of sinne Lanch de operibus dei p. 1. l. 4. c. 11. and so liable to the iust punishment that is due for such a sinne And therefore in the iudgement of the very heathen the will of sinning doth most iustly deserue the punishment of the sinne For It is obserued by Diuines that although Satans power be verie great to corrupt all other faculties of the soule of man as to darken the vnderstanding to dazle the fancie to delude the sences and to prouoke the appetite That Satan hath no power to compell the will yet that hee hath no power to remoue or to turne the will he may tempt and perswade but he cannot compell the same for seeing this is the primum mobile the highest wheele in the frame of our soule that moueth and guideth all our actions and according to which they shall be discerned and iudged therefore in the middest of mans greatest assaults God would not suffer Satan to preuaile and to command the will but hee hath left the same in our owne libertie so that Satan cannot destroy vs vnlesse wee bee willing to destroy our selues and therefore Saint Ambrose sayth Ambros de vita beata habetur 15. q. 1. can Non est Non est quod cuiquam nostram ad scribamus arâ—â—mnam nisi nostra voluntati qui nemo tenetur ad culpam nisi voluntate propria deflexerit There is no reason why any man should ascribe the cause of his miseries to any thing in the world saue onely to his owne will for we perish because we will perish perditio tua ex te Our owne will is the cause of all our woe our destruction is from our selues and from no where else for no man is drawne to sinne neither can it be a sinne vnlesse the agent doth some way yeeld some consent of will for if Satan had power to force the will aliquis iustorum non remaneret then not a righteous man should remaine vpon the face of the earth and therefore are all his temptations called perswasions or suggestions and not compulsions because they are all vsed to make vs voluntary agents to make vs yeeld consent of will for that as I sayd before Non est peccatum nisi sit voluntarium No act can be a sinne any way vnlesse it bee voluntarie some way And therefore as Apollodorus the tyrant dreamed that hee was fleaâ—d by the Scythians and boyled in a seething Caldron and that his owne heart should say vnto him I am the cause of this thy fearefull torments so it is most certaine that there is no damned soule in hell but he may iustly say his owne heart and his owne will sent him thither for let Sathan doe what hee will and let him striue what he can yet if man were true to himselfe The gates of Hell should neuer preuaile against him because no created power is able to compell the will of man And yet such is the power of sinne that although reason should shew vs what is good Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor yet it maketh vs to will onely that which is euill to leaue the incommutable and infallible good and to follow after base and vile affections and then God seeing vs nilling the good and willing the euill he giues vs ouer to a reprobate minde Aug. de l. arbit Vt cum vult homo recte agere non potest quia quando potuit noluit ideo per malum velle perdidit bonum pesse That if we would will well wee cannot because when we could will well we would not and therefore as our first Father Adam so all we that are the sonnes of Adam by willing euill haue and doe loose the power of willing good For Rom. 1.21.24 That our sinne hath depriued vs of all will to doe good As because the Gentiles when they knew God glorified him not as God neither were thankfull therefore God gaue them ouer to vile affections to doe those things that were not conuenient So because when we had our will free and none could command it wee willed euill and not good therefore God in Iustice giues vs ouer to such wilfull greedinesse of sinning that now of our selues we haue not the least will to doe good for if any man willeth good it is from infused grace and not from our inbred will Philip. 1.13 for God worketh in vs both the will and the deed sayth the Apostle but our naturall will is dead from good for sinne hath so defiled the same that it willeth and affecteth nothing but vile and vaine things and so it compelleth euery part and facultie of the soule to long and lust after euill for the vis irascibilis the irascible distasting and angry faculty which should be as a dogge to keepe away sinne doth now waxe angry at euery vertue and that which should detest euill in his brother doth rage and swell at the reproofe of his Father and the vis concupiscibilis the concupiscible faculty or desiring appetite which should desire nothing but goodnesse and what were iust and honest doth now affect nothing but lewdnesse and what is most vile and abhominable and it cannot doe any otherwise Max. l 1. de charitate Nomquemadmodum passerculus pede alligatus c. For as a little bird tyed by the leg when he beginneth to flie is presently drawne downe againe by the string So the mind of man tyed by base affections if it seeke to mount vp to heauenly thoughts it is presently plucked downe againe by sinne saith Maximus And so you see that Quam non mille ferae quam non steneleius hostis Nec potuit quicquam vincere vincit Adam This will of man which neither mortall enemies nor yet infernall spirits nor any other created thing could subdue is now defiled polluted and wholly corrupted by sinne That no outward enemy can compell our will And therefore I can freely yeeld vnto our aduersaries that wee haue free-will in regard of any outward compulsion for that Satan himselfe cannot compell it for if he could we could not iustly be condemned for doing that vnwillingly which we are wholly and forcibly compelled to doe Our inward naturall corruption is that which draweth our will to sinne but we haue not the least free-will in regard of our naturall corruption for as a stone tumbling downe the hill needes no man to driue it so the will of it selfe is so inclined to euill that of it selfe it can no more affect goodnesse then a stone of it selfe to runne vpwards and therefore Saint Iohn saith of the regenerate Iohn 2.13 that they are not borne of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Secondly as no action can be good vnlesse the will be right and the will can neuer be right vnlesse the vnderstanding be right as Seneca saith for though the will be the Mistresse and the Commander of
Israel by making mutuall matches and mariages betwixt their Children whereby the anger of the Lord was so kindled that hee slew of them three and twenty thousand in one day 1 Kings 12.31 The other was the practice of Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat a great King that to establish his Kingdome did make Officers and Priests of the basest of the people 1 Kings 12.31 and thereby hee made all Israel for to sinne And therefore if you would suppresse or hinder the increase of sinne you must take heede among other things of these two especiall points First Marry not your Children vnto sinners That we should not marry our Children but to the best men but looke rather into the sincerity of their Religion the purity of their profession and the vprightnesse of their conuersation then the greatnesse of their reputation here amongst men and if you finde them Drunkards Swearers Players Idolaters superstitious or leud liuers or any wayes inclined to these or the like sinnes decline you from them and meddle not with them least their sinnes doe bring a plague and punishment to consume both you and yours for though it be a good thing to bestow thy Daughter in marriage yet is it not good vnlesse it be to a man of vnderstanding saith the Wiseman but they are a people void of reason and a Nation destitute of vnderstanding that turne the Diuine Verity into Idolatry or that doe any wayes erre from Gods Commandements Secondly make not any Officers especially Priests That we should not make any Officers especially Priests but those that are truly religious and honest of the basest of the people but looke into their liues and consider well their profession yea marke their inclination and whom you see corrupted with sinne or any wayes infected with the poyson of iniquity drunkennesse prophanenesse cruelty idolatry or superstition promote them not vnto your seates of Gouernment or if they be promoted and preferred by others yet haue you nothing to doe with this stoole of wickednesse receiue them not into your Houses entertaine them not at your Tables haue no commerce or conuersation with them meddle not with them fauour them not for you may be sure that they will fauour sinne and you should feare least by medling with them you should be defiled and tainted with sinne for the bewitching of naughtinesse Wisdome 4.10 doth soone obscure things that are honest But make much of them that feare the Lord and whom you see zealously affected to follow the true Religion and earnestly labouring to leade an vpright conuersation O let them be helped and furthered to be promoted both in Church and Common-wealth for you may be sure That we should make much of those that are good and godly men and doe our best to promote such into dignity that they will faithfully doe what lyeth in them to suppresse Idolatrie and all iniquitie Who so is wise will ponder these things and he shall vnderstand and perceiue and feele the louing kindnesse of the Lord. And as sinne seekes to creepe by degrees so if you looke into the liues of men you shall see how it comes fairely clad and vayled with the shaddowes of vaine excuses Sometimes of infirmity either of Age or of Nature young men thinke it too soone for them to be precise old men are weake and are not able to endure any longer seruice the wrathfull man Gen 4.23 with Lamech layeth all the fault on his fury if he slayes a man in his wound and a young man in his hurt the Drunkard saith it was his drinke and not he that acteth all the mischiefe and the lasciuious man excuseth himselfe with the heate of his bloud and the lust of his flesh Of the manifold excuses that sinners haue to lessen and to excuse their sinnes Gen. 3.7 Sometimes of conformity the proud the drunken the ambitious the couetous and the like sinnefull men they doe but as most men doe and why should they be singular Sometimes of simplicity there meaning is good what euill soeuer they doe And thus sinne couers it selfe like Adam with the fruitlesse figge-leaues of hypocrisie But alas beloued we must know that for Gods Husbandry no season proues vnseasonable but young men and maidens old men and children Psal 148.12 must praise and serue the Lord and Nature must be subdued by Grace if euer we will be the Children of Glory and all your excuses of sinne will not free your soules from eternall death but as the Prouerbe is Kill a man when thou art drunke and thou shalt be hanged when thou art sober So sweare and raile and rage and offend thy God and abuse man when thou art in thy drinke in thy fury and God will lay the punishment on thee and not on thy drinke when thou shalt not haue a drop of drinke to quench thy thirst nor a droppe of water to coole thy tongue Luc. 16.24 That we ought to keepe our selues spotlesse in the midst of the wicked And we haue learnt in Gods Schoole that Iuda must not sinne no though all Israel should play the Harlot but as the Riuer Alphaeus conuayes it selfe through the Seas into his beloued Arethusa and yet participates not at all with the Sea-saltish humour so must Lot preserue himselfe chaste in the middest of Sodome and the Saints in the middest of the World as I haue shewed at large in my Treatise The Delights of the Saints Page 47. of the Delights of the Saints And the Schoole of Diuinity teacheth vs that Bonum est de integra causa The beginning meanes and ending of euery action must needes be right or the whole action will proue wrong and therefore wee must take away these vailes from sinne if we would perceiue the vglinesse of sinne and so escape the wages of Sinne which is Death Secondly seeing Sinne is the reall and radicall cause Et mali morbi mortis Of weakenesse sickenesse miseries death and destruction a pernicious parent of most dreadfull and deadly off-spring for foolish men are plagued Psal 107.17 because of their offences and I will smite thee saith God himselfe vnto Iacob because of thy sinnes and it is an axiome infallible Mich. 6.13 that sinne and punishment are inseparable companions so inseperable that the Hebruists doe often call them both by one name as where the text sayth Sinne lyeth at the doore Gene. 4.7 and ver 13. and My sinne is greater then I can beare and againe your Sinne shall find you out there Arias Montanus and Tremellius translate it punishment Numb 32.23 That wee should acknowledge our owne sinnes to be the true cause of all our miseries Jere. 44.17 therefore if we feele any plagues or miseries either Dearth of Corne or decaying of Trade increase of Superstition or decrease of Religion or any such like plagues and miseries let vs not blame the times nor trueth of God but let vs lay the
737 TI. No time mispent that is spent to know the person of Christ 305 Christ how made in time 400 Of the time when Christ was borne ibid. How time hath his fulnesse 401 The particular time of the words incarnation 402. Titillation and thoughts of sinne is sinne 14 TO Torments of Hell how intollerable 86 Not equall to all the damned 93 Not suffered by Christ 581 TR. That we doe not traduce sinnes from our parents 246 Transubstantiation hath a double contradiction 173 How full of absurdities ibid. Defenders of Transubstantiation how agreeable to the false prophets whereof our Sauiour biddeth vs to beware 548 What the Author thinketh of Transubstantiation 549 Treason of Iudas what it should teach vs. 463 Mysterie of the Trinity why not fully reuealed at the first 272 How darkly shewed in the creatures 273 Trismegistus what he said of the word 312 Morall truth what it is 312 Truth in vs not as it is in God ibid. Physicall truth what it is ibid. God is truth two wayes 213 All truths how they doe proceed 213 Truth of things of vnderstanding of words 213 214 Diuine truth measureth all things 214 Expressed truth is two-fold 215 Truth how excellent it is ibid. How like the light 215 How it expelleth errors ibid. Sheweth what euery thing is ibid. How it begets vs to God 216 God true in himselfe in his workes and in his words 216 The primarie expressed truth contained in the holy Scriptures 215 Truth to be sought whatsoeuer it cost 217 To be defended with the losse of all that we haue 217 How alwayes handled on earth ibid. How at last it will preuaile 218 How euery truth proceedes from God 222 How God loueth it ibid. How it should be alwayes spoken 222 231 How hardly found in these dayes 222 231 Truth makes vs like to God 231 Truth and iustice how they pleaded against man 319 TV. To turne from sinne turnes away all the wrath of God 195 TW Twelue apparitions of Christ after his resurrection 565 Twelue wonders in the Manna of the Israelites 703 Two things further the sinnes of the parents to continue in the children 246 Two-fold will in Christ 296 Two sorts of Mediators 296 Two reasons shewing why Christ was made flesh 320 Two things to be done for man before he could be saued 321 Two things to be considered touching the conception of Christ 333 Two signes of a true Teacher 466 Two reasons moued Pilate to condemne Christ 478 That there is a two fold hope 649 Two kindes of prayer 700 TY. Giuing of Canaan to the Israelites a type of giuing heauen to vs. 127 The three women seeking Christ a type of the Church 519 520 Typicall testimonies that Christ should rise the third day 554 To liue vnder the tyrannie of sinne how lamentable it is 635 VA. VAnities of the world how soone they passe away 129 Christ despised all vanities 260 Vaine-glory how it tainteth many of the Clergy 525 Valentinus his heresie 343 VB Vbiquity cannot be communicated to any creature 156 Vbiquitie of Christ his body ouerthrowne by the assertion of the Angell 543 Obiections of the Vbiquitaries answered 168 388 VE Veniall sinnes or the least sinnes bring death 41 Vertue is of an admirable beauty 47 Christ a patterne of all vertue 260 VJ. Victory of Christ ouer Hell Death Sinne and Satan 634 Villanies of Satan to be shewed and why 392 Villanies done to Christ not paralelled since the world began 474 Vineger how giuen to Christ to drinke 482 Christ why borne of a Virgin 334 The blessed Virgin still continued a Virgin to her death 336 Visitation of God two-fold 243 To visite what it signifieth 243 God visiteth the afflicted ibid. God visiteth the wicked 244 VN Vnderstanding of Adam in Paradise how excellent 57 58. Our Vnderstanding now how darkened through sinne 58 How quicke and sharpe in naturall things 59 How blockish in all Diuine mysteries ibid. Our vnderstanding of God very small 121 Vnion of Christ his natures expressed by a simily of Iustin Martyr 371 Wherin the Nestorian heretickes auouched the same to consist 375 Wherein the Lutherans affirmed it to consist 377 Wherein it doth truely consist 378 Vnion of the two natures inconuertible indiuisible c. 379 Vnion of things three wayes made 380 Vnion of Christ his natures substantiall 381 Ineffable ibid. What benefits it bringeth 282 283 c. We must be vnited to Christ if we will ascend to Heauen 627 Vnity of brethren 689 Want of vnity amongst vs. 691 Vnrepentant sinners shall neuer be absolued 242 VO Voice of the creature three-fold 705 WA WAight of sinne feared by Christ 545 Christ how he walked vpon the waters 388 Warre how lawfull 702 All wants supplied by Christ 262 Way to Heauen how said to be hard 98 And how easie 99 Three wayes of knowing God 120 Three wayes of expressing what God is Wayes of wickednes how hard and difficult 99 121 Best way to teach is to lay a good foundation 392 Way to saue man could neuer haue beene found but onely by the wisdome of God 393 WE Wealth what discommoditie it bringerh 524 WH White clothing of Christ what it signified 473 White an argument of innocency 478 WI. Wicked men delight in committing sinne 36 They are greedy to doe it ibid. And they haue their full content when they haue done it ibid. How they should be afraid to offend Gods power 179 They haue no part in the speciall mercy of God 188 Wicked men not loued of God 189 They are with held from many sinnes by the goodnesse of God 200 To giue vnto the wicked power to serue God God is no waies to doe it 210 The wickednesse of professors of the truth ought no waies to disparage the truth of God 219 220 The wicked how they abuse Gods goodnesse 22â— How punished in their children 245 That they shall be punished 244 Not euery sinne of the wicked is visited vpon their children 247 The wicked how they doe deceiue themselues 517 How it hapneth that they seeke not God 5â—1 How they are terrified and punished by the Angels 536 How they are said to ascend 6â—0 How still captiues vnto Satan 635 Wife of Pilate how she iustified Christ 475 Will of God reuealed in our consciences and in the scriptures 11 Wilfull sinners 33 How fearefull is their state ibid. They can pleade no excuse ibid. The will commandeth all the faculties of the soule 53 Will to sinne deserueth the punishment of sinne 55 Our will cannot be compelled by Sathan nor by any other outward enemie 55 57 Our owne will is the cause of all our woe 55 How our will to doe good is quite killed by sinne 56 It is drawne to sinne by our owne corruption 57 How it is guided by the iudgement 57 How we may be said to haue free-will 57 To will to sinne euer is a temporarie act 97 God cannot will things contrarie to his nature 153 To will a thing we
this rather then they will leese their vayne and wanton pleasures So foolish are they and ignorant euen as it were beasts before him I haue read of Honorius a Roman Emperour that when one told him Rome was lost he was exceedingly grieued and cried alas alas for he supposed it was his henne so called which he exceedingly loued but when it was told him it was his Imperiall Citie Rome that was besieged by Alaricus and was now taken and lost then his spirits were reuiued that his losse was not so great as he imagined we may well thinke this to bee a simple and a childish disposition and yet our selues are worthie of the same condemnation for if we leese a little wealth a little pleasure a little vanitie things of themselues good for nothing because of themselues they can make nothing good and then as the prouerbe goeth that is too deere of a farthing which is good for nothing yet for these trifles wee will vex and fret weepe and wayle Zechar 12.11 and our mourning wil be Like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo but when we leese our soules in the desarts of sinne and when wee leese our God for sinne then with the Israelites wee sit downâ— to eate and drinke and rise vp to play Exod. 32.6 But seeing as the Emperor Seuerus sayd though wee bee all things and haue all things that the world can afford vs yet all things will auayle vs nothing without this thing because as I said before Christ is all things and all things without Christ are nothing seeing with Ixion they doe imbrace a cloud for Iuno a shadow for the body trash for treasure and a short momentarie dreame of pleasure in stead of the true and eternall rest which seeke their rest but not in Christ and seeing as hee sayth himselfe it is eternall life to know him with his father John 17.3 to bee the true and eternall God I will therefore craue your Christian patience and desire your carefull attention to hearken vnto the seuerall parts of this text and to retaine in your memories those chiefest obseruations that I shall collect from the same all I cannot and as I would I cannot I must ingeneously confesse it Nam mysterium singulariter mirabile mirabiliter singulare for it is a mysterie singularly wonderfull and wonderfully singular and indeede the mysterie of all mysteries and therefore Si profundum in profundo non reperiam humanam fragilitatem non diuinam potentiam confundo If I doe not handle the same as I ought to doe I shall but bewray mine owne humaine frailtie and no wayes impeach or disparage this diuine veritie And because as it is the first the greatest the chiefest and the comfortablest point of all Christian Religion so it hath beene and is and I feare euer will be most chiefely oppugned and depraued on all sides by all sorts of enemies and wicked Heretickes therefore as this mine introduction is somewhat large yet not to large either preparation or expectation for so great a matter as followeth after so you must giue mee leaue to insist the longer about it and not Myndus-like to suffer my porch to bee greater then my towne And if I shall seeme harsh in the prosecution and not giue full satisfaction vnto your desires and expectation you must know that they are poynts to informe the iudgement and apprehension and not to moue or to inflame the affection and therefore harder a great deale and more painefull for vs to handle them then to treat of any morall poynts of exhortation and though they be lesse delectable for the present yet are they farre more profitable for the future time especially vnto them that will most seriously consider them and most carefully remember them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Word was made flesh In which words as you may easily see the holy Euangelist setteth down the incarnation of this eternall Word and I for the fuller explanation of the same The whole treatise deuided into two parts must desire you to consider these two things 1. The summe and substance of this Words Incarnation 2. The chiefest cirumstances requisite for its explanation The 1. is heere fully expressed The 2. is from the other Euangelists plainely collected Touching the first here are three especiall things expressed 1. The thing that was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word 2. The thing that it was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Flesh 3. The manner of his making 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was made Or playner thus 1. Who was made 2. What it was made 3. How it was made the Word Flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not created not changed but made for the Word was made Flesh and of these by Gods helpe in order CHAP. II. Of the Trinitie of Persons in the Vnitie of Diuine Essence The first branch of the first part FIrst We must consider who was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word was made for the vnderstanding of which point wee must know that the diuine Essence is onely one impartible and indiuisible For so the Scripture teacheth vs Deut. 6. c. 32. heare O Israel the Lord thy God is one God and therefore know you that I am God alone and besides mee there is none other sayth the Lord himselfe 1 Cor. 4.8 and so Saint Paul sayth wee know that there is none other God but one Athanas in Symbolo Secondly So the Fathers teach vs for though the Father is God and the Sonne is God and the Holy-Ghost is God yet are there not three Gods but one God sayth Athanasius and these three are one if you consider the Diuinitie and this one is three if you consider the proprietie Nazin orat 3. de Theol. Amb. de fide l. 1. c. 2. sayth Saint Gregorie Nazianzen and so sayth Saint Ambrose Saint Augustine Saint Hillarie and all the rest Thirdly So reason it selfe teacheth vs for God is summum cns the first and chiefest being as himselfe professâ—th I am that I am and we haue learned that of the prince of Philosophers that there cannot bee but one chiefest being Quia ens vnum conuertuntur because that being one are all one Secondly God is infinite and therefore but one because that which is infinite comprehendeth all things within the circle of it selfe Thirdly If there were more Gods then one Reason sheweth that there can be but one God then they must bee either all without beginning or one must proceede from other either by creation or generation that they should be all without beginning is impossible for then it must needs follow that there should be multa principia prima disparata in vna voluntate non conuenientia many first causes and vnequall beginnings that could neuer agree and be of the same minde and will and therefore to say they should bee all without beginnings is most absurd If one be from the
haue giuen them vnto Iayes and Parrats Secondly we should know that the practise of Christianity is the onely argument to prooue vs true Christians by this Christ proued himselfe to be the Messias Practise onely proueth vs Christians for it is most true which Iouinian said of the Arrians and Orthodoxall Bishops I cannot iudge of your knowledge disputations but I can easily discerne your lines and conuersations Thirdly wee should remember that our actions are the best arguments Sozom. l. 7. A good life conuerteth others Basil l. de 40. Mart. and the most vnanswerable Syllogismes to conuert infidels Sozomenus tells vs that the godly life of a poore captiue woman moued a King and many others to become Christians and Iulian writing to Arsatius saith that Christiana religio propter Christianorum erga omnes cuiusuis religionis beneficentiam propagata est the piety and the charity of Christians did wonderfully cause the Christan Religion to increase Euseb l. 9. c. ◠and Maximinus said hee could not choose but wonder to see how sedulous the Christians were in doing good The bitter fruites of a bad life Whereas on the other side the lewd life of those that professe Christ doth bring forth many sower and bitter fruits First It dishonoureth God more then any other thing First it dishonoureth God his name is blasphemed through them among the Gentiles which beleeue not God and therefore God saith why takest thou my Lawes in thy mouth whereas thou hatest to be reformed Secondly It proueth them to be no Christians Secondly it proueth such liuers no christians because the profession of Christianity is a profession of works not of words Thirdly It hindereth the vnsetled mindes to imbrace Christianity for when they see men like Tusser that wrote well of husbandrie but was himselfe the worst husband that liued Thirdly It hindereth others to become Christians or like Erasmus Ruffian that carried by the one side a good bottle of sack and by the other side a faire guilded Testament such as will heare much and talke more of Religion and doe none of the works of God how shall not this diswade the vnstable hearts from euer imbracing of Christianitie It is reported that Lynacrus reading the Sermon of Christ in the Mount and considering the conuersation of men in the world said either this is not Gods Gospell or wee are not Gods people and I pray God that the faire-seeming-shewes of hypocritical professors and their most vile and abhominable actions bee not the cause to kindle Gods fearefull indignation against vs all And therefore beloued brethren let vs consider the Author of our profession Iesus Christ who went about doing goood let vs consider his holy Apostles Act. 10.38 and all our blessed Ancestors how sedulous they were in the practise of Religion wherby they haue gained a good report became glorious in the sight of God and men and let vs imitate them herein to doe good as they haue done and in all things to ioyne practise vnto our knowledge All men not sit for all purposes Secondly We may obserue from hence that as these women were fit messengers to tell the Disciples that Christ was risen but not to preach the same vnto the world so many men are sufficient for inferiour places and to preach the shallower points of Diuinity points of morality and popular exhortations but are not fit Ducere in altum to lanch foorth into the deepe and to treat of the higher mysticall points of Diuinity for as it is said of Dauids Worthies 2 Sam. 23.19 that they reached not vnto the first three so it may be said of vs all that many men may receiue a measure of Gods graces and yet not attaine vnto the measure of many others God giueth not the like measure of graces vnto all men because God doth not giue the same measure of graces vnto all but as in humane gifts wee finde that some had their memory so good that to their last times they could repeat whole orations some that in their yonger yeares had their iudgement so profound that they could determine the hardest questions Matth. 25.15 so in the deliuery of the Diuine talents whereby Theophilact vnderstandeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spirituall graces some haue fiue 2. King 2.9 some haue two some but one to note vnto vs that God granteth not only a superiority vnto some aboue their brethren in an higher kinde of a different grace but also in a greater measure of the same grace as the Spirit was doubled on Elisha if not in respect of his Master Eliah as some think not yet surely in respect of the other succeeding Prophets Dan. 1.20 in the Schoole of Nebuchadnezzars in chanters though they were all no doubt exceeding great Clerkes 1 Cor. 14.18 yet Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego were found to be ten times better then the rest and among these Daniel sleeping was found wiser then his fellowes waking so in the New Testament Iohn Baptist was a Prophet and more then a Prophet and Saint Paul spake languages more then all the rest of the Apostles God expecteth not the like fruits from all men and therefore God doth not require all his seruants nay he will not haue them all to aduenture or seeke to bring forth the like measure of fruit for hee was not angry with the slothfull seruant because that one talent had not gained ten talents but because he hid his masters money and had gained nothing at all Thirdly We may obserue from hence That we ought to follow Christ and not to goe before him that as Christ went before these Women and his Disciples into Galilee and they all followed after him So we should suffer Christ to goe before vs in all our wayes and not to runne our selues before him where perhaps he neuer went nor will goe for it is the property of a Disciple to follow after and not precede or goe before his master and therefore we must not goe into those places where Christ went not nor dispute of those points which Christ taught not for this is to goe before him and not to follow him Fourthly We may obserue from hence That we must passe from all worldly vanities before we can inioy spirituall blessings that as Christ passed from death to life and from this world into Heauen so must we before we come to Christ passe from our deadnesse in sin vnto the life of grace and from the vanities of this worldly life vnto a spirituall and a heauenly conuersation for as there was no possession of the Land of Canaan vntill there was a transmigration of the red Sea out of the land of Egypt so we can haue no fruition of Gods presence vntill we haue relinquished and passed ouer all the Egyptian vanities of this life in our desires and affections at the least And thus you haue heard the
others will haue this phrase to signifie his abode conuersation here among men thirdly others will haue it to signifie the state and condition of the dead as if the comparison were made betwixt those parts of the earth wherein the liuing doe inhabit and that place wherein the dead are buried and so they doe expound that place of Esayas that hee was cut off from the land of the liuing and so cast into the land of the dead Esay 53.8 which they say the Apostle vnderstandeth by the lower parts of the earth and fourthly others say that he descended into the place of the damned not to suffer Iohn 19.30 because that was finished on the Crosse nor to fetch any Fathers out of Lymbe but to signifie and to shew not onely by words but also by presence that seing by his death and Passion the wrath of God was appeased Satan was to haue no more power ouer the Elect which hee held captiue that he was now made Lord of all and that all power was giuen vnto him and a name aboue all other names Collos 2.15 and not onely to declare the same vnto them but also to subdue them and to spoyle principalities and powers and as my Text saith to leade captiuitie captiue And this is the exposition of most of the ancient Fathers for mine owne part I am of Zanchius minde Laâ—ch in Ephes c. 4. that in the word descendit all these foure expositions may bee comprehended because he descended into his mothers wombe to be conuersant here among men into his graue and into Hell and our very Creede expresseth all these foure he was conceaued by the holy Ghost i. e. in his mothers wombe there is the first hee was borne of the Virgin Marie and hee suffered vnder Pontius Pilate there is the second he was dead buried there is the third and he descended into Hell there is the fourth and these be the foure degrees of his humiliation That Christ descended into Hell and this the Apostle seemeth plainely to vnderstand by the antithesis by the coherence and by the scope of the words because hee saith that hee ascended to the highest part of Heauen and therefore this also that he descended into the lower parts of the earth is literally to bee vnderstood that he descended into Hell because no place of the earth is lower then Hell Secondly Touching the exaltation of Christ Saint Paul setteth downe two things 1. He describeth the Person ascending he which descended 2. He expresseth the action he ascended He which ascended is the very same person which descended First he saith that it is he which descended that hath ascended i. e. he which was made man which suffered was buried he ascended and who is he but God the Sonne the second Person of the Trinitie for so our Sauiour saith I went forth from the Father and I came into the world and againe I leaue the world and I goe to the Father and therfore it is the very self same Son of God and none other which both descended and ascended And so by these few words we finde two great heresies quite ouerthrowne first of them which say hee brought his body from Heauen because the Apostle doth not say he which ascended descended though this be true being truely vnderstood for he ascended God and Man which so did not descend but as God alone therefore he saith he which descended he ascended secondly hereby is ouerthrowne the heresie of Nestorius which said our Sauiour consisteth of two persons for if he which descended is the very same that ascended then it is apparant that by his descention That in Christ there cannot be two persons i. e. by the assumption of our nature hee is no other person then he was before but still remaineth one and the selfe same person and that the humane nature doth adde nothing vnto the Sonne of God for the constituting or perfecting of his person for otherwise he that ascended had bin another and not the same which descended for hee had descended a simple person and ascended compounded hee had descended an imperfect person and ascended perfect which is most hereticall either to say or think And this is the cause why we affirme that the person of Christ cannot be said to bee compounded of two natures tanquam ex partibus as of two parts Christ still remaineth a most simple person i. e not compounded but as hee was before the assuming of our nature so also now hee is still a most simple and a most perfect person bearing our nature as on â—â—areth on his garment but neuer to put it off againe because it is assumed into the vnitie of his person and so Saint Augustine saith that Christ descended like a naked man and when he ascended he ascended the same person but clothed with our flesh and therefore as he is not another man that taketh on a garment so the Sonne of God is not another person because he tooke vpon him the garment of our flesh and if the humane nature assumed did neither change nor perfect nor compound the person of the Sonne of God because he which descended is the very same that ascended and none other then by the same reason it cannot be said that Christ tooke man vpon him i. e. a humane person as Nestorius taught But therefore he vnderstood not the same How Nestorius was deceiued about the person of Christ because on the one side hee held that true philosophicall principle that the actions are of the persons and not of the natures and on the other side he held another principle which is also true if it be truely vnderstood that of contrary effects there must bee contrary efficient causes and hee saw that in Christ there were diuers and contrary actions and therefore he did thence conclude that in Christ there must needs be diuers persons whereof the one should be passible and the other impassible and so he made that hee which descended was not the same but another that ascended for he considered not quod idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 potest diuersa pugnantia opâ—rari secundam diuersas in eo naturas that the same subsistent or person may worke diuers and contrarie acts in respect of the diuers natures that are in it as a man according to his soule doth vnderstand and according to his body hee doth not vnderstand in respect of his soule he is immortall and in respect of his body hee is mortall and so through his ignorance hee hath abused these true philosophicall principles being truely vnderstood to denie the truth of the Scriptures and to wrong the person of the Sonne of God but the Fathers truely explaining the sayd principles did confute his error and confirme this truth that he which descended is the very same that ascended and none other But from hence it is apparant that the word descendit is not to be taken in