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A16144 The effect of certaine sermons touching the full redemption of mankind by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus wherein besides the merite of Christs suffering, the manner of his offering, the power of his death, the comfort of his crosse, the glorie of his resurrection, are handled, what paines Christ suffered in his soule on the crosse: together, with the place and purpose of his descent to hel after death: preached at Paules Crosse and else where in London, by the right Reuerend Father Thomas Bilson Bishop of Winchester. With a conclusion to the reader for the cleering of certaine obiections made against said doctrine. Bilson, Thomas, 1546 or 7-1616. 1599 (1599) STC 3064; ESTC S102011 337,523 436

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PROPITIATE the Iudge It doth SEALE THE COVENANT of mercie grace glorie betwixt God man It doth CONCLVDE and bind the diuell what more can be required I verily cannot cōiecture If the blood of Christ performe al these things for vs more we can not aske or expect why shrinke we from it as vnable to saue vs except it be supplied with the paines of hell Whether I affirme any thing of mine owne or deliuer you that which is plainly taught in y e scriptures iudge you Ye were REDEEMED saith Peter by the pretious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe vnspotred and vndefiled Christ by his own bloud saith Paul entered once into the holy place OBTAINING eternall REDEMPTION The bloud of Iesus Christ CLENSETH VS frō all our sinnes He WASHED vs from our sinnes in his bloud Beeing now IVSTIFIED by his bloud we shall bee saued from wrath through him Iesus suffered that hee might sanctifie the people with his bloud By Christ then wee haue redemption through his bloud euen the remission of sinnes and nowe in Christ Iesus yee which once were farre off are made neere by the bloud of Christ. For it hath pleased the Father by him to reconcile all thinges vnto himselfe And to pacifie through the bloud of his Crosse both thinges in earth and things in heauen Whome God hath purposed to bee a Reconciliation through fayth in his bloud And therefore the new testament is sealed with Christes bloud This is saith hee my bloud of the new Testament which is shed for manie for the remission of sinnes Yee are come to Iesus the mediatour of the newe Testament saith Paul to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things then that of Abell For Abels bloud cried for vengeance but Christs bloud speaketh for mercie and grace And for that cause Paul calleth it The bloud of the euerlasting Testament For this is the Testament that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes sayeth the Lorde I will put my lawes in their minde and in their heart I will write them and I will bee their God and they shall bee my people I will be mercifull to their vnrighteousnesse and I will remember their sinnes and iniquities no more This testament of mercie grace and glorie is confirmed by the death of Christ and sealed with his bloud which if we weaken or frustrate with our inuentions or additions wee must looke for that fearefull iudgement which the Apostle threatneth He that despiseth Moses lawe dieth without mercie vnder two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shal he be worthie which treadeth vnder foote the sonne of God and counteth vnholie the bloud of the Testament wherewith he was sanctified and reprocheth the spirite of grace The wrong that is offered to the bloud of the newe Testament treadeth vnder foote the sonne of God and reprocheth the spirit of grace Now howe can we more vnsanctifie the bloud of the Testament then to make it so vnprecious that it cannot redeeme vs without the paines of hell or to set vp another price for which we haue no expresse record against or aboue the bloud of Christ by which we are cleansed from our sinnes and reconciled to God I knowe they will and must answere the paines of hell are contained in the bloud of Christ for so much as he suffered the one in ●heir imagination when hee shed the other Could they prooue by expresse and infallible testimonies which they cannot do that Christ suffered in soul the paines of the damned they had some reason to comprise the one within the other but no such thing being warranted or witnessed in the scriptures they must take héed that they do not elude rather then expound the words of the holie ghost with a perpetuall Synecdoche which shall frustrate the very force of all those euident and vehement speeches For it is strange to mee first that without iust proofe any such thing should be ioined to the bloud of Christ to helpe the price thereof Next that the holie ghost should alwayes vrge the one and as if were continuallie forget the other Thirdlie the things which are named in the Scriptures as they were the last so are they the chiefest parts of Christs sufferings the rest being vnderstood as antecedent to them and not eminent aboue them Nowe the CROSSE BLOVD and DEATH o● Christ are euerie where mentioned in the scriptures as the verie ground worke and pillars of our redemption Lastlie the bodie of Christ wounded and his bloud shed for the remission of sinnes are the seales that confirme and ratifie the new testament and therefore they giue chiefest power and strength to the whole couenant as appeareth by the Sacraments which import vnto vs not the paines of hell but the death and bloud of Christ as the right and true meanes of our redemption Know ye not saith Paule that all we which haue beene baptised into Iesus Christ haue beene baptised into his death Wee are buried then with him by baptisme into his death And speaking of the Lords Supper he saith As often as ye shall eate this bread and drinke this cuppe ye shewe the Lords death vntill he come The cuppe of blessing which wee blesse is it not the communion of Christes blood The bread which we breake is it not the communion of Christs bodie By these we are grafted into Christ by these wee are quickned nourished into life euerlasting And these propose vnto vs no inuisible paines of hell but the bodie of Christ wounded and his bloud shed for the remitting of our sinnes ●ow vniting vs vnto Christ that we may be members of his bodie of his flesh and of his bones Yea what an vnthankefull part were it for the captiues that are inlarged to chalenge the ransome which was paide for their fréedome as defectiue when the aduersarie from whom we were bought receyued it by the rule of Gods iustice as a price most sufficient for vs all that were deliuered F I will redeeme them from the power of hell I will ransome them from death saith God by his Prophet g you were bought with a PRICE saith Paul The price then which Christ paid must be fully worth the thing redéemed For since it pleased God not by force to take vs from Satan but with a price to buie vs out of his hands it were dishonour to God and a kinde of reproch to giue lesse for vs then might counteruaile vs. And therefore let vs rest assured that the price which Christ payed for vs was of farre greater value then we were not onelie in the vpright iudgement of God but euen in the malicious and furious desire of Satan who thirsted after the bloud of the sonne of God with greedier ●awes then after all the worlde besydes and tryumphed more in bringing him to a shamefull death then in
of Christ least we mistake the truth or distrust the force thereof to the dishonour of Christ and danger of our owne soules To preuent this perill I thinke best to obserue this order in that which shall be saide ●o shewe first what the Crosse of Christ CONTAINETH next what the crosse of Christ PERFORMETH that knowing the contents and effectes of Christs crosse I meane the paines which he suffered and the worke which he accomplished by dying on the crosse we may be setled and assured how far it extended and what it effected for vs. To begin with the CONTENTS of Christes crosse The crosse is sometimes taken in the Scripture for all manner of affliction He that will come after me let him denie himselfe and dailie take vp his crosse and follow me He that doth not take vp his Crosse and follow me is not worthy of me In this sence saieth Bernarde The whole life of Christ was a crosse and a martyrdom The reason 〈◊〉 Christ so vsed the worde for he first vsed it was for that he saw before hande that going to his crosse he should taste all kindes of calamities and so came it to passe For betwéene his last supper and his death hee was betraied of Iudas abiured of Peter forsaken of all his followers hee was wrongfulli● imprisoned falselie accused vniustlie condemned he was buffeted whipped scorned reuiled he endured colde nakednes thirst wounding hanging shame reproch and all sortes of deadlie paines besides heauinesse of heart and agonie of mind which oppressed him in the garden Rightlie then maie the crosse note all maner of miseries forasmuch as our Sauiour going from the garden to the graue suffered all sortes of afflictions howbeit this is no different signification but rather a participation of the crosse of Christ. The Church of Rome hath wedded a great part of her deuotion to the crosse of Christ but vnder that name she adoreth the matter and forme of the crosse as for the force and effects of Christs death which is remission of our sinnes satisfaction of Gods wrath and donation of eternall life she prodigallie imparteth that to her pilgrimages pardons purgatorie yea to the works and praiers of quicke and dead and so magni●●eng the signe and wood of the crosse she dishonoreth the merite and fruit of Christ crucified But of her painted and ca●ued crosses the scripture maketh no mention and therefore I shipt it rather as a manifest illusion then anie signification of the crosse of Christ. Most commonlie in the Scriptures by the crosse of Christ the holie Ghost meaneth the person suffering and the paine suffered on the crosse that is the punishments and torments which the sonne of God suffered for our sinnes after he was fastened to the tree the rest which went before not being excluded as superfluous but continued and increased by that sharpe and extreame martyrdome which hee endured on the crosse And so Christ crucified as the scriptures describe him had from top to toe no part frée from paine and griefe but hoong on the wood hauing his flesh torne with whippes his chéekes swolne with buffets his face defiled with spittle his head stuckt full with thornes his eies deiected for shame his eares burning with taunts his mouth sowred with vineger his hands and feete wounded with Iron spikes his bones vniointed his sinewes pricked and strained his whole body hanging by the sorenesse of his hands and feet and lastlie though he were first dead his heart pierced with a Speare whence issued bloud and water His bodie thus wounded and tortured vnto death his bloud thus shed and as it were powred on the earth are said in the scriptures to be the ransome of our sinnes and price of our redemption Hee bare our sinnes in his body vpon the Crosse saith Peter and again You are redeemed with the precious bloud of Christ as of a lambe vnspotted and vndefiled I do not amplifie the bodilie paines which Christ suffered of purpose to make them séeme greater then they were I find my selfe rather vnable to expresse them but least wee should too much diminish them and aske What great matter it was for him to go securely and as it were sportinglie to his death I thought good shortlie to touch them and leaue the fuller and further consideration of them to the godlie at their priuate leysure In the meane time I may not omit in his Stripes Thornes Crucifying and Death to obserue that which the Reader will happilie ouerskippe in the historie of his passion vnlesse hee be both aduised and learned In his STRIPES I note that Pilate hauing a purpose to saue the life of Christ and not neglecting to satisfie the people that were incensed against him caused him extreamly to be whipped and shewed to the people in that plight with these worde Ecce homo Behold y e man to let them see that Christ had receiued very sufficient correction no crime being prooued aga●●st him and so to withdraw them from seeking his death ●n CROVVNING him with thornes the souldiers did not onel●e wreath him a thicke crowne of thornes to sticke his head full of them but after the putting it on to fasten it they did strike him on the heade with their Canes as Matthew and Marke do plainlie testifie In NAILING him to the Crosse besides the greatnesse and sorenesse of his wounds which were worthie to be marked they so strained his bodie least hee should stirre hand or foote that all his bones might bee numbred The greatnesse of his woundes Dauid foreshewed by th●se wordes Foderunt manus meas pedes meos they digged my handes and my feete noting howe wide woundes they made in both which were rather digged than pierced and so bigge were the nailes as the Ecclesiasticall historie reporteth that Constantine made of them when his mother had found them in the mount where Christ was crucified A bridle and an helmet for his owne vse How tender and sensible the hands feét are aboue other partes of the bodie and what paine and anguish the pricking straining and tearing of the sinewes ligaments and ioynts in either which are verie thicke and full of sense in both those places did bréede and kindle in the whole bodie nature can teach vs without anie further proofe Of RACKING his ioints Bernard maketh this collection out of Dauid Tantum distentus sum● vt corpore nudo in modū Tympanicae pellis distonto facile possint omnia ossa mea dinumerari I am so strained saith he in the person of Christ that my bodie naked beeing stretched like the head of a timbrell or drum all my bones may be numbred If this proofe reach not home Dauid hath plainer and expresser wordes in the 14. verse of the same Psalme which cannot be contradicted HITH PAREDV .i. Separauerunt se omnia ossamea All my bones are out of ioint or pulled one from the other In this
earth with his bloud it was declared not to him who knewe it but vnto vs that he had obtained the effect of his praier with his bloud to purge the faith of his Disciples which earth lie frailtie did weaken and whatsoeuer offence the earth had taken at his death al that he dying should abolish yea with his innocent death he should raise vnto an heauenlie life the whole world then dead in their sinnes Bernard taketh hold on S. Pauls wordes where hee calleth Christes sweate by the name of teares and ●aith Ventum est adorationem vsque tertiò factus in Ago●ia orabat vbi quidem non solis oculis sed quasi omnibus membris sleuisse videtur vt totū corpus eius quod est ecclesia totius corporis lachrymis purgaretur Christ came to praier and being in an agony he praied thrise where he seemed to weepe not onelie with his cies but with all the parts of his body that the whole body of his Church might bee purged with the teares of his whole body S. Paul alleageth the cries and teares of Christ in the garden as a proofe of his priesthood saith that not onlie He offered praiers supplications which was one part of y e priests office wherein hee was heard for the reuerence had of him But also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being sanctified to offer sacrifice for so the word doth often signifie or else consummated by the offering of himselfe on the crosse which was the other part of his priestlie function was made authour of eternall saluation to all that obey him being thus called and allowed of God to bee an high priest after the order of Melchizedec Christ readie to enter the garden saith Pro●eis sanctifico meipsum for their sakes I sanctifie my selfe and sanctification properlie belonged to the priestes person before hee might appeare in Gods presence to offer for the sinnes of the people and by the rite of Moses lawe the priestes when they were sanctified vnto God had their bodies sprinkled with the bloud of their sacrifice from top to toe Christ then being the truth of all their figures as well in the sanctification as oblation of himselfe might miraculouslie sprinkle his whole bodie with his own bloud for it was aboue nature as Hilarie noteth and so conscera●e his person as approoued of God to be the true priest after the order of Melchizedec and voluntarilie dedicate his bloud to be shed for the remission of our sinnes which hee did of his owne accord yeeld to be disposed of at his fathers pleasure before the Iewes or Gentiles wounded his bodie that his whole passion which followed might bee a willing sacrifice and no forced violence by the handes or weapons of the wicked Christes agonie then being alleaged by the Apostle to demonstrate Christs priesthood must not rise from the terror of his own death but rather from the vehemencie of his praier for vs that it might bee aswell an intercession for sinners as a sanctification of himselfe to offer the sacrifice auaileable for the sinnes of the world To which if anie will adde the signification of the martyrs bloud which Austen speaketh of as if Christ in the garden did not onelie present his owne bloud to be the true propitiation of our sinnes but also the bloud of his martyrs to make their death acceptable to God that willinglie laide downe their liues for the witnes of his truth I can be well content to admit that exposition considering Christ must offer both the liues and deathes of all his saintes to God his father before they can be holie or precious in his sight But since Christes feare as they expound the Apostles words Hebre. 5. is made the groundworke of this conceipt let vs see whether their owne foundation wil not ouerthrow their owne building The paines of hell did Christ when hee praied in the garden feare them or no if hee did not feare them hee did not féele them for they are fearefull yea the verie expectation of them is verie dreadful as the Apostle saith Hebre. 10 and if he feared them not howe could they bee the cause of his agonie which these men so stiflie maintaine If he feared them he was fréed from them as they themselues interprete the worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for hee was heard in that he feared His praier was to haue that cup passe from him and God neuer denied whatsoeuer he asked I know saith Christ to his father that thou hearest me alwaies Whence they conclude he feared hell paines thence I infer hee suffered them not for being deliuered from the feare of hell approching he could not be left vnder the burden of hell abiding Againe if the suffering of hell were the cause of Christs agony the cause continuing the effect could not cease But his agonie ended in the garden how then could the paines of hell endure on the crosse and be lengthened almost to the end of his life Ierome saith vpon these wordes of Christ to his disciples Arise let vs go least they finde vs as though we were fearefull and drawing backe let vs of our owne accorde goe towardes them vt considentiam gaudium passuri videant that they may see the confidence and gladnesse of Christ going to his passion The continuance of Christes agonie they proue by his complaint on the crosse where not long before he yeelded vp his spirit he cried My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and these words they saie do plainelie conuince that Christ felt himselfe forsaken of God and that this was the true cause of his agonie whatsoeuer pretences are inuented by others to excuse or colour his feare Indeede this place must beare the burden of the whole frame for the rest are onlie signes of sorrowe and zeale the scriptures not expressing the cause but here are manifest wordes if wee mistake not their reference My father is greater then I am were words as cleare as daie light but the referring that to the diuine which hee spake of his humane nature bred the Arrian heresie My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee are not so plaine for the saints of God haue often complained vnto God that they were forsaken of him when he withdrew neither his fauour grace nor spirit from them but onelie withhelde his helpe or comfort for the time to make them more earnest to séeke and flie to him But were they neuer so pregnant if we applie them to the wrong part which God neuer forsooke we may incurre as grosse an errour as euer did Arrius And yet if we straine them to the vttermost they will neuer proue that Christ on the crosse suffered the paines of hell For if we should grant which were diuelish impietie to thinke that God forsooke Christes soule as verelie as euer hee did anie of the wicked heere on earth Cain Saul Iudas not excepted yet that doth not
Patriarkes perished in their sinnes by mistaking the true price of their redemption For that they knewe anie thing of Christs suffering Hell paynes I thinke will hardlie bee prooued But out of question their faith was right which was settled on the bloud of Christ to bee shedde for the redéeming of their sinnes and themselues are Saintes in Gods kingdome Wee must therefore take heede that wee doe not rashlie varie from the foundation of their faith and hope which must likewise be ours with this onelie difference that they beléeued in him which should take away the sins of the worlde by his death and crosse and we in him that hath taken them away The time doth differ but the meanes are still the same The lamb was slaine from the beginning of the world not actually but in the counsaile of God which did purpose it and in the truth of God which did promise it as likewise in the faith of al his saints which did rest reioice in it frō whose steps if we swarue we may not looke to be Abrahās children y t refuse Abrahās faith as erroneous chalēge our father for misbeliefe If the offerings and faith of the Patriarks were not pregnant enough to lead vs to the true sacrifice for sinne the Apostle to the Hebrewes doth so purposelie and positiuely handle it that I much muse how any man of iudgement or learning can mistake it For if we marke but thrée conclusions which the Apostle maketh we cannot erre from the truth in this behalfe The true sacrifice for sinne must be but ONE and ONCE OFFERED not often nor iterated by reason it is perfect and able to clense vs from all sinne It must bee BLOVDY for so were all the offeringes of the lawe and without shedding of bloud is no remission It must bee CONFIRMED BY DEATH that redemption purchased might neuer bee reuoked nor altered These thrée positions are mainelie and mightilie vrged by the holie ghost the 9. and 10. to the Hebrues and for this faith are all the fathers of the old Testament from Abel to Samuel praised in the 11. chapter of that Epistle This man saith Paul meaning Christ after he had offered ONE SACRIFICE FOR SINNE sitteth for euer at the right hand of God For with ONE OFFERING had he made perfit for euer those which are sanctified Now where remission of sinne is there is no more offering for sinne Christ then making but one offering for sinne we must not make two but rather learne what that one was which we may do without any difficultie since the Apostle so plainlie teacheth vs that we are sanctified by THE OFFERING OF THE BODY OF IESVS ONCE that BY HIS OWNE BLOVD CHRIST ENTERED in Once into the holy place and FOVND ETERNALL REDEMPTION Almost all things are by the law purged with bloud and without shedding of bloud is no remission It was then necessary that the similitudes of heauenlie thinges in the law should be purified with such thinges as the bloud of bulles and goates but heauenly things themselues with better sacrifices then these euen with the bloud of Christ. For if the bloud of bulles and goates sanctifieth as touching the purifying of the flesh howe much more shall THE BLOVD OF CHRIST who through the eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot to God PVRGE YOVR CONSCIENCES FROM DEAD WORKS to serue the liuing God And for this cause is he the Mediator of the newe Testament that THROVGH DEATH which was for THE REDEMPTION OF THE TRANSGRESSIONS IN THE FORMER TESTAMENT they which were called might receiue the promise of eternal inheritance For where a testament is there must be THE DEATH OF HIM THAT MADE THE TESTAMENT For it is of no force so long as he that made it is aliue wherefore neither was the first testament ordained without bloud Iesus then suffered without the gate that hee might SANCTIFIE the people WITH HIS OWNE BLOVD and this is the bloud of the euerlasting Testament through which God brought againe from the dead our Lorde Iesus Christ confirmeth the same when hee saith This is MY BLOVD of the new testament WHICH IS SHED for many for THE REMISSION OF SINNES The words be plainer then that they néede anie commentarie There was but ONE sacrifice that coulde abolish sinne euen THE OBLATION OF THE BODIE OF IESVS ONCE whose BLOVD purged our consciences from deade works and purchased eternal inheritance by the TESTATORS DEATH FOR THE REDEMPTION of those sinnes which we committed against the former Testament What shift haue we to shun the force of these wordes or to bring in the paines of hell in Christes soule as a part of the propitiatory sacrifice for sinne Christ made but one oblation of himselfe for sinne and that was the suffering of death in his body for the redemption of our transgressions and shedding of his bloud for the remission of our sinnes More then one hee néeded not make for that one obtained eternall redemption and other then this he did not make for his offering was both BODILY and BLOVDIE This is my body which is giuen and broken for you this is my bloud which is shed for manie THE OBLATION OF THE BODY of Iesus once THE SHEDDING OF HIS BLOVD are of strength force enough to clense vs from our sins to procure vs the promise of euerlasting inheritance which beeing confirmed by the death of the testator standeth irreuocable How canne wee then bring in another sacrifice of Christes soule suffering the paines of hell which could be neither bodily nor bloudy but wee must increase the number and confounde the differences of Christs offerings and weaken the force of his externall corporal sacrifice which was the truth that answered accomplished al the signes of the law For the inuisible paines of hel are no where prefigured in the sacrifices of the law that I find nor so much as once mentioned in the Apostles discourse of Christs sacrifice for sinne that I reade therfore if we adde them as a necessary part of our redemption we derogate from the bloud of Christ as insufficient without those torments to clense vs from our sins pacifie the wrath of God that was kindled against vs. What danger it is to depart from y e manifest words of the holy ghost in so high a point of faith by things vnwritten to discredit things written I néede not admonish such as be learned let the simple take héed that they suffer not reason to ouerrule religion obscure and doubtful places in the scriptures to wrest from them the perspicuous and perpetuall doctrine of the holy ghost Howe ful and perfect the redemption is which wee haue by the bloud of Christ if you search the Scriptures you shall easilie see if you doe but hearken you shall presentlie learne The bloud of Christ doth REDEEME CLENSE VVASH IVSTIFIE SANCTIFY the elect It doth PACIFIE and
world is the DEATH OF HIS FLESH ONLY nor thereby take occasion to defend that his bloud is not able to iustifie or sanctifie the beléeuers Sanguine suo hoc est SVAE CARNIS SANGVINE iustificat omnes in se credentes With his bloud that is with THE BLOVD OF HIS FLESH he iustifieth all that beleeue in him SI NON ALIO MODO SALVANDVS ERAT mundus nisi in SANGVINE ET CORPORE morti VTILITER derelicto quo pacto non necessarius verbo incarnationis modus vt iustificet in sāguine suo credētes in se conciliet patri per mortē sui corporis If the world MIGHT NONE OTHER VVAY BE SAVED but by Christes leauing his BODIE AND BLOVD VNTO DEATH for our good howe was not the taking of flesh necessarie for the sonne of God that by his bloud hee might iustifie such as beleeued in him and BY THE DEATH OF HIS BODIE reconcile them to God his father Quomodo sanguis communis hominis nos sanctos efficeret sed sanctificauit sanguis Christi Deus igitur non simpliciter homo deus enim erat in carne SVO SANGVINE nos purificans How could the bloud of a common man make vs holie BVT THE BLOVD OF CHRIST DID SANCTIFIE VS He was therefore God and not simplie a man For he was God in FLESH THAT CLENSED VS VVITH HIS BLOVD When the ancient fathers affirme that Christ died for vs THE DEATH OF THE BODY ONLY and that the BLOVD OF HIS FLESH doth saue and sanctifie the beleeuers we must not like children imagine they speake of insensible flesh or that in those wordes they exclude the vnion operation or passion of the soule whiles Christes bodie suffered and died that were to make Christ a stocke not a man and to giue him carrion and not humane flesh quickened and coupled with life and soule but in the death of his bodie shedding of his bloud they include all those afflictions and passions of the soule which naturally necessarily follow paine accompany death For these sufferings of Christs soule confirme his obedience witnes his patience only their intent is by all meanes to frée Christ from THE DEATH OF THE SOVLE and then to propose the death which hee suffered in the bodie of his flesh on the crosse with all painefull but no sinneful c●●comitants and consequents as the propitiation for our sinnes redemption of our soules and reconciliation vnto God by which al y e aduersaries of our saluation the law sinne death and Satan are vtterlie conquered and abolished And thus farre forth they haue the scriptures expresselie concurring with them The bloud of Iesus Christ his sonne clenseth vs from all sinne It must clense then our soules as wel as our bodies for they are the chiefe agents in sin Much more shall the bloud of Christ purge your consciences from dead works Conscience is a part of the soule not of the bodie Thou hast redeemed vs to God by thy bloud saie the saintes in heauen whose bodies lie in the dust of the earth Redemption remission of sinnes iustification sanctification and such like effectes of the bloud of Christ are PRINCIPALLY and PRIMARILY in the soule and by consequent in the bodie And therefore there can be no question but the bodilie death of Christ is the redemption of our soules as well as of our bodies in as much as the whole mā in Christ died the death of the crosse to redéeme the whole man in vs both partes in him ioyntlie féeling but with admirable patience enduring the bitter and sharpe paines antecedent and annexed to the death of his bodie Cum caro in doloribus est in poenis profecto anima tunc habet maximum agonem patientiae When the flesh is in anguish and paine saith Austen then the soule certainly hath the greatest triall of patience For the soule is so created and ordained that shee feeleth the pleasure and paine of her bodie and howsoeuer the flesh bee subiected to violence the sence and grieuance thereof is in the soule both in this life and in the next As the bodilie death of Christ paieth the price of our redemption so it remoueth all the impediments of our saluation which are manie and mightilie linked together For by the CORRVPTION of nature descending from our parents and dwelling within vs wee are solde vnder sinne fulfilling the will of the flesh and louing pleasures more then God whereby we neglect and breake the LAVV of God and so incurre the CVRSE pronounced against the transgressours of the law and by that obligation are liable to ETERNAL DEATH This is the chaine of originall infection actuall transgression legall malediction and eternal damnation which draweth vs from God and bindeth vs as prisoners and captiues to death and hell If then the DEATH of Christ suffered IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH loosed euery linke of this chaine and not onelie cleered vs from all these enemies and exactors but reconciled vs to God and made peace for vs by the bloud of his crosse it is a wrong to the death bloud of Christ either to disable thē as not sufficient to redéem vs or to supplie them with anie better or other addition which the holie ghost doth not mention Examine these particularlie and see whether the power of Christes death doe not perfectlie dissolue them all Our olde man is crucified with him that the bodie of sinne might bee destroied that henceforth we should not serue sinne Let not sinne raigne therefore in your mortall bodie saieth the Apostle that you should obey it in the lustes thereof The force and strength of originall sinne and corruption in all the faithfull is crucified and dead with Christ except they reuiue it by voluntarie obeying the lustes thereof For they which are Christes haue crucified the flesh with the affections and lustes by reason not onelie the guilt but also the life and power of sinne died in Christes flesh when it was crucified So that sinne nowe hath no dominion ouer them because they are not vnder the lawe but vnder grace And likewise for actuall sinne by Christ we haue redemption through his bloud that is the forgiuenes of sinnes For God hath proposed him to be a reconciliation through faith in his bloud by the forgiuenesse of the sinnes that are passed through the patience of God The bloud therefore of Christ Iesus his sonne clenseth vs from all sinne since he is the mediator of the new Testament whose death was for the redemption of the transgressions that were in the former testament If the death of Christ on the crosse and the shedding of his bloud were the iust and full redemption of all our sinnes then apparentlie it eased and ended the curse which the lawe inflicted● for sinne For where he is accursed that continueth not in al things written in the book OF
I drewe from the Sacraments of the new testament and namelie from the Lordes Supper in the length of six lines Sir refuter you contradict the definition and institution of that Sacrament as also the plaine resolution of S. Paul and the principles of naturall reason The Sacraments you saie are earthlie elements they cannot set out spirituall and inuisible effects in Christ. I had thought Sacraments by their nature had beene visible signes of inuisible graces which definition is so common in the schooles that no smatterer in diuinitie besides you is ignorant of it Si tu incorporeus esses nudè dona ipsa incorporea tibi tradidisset quoniam vero corpori coniuncta est anima in sensibilibus intelligibilia tibi traduntur If thou hadst been without a bodie God would haue giuen thee his spirituall gifts vncouered but because thy soule is ioined with thy bodie in sensible thinges are deliuered thee spirituall or inuisible graces Where all the Sacraments were common saith Augustine Grace which is the vertue of the Sacraments was not common to all In the Lords Supper that there should be no horror of bloud yet the grace of Redemption might remaine for a resemblance thou receiuest the Sacrament but thou obtainest the grace vertue of Christs true nature So that if those earthly elements of water bread and wine did not set out and exhibite the spiritual and invisible effects in Christ they were no Sacraments But the Ceremonie of breaking bread say you cannot properly belong to the body but to the soule In the first institution of his Supper did not Christ breake the bread and deliuer it saying Take eate this is my bodie If breaking belong to the bread then breaking belongeth properlie to the body of Christ for the bread was ordained to shew forth the body of Christ that S. Paul noteth in expresse words The bread which we break is it not the Cōmunion of the body of Christ But Christs body you say was not properly broken because y e scripture saith not a bone of him shalbe broken A speculation fit for such a diuine as you are had Christs body nothing in it but bones Had he not as well flesh as bones A spirit saith our sauiour hath not flesh bones as you see me haue Then if Christs flesh were rent torne with whips with nailes with a speare as it certainly was though his bones were whole his body was properly truly broken For the cutting or tearing of the flesh is the breaking of the flesh and from a part the whole maie and doth properly take his denomination And therfore Paul spake truly and properlie when he thus expresseth the words of Christs institution This is my body which is brokē for you Neither doth he in that word varie from Christs institution but he rather teacheth vs that as the bread is broken and the wine powred out in the Lords supper so was the flesh of the Lords body giuen to be broken torne on the crosse for vs his bloud likewise shed for the remission of our sinnes The nailes spear you grant did pearce him but in no sort can that be called breaking or bruising in peeces as the worde in Esay doth plainlie signifie Wherefore the meaning is the torments of his soule did bruize and breake him in peeces Your Hebrue your Greeke your Philosophie came all out of one forge they are so like You can not finde that Christes flesh was broken and bruised on the Crosse by grieuous stripes and wounds but you haue spied that his soule was broken in peeces and that properlie If one of the Prentices before whome you were wont to talke should aske you into howe manie péeces it was broken your heade would ake to shape him a wise answere But the word DACHA which Esay vseth doth plainly you say signifie to breake in peeces Doth it alwaies and euer signifie properlie to breake into péeces How can it then be applied to the soule but improperlie and by a figuratiue kinde of speech A Moole hill with you is a Mountaine The worde doth signifie to treade vnder foote to bruise to oppresse to humble When Dauid saith the enemie hath cast my life downe to the ground Will you saie he hath broken my life in péeces When Iob saith How long will yee vexe my soule and afflict mee with your wordes will you adde and breake mee in peeces with your wordes When Ieremie saith of the men of Iudah They are not humbled vnto this day Will you phrase it and say They are not broken in peeces to this day In the power of Christs death to proue the bloud of our sauiour to be the true price of our redemption and that as wel of our soules as of our bodies I alledged the words of Peter You were redeemed with the precious bloud of Christ and of the souls in heauen saying vnto Christ Thou wast killed hast redeemed vs to God by thy bloud when their bodies were rotten in y e earth Hence I reasoned if our soules be not redeemed frō death by the blood of christ our bodies haue in this life no benefite of redemption I meane from death for wee die as doe infidels and our bodies rot in the graue as theirs doe till the daie of resurrection But S. Peter saieth wee are redeemed not we shall bee and the saints say to Christ when their bodies lie in the dust Thou hast redeemed vs by thy bloud ergo that redemption which we haue in this life must be referred to our soules and our bodies must expect the generall daie of redemption in the ende of the world To this our Confuter replieth What a paradox yea what impietie is this Haue our bodies no good at all by Christes death no more then the bodyes of infidels because wee die stil as wel as they Good Sir remember Redemption from death is the point which I vrged y t our bodies in this life haue not no more then the bodies of Infidels haue but must expect it And therefore if our Soules be not redeemed by the blood of Christ from Sinne death we haue presentlie no redemption by the bloud of Christ but must staie for the time of our resurrection before we shall haue it Which is contrarie to the words both of Peter and of the Soules in heauen that saie to Christ when their bodies bee rotten in earth Thou hast redeemed vs by thy blood Here y u tell vs of the iustification mortification and sanctification of our bodies as also of the expectation of glorie which our bodies shall haue and thinke to make a great conquest of the words NO GOOD AT ALL but pull in your hornes Besides that my meaning is verie plaine whatsoeuer the wordes were which I might vse which I do not acknowledge to be these that you bring but that our bodies haue no benefitte of Redemption from
the scriptures resolued to bee the sufficient price of our redemption and meane of our reconciliation to God except you take the bodie of Christ for the soule of Christ and the stripes and woundes of his ●lesh for the paines of hell Yee were redeemed with the precious bloud of Christ saieth Peter Can there bee plainer wordes that Christes bloud shedde for the remission of our sinnes is the perfect price of our redemption without the dea●h of the soule or paines of hell which you interpose So likewise when Peter saieth Christ bare our sinnes in his bodie on the Tree in that hee suffered once ●or sinners when hee was put to death in his flesh are you not forced to peruer● these woordes for defence of your fancie and to take the flesh for bodie and soule that you maie make the death of Christe to bee common to both It is one thing you will saie to take the fleshe for the whole man and another to take the bodie for the soule I knowe it right well but the one will not serue your turne without the other By a part to name or note the whole man is no newes in the Scriptures but to ascribe the attributes of one part to the other because the name of either part is sometimes taken for the whole that is a generall subuerting of all the trueth of the Scriptures Saint Austen tolde you euen nowe that Christes dead flesh is called Christ will you therefore referre the properties of Christes dead flesh vnto his soule and not thinke you take the waie to dissolue as well the vnion as communion of two natures in Christ and of the distinction of two parts in his manhood The body indeede is more distinguished from the soule then the name of flesh is because the vnregenerate part of the soule is in the Scriptures euerie where called flesh but this hath no place in Christ by reason no corruption of sinne cleaned vnto his soule and therefore the name of fleshe doeth no where signifie the soule in Christ as it doeth often in vs onelie by naming flesh in Christ the scripture sometimes intendeth that he disdained not the weakest and basest part of our nature when he came to redéeme vs. And so Saint Iohn saith The worde was made flesh meaning the true and eternall sonne of God vouchsafed to take not onelie our reasonable and humane soule vnto him but euen our vilde and mortall flesh into the vnitie of his person and so became man that hee might restore man nowe fallen from God and perished in his sinnes to the fauour and life of God againe But when the Scriptures saie that Christ died for our sinnes the auncient fathers and Councels with one consent applie that to the death of Christes bodie on the Crosse and not to the death of the soule or to anie paines of hell And though in the Treatise before I haue cited such as sufficientlie witnesse that doctrine to be sounde and Catholike yet will I not bee greeued to let thee see Christian Reader that there was nothing more commonlie nor constantlie professed in the Primitiue Church then the doctrine which I am now forced to defende against the rage and reproch of this slaunderous impugner Post edita per facta diuinitatis suae monumenta reliquum iam erat vt pro omnibus sacrificium offerret pro omnibus templum suum morti tradens quo omnes innoxios liberos à veteri praeuaricatione efficeret seque declararet mortis victorem Corpus igitur quod communem cum omnibus habebat naturam corpus enim humanum mortale erat ad similitudi●em sui generis mortem excepit verbum enim quoniam mori non potuit vtpote immortale corpus sibi sumpsit quod mori poterat illudque vt suū pro omnibus obtulit vt ita pro omnibus omnibus ipse corpore coniunctus● mortem patiens compesceret eum qui mortis habebat imperium hoc est Diabolum liberaret eos quotquot formidine mortis per omnem vitam obnoxiy erant seruituti After Christ by his deedes had declared his diuinitie it remained that hee shoulde OFFER A SACRIFICE FOR ALL yeelding vnto death the temple of his bodie for all thereby to deliuer and discharge all from the olde transgression and to declare himselfe the conquerour of death His bodie therefore which in nature was like all ours for it was an humane and mortall bodie died in like maner as bodies doe For the sonne of God because he could not die being immortall tooke a bodie vnto him that might die and offered that as his owne for all men that so being ioined in bodie to all and suffering death for all he might represse him that had power of death euen the Diuell and free those that for feare of death were all their life long subiected to seruitude Epiphanius treadeth in the same steppes When the sonne of God saith he would suffer of his owne good will for mankinde because his diuinitie coulde not suffer beeing of it selfe impassible hee tooke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OVR BODIE THAT MIGHT SVFFER that therein hee might yeelde to suffer and admitted our sufferings his Godhead being present in his flesh the godhead suffreth not For he that saith I am life how can he die But God remaining impassible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suffer●th by his flesh that his passion may be accounted to his deitie though it suffered not to the ende our saluation shoulde bee from God In his flesh was the suffering least wee should haue a passible God Which indeede is impassible imputing that suffering vnto himselfe according to his free choise and not of anie necessitie Ambrose in like sort Laqueus contritus est nos liberati sumus Non potuit melius conteri laqueus nisi praedam aliquam diabolo demōstrasset vt dum ille festinaret ad praedam suis laqueis ligaretur Quae potuit esse praeda nisi corpus Oportuit igitur hoc fraudem Diabolo fieri vt s●sciperet corpus dominus Iesus corpus hoc corruptibile corpus infirmum vt crufigeretur ex infirmitate Sien●m fuisset corpus spirituale non dixisset spiritus promptus est caro autem infirma The snare is broken and we are deliuered The snare could not bee better broken then by shewing the diuel some pray that whiles he hastned to the pray he might be wrapped in his owne snares What pray could there be beside the bodie of man It was therefore requisite the diuell should bee thus deceiued that the Lord Iesus should take a body vnto him euen this corruptible weake body of ours that he might be crucified through infirmitie Had it beene a spiritual bodie that he tooke he would neuer haue said the spirite is readie but the flesh is weake The same Christ suffered and suffered not died and died not rose againe and did not rise because hee raised vp his owne bodie
on his owne shoulders yea the Lorde Laid vpon him the iniquity of vs all but when it came to light vpon him the verie iustice of God found great difference betwixt his person and ours and so great that what should haue condemned vs bodie and soule for euer that could take no hold on him but so far forth as he did voluntarilie yeeld himselfe to bee obedient vnto the death of the crosse and in our flesh to quench the curse of the lawe pronounced agains● our sinnes insomuch that neither sinne nor death were able to sease on his bodie till he did of his owne accord resigne it into their handes If we thinke it strange to sée so much difference betwixt him and vs we must remember wee were sinnefull he was innocent we were defiled hee was holie we were hatefull he was beloued we were the seruants of sinne and enemies vnto God he was the Lord of life and of glorie we were seuered and estranged from God both in bodie and soule his verie flesh was personallie vnited and inseparablie ioined vnto God besides that himselfe was the true and euerliuing sonne of God What maruell then if sinne which should haue wrought in vs an eternall destruction both of body and soule could not farther preuaile in him but to the wounding of his flesh and shedding of his bloud for the iust and full satisfaction of all our sinnes euen in the righteous and sincere iudgement of God Though therefore THE SAME PART might and did suffer in Christ which sinned in man I meane the soule yet by no meanes could it receaue THE SAME WAGES which we should haue receiued And since hell is the greatest vengeance that God inflicteth for sinne if Christes soule were frée from anie it must néedes be cléered and acquited from that which is greatest and most repugnant to the fulnesse of grace truth and spirit that dwell in the humane soule of Christ but hereof I shall haue occasion to speake afterward againe The signes that Christ suffered the paines of hell are left and those are his agonie in the garden and his complaint on the crosse that he was forsaken Of Christs agonie since the scriptures haue nor reuealed the right cause it is cut los●tie to examen presumption to determine impossibilitie to conclude certainelie what was the true cause thereof Howbeit if we will néedes coniecture at causes wee must take héede that with our obscure and priuate guesses we do not contradict such plaine and euident places as testifie the perfection and coniunction of Christs humane nature with this diuine and so wrong the person of our Sauiour This rule remembred though I bee most willing to refraine the searching of that which is concealed from vs yet since they make this the most aduantage of their cause that there cānot be anie other reason assigned of Christes sorrow besides his suffering the paines of hell I will let you vnderstand how manie there might be besides that which they bring● and that theirs of all others is least probable if not altogether intolerable I will offer you sixe causes that might be of Christs agonie euerie one of them more likelie and more godlie then this deuise of hell paines others at their leasures maie thinke on moe which I shall be content to heare Those sixe are these Christs SVBMISSION to the maiestie of God sitting in iudgement The REIECTION of the Iewes The DISPERSION of his Church The LAMENTATION of mans sinne The DEPRECATION of Gods wrath The VOLVNTARY DEDICATION of his bloud to be shed for the sinnes of the world and sanctificatiō of his person to offer his true eternal sacrifice So great is the MAIESTY OF GOD euerie where and at all times but speciallie sitting in iudgment and so farre excelling the capacitie of all his creatures that no flesh lining is able to appeare before him without feare and trembling The day of the Lord whensoeuer hee riseth to iudge is great and fearefull and who shall indure it When God gaue his lawe which was but the rule of his iudgement so terrible was the sight that Moses said I feare and tremble My flesh saith Dauid to God trembleth for feare of thee and I am afraide of thy iudgements Since then it is a point not onelie confessed but vrged by the defenders of this new deuise that Christ appeared here before the tribunall of God to submit himselfe to his fathers pleasure and the wordes of Christ in that twelfth of Iohn tend to that effect where he saith Nowe euen at hand is the iudgement of the world Now euen shortlie shall the prince of this world be cast out and if I were lift vp from the earth I will draw all vnto me whie might not the humane nature of Christ tremble before the maiestie of that iudge whose glorie the Seraphins in heauen doe not behold without yealing their faces whereby Christ teacheth vs not to presse into Gods presence whiles wee are loden with sin but in much feare and trembling since he would not appeare before God to take our sinnes on him but in this agonie The REIECTION OF THE IEWES might be another cause of his agonie He wept ouer their cittie when he beheld it and remembred the subuersion of it how woulde he then be grieued when he foresawe the finall reiection of y e whole nation and his bloud to be laid on them and their children for euer for their sakes Moses desired To bee wiped out of Gods booke and Paule could haue wished himselfe to be separated from Christ for his brethren the Israelites If the seruants of Christ had so great heauinesse and sorrow in their hearts for their kinsmen according to the flesh what agonie must it néedes bréede in their king and Messias in whome were the bowels of mercie and pittie to sée the wicked rage of the people kindling Gods fearefull vengeance against themselues and their ofspring by putting him to a most cruell and shamefull death that came to redéeme them from sin and death This cause is obserued by Ambrose Hierom Augustine and Bede Nec illud distat à vero si tristis erat pro persecutoribus neither is that dissonant from truth saith Ambrose if he were heauy in soule for his persecutors whom hee knewe should dearelie pay for their sacrilegious putting him to death Hee was not then afraide to die but hee was loath to haue them though they were euill to perish least his passion should bee their destruction which hee meant for the saluation of all Christs soule was not heauie saith Ierom and Bede for any feare of his passiō but for that most vnhappy Iudas for the scandall of all his Apostles for the reiection of the Iewes and subuersion of wretched Ierusalem And Austen If wee saie the Lorde was sorrowfull for the Iewes when his passion drewe neere where they would commit so haynous a sinne non incongruè
like manner shalt thou finde all the passions of our flesh to haue beene stirred in Christ but without sinne that beeing stirred they might be repressed by the power of the godheade dwelling in him and our nature by that meanes reduced to a better temper Ambrose in other wordes saieth as much Sequestrata deloctatione diuinitatis aeternae taedio meae infirmitatis afficitur Suscepit enim tristitiam meam vt mihi suam laetitiam largiretur vestigijs nostris descendit vsque admortis aerumnam vt nos suis vestigijs reuocaret advitam Debuit ergo dolorem suscipere vt vinceret tristitiam non excluderet nos disceremus in Christo quemadmodum futurae mortis maestitiam vinceremus And so he concludeth Hic alto operatur effectu vt quia in carne sua peccata nostra perimebat maerorem quoque animae nostrae suae animae maerore aboleret Laying aside the delight of his aeternall deitie Christ is affected with the tediousnesse of my infirmity and deiected himselfe to feele the griefe of death as we doe that by following his steps he might reduce vs to life hee was therefore to admit sorrowe that he might conquer sorrowe and not keepe it off and wee to learne in Christ howe we should ouercome the feare of death approching In his agonie hee wrought with a deepe effect that because in his flesh hee killed our sinnes he might also with the sorrow of his soule extinguish the sorrowe of our soules So the sorrowe and feare of death which it pleased our sauiour to féele in our nature came not for want of strength but of purpose to quench and abolish those affections and passions in vs that the faithfull for euer might bee fréed from them through his grace working in their hearts And therefore we haue no cause to excuse much lesse to reproch Christes weakenesse but rather to admire his power and praise his mercie that woulde submit himselfe to these infirmities of our nature thereby to cure them in vs and to strengthen vs against them and to make vs partakers of his wonderfull courage and patience the steps wherof we may dailie find not in martyrs onelie but in all his members when they are tried with anie kinde of outwarde or inward affliction Howbeit I may not omit how great an ouersight it is to conclude that Christ if he feared death in his agony was far f●ebler then martyrs which ioifullie die yea then malefactors which oftentimes go to their death verie resolutely The desratenesse of the wicked which haue neither feare nor care of God till they féele the force of his wrath in hell fire is no fit comparison for the sonne of God no more then the sinke of sinne is to swéeten the fountaine of grace I will therefore skippe that ouer with silence But if death bee not fearefull to the seruants of Christ as indéede it is not they are the more bound to their Lord and master who in his owne person to make the waie easie for them with the losse of his life disarmed death for euer and brake the chaines in sunder wherewith death and hell were coupled together For Christ was the first that by seuering death from the terror and power of hell made the stroke of death contemptible to all the godlie which otherwise was and would haue béene the harbinger of hell So that when death presented it selfe to the sight of our sauiour purposing to redeeme the world it came so fast clasped with hell that none but the sonne of God could dissolue the band wherewith they were linked And therfore Christ had far greater cause then anie of his members to feare and with earnest praier to decline the ●aile of death which did wound both bodie and soule with euerlasting destruction if he did not take awaie the sting thereof and by his sundring the one from the other which was the hope of all his saints before he died and faith of al the godlie since death was and is to all beléeuers no cause of feare but rest from their labors and passage to a better life The feare then which Christ had and shewed of death was either the curing of our infirmities in his flesh or the breaking the knot betwixt death and hell which none but he was able to doe or the mitigating of Gods anger which might be executed on his bodie or lastlie the desire hee had to continue the féeling and enioying of Gods presence and coherence with bodie and soule in the vnitie of his person and if in anie of these wee charge Christ with nicenesse wee knowe not what we saie except we will bee guiltie in a worse issue which I perswade my selfe was no part of their meaning that first broched this matter The last cause of Christs agony might be the sanctifying of himselfe to praie for trangressors and the voluntarie dedicating of his bloud to bee shed for the redemption of mankind for where some coniecture Christ did sweate bloud for feare Hilarie plain●lie denieth it and saieth Sudoremnemo audebit infirmitati deputare quia contra naturam est sudare sanguinem nec infirmitas est quod pot estas non secundum naturae consuetudinem gessit No man shoulde dare attribute Christs bloudy sweate to infirmitie because it is against nature to sweat bloud and can bee no weakenes which power did aboue the course of nature Austen maketh it a signification of the martyrs bloud that should willinglie bee shedde throughout the church for the testimonie of the trueth Ideo toto corpore sanguinē suda●it quia in corpore suo id est Ecclesia Martyrum sanguinem ostendit Christ sweat bloud along all his bodie to this ende that he might shew the bloud of martyrs in his bodie which is the church Prosper agréeth with S. Augustine in iudgement and saith Oranscum sudore sanguineo dominus Iesus significabat de toto corpore quod est Ecclesia emanaturas martyrum passiones The Lorde Iesus praying with a bloudy sweat signified the sufferings of the martyrs that should be in his whole body which is the church Bede thereby noteth that Christes praier made for his Apostles was hearde and that by his bloud he should not onelie redresse the frailtie of his disciples but quicken the whole earth being dead in their sinnes Nemo sudorem hunc infirmitati deputet sed intelligat per irrigatam sacratamque eius sanguine terram non sibi qui nouerat sed nobis apertè declaratum quod effectum suae precis iam obtineret vt fidem discipulorum quam terrena adhuc fragilitas arguebat suo sanguine purgaret quicquidilla scandali de eius morte pertulisset hoc torū ipse moriendo deleret immo vniuer sum latè terrarum orbem p●ccatis mortuum sua innoxia morte caelestem resuscitaret ad vitam Let no man attribute Christs bloudie sweat to infirmitie but rather learne that by sprinkling and hallowing the
euerie man according to his works our sauior for warneth vs not in vaine that hel f●er is VNQVENCHABLE EVERLASTING Since then neither the remorse reiection malediction nor desperation of the damned nor the darkenes destruction death fire of hel can without euident impiety be attributed to the soule of Christ I am farre from admitting into anie part of the Créed this ambiguous if not dangerous assertion that Christ in his soule on the crosse felt the verie paines and torments of the damned but I preferre the simple and plaine doctrine of the holie Ghost which teacheth vs that Christ died for our sinnes according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that hee rose againe the thirde daie according to the scriptures and by Christs so doing death was swallowed vp into victory and we may ioifully saie O death where is thy sting O hell where is thy victory thanking God which hath giuen this victorie through our Lorde Iesus Christ as it was forespoken by the prophet Esay The Lorde will destroy death for euer and by Osee O death I will bee thy death O hell I will bee thy destruction The manner of Christes offering is the second effect of Christs crosse which must be bloudie before it can be propitiatorie In this part I will deliuer you thrée thinges worthie to be obserued with what Sacrifice God was pleased for our sinnes with what price the Diuell was concluded for our ransome with what Seale the newe couenant of grace and mercie was confirmed vnto vs for our safetie These three depend eache on other God as the Iudge offended was to haue a sacrifice for our sinne that might content him the Diuell as the Iailour was to haue a ransome for vs that were by Gods Iustice deliuered into his handes Our selues as prisoners were to bee restored by GODS pardon and to be assured of his protection that the like miserie might not the second time preuaile against vs which is performed by the newe Testament of mercie forgiuing and grace repressing sinne that wee relapse not into the pit of perdition whence wee were deliuered What was the true propitiatorie sacrifice which God accepted for the sinnes of the world if the new testament did not plainelie declare the olde testament would sufficientlie witnesse vnto vs. For as well Patriarks as Prophets yea all the godlie from Abel to Christ did by their sacrifices and seruice of God professe and confirme their faith to be this that they looked for the Seede of the woman who by his death and bloud should purge their sinnes and make peace betwéene God and them This was the promise of grace which God made in Paradise to our first parents threatning the serpent with the séede of the woman in these words He shall crush thine heade and thou shalt bruise his heele As the heele of man is the basest part of his bodie and nearest the earth so the Serpent shoulde bruise the weakest and earthliest part of Christ but euen that bruized heele should bee of force enough to crush the Serpentes head For by the flesh of Christ wounded and bloud shed the power pride of satan should be conquered and confounded This sence of Gods promise made to his parents Abell the first martyr by faith accepted by sacrifice adored and in that respect his bodilie and bloudie offering was preferred before his brothers This faith did all the Patriarkes testifie by their bloudie sacrifices that they expected the bodie of the Messias to be bruized and his bloud to be shed for the remission of their sinnes And as they receiued it from their fathers so they deliuered it to their children for the shoot anchor of all their hope This God did ratifie by his lawe written suffering his people to haue no sacrifices for sinne but such as represented the bloudie offering of Christ on the crosse So that all the sacrifices and sacraments of Moses lawe were nothing else but figures and examples of better thinges as the Apostle calleth them namelie of Christes bodie once to bee offered and his bloud once to bee shed for the abolishing of sinne The FIGVRES of Christ before and vnder the lawe what else doe they point but to the death bloud and crosse of Christ to be the redemption and saluation of all mankinde Abrahams readinesse to offer vp Isaac for which the blessing was annexed to him with an othe what doth it import but the loue of God Not sparing his owne sonne but giuing him for vs all The bl●●d of the passeouer sprinkled on the postes of the Israelites f●●uert the destroier doth it not represent the bloud of that immaculate lambe which saueth vs from the fiercenesse of Gods wrath The lifting vp the brasen serpent to cure the people that were stung with fierie Serpents doth it not foreshewe Christ hanging on the crosse to cure our soules from the poison of sinne which is the sting of that deadlie serpent The strength of Sampson pulling the house on his owne and his enemies heades doth it not declare the voluntarie death of Christ to be the destruction of death and hell which insulted at him on the crosse When the truth came expressed by all these sacrifices and resembled in all these figures what offering made he on the altar of the crosse Did he yeelde his soule to the paines of hell or his bodie to be crucified of the Iewes both they will saie for so they must saie except they will haue their supposall of hell paines cleane excluded from the sacrifice for sin But which of these two was beleeued of the Patriarks witnessed by the sacrifices shadowed in the figures of the law expected of the faithfull from the foundation of the worlde The bloudie sacrifice of Christes bodie is so plainelie proclaimed by them all that there can bee no question of their faith and expectation And were they deceiued in the obiect of their faith and hope Did they all mistake the true sacrifice for their sinnes and did God by his lawe confirme them in that errour And doeth the Apostle falselie conclude from the sacrifices of the lawe that Christes offering before it coulde take awaie sinne must of force bee bloudie These were verie strange positions in Christian religion and yet I sée not howe wee shall auoide them if we strictlie maintaine the suffering of hell paines to bee the chiefer and principaller part of our redemption without which the rest is nothing If their faith fastened on the death and bloud of Christ for the remission of their sinnes did saue them then was the death of Christ of force enough without the paines of Hell to release them from their sinnes and bring them vnto God And if it wrought that effect in them it is still of the same power and strength to worke the like in vs. If it were insufficient to release them from the rigour of GODS wrath then are the
VNA SVA CORPORALI ac voluntaria benigne potenter occurrit ILLAQVE SVA VNA NOSTRAM VTRAMQVE DAMNAVIT Where man was condemned vnto a double death to witte in either part of his nature the one death spirituall and voluntarie the other corporall and necessarie God beeing made man did mightilie and mercifullie release both our Deathes with his ONE CORPORALL and voluntarie Death and with THAT ONE DEATH OF HIS DESTROYED BOTH OVRS And so concludeth Dum sponte tantum in corpore moritur vitam nobis iustitiam promeretur VVhiles Christ dyed willinglie and ONELY in his BODY he merited for vs both righteousnesse and life I hope to all men learned or well aduised it will séeme no Iesuiticall phrensie but rather christian catholike doctrine that the son of God dying for our sinnes suffered NOT THE DEATH OF THE SOVLE but ONLIE OF THE BODIE by the hands of the Iewes and by the bodily bloudie sacrifice of himself did not only redeeme clense both our souls bodies but destroied sin death purging our transgressions by the merit of his obedience swalowing vp death by power y t of his life And howsoeuer the scriptures sometimes affirme that hee gaue himselfe a ransome for all men and the Fathers likewise teach that hee gaue his flesh for our flesh and his soule for our soules yet neither Scriptures nor Fathers haue anie meaning either to subiect Christ to the death of the soule which assertion they abhorre as wicked or to diminish the force or fruit of his bodily death which they extoll as most sufficient but to expresse that in the death of his flesh on the crosse his soule did suffer the sense of paine and smart of death which parted the bodie and soule in sunder and so ioyntlie with the bodie and seuerallie by it selfe the soule of Christ had not onely temptations afflictions and passions but euen endured the naturall sting and sharpenesse of death to which he submitted his soule that he might haue the feeling of our infirmities and in all things bee tempted as wee are but still without sinne How Christ gaue himselfe wholy for vs we maie learne out of Bernard Sicut TOTVM HOMINEM salu●m fecit sic DE TOTO SE HOSTIAM fecit salutarem corpus exponens tantis supplicijs iniurijs animam vero geminae cuiusdam humanissimae compassionis affectui inde super moerore inconsolabili sanctarum foeminarum inde super desperatione dispersione discipulorum In his quatuor crux domi● mea fuit As Christ saued the VVHOLE MAN so of HIMSELFE WHOLIE hee made a wholesome sacrifice yeelding his bodie to so great torments and wrongs and his soule to the feeling of a double most tender compassion on the one side for the vncomfortable greefe of the holie women on the other side for the desperation and dispersion of his disciples In these foure consisted the crosse of Christ. Since then the death of Christ did both affect and afflict his soule and his bodie iustlie might Irenaeus say The Lord bought vs with his owne bloud and gaue his soule for our soules and his flesh for our flesh For in dying hee layde downe his soule not onelie to sorrowe gréefe and paine but euen to the bitter diuorce of death that brake the communion of bodie and soule Sicut TOTVS SEMETIPSVM tradidit TOTVS HOMO SEMETIPSVM OBTVLIT ita totus homo ANIMAM SVAM POSVIT cū anima in cruce moriente carne discessit As WHOLE Christ gaue HIM SELFE saith Fulgentius and the WHOLE MAN OFFERED HIMSELFE so the whole man LAYD DOWNE HIS SOVLE whē the flesh dying on the crosse the soule departed So that Christ yéelded his soule for our soules to the susception of sorrow prepossion of paine and dissolution of nature but vnto the death of the soule he did neither offer nor yéelde himselfe since that is a separation from God and exclusion from grace from which it was vtterlie impossible the soule of Christ could either willingly or forceablie for an houre be remoued yea where you find the suffering of his soule witnessed there shall you see the DEATH OF HIS FLESH ONELIE to be auouched Quia TOTVM HOMINEM deus ille suscepit ideo TOTIVS HOMINIS in se passiones in veritate monstrauit ammam quidem rationalem habens quicquid fuit infirmitatis animae sine peccato suscepit pertulit vt dum humanae animae passiones in anima quam accepit vinceret nostras quoque animas ab infirmitatibus liberaret Carnem quoque humanam accipiens in eiusdem veritate carnis veritatem voluntariae habuit passionis vt IN CARNE MORTVVS TOTAM in se HOMINIS OCCIDERET MORTEM Because the sonne of God tooke vnto him the WHOLE NATVRE of man therefore he shewed in himselfe the sufferings OF THE VVHOLE MAN and hauing a reasonable soule he tooke vpon him and endured all the infirmities of the soule but without sinne that whiles in the soule which he tooke hee conquered the passions of mans soule he might free our soules also from infirmities Taking likewise mans flesh in the truth of the same flesh he suffered a true and voluntarie passion that DYING IN THE FLESH hee might kill in his person the WHOLE DEATH dew to man Christ endured the passions of the whole man hauing neither bodie nor soule frée from suffering but yet he died ONLY in the FLESH and thereby he killed the WHOLE DEATH inflicted on the body and soule of man Quis ignorat Christum IN SOLO CORPORE MORTVVM sepultū Who is ignorāt that Christ in BODY ONLY DIED and was buried And againe Sicut in MORTE SOLIVS CARNIS immortalis fuit sic in passionibus totius hominis impassibilis omnino permansit The godheade of Christ was immortall when ONELY HIS BODY DIED and impassible when the whole man suffered Moriente carne non solum deitas sed NEC ANIMA CHRISTI POTEST OSTENDI COMMORTVA When Christs bodie died not onelie his deitie but his SOVLE CANNOT BE SHEWED TO HAVE BEEN PARTAKER OF DEATH Wherefore I easilie admitte the wordes of Nazianzene to be true that euerie part in man is sanctified by the like in Christ our condemned flesh by his flesh our soule by his soule our vnderstanding by his vnderstanding yea I dislike not the wordes of Cyrill Carnem suam in redemptionis pretium pro omnium carne dependit animam suam similiter pro omnium anima redemptionis pretium constituit quamuis iterum reuixerit vita secundum naturam existens Christ yeelded his flesh as a ransome for the flesh of all men and made his soule likewise a price to redeeme the soules of all though he were restored againe to life as beeing life by nature so long as we abuse not his wordes to maintaine our fansies impugning his generall and setled doctrine that sufficient for the redēption of the
power and steadfast fauour of God for their perpetuall defence and eternall recompence So that in all thinges wee are more then conquerours through him that loued vs and gaue himselfe for vs who will tread downe Satan vnder our feete that God may bee all in all Uerie mightie then is the power of Christes death by whose BLOVD the Saintes OVER COME the greate Dragon that olde Serpent called the Diuell and his ouerthrow prooueth all the enemies of mans saluation to bee vanquished and impediments remooued since he was the first perswader and procurer and is the Prince and ruler of them all We haue seene the power of Christs death in subduing sin and Satan as likewise in ending abolishing the curse of the lawe which obliged man for his vncleannesse and vnrighteousnesse to euerlasting condemnation and find that hee which bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree did in that mortall part which hee tooke of vs crucifie as well the flesh and sinne of man as the curse and death that raigned ouer man and so much hee performed in the bodie of his flesh through death by which hee reconciled vs vnto God to make vs holie and blamelesse in his sight let vs nowe see whether the death of the spirite and the curse of the soule will anie thing helpe the woorke of our redemption or whether the death of Christes bodie doe not more fullie demonstrate the mercies of God and merits of Christ then if the paines of hell had beene ioyned with it And where some men thinke it woulde much commende the TRVTH POVVER and IVSTICE of God and more amplie declare the OBEDIENCE PATIENCE and LOVE of Christ if hee refused not the verie torments of hell for our sakes shunning no part of the burthen that pressed vs I must confesse I am rather of a contrarie minde that the bodilie death of Christ on the crosse doth more plainlie expresse the vertues of God and Christ his sonne then if the terror and horror of hell were therewith coupled And first for the TRVTH of god his threatning Adam in this wise Thou shalt die the death or thou shalt certainely die was truelie performed in the bodie of Christ in the soule of Christ it could not without sinne or damnation neither of which with anie truth can be ascribed vnto Christ. That the mouth of God lied or the soule of Christ died is a cho●se so hard that I wish all men that haue anie care of Christian religion to refraine either Next touching the POVVER of God the weaker the instrument which God vseth to ouerthrowe his enemies the greater is both his glory and their shame Then for flesh which was the feeblest part of Christ after it was deade and voide of all hope in shew to rise againe into a blessed and heauenlie life and to foile both death and Satan by recouering it selfe into the full possession and all his members into the ioyfull expectation of euerlasting glorie was farre a mightier conquest then for his soule with much adoe at length to escape and resist the assaultes of hell From the depth of hell here on earth manie sinnefull soules haue by grace struggeled and cléered themselues from the graue neuer rose none into an immortall incorruptible life before the flesh of Christ. Déeper in desperation and al other temptations of hel haue others been that yet were saued then anie man dare affirme of Christ déeper in death without corruption then the bodie of Christ neuer was nor euer shall be anie of the sonnes of men It was therefore an harder thing for the bodie of Christ past all sense to rise from death to immortalitie then for his soule voide of sinne and full of grace to repell the force of Satan and yet to repell it sheweth greater power then to suffer it to conquere it sheweth greatest of all But to beare the burden of Gods wrath due to our sinnes and to frée vs from it néeded greater strength they will saie then Christes flesh could haue To support and auert Gods iust indignation from vs the humane bodie or soule of Christ of themselues were not able but the DIGNITIE and VNITIE of his person must be placed in the gap to quench the flame of Gods iust vengeāce against our sinnes which was euerlasting destruction both of bodie and soule yet for so much as the sincerity and sanctitie of Christes soule personallie ioyned quickened and blessed with the perpetual vnion communion and fruition of his deitie could feele no want of grace no lacke of spirit no losse of fauour with God in which thinges consist the inwarde death and curse of the soule the wrath of God was executed on the flesh of his sonne which hee tooke of purpose from Adam that the rein he might beare the sinne and curse of Adam and so by his death might satisfie the sentence and pacifie the displeasure of God against our vnrighteousnesse And this is more agréeable to Gods iustice then if Christs soule had suffered the death and curse of the soule For to take life from the soule must be Gods proper and peculiar action No creature can giue the grace or spirit of God to the soule of man which is the life of the soule but onelie God Therefore no creature can take it from the soule but God alone that GIVETH it must TAKE IT AVVAY Since then Christ might suffer nothing iustlie but as the iust for the vniust that is willinglie but vniustlie his death must come by the handes of the wicked who might wrongfullie take his life from him but not touch his soule and not by the immediate hande of GOD who will doe no wrong and can kill the soule I haue sinned saith Iudas in betraying the INNOCENT bloud You denied the HOLIE AND IVST and killed the Lorde of life saith Peter to the Iewes warning them howe great a sinne they had committed in putting Christ to death If hee were an INNOCENT and deserued no punishment if hee were HOLIE and IVST and could not bee persecuted or put to death without haynous impietie and iniurie wee may doe well to remember that the death of his soule had beene a farre greater wrong then the death of his bodie was And therefore if the iustice of God would not farther interpose it selfe in killing his bodie then by deliuering him into the handes of the wicked permitting them to shed his blond which hee woulde accept for the sinnes of the worlde much lesse woulde God with his owne mouth accurse or with his owne hande slea the soule of his sonne whome hee sent to restore and quicken those that were accursed and dead in their sinnes Againe corporallie or temporallie God punisheth one for anothers fault bicause he can recompence them eternally that thereby repent and turne from their sinnes but eternally or spiritually he punisheth no man but for his owne vncleannes either naturally sticking in him or
voluntarily committed by him Christ then beeing frée from all sinne might not suffer the inwarde or euerlasting death of the soule but corporall and temporall reproch and paine which God might and did recompence with eternall ioye and glorie Thirdlie that soule which sinneth that soule shall die This is the setled rule of Gods iustice and therefore Christs soule which sinned not could by no iustice die the death of the soule To laie down his life for vs was loue and thankes with God but willinglie to separate himselfe from God for vs was no waie to reconcile God to vs or to bring vs to God He must therefore cleaue fast to God in soule whose death shall bee pretious in Gods sight as was Christs If the soule bee seuered from God the death of the bodie is detestable in his eies as beeing the wages of sinne and therefore no more acceptable to GOD then sinne it selfe but where the soule hating the infection of sinne and loathing the infirmitie of the flesh resigneth it vnto death for Gods glorie and the good of others And in this respect the death of the bodie maie bee a sacrifice vnto God but not except the soule doe liue and cleaue to God without separation Then hatefull to GOD was the death of Christ if his soule were first hated or accursed if that were beloued and blessed of God it coulde not choose but liue for God is not the God of the deade but of the liuing So that the death of Christes bodie on the Crosse was by no iustice an acceptable sacrifice vnto God if his soule were first deade But his death was so precious in Gods sight that in the bodie of his flesh through death he reconciled vs vnto God his soule was therefore aliue and in fauour with God yea so abundantly blessed and highly accepted for the holines humilitie and obedience thereof that God was pacified and pleased and we all sanctified with THE OBLATION OF THE BODY of Iesus on the altar of the crosse Lastlie the flesh of Christ by Gods iustice must bee as able to purge vs from sinne as Adams was to poyson vs with sinne But the flesh of Adam infected all his posteritie with sinne and death ergo the flesh of Christ must haue as much force to clense and quicken the faithfull both in this life and the next Of this iustice Paul speaketh when he saith since by man came death by man must come the resurrection of the dead For as in Adam all die euen so in Christ shal al be made aliue The first Adam WAS THE FIGVRE of the second Adam that where sinne abounded there grace might abound much more As then by one mans disobedience manie were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many bee made righteous The obedience of Christ which here Paule mentioneth is his obedience vnto death euen to the death of the crosse and the righteousnesse of the faithfull is the forgiuenes of their sinnes through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus I wil not here dispute whether the soule be created and infunded or else tradu●ed from Adam as well as the flesh I meane not with curious or superfluous questions to busie mens heades that which the scriptures deliuer touching the deriuation of sinne and death from our first parents I may safelie teach and you must necessarily beléeue That we were fashioned in iniquitie and conceaued in sinne the words of Dauid doe exactlie witnesse and no maruaile For who can make that to bee cleane which commeth from the vncleane yea sinne cleaueth so fast vnto our flesh that when the eies of our heart are lightened and the spirit of our minde is renued so that the inwarde man delighteth in the law of God EVEN THEN haue we an other law in our members rebelling against the lawe of our minde and leading vs captiue vnto the lawe of sinne the one so contrarie to the other that we cannot doe the things which we would by reason the affection or liking of the flesh cannot be subiect to the lawe of God This fight betwixt the flesh and the spirit is so durable that it cannot bee dissolued but onelie by death Though Christ bee in vs and the spirit liue for righteousnesse sake yet sinne so dwelleth in vs that is in our ● mortall bodies that whiles we liue in minde we serue the law of God but in our flesh the lawe of sinne From Adams flesh wee deriue this infection of sinne that sticketh so fast vnto vs after we are regenerate and new borne againe of water and the holie ghost and this is the roote and nurse of all sinne and the cause of death to al men If Christ be in you the bodie is dead because of sinne From Christes flesh then we must receiue the purgation of sinne both inherent in vs and committed by vs or else Adams flesh is stronger to wound vs then Christs is to heale vs which is repugnant to the iustice of God by which the grace of God must bee farre mightier vnto saluation in the bodie of Christ then the force of sinne was vnto condemnation in the bodie of Adam vnlesse wee make sinne of more power to kill then God is to quicken which is to exalt the diuell aboue God and his sonne For God was in Christ reconciling the worlde to himselfe by whose bloud the partition wal is broken down and hatred abrogated through his flesh that wee might bee reconciled vnto God in one bodie by his crosse But the death of the bodie they will saie hath no proportion to the death of the soule and therefore the one cannot in iustice excuse the other There is farre greater distance betwixt the sonne of God and the sonnes of men then betwixt the bodies and soules of men These differ as creatures and both inferiour vnto the angels but there is the excellencie of the Creator aboue the creature which is simplie infinite Whatsoeuer therefore it pleased the sonne of God to suffer for our sakes it was most sufficient for our redemption howbeit to demonstrate his loue hee would be partaker of our infirmitie and mortality least we should loath our condition or grudge at the chastisement of our sinnes but if we set a side the dignitie and vnitie of his person then is no waie the death of the soule or the paines of hell which they imagine Christ suffered proportionable in exact iustice to the true wages of our sinne For what equiualence hath one soule with all the soules of the Saints or one daies anguish which Christ felt in soule as they suppose with that euerlasting fire which wee shoulde haue suffered in bodie and soule for euer set aside I saie the respect of the person which suffered for vs and in the rest they shall neuer bee able to prooue anie proportion of iustice diuine or humane But as
hee of my selfe but as my father hath taught mee so speake I these thinges For hee that sent mee is with mee the Father hath not left mee alone because I DOE ALVVAYES the thinges THAT PLEASE HIM Though I beare recorde of my selfe my recorde is true FOR I KNOVVE VVHENCE I CAME AND VVHITHER I GOE As hee coulde not bee ignorant so coulde hee not bee forgetfull of his Fathers counsell and decree The glorie of God might appall him at the entrance into his prayers but his constant continuing one and the same request to his Father three seuerall turnes with intermission of time and admonition to his Disciples to watch and praie prooueth hee had not forgotten himselfe that still persisted in his purpose nor yet striued agaynst his Fathers will in that his prayer was accepted and assured from heauen Did then the cup passe from him which was the summe of his prayer No doubt it did in that sense which he desired The cup mingled by Gods iust iudgment for the sin of man did passe both from him and vs by force of his prayer not that hee did not taste of it but in that yeelding himselfe to the temporall and corporall chasticement thereof hee quenched the spirituall and eternall vengeance that was consequent after death the abolishing whereof was a worke worthie of the sonne of God and a memorable effect of that earnest and instant prayer which our Sauiour made in the Garden thereby shutting vp hell and opening heauen to all his members And for that cause the Prophet Esay ioyneth his patient suffering and vehement praying as needfull groundes of our redemption hee bare the sinne of manie and PRAYED for the TRESPASSERS and the Apostle reckoneth Christs PRAIERS OFFERED VVITH TEARES and his paines suffered through obedience as principall parts of his Priesthood and effectuall sacrifices for the sinnes of the people As praying in the garden Christ must be frée from forgetting either his fathers will or loue so suffering on the crosse he must haue not onely patience and obedience but intelligence assurance that the bloudy sacrifice which he offered should be accepted as the propitiation for our sinnes and himselfe exalted from the shame and paine of the crosse to euerlasting honour ioy and glorie He did not offer himselfe on the altar of the crosse supposing or presuming it might please God thereby to be fauourable vnto man but as hee came into the world annointed and sent of purpose to saue his people from their sinnes so did hee humble himselfe to the death of the Crosse beeing thereto appoynted by his heauenlie father and therefore most assured that God was immutablie determined to accept his sacrifice for the sin of the world and by the bloud of his crosse to set at peace thinges both in heauen and in earth and to reconcile vs that were straungers and enemies in euill woorkes through death in the bodie of his flesh to make vs holie and without fault in the sight of God This Saint Paule saith was Gods GOOD PLEASVRE to which Christ was OBEDIENT therefore neither ignorant of it nor doubtfull in it but assuredlie resolued with fulnesse of faith and hope that he which had decreed it could not be changed and that God which had sent him would not deceiue him And for that cause the Apostle maketh the death of Christ to be a SACRIFICE OF A SVVEET SMELLING SAVOVR VNTO GOD and saith that Iesus the authour finisher of our faith FOR THE IOY VVHICH VVAS SET BEFORE HIM endured the crosse and despised the shame thereof and is placed on the right hand of the throne of God So that howsoeuer late writers haue found out the terror of Gods wrath and horror of eternall death in the soule of Christ suffering the Apostle teacheth vs that Christ hanging in the shame and paine of the crosse had not onelie peace and fauour with god as offering a sweet smelling sacrifice but also ioy before his eies of euerlasting glory at the right hand of y e throne of God And with him agrée both Peter Dauid when they bare witnes of Christ that his HEART VVAS GLAD his TONGVE IOIFVL and that euen HIS FLESH should REST IN HOPE notwithstanding the anguish of death force of the graue and fury of hell For God would neither forsake his soule in hell nor suffer his flesh to sée corruption Dare anie man doubt of this doctrine which is so clearelie and fullie deliuered vs in the Scriptures Or make wee a pastime of it in fauour of our fansies to ouerturne the verie principles of truth Christ suffered for vs leauing vs an example that wee shoulde followe his steppes For if wee suffer with him wee shall bee glorified with him Must we suffer the paines of the damned afore we may hope to be partakers of his glorie The gaine which we haue in Christ when wee haue refused all thinges as vile for his sake is to knowe the fellowshippe of his afflictions and to bee conformed vnto his death if by anie meanes wee may attaine to the resurrection of the deade Shall the communion of Christes sufferings bring vs to the true torments of hell and must we perswade our selues that wee are forsaken of God afore wee can bee conformed to his death Reioyce sayth Peter when yee doe communicate with Christes sufferings Must we then REIOICE in the horror of hell and bee glad of Gods displeasure towards vs I thinke not Howe farre fuller of comfort is the Apostles doctrine where he saith As the sufferinges of Christ abound in vs so our consolation aboundeth through Christ. And our hope is stedfast concerning you that as you are partakers of the sufferinges so shall you bee of the comforts What comfort these men can finde in the paines of the damned I knowe not they else where seeme to say that all feares and griefes all terrors and torm●nts are trifles vnto the sense and feeling of Gods displeasure and iust indignation but the holie Ghost I am sure proposeth to vs the Crosse of Christ as the waie to perfection that neuer wanteth consolation For therein though our outwarde man perish yet the inwarde man is daylie renued and when our bodies die to sinne as did Christes our soules liue to God as did his Excellentlie doth the Apostle describe the comfort of Christes Crosse in all the faythfull when hee sayeth Wee are afflicted on euerie side but not ouerpressed wanting but not vtterlie destitute persecuted but not forsaken falling but not perishing alwayes bearing about in our bodie the dying of the Lorde Iesu that the life of Iesu might bee manifest in our bodyes For wee whiles wee liue are still deliuered vnto death for Iesus sake that the life of Iesu might bee manifest in our mortall flesh Christ then in the mortification of his bodie on the Crosse was neither OVER●RESSED FORSAKEN nor PERISHING
together Góod Sir awake out of your sleepe and learne at least to vnderstand before you aunswere As this presumer euerie where with disdaine casteth away the iudgements of the fathers which I produce preferreth his owne peeuish conceite before them all so when he reporteth my reasons he either ignorātlie mistaketh them or purposelie peruerteth them y ● they may the lesse encumber him In the effectes of Christes crosse I noted out of the Apostle to the Hebrues three properties of the true propitiatorie sacrifice which tooke awaie the sinne of the world It was a bodilie a bloudie and a deadlie sacrifice and amongst manie reasons to confirme the same I brought these two which the conf●ter after his forgetfull maner roueth at The first in effect was this The true sacrifice for sinne which the Redeemer should offer was shadowed and foreshewed by the sacrifices which God commanded and accepted in the old testament but the sacrifices of the Patriarches and of the faithfull appointed by Moses foreshewed and figured a bodilie bloudie and deadlie sacrifice and no paines of hell therfore the true sacrifice for sinne was made by the bodie bloud and death of the Redéemer and not by the paines of hell suffered in his soule The second this As the sacrifices of the law prefigured what the Sauiour of the world should do for the abolishing of sinne so the sacraments of the newe testament confirme and scale that performed in the person of Christ Iesus which was the true propitiation for our sinnes and price of our redemption but the sacraments of the new testament and speciallie the Lordes supper declare and confirme vnto vs the bodie of Christ giuen for vs vnto death and his bloud shed for the remission of our sinnes therefore this was the true propitiation for our sinnes and price of our redemption and not the paines of hell suffered in the soule of Christ as some imagine To the first the Confuter answereth The proposition is false taking it generally The carnall sacrifices of the Iewes signified that which they were apt to signifie but not anie further The sacrifices of beastes coulde not prefigure the personall vnion of God and man nor the reasonable and immortall soule of Christ nor his resurrection all which were necessarie pointes in the meritorious sacrifice Secondlie he denieth the assumption For certaine of the Iewes sacrifices set foorth the sufferinges of the soule of Christ also As the scape Gote in the 16. of Leuiticus which was a sin offering though it were sent awaie free and vntouched To the reason drawne from the Sacraments hee saieth Wee are to answere as we did before These are bodilie and earthlie Elements and therefore fitte to set soorth bodilie and apparant effects in Christ they can not set out the spirituall and inuisible effects in him And yet the ceremonie of breaking the bread which is to shewe that Christes bodie was broken for vs can not belong properlie to the bodie but to the soule These I trust are your words now heare my replie I had no such proposition as you frame to your selfe that either the sacrifices of the lawe or Sacraments of the Gospel were figures of our whole and absolute redemption which is as you expound it of all the fruits and causes of our redemption This is your euasion not my proposition I tolde you that as God had promised so the faithfull beléeued that his owne sonne should be the Seede of the woman and by his death and bloud should purge their sinnes To continue this promise and confirme the faith of all before and vnder the lawe God appointed bloudie sacrifices as continuall remembrances and figures not of the person nor of the function of Christ but of the Sacrifice by which hee shoulde abolish sinne to wi●te by his bodie slaine and his bloud shedde which the carnall sacrifices were fittest to resemble since God would not haue the bloud of anie man but of his owne sonne shedde for remission of sinnes My proposition then speaketh of the true sacrifice for sinne and auoucheth that to bee the true sacrifice for sinne which was shadowed and figured by the death and bloud of those beasts that God comma●●ded to bee offered vnto him This proposition you doe not denie for you graunt The Iewes sacrifices signified what they were apt to teach and signifie but they were apt and ordained of GOD to teach the Iewes that by the death and bloud of the Messias they shoulde bee redeemed and saued from their sinnes ergo they were apt and ordained of God to figure and shadowe the true propitiatorie sacrifice And so the patriarkes and Prophetes beléeued and expected whose faith and hope could neither be vaine nor frustrate since they were thereto directed by Gods owne appointment This proposition be you Christian or Iewe you may not denie and therefore you doe well to denie the assumption and to affirme that certaine sacrifices of the Iewes as namelie the scape Goate in the 16. of Leuiticus did signifie the immortall soule of Christ which was a sacrifice for sinne and did properlie beare our sinnes and suffer for our sinnes But Sir if a man aske you howe you proue that the scape Goate signified the soule of Christ what haue you to saie Because both Goates saie you are a sacrifice for sinne as the Text speaketh You abuse the Text and deceiue your selfe The wordes are Aaron shall take of the assemblie of the children of Israel two hee Goates f●r a sinne offering that is to make a sinne offering of one of them on which the Lordes lotte shall fall So followe the wordes in the 8. verse of that chapter Aaron shall cast lottes ouer the two hee Goates one lotte for the Lorde and another lotte for the scape Goate And Aaron shall offer the Goate on which the Lords lot shall fall and MAKE HIM A SINNE OFFERING The taking of the Goates from the people doth not make them sacrifices for sinne but the offering them vnto the Lord by the Priest so that though two were taken yet lots were cast which of them should hee the sinne offering and which of them the scape Goat which consequentlie was no sinne offering because that was made a sinne offering on which the Lords lot fell And so if the scape Goate did signifie the soule of Christ as you affirme more boldlie then wiselie then was not the soule of Christ a sinne offering neither did it suffer for sinne if your owne example maie bee trusted Howbeit what the scape Goate signified I am not so forwarde to pronounce as you bee though I haue better warrant so to doe then you haue For Cyrill or as some thinke Origen writing vpon that place of Leuiticus 〈◊〉 If all the people of God were holie there shoulde not bee two lottes cast vpon the Goates one to bee offered to the Lorde the other to bee sent to the desart but there should bee one lotte and one offering
death marke well the condition annexed to the proposition If our soules bee not redeemed by the death and bloud of Christ and then all these absurdities which you thought to fasten on mee ●all full on your owne head For if our soules be not redeemed by the bloud of Christ our bodies haue vtterlie no good euen no good at all by the death of Christ. They haue you saie Iustification mortification sanctifi●●tion hope of resurrection besides the lawfull possession of earthly things Haue our bodies these things of themselues or from our soules first iustified mortified sanctified and assured of life I trust you dare not saie that our bodies haue anie of these but for and from the Soule Then if the soule be not redéemed by the death of Christ the bodie can haue none of these and consequentlie my words are sound and good yours if you stand to them against the condition annexed to mine are prophane and false But I alter my words you will saie to my best aduantage when I sée your obiections to preuent that danger It had bene fittest for you to haue staied the printing of mine owne wordes and then you might haue charged me with them and not bee repelled as a forgette● or misconstruer of them or to haue gotten you a copie of that which I deliueerd out that verie summer to men of great honour and learning a yeere and more before I euer heard or thought of your pamphlet because I founde so manie humorous heades misconceaning and misreporting my wordes But your hast● was such you coulde not or your skill you woulde not staie the sight of mine owne wordes least they shoulde trouble you more then you were ware and therefore out of your owne ill con●eaued and worse digested Rapsodies you fram● obiections as pleaseth your selfe which either were not mine or not so proposed by me And that maketh me pursue no more of your aunsweres by reason I spende more time in recalling you to the trueth of my wordes then in refelling your exceptions which haue neither waight nor witnesse more then the buzzing of your owne braine Let vs therefore view howe well you behaue your selfe in your owne proofes which you cannot forget or mistake In proposing the question and pursuing the proofes there is some hope christian Reader the holines of the confuters cause wil lead him to go plainly soūdlie to work Thus therfore he beginneth The whole controuersy hath in it two points 1. That Christ suffered for vs the wrath of God 2. That after his death on the crosse he went not into hel in his soule Now then for the former thus we saie and constantly auow Christ Iesus did suffer in his whole manhoode for the redemption and satisfaction of our sinnes yea he suffered properly and immediatelie in his soule and not in his flesh only Therefore he suffered for vs the wrath of God This consequent is manifest and cannot be denied The antecedent or first part of the former generall reason is denied and confidentlie reiected yet how falselie by Gods helpe shal easily appeare Touching the first part of this controuersie were you awaked or a sléepe Sir refuter when I preached of these thinges that you so constantlie auowe this was the question whether Christ suffered for vs th● wrath of God or no if you were present and not a sleepe it is too much boldnes to outface the world in print that this was the position which I impugned There were too manie witnesses there for mee to denie or you to belie the question you knowe it well enough but you cannot tell how to proue that which I then reproued and therefore you shrink from that and dallie with generall and doubtfull termes which according as they are expounded may either make with you or against you The question proposed by me was whether it could be proued by the scriptures or by necessary consequent from them that Christ in his soule suffered the true paines of hell such as the damned doe suffer and wee shoulde haue suffered had we not beene redeemed by him I added if we tooke the paines of hell metaphoricallie for great and extreame sorrowes and paines as Dauid and Ionas did she speach might be tolerated but if wee tooke them properlie for the verie same which the damned doe and shall suffer in hell as there is no proofe for it so there is no truth in it To this you saie nothing and so to all wise men make a confession that you cannot iustifie that which I then disallowed Ye bee come since to tell vs that certainelie Christ suffered the wrath of God for vs which if it be granted you I doe not see what it canne helpe your cause or hurt mine For the wrath of God extendeth to all paines and punishmentes as well corporall as spirituall in this life and the next be they temporall or eternall So that no paine or punishment small or great coulde befall the bodie or soule of Christ but it must néedes procéed from the wrath of God Wherefore your idle discourse of 32. leaues in which you labor to proue that Christ suffered the wrath of God for sinne might wel haue bin spared Thrée lines directlie to the purpose had bin more worth then so many leaues thus wastfullie spent But in the ende you conclude like a Clark Christ suffered the wrath of God which we affirme is equall to hell it selfe and all the tormentes thereof What you affirme I little regarde what you can proue is that I intend And out of this proposition Christ suffered for vs the wrath of God for sinne you shall neuer conclude Ergo hee suffered the true paines of hel Were your proposition generall shal Christ suffered all the wrath of God for sinne that is the whole wrath of God and euery part thereof due to sinne you might well conclude Ergo he suffered the true paines of hell for hell indéede as it is the last so is it the greatest effect of Gods wrath against sin but from an indefinite proposition as yours is which maie signifie the VVHOLE or SOME PART of GODS VVRATH due to sinne you shall neuer inferre what part you list as here you doe Will you to make your consequent good amend your antecedent and make it generall that Christ suffered the whole wrath of God euery part thereof due to sinne Then heare good Sir mine answere That proposition besides that it no waie followeth vpon your first antecedēt Christ suffered properlie and immediatlie in his soule therefore he suffered the whole wrath of God and euery part thereof due to sinne besides I saie that there is no coherence no consequence betwixt these two propositions the later of them that Christ suffered the whole wrath of God due to sinne and euery part thereof is most impious and blasphemous For so neither vtter desperation nor finall reiection nor eternal damnation are excepted but Christ did and must suffer them all since they are
sacrifice to God and is in effect nothing but what we affirme You affirme that Christ died the death of the soule which you interpret to bee such paines and sufferings of Gods wrath as alwaies accompany them that are separated from the grace and loue of God You affirme that Christ suffered wonderfull and piteous astonishment forgetfulnesse and confusion of the powers of nature euen of all the powers of his soule and senses of his bodie yea he felt the verie diuels as the instruments that wrought the verie effectes of Gods wrath vppon him and though the wicked oftentimes find farre more intolerable horror of their sinnes then any other yet you doubt not but Christ as touching the vehemencie of paine was as sharply touched euen as the Reprobate themselues yea if it may be more extraordinarily All this you affirme and by your owne words all this is the ONLY TRVE and perfectly accepted sacrifice to God So then whosoeuer feeleth not all this hath no broken nor contrite heart nor anie longer then hee feeleth these hellish torments in his soule And if this be the ONLY TRVE sacrifice to God I will not aske what shall become of the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiuing but howe vnhappie are the godlie that at anie time are free from the paines of the damned and from the tormentes of hell since the suffering thereof is the ONLY TRVE and perfectlie accepted sacrifice to God Godly sorrow saieth the Apostle causeth repentance vnto saluation those wordes please you not such hellish sorrowes and intolerable horrors as the Reprobate themselues feele yea as the damned doe suffer this saie you is the ONIY TRVE and accepted sacrifice to God You must haue other sacrifices and those accepted before you come to heauen or else the Reprobate and damned will bee there as soone as you God send you his grace and grant your wits and senses bee not distempered and distracted you talke so much of hellish paines and torments executed by diuels as the only true sacrifice of a broken and contrite hart The Apostles wordes whereon you first grounded this odious assertion haue no such intention as you imagine By death Christ conquered him that had power of death that is the Diuel Aske the simplest childe y t is catechised in your charge if you haue anie what death Christ died for vs and hee will answere you out of his Créede Christ was crucified deade and buried and that is the death which the Scriptures describe and deliuer I deliuered vnto you saieth Paul that which I receiued how that Christ died for our sinnes according to the scriptutes what death if wee aske the Apostle he will answere the death of the Crosse. For we preach saieth he Christ crucified and I esteemed not to know any thing among you but Christ Iesus and him crucified Christ crucified then that is by his death on the crosse destroied him that had power of death Of what death you aske hath the diuell power as well of the second death which Christ coulde not suffer as of the first which hee did suffer Christ you will saie coulde deliuer vs from no death but from the verie same which he suffered himselfe If so you saie or so would saie it is no lesse then heresie or blasphemie Hee deliuered vs from euerlasting death which hee neither did nor coulde suffer If you saie hee deliuered vs not from euerlasting death it is open heresie if you saie Christ suffered euerlasting death it is blasphemie Yet hath the diuell power of both deaths as well temporal as eternall What power you aske hath the diuel of this death which our bodies die God made not that death but by the enuy of the Diuell it came into the world He was the first procurer of it by perswading sinne and still reioiceth in it as the verie gate to hel I shal goe said Ezechiah to the gate of hell which was the death of his bodie that waie the wicked passe to hell Yea the Apostle calleth the corruption of our bodies the sting of sinne wherewith the diuell pearced vs when this corruption hath put on incorruption ô death where is thy sting For the exposition of the Apostles words I may either say with S Austen Ipse Dominus mori voluit vt quemadmodū de illo scriptum est per mortem euacuaret eum qui ptoestatē habebat mortis id est Diabolum liberaret eos qui timore mortis per t●tam vitam rei erant seruitutis Hoc Testimonio satis illud monstratur mortem istam corporis principe atque authore Diabolo hoc est ex peccato accidisse quod ille persuasit Neque enim ob aliud potestatem habere mortis verissime diceretur The Lord himselfe would die that as it is written of him by death he might destroie him that had power of death euen the diuell and deliuer them which for feare of death were all their life long subiect to seruitude By this testimonie it is sufficientlie prooued that this verie death of our bodies came from the Diuell as the Authour and chiefe dooer thereof that is from the sinne which hee perswaded He cannot for any other cause be said to haue power of death which here is most truly spoken Ambrose Chrysostom and Cyril referre death throughout that sentence to the death of the bodie In these wordes saie they the Apostle noteth an admirable thing that whereby the diuel had power thereby was he ouerthrown The weapons which were his strength against the world that is death by y t Christ strooke him Why trēble ye why feare ye death now death is not terrible but acceptable as the end of labor and the beginning of rest Chrysostom hath almost the same wordes Cyrill verie often expoundeth death in that place for the death of Christs bodie The sonne of God was partaker of flesh and bloud that yeelding his BODY to death he by nature as God being life it selfe might quicken it againe otherwise how had hee abolished the imperie of death vnlesse he had raised againe his dead BODY And againe Because it was aboue mans nature to abolish death yea rather it was subdued of death the son of God that is life took vnto him mans nature subiect to death y t death as a cruell beast inuading his flesh should cease frō his tyranny ouer vs that should thereby be abolished If by death in the second place we vnderstand the death of body and soule with Fulgentius I am not against it this being alwaies remembred that Christ died no death but the death of the bodie Mors filij Dei quam SOLA CARNE suscepit vtramque in nobis mortē animae scilicet carnisque destruxit The death which the sonne of God suffered ONLY in his flesh destroied BOTH DEATHS in vs as well that of the soule as that of the body The Confu●er hauing
and get you some other profession So then the paines which the damned feele besides the griefe of heauen lost is FLAMING FIER intolerably formenting both bodie and soule and as Cyprian obserueth Omni tormento atrocius desperatio condemnatos affliget Desperation which shall afflict the condemned worse then al their torments To these if you subiect the Sonne of God you know what will follow from these if you frée him as you needes must then is the Question at an end for in euery mans sight Christ did not suffer the paines of hell nor the torments of the damned which the scripture maketh to be these not those which you can neither expresse nor proue Frō slender reasons you come Sir Refuter to slenderer authorities and though you quote but few and not one of them speaking one word to your purpose yet before you produce them you chalenge them as vnsufficient to testifie in this or any cause against your liking For where they may not be iudges nor with you so much as witnesses of the Scriptures sense you so reie●t their expositions euerie where with pride disdaine yet you in your wisedome take vpon you to build vpon the words of the holy Ghost what absurdities and follies you list and your best reason is it were fond to thinke otherwise but be more sober if you will be ruled by me it is the way to hazard your own wits not their credits to entertaine thē in this maner They speake not plainly nor fully you say because it was neuer in question in their time Touching the redemption of man by the death blood of Christ Iesus they speake as plainly and fully as it is possible for men to speake and kéepe exactly the forme of wholesome doctrine deliuered in the Scriptures touching your hell paines they say nothing in déed because it was neuer heard of in y e Church of Christ in their times but that Christ died NOT THE DEATH OF THE SOVLE and by the ONLY DEATH OF HIS BODY and shedding of his blood sufficiently ransomed redéemed vs this cannot be spoken in plainer and exacter terms then they haue proposed it and proued it And therfore you and others shal doe well not to make al the ancient learned lights of Christs Church so ignorant in their Créed Catechisme as not to know how they were saued by y e Crosse death of Christ before your hellish paines of the damned were of late deuised Your better sifting of this matter is the open wresting and forcing of the scriptures against their true proper and perpetual sense to serue your strange conceits And as you do with the scriptures you must be suffered to do with the Fathers which you produce that is to put thē quite from their own meaning frame their words to your fancies before any man can tell to what end you cite them The first word you quote out of Ierom you falsifie by putting maledictum to it where Ierom doth not so but simply saith VVHAT VVE should haue suffered for our sinnes that he suffered for vs. The very next words that are his owne for he interposeth a place of Scripture that in his f●esh Christ dissolued our enmitie with God and healed vs with his stripes are these Ex quo perspicuum est sicut corpus flagellatum laceratum ita animam verè doluisse pro nobis Whereby it is euident that as his bodie was whipped and torne so his soule truely sorrowed for vs. Here you must be permitted to adde of your owne besides Ieroms meaning that this sorrow was your hellish sorrow or else I cannot sée why you cited Ierom except it were to falsifie him But how and why Christ sorrowed for vs when Ieroms own words were alleaged by me your answer was this is more fond and absurd than the other Cyprians words you neither vnderstand nor like he saith that Christ taking our person and cause vpon him sayd in our names that he was forsaken Quod pro eis voluisti intelligi qui deseri à Deo propter peccata meruerant quorum reconciliationis causam agebas which he would haue to be vnderstoode of vs or for vs who deserued by our sinnes to be forsaken of God whose reconciliation he then vndertooke So S. Austen expounded those words of Christ My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Illa vox membrorum ipsius vox erat non capitis that voyce was the voice of his members and not of the head but you could not endure either Austen or my other father so to say without controlement But Cyprian saith Christ endured like punishment to those that be sinners accursed In part not in all otherwise he must haue suffered eternall death of bodie and soule and therefore expounding himselfe in the next sentence he saith In tantum infirmis compateris vt nec crucifigi nec mori dum illi viuant non pereant nec erubescas nec formides So far didst thou suffer with the weake that thou didst neither shame to be crucified nor feare to dye so they might liue and not perish Ambrose saith With the sorrow of his soule Christ abolished the sorrow of our soules Here you must haue leaue to bring in your hellish sorrowes against Ambroses minde or else this is but lost labour the causes of Christs heauines and sorrow when I repeated out of this very place of Ambrose you reiected them as fond and false and now with the bare name of sorrow you think Ambrose dreamt of your hell paines For shame reade out the chapter and leaue these mistakings But Ambrose saith the man in Christ now readie to die by the separation of the Diuinite cried my God my God why hast thou forsaken me A man dieth when his soule leaueth his body Christ therefore ready to die the death of the body which was left of y e deitie vnto death by withdrawing it selfe for a time vttered these words Death of the soule or dereliction vnto hell paines there are none to be found in Ambrose nor any words sounding that way vnlesse you peruert them at your pleasure The words next going before are these Gloriosa Dei professio vsque ad mortem se pro nostris descendisse peccatis vel euidens manifestatio contestantis Dei secessionem Diuinitatis CORPORIS It was a glorious profession of God that he descended euen vnto death for our sins or an euident manifestation of God witnessing the departure of his Diuinitie from HIS BODIE when it dyed The next words of Ambrose why you alleage I doe not sée but to make vp the number which is very smale and lesse forcible Who doubteth but Christ offered that which he put on He put on his body his body he offered S. Paul will tell what Christ offered We are sanctified by the offering of the bodie of Iesus Christ once made Your own author Saint
Ambrose writing vpon these words alleaged by Paul thou hast fitted me a bodie saith Hoc ex persona dicitur eius qui CORPVS SVSCEPIT nostrae mortalitatis vt pro nobis haberet quod offerret This is spoken in his person who put on our MORTALL BODIE that he might haue what to offer for vs. Vna quippe oblatio corporis Christi perfectos facit sanctificatos quae remissionem integram facit peccatorum The one OBLATION OF THE BODIE OF CHRIST maketh perfect such as be sanctified and giueth full remission of sinnes If you thinke Ambrose mistooke the matter heare Athanasius A nobis simili corpore mutuato eo quod omnes mortis corruptioni obnoxij essemus pro omnibus IDIPSVM in mortem deditum patri suo SACRIFICAVIT vt homines à morte ad vitam CORPORE suo quod proprium sibi fecit reuocaret IMMOLATIONE enim SVI CORPORIS legi nobis in festa sinem posuit primordium vitae no●is renouauit spe resurrectionis nobis data The son of God BORROVVING FROM VS a ●ODIE LIKE OVRS because we all were subiect to the corruption of Death did SACRIFICE THE SAME to his father by yeelding it vp vnto Death that BY THE BODY which he made his own he might recall men from Death to life For by the OFFERING OF HIS BODIE he ended the lawe that oppressed vs and renewed the beginning of life vnto vs giuing vs hope of Resurrection Cyrill with the whole Synode of Alexandria which I mentioned before wrote thus to Nestorius Christ is made the mediator of God and man and a reconciler of peace offering himselfe to God to his father as a sweet smelling sacrifice for he OFFERED HIS OVVN BODIE FOR VS to bee a sweete sauour But of the true sacrifice for sinne which Christ offered I haue spoken enough before as well in this conclusion as in the Treatise It must haue the BODIE the BLOOD and the DEATH of the offerer none of which agrée to the soule of Christ though the bodie without a soule could be no reasonable sacrifice therefore I exclude not the soule whose obedience innocence patience concurred to sanctifie this sacrifice but I note the parts of the sacrifice for sin by the Apostles doctrine were those which I named the blood and death of the Sacrificer both which must néeds be found in his body and not in his soule From Ambrose you roue to Tertulliā there you find that which I neuer doubted of The Son suffered forsakē of his father Haec vox est animae corporis id est hominis This was the voice of soule bodie that is of man Did you think the body could speak without the soule before you read in Tertullian that this was the voice of both If you did you were deeply learned if you did not why doe you bring it as a matter worth the hearing that bodie and soule ioyned in speaking But you help it ouer y ● stile with a false translatiō where Tertullian saith this was the voice of soule flesh you english it o this is meant of the flesh and of the soule to wit as you expounde it that both soule and bodie died forsaken of God Take back Sir Refuter your false and vnsauerie glozes that corrupt the text Tertullian neuer heard nor thought of the death of Christs soule nor of anie such forsaking as you imagine hee expoundeth himselfe without your additions in the verie same place plaine enough Denique posuit spiritum statim obijt Spiritu enim manente in carne caro omnino mori non potest Ita relinqui a patre fuit mori filio silius igitur moritur resuscitatur Dicendo denique Christus mortuus est id quod vnctum est mortuum ostendit id est carnem Christ laid aside his spirit and PRESENTLY DIED For his spirit remaining in his flesh the FLESH by no meanes coulde DIE. So to be forsaken of the father was for the sonne TO DIE. The sonne therefore died and was raised againe Then in saying Christ died Paul shewed that died which was annointed euen the flesh of Christ. Of the death of Christes flesh Tertullian speaketh which hee saith could not possiblie bee so long as Christes soule remained in his bodie Christ then died no death of the soule whiles he liued and breathed on the crosse but the death which hee died was the laying aside of his soule and leauing his bodie vnto death You ende with Cyril that Christ made his fl●sh a Redemption for our flesh and his soule a Redemption for our soules Cyril meaneth nothing lesse then that which you would implie that wi●h the death of either part in himselfe Christ redeemed ●ach part in vs But Cyril knowing that Christ in his sufferings on the crosse ioyned both partes together the one to receaue the violence and rage of the wicked which was his bodie other to féele endure the smart thereof with all obedience patiēce which was his soule saith truly that Christ ioyning both soule and bodie in suffering for vs redéemed both soule and bodie in sauing vs which wee acknowledge to bee true without exception For had not the soule of Christ béene partner yea chiefe patient in those bodilie sufferinges of Christ they could not haue profited vs neither doe we at anie time otherwise speake or thinke of Christs sufferings but that the bodie was the instrument whereby the soule of Christ did admit and feele all those paines wrongs shames wounds and whatsoeuer he endured on the crosse or before at their hands which put him to death But these paines and sorrowes of Christs soule you saie MAKE NOT TO OVR REDEMPTION and vnlesse the soule properlie and immediatlie not from or by her bodie féele hellish paines and sorrowes such as the damned doe you make no reckning of all that Christ otherwise suffered And this is your error which you shrowde vnder the name of a most holie trueth where indéede if it be vrged followed as you beginne it will fall out to be a most hainous contemning of all that Christ suffered for vs and a dangerous substituting of other deuises which Christ neither did nor could suffer as you propose them You end Sir Refuter as you beganne with egregious lyes that not the most or the best BVT ALL AND EVERY ONE both churches and writers in the world that are protestants teach as you doe and that your doctrine is publiklie authorized by the lawes of this Realme as appeareth by the booke of Homilies where it is said that Christ put himselfe betweene Gods deserued wrath and our sinne But Syr confuter if you haue this propertie of Mydas y t you can turne all Fathers Churches writers and lawes with touching them to be of your opinion you must haue Mydas eares too vnlesse you looke better about you Such an insolēt and impudent speach would well
his sonnes you will make my hoare haires descend to Sheol with sorrow and likewise when Dauid said to Salomon thou shalt make Shemeis hoare haires descende to Sheol with bloud are there white haires or bloud in the worlde of soules as there are in the graue this is the state of deade bodies but not of soules departed In the destruction of Core Dathan and Abiran the Scripture saieth the earth opened her mouth swallowed them vp and their howsen and they descended and all that were with them aliue to Sheol Aliue is both bodie and soule in euerie mans eie For had those two beene seuered they had béene dead Doe the bodies of men descende to your world of soules or is it plaine that in this place must be meant by Sheol either hell which receiued both their bodies and soules that were in that rebellion against God or at least the heart of the earth which receaued them liuing whereas other men die before they are committed to the earth like sheepe saieth Dauid shall they bee laide in Sheol Are there shéepe or anie resemblance of sheepe in your worlde of soules or doth Dauid rather meane that as shéepe are bounde and then slaine and cast on heapes so shall the wicked bee handled nowe as manie places in the scriptures as note Sheol to be below cānot be referred to your worlde of soules for they are as well on high in heauen as below in hell And therefore of force Sheol must in all those places either importe hell which is belowe or the graue which is lower then the earth whereon men doe liue Thou hast deliuered my soule saith Dauid from the lower Sheol And Esaie of the King of Babell Sheol belowe was afraide at thy comming and raised vp her mightie men to meete thee and to saie vnto thee art thou also weakened as well as wee is thy pride depressed to Sheol This cannot bee meant of the generall and indefinite state of the deade nor of the worlde of soules for manie of them were on high in strength and ioie not in feare and weakenesse as here they are described in Sheol And therefore ruf●●le you and your abettour as long as you list with tauntes and tearmes fell crakes fray not such as bee priuie to your lame legs Again heauen is namelie expressed and opposed to Sheol how can heauen be included in Sheol To the high heauens what wilt thou do it is lower then Sheol how wilt thou know it Will your learning serue you to make the high heauens a part of the lowe Sheol If I ascend to heauen thou art there saieth Dauid to God if I lie downe in Sheol there art thou also So God himselfe by Amos If they dig to Sheol there shall my hande fetch them if they ascend to heauen thence will I bring them downe And to the king of Babilon Thou saiedst in thine heart I will ascende to heauen and climbe aboue the highth of the cloudes but thou shalt be pluckt down to Sheol euen to the sides of the pit To men of anie meane capacitie I thinke it be manifest that ascending here cannot be descending consequentlie that heauen is no part of Sheol but a place rather opposed against it albeit your impudencie be such y t in the Creed you expound he descended into hell by the cleane contrarie that is he ascended into heauen But what will not men of your face and fansie doe I hope all good men will beware of such expositians We deride the Glosse of the Canon law● for saying Statuimus id est abrogamus wee establish that is we abrogate How ridiculous and audacious then is this presumption to saie Christ descended into hel that is he ascended vp to heauen but hereof in the close when we haue first cleared your fonde conceites of SHEOL AND HADES The dead praise thee not saith Dauid to God nor all that descende into silence If the scriptures affirme as much of Sheol how can Sheol be the world of soules yea how can Sheol bee heauen where the soules night and daie that is euerlastinglie do nothing but praise God and confesse vnto him the honor of his name Sheol saieth Esay cannot confesse vnto thee neither can such as descende vnto the pit trust in thy truth Yea saieth Salomon There is no worke thought knowledge nor wisedome in Sheol whither thou goest If Sheol bee the world of soules they be all a sleepe that neither doe speake nor thinke anie thing Small are their ioyes and lesse are their paines which they neuer so much as thinke of So that neither hell nor heauen nor any part of your world of soules can bee heere vnderstoode by Sheol in Salomons wordes but of meere force it must be the Graue where the bodie lyeth voide of sense speach action or cogitation The rest of the places of the olde Testament where Sheol is named concurre with these and import either the graue which is common to the godlie with the wicked or else that pit which is prepared for the soules of the wicked which can bee none other place but preciselie and properlie HELL What textes they are of the lawe and the prophets where Sheol is named that cannot bee reffered to the graue I haue in the treatise before specified and handled such of them as I thought sufficient especiallie receauing no answere to my reasons but the Sphingicall perplexities of an high minded Maister whose wordes with mee though they bee of the largest size are but winde And therefore I rest vpon the same groundes and proofes which I make before and stande to iustifie that in no place of the olde or newe testament where SHEOL or HADES are named their world of soules is or canne bee vnderstoode let them name mee the places I will presentlie send them by Gods grace an answere As for HADES good Reader by which worde the Septuagint expresse the Hebrue SHEOL in all these textes where thou seest the worde SHEOL thou maiest assure thy selfe the Septuagint vse HADES in stéede thereof and the verie same reasons that serue for Sheol serue for HADES in euerie point without exception And that maketh me wholie to skippe the handling of HADES in the Septuagint and to referre the discussing thereof till I come to the places of the newe Testament Now the consequent of that I haue alleaged either heere or before is this that by SHEOL and HADES in the olde Testament must néedes be meante either HELL the GRAVE or their VVORLDE OF SOVLES which they so much talke of if no place in the olde Testament doe necessarilie enforce their worlde of soules to bee vnderstoode by either of these wordes then it remaineth that in what textes the graue maie not bee endured to bee the meaning of either of these wordes there wee conceaue the place of the damned must bee intended in either of them Peruse both the obseruations and allegations before