or more. which accordeth fully with that interpretation of S. Peters words, which is delivered by the learned of our side. In which spirit hee had gone and preached …o them that now are spirits in prison: because they disobeyed when the time was: when the patience of God once wayted in the dayes of Noë, vvhile the Arke was a preparing. (1. Pet. 3.19, 20.)

But there were diverse apocryphall scriptures and traditions afoot in the ancient Church, which did so possesse mens mindes with the conceite of Christs preaching in Hell, that they never sought for anie further meaning in S. Peters words. as that sentence especially, which was fathered upon the Prophet Esay or Ieremy; and from whence, if Cardinall nBellarm. lib. 4. de Christo, c…p. 13.Bellarmines wisedome may be heard, it is credible that S. Peter tooke his words. namely: oforeign. Citatur á Iustino Mart. in Dialog. cum Tryphone: & Irenaeo, lib. 3. cap. 23. lib. 4. cap. 39. & lib. 5. cap. 31.The Lord the holy one of Israel remembred his dead, which slept in the earth of their graves; and descended to them, to preach unto them his salvation. and that blinde tradition, which Anastasius Sindita doth thus lay downe, immediatly after his citation of S. Peters text. pforeign. Anast. Sin. vel Nican. qu. 111.It is now related among the old traditions, that a certaine Scholler using many opprobrious speeches against Plato the philosopher; Plato appeared unto him in his sleepe, and said. Man, forbeare to use opprobrious speeches against mee: for thereby thou hurtest thy selfe. That I was a sinfull man I doe not denie: but when Christ descended into Hell, in verie deede none did beleeve in him before my selfe. Nicetas Serronius reciteth this out of the histories of the Fathers: qHoe de Platone commemoratur: quod credendum sit necne, auditoribus judicandum relinquo. Nicet. commentar. in Gregor. Nazianz orat. 2. de Pascha.which whether it bee to bee beleeved or no, I leave (saith he) to be judged by the hearers. as if any great matter of judgement should be requisite, for the discerning of this to be (as Bellarmine doth censure it) rQuare inter fabulas numeranda est illa narratio, quam in historijs Patrum circumferri dicit Nicetas, etc. Haec quidem fabula est, Bellarm. lib. 4 de Christo, cap. 16.a fable, or (as Dionysius Carthusianus before him) sIstud inter Apocryphorū computandū est somnium. Dionys. Carthusian. in 1. Pet. 3.an apocryphall dreame. The like stuffe is that also which was vented heeretofore unto the world in the apocryphall gospell of Nicodemus. to say nothing of that sentence which is read in the old Latin edition of the booke of Ecclesiasticus; tPenetrabo omnes inferiores partes terrae, & inspiciā omnes dormiē tes, & illuminabo omnes sperantes in Domino. vel ut ab authore Operis imperfecti in Matth. (inter opera Chrysostomi) homiliâ 4 citatur. Descendā ad inferiores partes terrae, & visitabo omnes dormientes, & illuminabo sperantes in Deum. Ecclesiastic. 24.45.I will pearce all the lower-most parts of the earth, and behold all that are asleepe, and enlighten all them that hope in the Lord. which although it be not now to be found in the Greeke originall, and hath perhaps another meaning then that to which it is applied; yet is it made by the author of the imperfect worke upon Matthew one of the chiefe inducements, which ledd him to thinke that our Saviour descended into Hell, to visite there the soules of the righteous.

The tradition that of all others deserveth greatest consideration, is the article of the Creed touching Christs descent into Hell: which uGilbert. Genebrard. lib. 3. de Trinitate.Genebrard affirmeth to have beene so hatefull to the Arrians, that, as Ambrose reporteth upon the fifth Chapter of the epistle to the Romanes, they struck it quite out of the verie Creed. But neither is there the least footstep of any such matter to be seene in S. Ambrose: and it sufficiently appeareth otherwise, that the Arrians did not onelyonly adde this article unto their Creedes, but also set it forth and amplified it with many wordes; so farre off were they, from being guiltie of suppressing it. For as the Fathers of the first generall Councell, held in the yeare of our Lord CCCXXV. at Nice in Bithynia, did publish a Creed against the Arrians: so the Arrians on the other side, in the yeare CCCLIX. set out a Creed of their owne making, in a Synod purposely kept by them at Nice in Thracia, xSozomen. lib. 4. hist. cap. 18.that by the ambiguitie of the Councells name, the simpler sort might be more easily induced, to mistake this Nicene for that other Catholick Nicene Creed. And whereas the true Nicene fathers had in their Creed omitted the article of the descent into Hell (which, as we shall afterwards heare out of Ruffinus, was not to be had in the Symbols of the Easterne Churches:) these bastard fatherlings in their Nicene Creed, did not onelyonly insert this clause, yforeign. Theodoret. lib. 2. hist. cap. 21.Hee descended to the places under the earth; but added also for further amplification, Whom Hell it selfe trembled at. The like did they (with the words a little altered) in another zforeign. Athanas. in epist. de Synodis Arimini & Selenciae. Socrat. lib. 2. hist. cap. 41. edit. …raec. vel 32. Latin.Creed set out in a Conventicle gathered at Constantinople: and in a third Creed likewise (framed by them at Sirmium and confirmed the same yeare in their great Councell at Ariminum) they put it in with a more large augmentation, after this maner. aforeign. Athanas. ibid. Socrat. lib. 2. cap. 37. edit. Graec. vel 29. Laetin. The speech is taken from Iob 38 17. in the Septuagint.He descended to the places under the earth, and disposed things there; vvhom the keepers of Hell gates seeing, shooke for feare. If therefore any fault were committed in the omission of this article; it should touch the Orthodoxe Fathers of Nice and Constantinople rather: whom the bConstat ex hoc, nihil esse de Symbolo Apostolorum subtrahendum. Subtractum tamen est illud: Descendit ad inferos. Verùm qui detraxerūt, id non negabant ne que cum veritate pugnabant. Ioann. F… roli viensi… episc. in Session. 10. Concil. Ferrar.Latines, disputing with the Grecians in the Councell of Ferrara, do directly charge with subtracting this article from the Apostles Creed; although they free them from blame in so doing, because they that tooke it away (say they) did not denie it, nor fight against the truth.

But first they should have shewed, that the Fathers of Nice and Constantinople did finde this article of Christs descent into Hell in the Apostles Creed: before they excused them from taking it away from thence. For the Creed of the Councell of Constantinople (which cōmonly goeth under the name of the Nicene Creed) being nothing else but an explanation & a more ample inlargement of the Creed Apostolicall; yea and so fully expressing the same, that it selfe hath beene heretofore cEpiphaen. in foreign. pag. 518. foreign.accounted and dIn Misiâ Latinâ antiquâ, … dit. Argentin. an. 1557. pag. 41. post …ecitatū Symbolum Constantinopolit. subijcitur. Finito Symbolo Apostolorum dicat Sacerdos. Dominus vobiscū.named the Apostles Creed: it is not to be thought that it would leave out any article eyther unexplained or altogether unnamed, which was then commonly beleeved to have beene any parcell of the Creed received from the Apostles. Adde hereunto the ingenuous confession of Busaeus the Iesuite, in his positions touching Christs descent into Hell. eBeatus Cyprianus, vel potiùs Ruffinus, in expositione symboli negat hunc articulū legi in Ecclesiae Romanae Symbolo, & Orientis Ecclesijs: et vetustissimi patres quidā, dum vel summam fidei Christianae, vel symbolum Apostolicū exponunt, hoc dogma praetermiserunt. Quando autem insertum s…t Symbolo, certé constitui non potest. Io. Busae. de descensu Christi…ad inferos, Thes. 33.S. Cyprian, or Ruffinus rather, in his exposition of the Creed denyeth that this article is read in the Creed of the Church of Rome, or the Churches of the East: and some of the most ancient Fathers, while either they gather up the summe of the Christian faith, or expound the Creed of the Apostles, have omitted this point of doctrine. But at what time it was inserted in the Creed, it cannot certainely bee determined. The first particular Church that is knowne to have inserted this article into her Creeed, is that of Aquileia: which added also the attributes of fOmnipotentem.] His additur: Invisibilē & impassibilē. Sciendū quoòd duo isti sermones in Ecclesiae Romanae symbolo non habētur Constat autem apud nos additos haereseos causâ Sabelij. Ruffin. in exposit. Symb.invisible and impassible, unto God the Father almightie in the beginning of the Creed; as appeareth by Ruffinus, who gNos tamen illum ordinem sequimur, quē in Aquileiensi Ecclesiâ per lavacri gratiam suscepimus Id. ibid.framed his exposition of the Creed according to the order used in that Church. But whether any other Church in the world for 500. yeares after Christ, did follow the Aquileians in putting the one of these additions to the Apostolicall Creed, more then the other; can hardly, I suppose, bee shewed by any approved testimonie of antiquitie. Cardinall Bellarmine noteth, that S. hAugustinus in libro de Fide & Symbolo, & quatuor libris de Symbolo ad Catechumenos, non meminit hujus partis, cùm totum Symbolum quinquies. exponat. B…llarm. de Christo, lib. 4. cap. 6.Augustine in his booke de Fide & Symbolo, and in his foure bookes de Symbolo ad Catechumenos, maketh no mention of this part, when hee doth expound the whole Creed fiue seuerall times. Nay Petrus Chrysologus, who was archbishop of Ravenna 450. years after Christ, doth iPe…r. Chrysolog. serm. 57.58.59.60.61.62six severall times goe over the exposition of the Creed: and yet never medleth with this article. The like also may be observed in kMaxim. Homil. d… traditione Symboli.Maximus Taurinensis his exposition of the Creed. For as for the two lTom. 5. Oper. Ch…ysost. Latin.Latin expositions thereof that go under the name of S. Chrysostom (the latter whereof hath it, the former hath it not) and the o…hers that are found in the tenth Tome of S Augustins works among the Sermons de Tempore (mS…rm. de Tempore, 115.131.181 195. foure of which doe repeat it, & nSerm. 119. & 123.two doe omitt it:) because the authors of them, together with the time wherein they were written, be altogether unknowne; they can bring us little light in this inquiry.

Neyther is there heereby any whit more derogated from the credit of this article, then there is from others, whose authority is acknowledged to bee undoubted and …eyond all exception: as namely that of our Saviours death, and the Communion of Saints. the one whereof as sufficiently implied in the article of the Crucifixion as a consequent, or the buriall as a necessarie antecedent thereof, the other as virtually contayned in the article of the Church; wee finde omitted not in the Constantinopolitan Symboll alone, and in the ancient Apostolicall Creeds expounded by Ruffinus, Maximus, and Chrysologus, but also in those that are extant in oFortunat. lib. 11. num. 1. in Exposit. Symbol.Venantius Fortunatus 580. and in pEther et Beat. lib. 1. contra Elipandū Tol…tan. pag. 51. edit. Ingo…sta….Etherius and Beatus, 785. yeares after Christ. In all which likewise may bee noted, that the title of Maker of heaven and earth is not given to the Father in the beginning of the Creed: which out of the Creed of Constantinople wee see is now every where added thereunto. Of which additions as there is now no question any where made: so qDescensum ad inferos nūc, consentientibus sectarijs, inter germanos Symboli Apostolici articulos numeramus. Io. Busaeus, de descens. thes. 33.by the consent of both sides, this of the descent into Hell also, is now numbred among the articles of the Apostles Creed. For the rAct. 2.27 31.Scripture having expressely testified, that the prophecie of the Psalmist, sPsalm. 16.10.Thou shalt not leave my soule in Hell, was verified in Christ; S. Augustins conclusion must necessarily be inferred thereupon. tQuis ergo nisi infidelis negaverit fuisse apud Inferos Christum? Augustin. epist. 99.Who therefore but an Infidell will denie that Christ was in Hell? Thus uAc primùm omnes cōveniunt, quòd Christus aliquo modo ad. inferos descenderit. etc. At quaestio tota est de explicatione hujus articuli. Bellarm. de Christo. lib. 4. cap. 6.all agree, that Christ did some maner of way descend into Hell: saith Cardinall Bellarmine. But the whole question is touching the exposition of this article. The common exposition which the Romish Divines give thereof, is this: that by Hell is here understood, xIn 3. Sent. dist. 22. D. Thom. Bonavent. Richard. Gab. Palud. & Marsil. quaest. 13. & reliqui in hoc cōveniūt, quòd ad locū damnatorū non descendit. Fr. Suarez tom. 2. in 3. part. Thom. disp. 43. sect. 4. Non descendit ad inferos reproborum ac in perpetuum damnatorum, quoniam ex eo nulla est redemptio: igitur ad eum locum descendit, qui vel Sinus Abrahae, vel cōmuniter Limbus Patrum appellatur. Fr. Feuardent Dialog. 6. contr. Calvinian. pag. 509 edit. Colon.not that place wherein the wicked are tormented, but the bosome of Abraham, wherein the godly Fathers of the old Testament rested; for whose deliverie from thence they say our Saviour tooke his journey thither. But S. Augustin in that same place, wherein he counteth it a point of infidelitie to denie the going of Christ into Hell, gain sayeth this exposition thereof: professing that he could finde the name of Hell no where given unto that place wherein the soules of the righteous did rest. yQua propter si in illum Abrahae sinum Christum mortuum venisse sancta scriptura dixisset, non nominato inferno ejusque doloribus: miror si quisquā ad inferos eum descendisse asserere auderet. Sed quia evidentia testimonia & infernū commemorant & dolores; nulla caussa occurrit, cur illò credatur venisse salvator, nisi ut ab ejus doloribus salvos faceret. August. ep. 99.Wherefore (saith he) if the holy Scripture had said, that Christ being dead did come unto the bosome of Abraham, not having named Hell and the paines thereof: I marvayle vvhether any would have beene so bold, as to have avouched that Christ descended into Hell. But because evident testimonies doe make mention both of Hell and paines: I see no cause, why our Saviour should be beleeved to have come thither, but that he should deliver men from the paines thereof. And aVnde illis justis qui in sinu Abrahae erant, cùm ille in inferna descenderet, nondum quid contulisset inveni; á quibus eum secundùm beatificam praesentiam suae divinitatis nunquam video recessisse. Id. ibid.therefore, what benefite he brought unto those just men that were in the bosome of Abraham, when he did descend into Hell, I have not yet found. Thus farre S. Augustin.

For the better understanding of this, wee are to call unto minde that saying of the bforeign. Plutarch. in lib. de Jside & Osiride.Philosophers: that they who do not learne rightly to understand words, use to be deceived in the things themselves. It wil not be amisse therefore, to consider somewhat of the name of Hell: that the cforeign. Plato, in Cratylo.nature of the word being rightly understood, wee may the better conceive the truth of the thing that is signified thereby. Wee are to know then first of our English word Hell, that the originall thereof is by diverse men delivered diversly. Some derive it from the Hebrew word Sheol: eyther subtracting the first letter, or including it in the aspiration. For dAdeò autē cognatio est huic literae, id est S, cū aspiratione; quòd pro eâ in quibusdam dictionibus solebant Boeoti pro S, H scribere Muha pro Musa dicentes. Priscian. lib. 1.this letter S (saith Priscian) hath such an affinitie with the aspiration; that the Boeotians in some words were wont to write H for S, saying Muha for Musa. Others bring it from the Greeke word foreign, which signifieth a lake: others from the English hole, as signifying a pit-hole; others from hale, as noting the place that haleth or draweth men unto it. Some say, that in the old Saxon or German, Hel signifieth deepe; whether it bee high or low. But the derivation given by eR…ch. Ve…sl…g. Restitution of English antiquiti…s, chap. 7.Verstegan is the most probable; from being helled over, that is to say, hidden or covered. For in the old German tongue (from whence our English was extracted) fVid. Goldasti animadvers. in Winsbekij Paraeneses, pag. 400.Hil signifieth to hide: and Hiluh in Otfridus Wissenburgensis; is hidden. And in this countrey, with them that retayne the ancient language which their forefathers brought with them out of England, to hell the head, is as much as to cover the head: and hee that covereth the house with tile or slate, is from thence commonly called a hellier. So that in the originall propriety of the word, our Hell doth exactly answere the Greeke foreign, which denoteth foreign, the place which is unseene or removed from the sight of man.

Wee are in the second place therefore to observe, that the tearme of Hell, beside the vulgar acception, wherein it signifieth that which Luke 16.28. is called the place of torment; is, in the Ecclesiasticall use of the word, extended more largely to expresse the Greeke word Hádes and the Latin Inferi, & whatsoever is contayned under them. Concerning which S. Augustine giveth this note: gVarié in Scripturis & sub intellectu multiplici, sicut re…um de quibus agitur sensus exigit, nomen ponitur inferorum. Augustin. quaest. super Numer. cap. 29.The name of Hell is variously put in Scriptures, and in many meanings, according as the sense of the things which are entreated of doth require. and Master Casaubon (who understood the propertie of Greeke and Latin wordes as well as any) this other. hQui foreign proprié sedem damnatorum esse existmant, non minùs hallucinantur, quàm illi qui cùm legunt agunt apud Latinos scriptores, Inferos, de eodem loco interpretantur. Casaub. in Gregor. Nyssen. epist. ad Eustath. Ambros. & Basiliss. no…. 116.They who thinke that HADES is properly the seate of the damned, be no lesse deceaved, then they who, when they read INFEROS in Latin writers, doe interpret it of the same place. The lesse cause have wee to wonder, that Hell in the Scripture should bee made the place of all the dead in common, and not of the wicked onelyonly. as in Psalm. 89.47, 48. Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vaine? What man is hee that liveth, and shall not see death? shall hee deliver his soule from the hand of HELL? and Esai. 38.18, 19. HELL cannot prayse thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that goe downe into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The LIVING, the LIVING, hee shall prayse thee, as I doe this day. Where the opposition betwixt Hell and the state of life in this world is to be observed. Now as the common condition of the dead is considerable three maner of wayes, eyther in respect of the body separated from the soule, or of the soule separated from the bodie, or of the whole man indefinitely considered in this state of separation: so do we finde the word Hádes (which by the Latins is rendred Infernus or Inferi, and by the English, Hell) to be applied by the ancient Greek interpreters of the old Testament to the common state and place of the bodie severed from the soule, by the heathen Greekes to the common state and place of the soule severed from the bodie, and by both of them to the common state of the dead, and the place proportionably correspondent to that state of dissolution. And so the Doctors of the Church, speaking in the same language which they learned both from the sacred and the forraine writers, are accordingly found to take the word in these three severall significations.

Touching the first we are to note, that both the Septuagint in the Old Testament, and the Apostles in the iAct. 2.27. 1. Cor. 15.55.New, doe use the Greeke word foreign HADES (and answerably thereunto the Latin Interpreters the word Infernus or Inferi, and the English the word Hell) for that which in the Hebrew text is named foreign SHEÓL: on the other side, where in the New Testament the word HADES is used, there the ancient Syriack translator doth put foreign Shejul in steed thereof. Now the Hebrew Sheol (and so the Chaldy, Syriack and Aethiopian words which draw their originall from thence) doth properly denote the interior parts of the earth, that lye hidden from our sight; namely whatsoever tendeth downeward from the surface of the earth unto the center thereof. In which respect we see that the Scripture describeth Sheol to be a deepe place; and opposeth the depth thereof unto the heighth of Heaven. (Iob. 11.8. Psalm. 139.8. Amos 9.2.) Againe, because the bodies that live upon the surface of the earth, are corrupted within the bowells thereof; kEcclesiast. 12.7. Iob. 34.15.the dust returning to the earth as it was: therefore is this word commonly put for the state and the place wherein dead bodies do rest, and are disposed for corruption. And in this respect wee finde that the Scripture doth oppose Sheol not only unto Heaven, but also unto this land of the living wherein we now breathe. (Esai. 38.10, 11. Ezech. 32.27.) the surface of the earth being the place appointed for the habitation of the living; the other parts ordayned to be the chambers of death. Thus they that are in the graves (Ioh. 5.28.) are said to sleepe in the dust of the earth (Dan. 12.2.) The Psalmist, in his prophesie of our Saviours humiliation, tearmeth it the dust of death: (Psal. 22.15.) which the Chaldee Paraphrast expoundeth foreign the house of the grave; interpreting Sheol after the selfe same maner, in Psa. 31.18. & 89.49. R. Mardochai Nathan in his Hebrew Concordance, giveth no other interpretation of the word foreign Sheol, but only foreign, or, the grave. R. Abraham Aben-Ezra in his commentary upon those words, Genes. 37.35. I will goe downe into Sheól unto my sonne mourning; writeth thus. lforeign Aben Ezra, in Genes. 37.Here the Translator of the erring persons (he meaneth the Vulgar Latin translation used by the Christians) erreth, in translating Sheól Hell or Gehenna: for behold, the signification of the word is foreign or the grave. for proofe whereof he alledgeth divers place of Scripture. Where by the way you may note, that in the last edition of the Masoriticall and Rabbinicall Bible, printed by Bombergius, both this and diverse other passages elsewhere have beene cut out by the Romish Correctors: which I wish our Buxtorfius had understood, when he followed that mangled and corrupted copie in his late renewed edition of that great worke. R. Salomo Iarchi, writing upon the same words, Gen. 37.35. saith, that mforeign Salom. Iarchi, in Genes. 37.according to the literall sense, the interpretation thereof is the Grave: (In my mourning I will be buried, and I will not be comforted all my dayes:) but after the Midrash or Allegoricall interpretation, it is Gehenna. In like maner, R. David Kimchi expounding that place, Psal. 9.17. The wicked shall turne into Hell, and all the nations that forget God; acknowledgeth, that by the Derash or nElias in Tisc…bi, …erb. foreign.Allegoricall exposition, into Hell is as much to say, as into Gehenna: but according to the literall meaning he expoundeth it, foreign into the grave; intimating withall, that the Prophet oforeign Kimchi in Ps. 9.useth here the terme of turning or returning, with reference to that sentence, Gen. 3.19. Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou returne.

Out of which observation of Kimchi wee may further note, that the Hebrewes, when they expound Sheol to be the grave, do not meane so much thereby an artificial grave (to wit, a pit digged in the earth, or a tomb raysed above ground) as a naturall sepulchre: such as the Poët speaketh of in that verse; Nec tumulum curo, sepelit natura relictos. and Seneca in his Controversies. pOmnibus natura s…pulturam dedit. naufragos idē fluctus qui expulit, sepelit. suffixorum corpora crucibus in sepulturam suam defluunt: eos qui vivi uruntur, poena funerat. Senec. lib. 8. Controvers. 4.Nature hath given a buriall unto all men: such as suffer shipwrack the same wave doth bury, that cast them away; the bodies of such as are crucified dropp away from the Crosses unto their buriall; to such as are burnt alive, their punishment is a funerall. For this is the difference that is made by authors, betwixt burying and interring: that qSepultus intelligitur quoquo modo cō ditus: humatus veró humo cont…ctus. Plin. lib. 7. na…. hist. cap. 54.he is understood to be buried who is put away in any maner, but hee to be interred who is covered with the earth. Hence different kindes of rforeign. Lucianu…. de luctu.burialls are mentioned by them, according to the different usages of severall nations: the name of a sepulture being given by them, as well to the sNec dispersis bustis humili sepulturâ crematos. Cicer. Philippic. 14.burning of the bodies of the dead, used of old among the more civill nations; as to the devouring of them by dogges, which was the barbarous custome of the tEam que optimam illi censent esse sepulturam. Jd. lib. 1. Tuscul. quaest.Hyrcanians. Therefore uforeign. Stobaeus.Diogenes was wont to say, that if the dogges did teare him, he should have an Hyrcanian buriall: and those beasts which were kept for this use, the xforeign. Strabo Geograph. lib. 11.Bactrians did terme in their language Sepulchrall dogges; as Strabo relateth out of Onesicritus. So in the Scripture, the Prophet Ionas calleth the belly of the Whale, wherein he was devoured, yIon. 2.2.the belly of Sheol, that is, of Hell or the Grave. For zforeign. Basil. Seleuc orat 12. quae in Ionam est 1.Ionas (saith Basil of Seleuciae) was carried in a living grave, and dwelt in a swimming prison; dwelling in the region of death, the common lodge of the dead and not of the living, while he dwelt in that b…lly which was the mother of death. and in the prophecie of Ieremy, King Iehojakim is said to bee aIer…m. 22.19.buried, (although with the buriall of an asse,) when his carkasse was drawen and cast forth beyond the gates of Ierusalem.

—bLucan. lib. 7. capit omnia tellus

Quae genuit; coelo tegitur, qui non habet urnaem.

The earth which begetteth all, receiveth all: and hee that wanteth a coffin, hath the welkin for his winding sheet. cMagna parens terra est. Ovid. 1. Metam.The earth is our great mother; dLucret. de rernatur. lib. ….Omniparens, eadem rerum commune sepulcrum. the common mother, out of whose wombe as naked we came, so eIob. 1.21.naked shall we returne thither. according to that, in Psalm. 146.4. His spirit goeth forth, he returneth to HIS earth. and Psalm. 104.29. Thou takest away their breath, they die; and returne to THEIR dust. And this is the Sheol, which Iob wayted for, when he said: fIob. 17.13, 14.Sheol or the grave, (for that is the Hell which is meant here: as is confessed not by Lyranus only, but by the Iesuite Pineda also) is mine house; I have made my bedde in the darkenesse. I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the vvorme, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

This is that common sepulchre, non factum sed natum, not made by the hand of man, but provided by nature it selfe: betwixt which naturall and artificiall grave these differences may be observed. The artificiall may be appropriated to this man or that man. The Patriarch David is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day: saith S. Peter, Act. 2.29. and, Yee build the tombes of the Prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous: saith our Saviour Matth. 23.29. But in the naturall there is no such distinction. It cannot be said, that this is such or such a mans Sheol: it is considered as the common receptacle of all the dead. as wee read in Iob: gIob. 30.23.I knowe that thou wilt bring mee to death, and to the house appointed for all living. hCuilib…t enim homini domus pro sepulchro ipsa terra est constituta. Olymp…odor. Ca…en. Gr…c. in I…b 30.For to everie man (as Olympiodorus writeth upon that place) the earth it selfe is appointed as a house for his grave. iIob. 3.18.19.There the prisoners rest together (saith Iob) they heare not the voyce of the oppressor. The small and great are there; and the servant, free from his master. Againe, into a made grave a man may enter in alive and come out alive againe (as kJoh. 20.6, ….Peter and Iohn did into the sepulcher of Christ:) but Sheol eyther findeth men dead when they come into it (which is the ordinarie course) or if they come into it alive (which is lNum. 16.30.a new and unwonted thing) it bringeth death upon them; as wee see it fell out in Korah and his complices, who are said to have gone downe alive into Sheol, when the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up. (Numb. 16.30.33.) Lastly, as many living men doe goe into the grave made with hands, and yet in so doing they cannot bee said to goe into Sheol (beacuse they come from thence alive againe:) so some dead men also want the honour of such a grave (as it was the case of Gods servants mPsal. 79.2.3. Revel 11.8, 9.whose bodies were kept from burial) and yet thereby are not kept from Sheol; which is the way that all flesh must goe to. For all goe unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turne to dust againe. (Ecclesiast. 3.20.) We conclude therefore, that when Sheol is said to signifie the grave; the tearme of grave must bee taken in as large a sense, as it is in that speech of our Saviour, Iohn. 5.28. All that are in the graves shall heare his voyce, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evill, unto the resurrection of damnation. and in Esai. 26.19. according to the Greeke reading: The dead shall rise, and they that are in the graves shall bee raised up. upon which place Origen writeth thus. nSepulchra autem mortuorum in hoc loco, similiter & in multis alijs secundùm ce…tiorē Scripturae sensum accipiēda sunt, non solùm ea quae ad depositionem humanorum corporū videntur esse constructa, vel in saxis excisa, aut in terrâ desossa; sed omnis locus in quocun que vel integrum humanū corpus, vel ex parte aliquâ jacet: etiā si accidat ut unum corpus per loca multa dispersum sit, absurdum non erit omnia ea loca in quibus pars aliqua corporis jacet, sepulchra corpor… ejus dici. Si enim non ita accipiamus resurgere de sepulchris suis mortuos divinâ virtute: qui nequaquam sunt sepulturae mandati, neque in sepulchris depositi, sed sive naufragijs▪ sive in desertis aliquibus defuncti sunt locis, ita ut sepulturae mandari non potuerint; no… videbun…ur annumerari inter eos, qui de sepulchris resuscitandi dicuntur. Quod uti que valde absurdū est. Origen. in Esai. lib. 28. citatu… á Pamphilo, v…l …usebio potiùs, in Apologia pro Origene.In this place and in many others likewise, the graves of the dead are to be understood according to the more certaine meaning of the Scripture, not such onelyonly as wee see are builded for the receiving of mens bodies, eyther cut out in stones or digged downe in the earth: but every place wherein a mans bodie lyeth, eyther entire or in any part, albeit it fell out that one body should be dispersed through many places; it being no absurditie at all, that all those places in which any part of the body lyeth, should bee called the sepulchres of that bodie. For if wee do not thus understand the dead to bee raysed by the power of God out of their graves: they which are not committed to buriall, nor layd in graves, but have ended their life either in shipwrackes or in some desart places, so as they could not be committed to buriall, should not seeme to bee recokoned among them who are said should bee raysed up out of their graves. which would bee a very great absurditie. Thus Origen.

Answer to a Jesuit in Ireland, Treatise · Section 7 (1 of 3)

p. 252OF LIMBVS PATRVM; And CHRISTS DESCENT INTO HELL.

OF LIMBVS PATRVM; And CHRISTS DESCENT INTO HELL.