They inherite both sinne and death from their Parents and so of necessity must die and putrifie in the graue he did inherite neither but being free from both yeelded himselfe to die that he might purge and abolish sinne Death wresteth our soules from our bodies be we neuer so patient whiles sence doth last he breathed out his soule powerfully and willingly which none could take from him except he would lay it downe of his owne accord Our bodies doe rot in the graue and lye in corruption which is the dominion of death till the time they shall be restored his body could not be dissolued to ashes because neither part of his humane nature might perish after it was once vnited to his Diuine but lay in the graue without corruption resisting death and rose with speede in glory ouerthrowing death first in him selfe and after in all his members at their appointed time So that death is now a necessarie consequent to our sinfull nature his voluntary death was the satisfaction for our sins and pacification of Gods wrath restoring vs againe to Gods fauour which through sin we had lost Thus haue you both swarued very far Sir Desender from your owne question which your selfe put in your first Treatise though wide from our purpose and wholy misreported the doctrine which I formerly auouched by Scriptures and Fathers giuing small hope you will deale more sincerely in the rest that enter so corruptly at the first but you will now open the whole state of the Question which we are content to heare The opening of the whole state of the Question For the better vnderstanding whereof we must note these principall things What you calâ—… the opening of the Question I may better call the darkning and obscuring of the Question with many trifling and tedious obseruations with many new found farre fet and ill applyed phrases with many bold and false assertions powred out of your owne braines without any shew or so much as pretence of holy Scripture And if you may be suffered thus to raigne and reuele in matters of Religion at your pleasure it is an easie way for you to conclude any thing without any great paines or proofes For you bring vs a world of wordes warranted by no mans authoritie but by your owne and out of them you frame false positions fitte for your fancie and vtter them as vndoubted principles of Christian Religion which indeede haue in them neither truth nor sence when they come to be examined As is your matter so is your method tumbling and tossing too and fro like the vnsettlednesse of your head and spending twentie pages in meere confusion and contradiction for which cause I must be driuen to recall your conceits to some speciall heads least in pursuing your steps I loose both my selfe and the Reader The things which you disorderly shuffle and I shall be forced more largely to handle concerne either the offender which is man or the offence which is sinne or the Iudge which is God or the punishment which is death or the ransommer and redeemer which is Christ. I meane to meddle with no more in any of these but what directly pertaineth to this question and serueth aptly to exclude your conceits and truely to establish the collections which I make First then 1 touching MAN who consisteth of body and soule the doubt will be whether the whole man sinned in Adam that the whole might suffer in Christ or whether the soule onely sinned that the soule of Christ onely must suffer Secondly in 2 SINNE must be remembred how it commeth and what it bringeth Sinne is either COMMITTED as by Adam or INHERITED as by vs all or ASSVMED as by Christ who tooke vpon him the punishment of our sinnes though neither committed nor inherited by him And of it selfe sinne breedeth in the offendor where it is not remitted clensed and remooued by the blood of Christ POLLVTION of the whole man STING of conscience and REVENGE of Gods wrath in this life and the next Thirdly for the 3 IVDGE which is God we must learne from what ground within him the punishments of his elect in this life doe proceede whether from his Iustice or from his loue or from both mixed together by whom he executeth his iustice in earth and in hell whether by his immediate hand or by inferiour ministers and meanes with what measure he proportioneth it as well to the faithfull in this life as to the faithlesse till the number of their sinnes be full and lastly to what purpose he directeth it either to reuenge sinne as in the wicked and damned or to represse sinne as in the godly or to declare his iustice as in Infants baptized or to perfit his graces as in the best of his Saints here on earth or to purge and abolish sinne and to prooue obedience as in the person of Christ Iesus Fourthly 4 DEATH which is the wages of sinne and includeth all the punishments prouided here and elsewhere for sinners is either corporall parting the soule from the bodie or spirituall separating the soule from the life and grace of God or eternall excluding both bodie and soule from the ioy and blisse of Gods heauenly kingdome and wrapping them both in the darkenesse fire and horrour of hell for euer That all the paynes and griefes of this life are the seedes of death and wayes to death and so come vnder the name of death which driueth the soule from the bodie is now presumed and shall be prooued in place conuenient Fiftly concerning the 5 REDEEMER which is Christ to whose sufferings all that is aforesaid must in some sort be referred the question is in what part and how farre he suffered feared or apprehended the wrath of God against our sinnes but without question we must know and beleeue that his person was naturally and infinitely beloued of God all the elect being imbraced and accepted onely for him and in him and that the dignitie of his person and depth of his fauour with God when hee submitted himselfe to shew his obedience and maintaine Gods iustice by the shame and sharpenesse of the Crosse receiued in his humaine nature was the right ground and true cause of our Redemption and Reconciliation to God whose patience vnto death was a greater and acceptabler sacrifice to God for sinne then all the world yea then all earthly and heauenly creatures were worth And to increase or strengthen this voluntary sacrifice for sinne the paines of hell were no way needfull since Christ was to shew his obedience in this life onely and after death to rise and raigne with glory and by that which he suffered on the Crosse he was to learne the obedience of a Sonne and not the vengeance due to deuils In all these issues if I would take the Discoursers trade to affirme what I list without any further proofe I could end the whole cause in as fewe wordes as I haue expressed it but since that will neither
former feare and freed from suffering hell paines wherein there is no comfort he prayed more earnestly or ardently and his sweate was in colour and consistence like drops or strings of blood trickling downe to the ground So that feruencie in prayer is set downe next before that sweate in the Gospell as a precedent or cause thereof Howbeit I onely barre the boldnesse of this deuiser who presumeth what pleaseth him of Christs bloodie sweate in the garden because the Scriptures doe not exactly mention the cause and thinke it no reason to let him build on a blinde coniecture a false conceit of his owne without any warrant of holy Scripture But I am repugnant to my selfe and some where I hold that Christ suffered no more but meere bodily paines that is in his soule from and by his bodie Neuerthelesse contrâ—…riwise I seeme somewhere to yeelde wholely so much as you affirme I leaue that grace to you Sir Discourser to roule to and fro and when you haue â—…aid a thing after a sense and in a sort then in another kind to vnsay it againe and laying the whole foundation of your cause vpon Christes suffering the wrath of God neither to bring any proofes or to shew any parts thereof by the word of God but to play with the termes of very proper and meere and to call that the opening of the whole question Indeed I euery where defend that Christ suffered no death expressed or mentioned in the Scriptures saue onely the death of the bodie from other passions or sufferings of the soule as feare sorrow shame and such like I doe not exempt the soule of Christ when he sustered for our sinnes though I leaue no place in him for the feare of damnation sting of conscience despaire or doubt of Gods fauour and such other shipwrackes of all faith hope patience and pietie The Crosse death and blood of Christ when I name I vse those words as the Scripture doth to declare the whole maner and order of his passion from the garden to the graue as it is described in the Euangelists not excluding either the feare or agonie which befell him before he was apprehended but comprising within his death his obedience and patience in all those asâ—…ictions which he suffered till he died And this is no wauering in mee to retaine the words of the holy Ghost in their right sense and vse but it is rather a childish dalliance in you Sir Discourser to suppose that the death of Christ doth import no more but the very act of giuing vp the ghost or els if I by that worde designe the rest of Christs sufferings endured at the time of his death by the witnesse of holy Scripture you will also hemme in your hell paines within the list of the same wordes though the Euangelists name or note no such thing in all the historie of Christs passâ—…on So likewise in speaking of Gods wrath against the wicked I wrap in no Ridles nor enuiron the Reader with a windlace of words but plainely and fairely distinguish it either by the naturall vertues and properties that are in God misâ—…iking and repreâ—…sing sinne or by the effects and punishments proceeding from God to reuenge the works and reward the workers of iniquitie In the wicked Gods holinesse hateth the euill deede and the doer that is both the sinne and the sinner and by his iustice without all loue or fauour towardes them awardeth a punishment against them according to their deserts which the power of God doth execute on them not respecting their strength but rather inabling them to continue in perpetuall torments of bodie and soule in hell fire for euer Gods purpose being onely to reuenge sinne in them and to destroy them for their sinnes which is most holy and righteous in him though it be neuer so grieuous and intollerable to them Gods iust and full iudgement against sinne where and when it pleaseth him to inflict it is the depriuing bodie and soule of all outward and inward peace and grace in this life for the time and the reiecting of both from all blisâ—…e and rest in the world to come for euer which is the losâ—…e of God and of all his blessings prouided in this life and the next for his elect These causes and parts Gods anger hath against the wicked for their sinnes and to euery of these the Scripture beareth witnesse In Christ Gods holinesse infinitely imbraced the humilitie obedience and charitie of his Sonne offering himselfe to be the ransommer of man and perfectly loued the integritie innocencie and puritie of his manhood created called and anointed of God to this intent and end that his death and bloodshedding should be the redemption of the world though God vtterly hated the sinnes of men which his sonne then assumed into the bodie of his flesh to beare the burden of them when wee could not Wherefore Gods iustice finding the loue of the Father towards his Sonne farre to exceede the hatred of the Creator against the vncleannesse of his sinfull but sedused creature did relent from the rigour of that iudgement which was prouided for sinne in Angels and with a fatherly regard and respect to the meanest part of the peâ—…son of his sonne decreed a punishment for our sinnes in the manhood of Christ which was a corporall death accompanied with the sharpest paines that Christ might endure with obedience and pacience whose voluntarie submission and sacrifice for sinne the iustice of God did accept as a most sufficient price and payment for all our sinnes which in themselues deserued euerlasting destruction of bodie and soule in hell fire with deuils This correction though very sharpe yet not ouerpressing the patience of Christs manhood Gods iustice would not release to his owne Sonne least he should seeme to make light account of our sinne if it were remitted onely for prayer and intreatie and without iust cause so terribly to punish the sinnes of the reprobate with all kinds of death I meane corporall spirituall and eternall And greater or other death then the death of the bodie God by no iustice could impose on the person of his Sonne since Christ could not be subiected to sinne which he must cleanse and abolish in vs much lesse be reiected from euerlasting â—…lisse and ioy to which hee must bring vs least of all linked and chained with deuils in perpetuall flames of hell fire for so much as hee was the true and onely Sonne of God for whose sake we all were adopted and made heires of eternall saluation And for this cause the power of God which is otherwise most dreadfull to men and Angels and so was then to the manhood of Christ restrained it selfe and tempered the smart of Christes paines to the stâ—…ength of Christes humane nature not meaning to ouerwhelme his patience but to trie his obedience to the vttermost In all which sufâ—…erings Gods counsell and purpose was most fauourable and honourable euen to the manhood
sorow necessarie in the sacrifice for sinne of his sanctitie with godly sorrow which was despised with our iniquitie the mitigating of his anger with humble and earnest praier which was prouoked with our contempts were they not three different effects euen in Christ himselfe and so might stirre vp three religious affections of feare sorrow and prayer Why then should they be confounded in Christ whose humane nature might yeeld all three to God as well in respect of pietie to God and of charitie to men as in regard of his office for the satisfaction of our sinnes for he might not approch the presence of God as a Priest with our person and cause who were sinnefull though he were innocent and holy to make intercession and sacrifice for our sinnes but he must giue God his due glorie haue compassion on our miserie and mediate for our safetie As therefore I see no cause to exclude these affections and actions from the satisfaction for sin so I see greater reason to include them in the sacrifice for sin except we make Christ a Priest onely by his SVFFERINGS leaue him neither any honor of OFFERING nor right of PRAYING for vs in the purgation of our sins which were a strange kind of Priesthood no way answerable to the Leuiticall in that wherin the apostle compareth them For in the Law the Priest was to present the sacrifice to God and to pray for the trespasser which if you thinke needlesse in the true sacrifice that should propitiate the sinnes of the world you must correct the Apostle that maketh the Law a figure of the Gospell though the person of the Priest and the price of the sacrifice farre excell all that was vnder the Law b Defenc. pag. 99. li. 20. Furthermore you knit in within this foure other seuer all causes of Christes agonie as you recken them pa. 27. First his taking of our infirmities in his flesh to cure them Secondly his breaking the knot betwixt bodily death and hell which none but hee was able to doe Thirdly Gods anger which might be executed on his bodie but was mitigated by him Fourthly the desire he had to continue the feeling and enioying of Gods presence with his bodie As there is no one thing in the Scriptures that receiueth and hath more diuers opinions of it than Christes agonie in the Garden so I proposed as many as had any coherence with trueth and left the Reader to make his choise which he liked best Howbeit I did not pag. 27. recken foure seuerall causes of Christes agonie as you mistake but of the c Serm. pag. 27. li. 23. feare which Christ had and shewed of his bodily death His agony had other parts and affections besides feare and astonishment as sorow zeale submissiue and intentiue prayer and a bloudie sweat the obiects and ends whereof might be as different as the things themselues For example Christes feare in the Garden might haue many respects and causes as well as his sorow He might feare the glory of God now sitting in iudgement to receiue recompense for the sinnes of his elect For as Christ himselfe who best knew it confirmeth it by saying d Iohn 12. Christes manhood might feare the glorie of Gods iudgement Now at hand is the iudgement of this world now shall the Prince of this world be cast on t so wee must not thinke so mightie and weightie matters as the iudgement of the world and the casting out of Satan the accuser of his brethren and the admitting the Redeemer to present himselfe here on earth for our cause to the face of God in iudgement were decreed and setled by God without some reuelation of his glorie and maiestie meet for those persons and purposes For this is a rule which may euery where be obserued in the Scriptures that when God is described as a Iudge he is sayd to sit in a Throne and all the host of heauen to stand before him to resemble the glory of his iudgement as we finde in Daniel 7. vers 9 10. Esa. 6. vers 1 2. 1. Kings 22. vers 19. Wherefore Dauid sayth e Psal. 9. v. 7. The Lord hath prepared his throne for iudgement This Michaiah and Esay the Prophets say they SAW which whether it were by sight as Steuen f Act. 7 v. 55. looked stedfastly into heauen and with his eyes saw the glory of God and Iesus standing at the right hand of God or in spirit as Ezechiel waking and g Ezech. 8. sitting in his house with the Elders of Iudah before him was by a diuine vision brought to Ierusalem to see all the abominations there committed I dare not determine Christ himselfe sayth I saw Satan fall downe from heauen like lightning Which way soeuer Gods glory in iudgement was reuealed vnto Christ and beheld of Christ in the Garden it was able for the time of his humilitie to impresse a religious feare and trembling into his humane nature since Christ came now by iudgement to haue the burden of our sinnes taken from vs and layed vpon him that he might make satisfaction for them Another thing that Christ might iustly and yet religiously feare in the Garden offering now to ransome man from the wrath of God was the POWER of Gods wrath Hâ—… might feare 〈◊〉 pâ—…wer of Goâ—…s wrath 〈◊〉 our sinne whiâ—…h hâ—… was to â—…eare which is fully infinite and so farre exceedeth the strength and reach of mans nature that our earthly infirmitie to which Christ submitted himselfe for our sakes can not comprehend the greatnesse thereof nor thinke on the power thereof without feare and trembling h Psal. 90. v. 11 Who knoweth saith Dauid to God the power of thy wrath for according to thy feare that is as thou art feared so is thine anger Contempt and carelessenesse kindle and increase the wrath of God against vs feare and submission asswage it And when I name feare I meane not a dreadfull distrust of Gods purpose towards vs which is desperation but a perswasion and confession of his power ouer vs whereby we feare to displease him and tremble before him withall submission when we haue displeased him This feare Christ teacheth his disciples when he saith I will shew you Luc. 12. whom you shall feare feare him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yeâ—… I say feare him not meaning they should firmely beleeue God would euerlastingly condemne them but that thinking on his power preuailing here and in hell they should beware to prouoke him and with all humilitie prostrate themselues before him when they had offended him to preuent his anger Christ you will say needed not thus to feare since he was no sinner For himselfe he needed not because he was innocent and obedient in all thinges to the vttermost but since he was at this time now to beare the burthen of our sinnes in his body and to haue the chasticement of our peace laid
agonie With this childish Art you haue almost waded by them not denying as indeede you cannot that they were then before Christs eyes when he feared and sorrowed in the Garden but that either they were no new things to him or else parts of his righteousnesse and holinesse Both which Answeres are very idle For your hell paines if that were part of his Passion were no more newes to his foresight then the rest and all Christs sufferings euen of your hell paines if that conceite had any truth in it were parts of his obedience and patience as well as his suffering of feare and sorrow or of bodily death Wherefore these be but straines and starts to make your Reader beleeue you haue somewhat to say when indeed your oppositions are so sleight that they bewray how gladly you would and how hardly you can distresse any of these causes which I said might concurre in Christs Agonie They all were weightie and godly respects impressing no small degrees of feare sorrow care and zeale on the Soule of Christ and directly pertinent to the worke of our redemption now in hand And where you shift them of as parts of Christs habituall holinesse alwaies resting in him know you good Sir that I speake not in this case of the permanent gifts of grace alwaies inherent in Christs Soule but of the painfull impressions which those respects did therefore now presently and sensiblie make on the Soule of Christ more then at other times because they came now to execution which before were but in cogitation by religious and humble praier he was now to settle the whole course force effects of his sufferings c Defenc. pag. 105. li. 10. Call you this greater perfection in him than in other men to pray expressely against the knowne will of his Father yea against his owne That Christ praied against the knowen will of his Father is an irreligious and dangerous dreame of yours This Toy you trump in euery where as if it were some choise Answere and yet this emptie reason maketh as much against you as against me if there were any waight in it For if Christ did suffer the paines of the damned according to your deuice was it not his Fathers knowen will he should so doe yea and his owne also How then doe the paines of hell excuse him from praying against his Fathers knowen will he was so amazed therewith you will say that he knew not what he did Christ must then be wholy depriued of all vnderstanding if he neither remembred his Fathers will nor his owne nor our saluation for whose sake he was content to suffer And how then came he so suddainly in the very next syllable to remember himselfe and his Fathers will He was now freed you will say from that astonishment How fell he then thrice into it he had so many touches of hell paines which must needs confound all the powers and parts of his body Then all the time of his apprehension examination condemnation and crucifixion he felt no such thing since the Gospels beare witnesse that he wisely religiously constantly carefully and euery way admirably behaued himselfe in eche word and deede after to the instant of his death and remembred all things that were written of him Is not here a fine mockerie which is the fortresse of all your hidden mysteries that to prooue your hell paines you must bring Christ into three such fits and pangs of confusion and obliuion that he knew not what he said or did presently with the speaking of YET to restore him againe to his perfect sense and memorie and so to free him from all your new deuised Passions besides your selues no writer old nor new did euer find in Christs prayer that he knew not what he said and the condition added before his prayer d Luke 22. Father if thou wilt take away this Cup from me and the submission following with the same breath yet not my will but thine be done doe plainely prooue that Christ had exact remembrance and regard of his fathers will besides that the Apostle affirmeth of this prayer that Christ e Heb. 5. was heard in that he feared So that if this be all the Scripture you can produce for your hell paines I protest before God and his whole Church I will sooner beleeue that you were out of your wits in writing this then that Christ was forgetfull in praying that which he spake in the Garden f Defenc. pag. 105. li. 10. Againe could this thing in any reason be such an horrible griefe vnto him to haue his flesh lie dead for a day and a few howers would the thought of this make him sweat bloud for griefe and to neede an Angell from heauen to comfort him and to pray three times vehemently this cup might passe from him verily it is vnreasonable to thinkeso Who hath bewitched you thus openly and vsually to fasten on vntrueths I alleaged six causes that might 〈◊〉 in Christes agonie you haue piked out of my wordes foure more then euer I ment to be reasons of his bloudie sweate and are nine of these now puft away with a breath and nothing left by your swelling and insulting eloquence but the deadnesse of Christs body whiles the soule wanted this it is for a man to trust to his tongue when his teeth be gone and to bleate when he cannot bite If the cause were not Gods it might be thought a pastime thus to faine and face but in so serious questions to vse such idle and false imputations and friuolous refutations is a griefe to any good mans eares and a corrosiue to his conscience Of Christes agony and the causes that might occasion his feare his sorow and his zeale in the garden I haue said so much that I am wearie with repeating though you be neuer weary with resuming the selfe same childish and erroneous mistaking The reason of my speach is plaine and euident howsoeuer you take the course rather to misreport it then refute it For if the soules of Gods saincts doe by nature vnwillingly leaue their bodies to which they are vnited though by them they are often molested and burdened otherwise death were no punishment of sinne but a signe of Gods far our which is nothing so how farre iuster cause then was there Christ should naturally dislike death not only because it was a subuersion of nature created quickned by God and an effect of Gods displeasure against sinne imposed on all men but also for that it should during the time depriue him of life sense and action with great slaunder and infamie and cheefely should exclude for a season his bodie from that blessed communion and fruition of his diuine grace and glorie which formerly it felt though the personall vnion should not be disâ—…olued now the more Christ liked and loued that adherence to God which he liuing enioied the more grieuous was the want thereof which death tooke from him for
Creed how we were saued and what is the price of our Redemption specially the Scriptures going so cleare with them and they teaching so closely and soundly the trueth there expressed d Defenc. pag. 110. li. 9. These very sentences of the fathers I can easily admit if they import no more then that those outward afflictions on the Crosse were SOME CAVSES AND THAT NO SMAL of his complaint alwaies remembring that some greater cause also did concurre and was conioined with them Then by your owne confession haue the fathers spoken trueth and there was small or no cause giuen you to make so light regard of them As for your other greater cause when you prooue by Scripture as you intend that Christs soule on the crosse suffered the second death and the paines of the damned you shall haue a speciall reseruation that your fansies may be conioined with Christs praiers otherwise your reasons be like your resolutions they haue neither proofe nor strength besides your owne priuate and presumptuous perswasions e Defenc. pag. 110. li. 14. Your third sense if I conceiue it aright is that his being left to bodily death caused him thus to mourne which is but as the last before And yet you seeme to meane not only that but also because his flesh now should want all feeling of his heauenly comfort for that while that it should remaine dead A maruailous exquisite and farre fet cause The sense is neither mine nor so farre fet as you would make it I tooke it out of Tertullian Hilarie and The third sense of Christs complaint on the crosse Epiphanius whose wordes I produced to that purpose and howsoeuer you gibe at it after your scornefull maner I suppose it will prooue sounder then your hellish death which you haue so learnedly deuised out of their words The difference betwixt this and the former sense is not great For there the fathers ment Christ was forsaken that is not deliuered from the rage of his persecutors whiles he liued and these doe adde that he was left vnto death presuming death to be the greatest and most grieuous of all outward afflictions which in this life befall the nature of man f Defenc. pag. 110. li. 19. Yet me thinks as this crosseth your other expositions here so it is flat contrarie to the Scripture also If the expositions were contrary each to other so long as they be sundrie mens and repeated onely by me to shew how many senses haue beene deliuered in the Church of Christ by learned and auncient Fathers touching that complaint or praier of Christ which you would faine abuse to hatch your hell-paines what els note you by their contratiety but the diuersity of mens iudgements vpon these words all which conioined in this against you that Christes complaint on the crosse may diuersly be conceaued according to the different acceptions of forsaking and yet your paines of the damned haue no place in that variety or contrariety of â—…enses But this third sense you say is flat contrarie to the Scripture That were worth the hearing indeed if your foolish conceits were not farre more likely to crosse both themselues the Scriptures then iustly to controle the iudgements of so learned fathers But what is this great ouersight that is so much repugnant to the Scripture the Scripture g Ibid. li. 21. giueth after a sort to Christes dead flesh this LIVELY AFFECTION my flesh shall rest in hope The soule of Christ which was replenished with life trueth and grace as being personally vnited vnto God and of whose fullnesse we all haue receaued you affirme died on the Crosse and none other death then the second death and Christs flesh lying dead in the graue you imagine not only to haue life but to be a liuing spirit For you giue vnto it the liuely affection of hope which nothing hath that is not a liuing and reasonable soule or more You doe it you will say but after a sort That sort is absurd inough of figuratiue speaches in the Scriptures to make positiue doctrines For if you defend that the dead flesh of Christ in the graue had indeed any liuely affection of hope in part or in whole it is a brutish heresie denying that Christ was truely dead and that his body was truely flesh since a liuely hope impoâ—…teth not only life but vnderstanding and faith If you graunt these speaches to be figuratiue then doe you betray your folly to thwart the fathers assertions with figuratiue florishes as if they were proper and to pronounce their sayings flat contrary to the Scriptures because you can pike out a word that in outward shew soundeth somewhat strangely Hope in these wordes of Dauid is either applied to the soule of Christ in respect of the resurrection of his body which he beleeued and hoped for as most assured or if we apply it to the body it noteth safety from corruption and promise made by God of speedie resurrection which was the thing wherewith Christs bodie might be inuested But we shall haue mainer proofe for this matter h Defenc. pag. 110. li. 24. Is it likely is it possible that he should so dolefully mourne that either he should bodily dy or that his body should want the sense of his diuine presence so little a while when as in HIS MINDHE SPEAKETH SO TRIVMPHANTLY of his CONSTANT and CONTINVALLIOY IN GOD yea not excluding euen his body though dead from participating in some sort therein as we read in the former place at large I i Act 2. 26 27. BEHEID the Lord alwaies The Defender 〈◊〉 contradicteth his owne doctrine before me for he is at my right hand that I should not bâ—… shaken Therefore did mine heart reioice and my tongue was glad and moreouer my flesh shall rest in hope Now can a man in this EXCEEDING GENERALL and CONSTANTIOY so vncomfortably mourne in that sense as you vrge My God my God why forsakest thou my flesh it cannot be I would not thinke it likely nor possible if I did not see it before mine eies that such a pert Proctour should so proudly despise all auncient writers and fathers that fauour not his faction and yet so palpably confound himselfe and his whole cause with ouermuch prating For Christian Reader I pray thee take no more but his owne confession or assertion in this place by which he thought to ouerbeare all that stood in his way and obserue both how desperatly he contradicteth himselfe and how sensibly he subuerteth his whole doctrine and his deuice of this new found hell But the lease before he told vs peremptorily that k Pa. 108. li. 8. Christes Godhead as it were withdrawing and hiding it selfe from him for that season of his passion gaue him NO SENSE NOR FEELING OF COMFORT OR IOY in spirit soule or body Now suddainly whiles he eagerly hunteth after his hell paines he not onely falleth ouer head and eares into the myre of contradictions
When they are diuers the Reader may make his choise what he best liketh but there is no cause nor reason to reiect all that can not be reconciled Neither did I tell you they might all stand together but I sayd they stood well with the rules of Christian pietie And since they had in them no contradiction to the text nor to the faith I saw no ground to depriue the Reader of them much lesse to reiect or disdaine the authours of them as you do And yet truly it were no such hard matter as you imagine to make the substance of them stand together For why might not Christ on the crosse as the head and Sauiour of his bodie in his owne name make his complaint or inquire the cause why both he and his were so long and in this wise forsaken as namely the head to be left to the paine shame and death of the crosse and his members to the poison of sinne and rage of Satan and therefore pray that his members might be freed and restored to Gods fauour and himselfe be eased of his anguish with deposing his spirit into his Fathers hands and honoured with the signes of his Fathers loue and liking towards him when he should depart this life that all his enemies might know there was a great and good cause euen the glory of God and mans saluation why he was thus martyred and mocked on the crosse Here are the effects of those sixe or seuen causes layd together what so great repugnancie finde you betwixtthem that because they are manie therefore your hell-paines should be the likelier to be the true meaning of these words a Defenc. pag. 114. li. 27. A very badde opinion of the holy Scriptures you seeme to haue if you thinke they may be handled by Interpretations and Expositions thus that a man may take them in sixe or seuen diuers senses and all sustisiable I honour them more in not reiecting the manifolde expositions of considerate and godly Interpreters than you do in fastening them to the leauen of your sower humour and affixing such senses to them as shall contradict the maine grounds of faith and religion deliuered in them And who but you did euer hinder Expositors olde or new to labour in them and scant to reach to the depth of them since as you seeme to be affected no man may offer diuersly to interpret them for feare of hauing a badde opinion of them But such is your stiffe and proud presumption all things that like not you are vaine and friuolous and your fansies be they neuer so vnreasonable or irreligious must be weighty and holy b Defenc. pag. 114. li. 34. Now it resteth that I gather some reasons from the expresse Scripture to shew you that indeed very paines and the vehemencte of sorrowes namely which he now susteined by way of yeelding satisfaction and sacrifice for sinne were the principall and only proper cause of his most dreadfull agonies and complaint Which trucly though it need no reason for proofe of it the matter being so cleere in it selfe yet your vnreasonablenesse is such that it draweth somewhat from me about it Your Art of carping hath fayed but ill-fauouredly with you you will now proceed to your trade of prouing and that by expresse Scripture wherein you shew your selfe to be right your selfe that is take all your owne fansies for expresse Scripture and though your conceits be such that are more worthy to be derided than answered yet the matter you say is so cleere in it selfe that it needeth no reason for proofe of it The expresse Scriptures on which you so much stand are the name of the Agonie the Houre and the Cuppe with this one sentence My soule is on euery side heauy vnto death About these you brabble going neither backeward nor forward but heaping vp a few generall phrases of mightie sorowes and excessiue paines you iterate the very same that you often sayd before and adde not so much as a piece of a reason that should stumble a man of any vnderstanding And touching your hell paines or the second death you lay that on soaking till your proouing be ouerpast and then we shall heare of it at Lands end when you are lightned of your burden c Defenc. pag. 115. li 3. First no Christian doubteth I suppose much lesse denieth that Christs most wofull agonies and complaining belonged properly and directly to his Passion and sacrifice and that they expressed a part thereof yea as I thinke not the least part but his whole sacrifice consisted in afflictions The prince of our saluation was consecrated through afflictions Therefore afflictions sorrowes and paines were the cause of his agonies and complaint not his religious The Defenders maner of reasoning is as illogical as his matter is false feare not his piette or pitie Somewhat it was this gecre was Drawen from you it commeth not so vnwillingly but it commeth as vntowardly from you First to the forme and then to the matter of your argument Your conclusion is a strange kind of creature it hath to much and yet it hath too little For before you can exclude religious feare pittie and pietie from the cause of Christs agonie or complaint you must adde onely to your inference and say Afflictions sorrowes and paines were the onely cause of Christs agonies and complaint Otherwise with one part you exclude another as if a man would say that your head is not part of your bodie because your heele is which would put all your reasons in daunger to be drawen out of your heele and not out of your head And yet as defectiue as your conclusion is one way it is as excessiue another way For these words were the cause are stollen into this conclusion of which there was no mention in your premisses and so your precedent propositions are of one countrey and your conclusion of another they haue not so much as entercourse eche with other where by the rules of reason and Art there should be nothing in your conclusion which is not exactly specified in your premisses Your maior beginneth with belonged to your minor proceedeth to consisted in and your conclusion huddleth was the cause of which are rather like forkes to skatrer then rakes to gather the parts of your syllogisme together If to hale in your conclusion you will amend your assumption as you must and say that afflictions were the onely cause of Christs sacrifice we shall more wonder at this monster then at the former For besides the falsenesse of it in that it is vtterly repugnant to all truth since the causes of Christs sacrifice were sinne in vs needing it Loue in Christ proferring it and Iustice in God requiring it how come the parts of any thing to be the causes thereof Afflictions suffered were parts of Christs sacrifice and not the causes And therefore you must pray the Printer to stampe you a new conclusion before any part of this argument will haue
houre and this cup might passe from him That which this houre and this cup doe signifie the same is the proper and principall cause of this agonie but what can be ment by this houre vnlesse the paines of his suffering set and appointed by God for him to be are at his determined time from Gods iustice for sinne What is this cup but the bitter taste of the same paines aforsaid this I hope was not his holinesse and sanctification which so troubled and molested him nor his piety nor his pity If you permit our Sauiour to be the interpreter of his owne wordes as he was the speaker then neither this hower nor this cup import any thing suffered in the garden After his agony past and praiers ended in the garden Christ said to his Disciples b Sleepe henceforth and take your rest behold THE HOWER draweth neere and the Sonne of man is giuen into the hands of sinners And so to the Iewes that came to approhend him c 〈◊〉 this is your very hower and the power of darknesse And when Peter would with force haue defended him he said d 〈◊〉 Put vp thy sword into thy sheath shall I not drinke of the cup which my Father hath giuen mee So that this â—…ower and this cup were to come when his agony was ended and were they not why may not this howre and this cup conteine in them as well his painfull affections oâ—… sorow and feare as his other sufferings Was not the Cuppe mixed that he dranke and the houre long enough to comprise all that he suffered But what maketh either of those for your hell paines Was there no Cuppe for him to drinke nor time for him to suffer except your hellish torments were interposed His sufferings then are confessed though no feare nor sorow might besiege him but such as was ioyned with obedience and patience and in the midst of his afflictions he neither neglected submission to God nor compassion to men You with the one would exclude the other and I see no words nor cause but both might be ioyned in one houre and one Cup whatsoeuer you pretend to the contrary e Defenc. pag. 110. li. 23. Nay finally he himselfe expresseth the true cause euen his excessiue paines his ouerabounding sorowes and anguish saying My soule is full of paines or full of sorowes euen vnto death Heere he nameth the cause You are a man of much intelligence that out of Christs words would conclude his sorow to be the cause of it selfe For where by Christs agonie if it be largely taken you must meane his feare and his sorow confessed in that speach My soule is heauy or sorowfull vnto death You make no more adoe but auouch that Christ here nameth sorow to be the cause of his agony that is of his sorow For if by his agony you meane his bloudy sweat from these words to that part of his action in the garden you shall neuer make any consequent The Euangelist expressely saith There appeared an Angel from heauen comforting him and then falling into an agonie he praied more earnestly and in that vehement praier his sweat was like drops of bloud He was comforted before this last praier and therein rather with the intention of spirits for zeale then with the remission of them for feare he did sweat as the Scripture noteth Now whereof receaued he comfort but of his sorow and what is comfort but a depulsion or mitigation of sorow what sense then can it haue to say that after Christs sorow was eased and comforted from heauen his sorow decreasing his agony of sorow so much encreased that he sweat bloud for very sorow how hang these contraries together which you would hale out of Christs owne words In the former part of his action in the garden wherein he praied the cup might passe from him he said his soule was heauy or sorowfull vnto death We enquire the cause of this sorow You answere that Christs owne words expresse and name sorow to be the cause therof What is this but to collude with Christs words in making his sorow to be the cause of his sorow which in a more generall and confused word you call his agonie but with vs the cause of his sorow is in question to that you neither can nor doe say any thing out of Christes words out of your owne conceit you presume that Christs f Pa. 116. li. 31. excessiue paines then felt and the intire want of feeling of Gods comfort and nothing els was the proper and principall cause of that sorow But these be your additions and expositions they be no part of Christs words nor meaning And by what authority to aduantage your error doe you not only contrâ—…le the translation vsed by all the Latin Fathers Tertullian Cyprian Hilarius â—…erom Ambrose Austen Fulgentius Bede and others but euen corrupt the words of our Sauiour rendered by the Euangelists Matthew and Marke Tristis est enima mea vsque ad mortem My soule is heauie sadde or sorowfull vnto death say all the Latine Fathers saue Tertullian who sayth g Tertullian de carne Christi Anxia est anima mea vsque ad mortem My soule is 〈◊〉 vnto death The Euangelists words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My soule is heauie or on euery side heauy and sorowfull vnto death You translate it h Pa. 116. li. 25. My soule is full of paines meaning by paines present inherent and absolute paines such as your hell-paines are where the words import no such thing for neither tristitia in Latine nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke either in prophane or diuine Writers note any such actuall and absolute impression of paine as you would haue but an affection troubling the minde and rising vpon opinion of euill past or instant Of sorow Saint Austen sayth right well i Auâ—…ust in Psal 42. Dolor animae tristitia dicitur molestia quae fit in corpore Dolor dici potest tristitia non potest The griefe of the soule is called heauinesse or sorow the griefe of the bodie is called paine not sorrow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke with prophane Writers is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Cicero translateth k Tuscul. quaest libro 4. Opinio recens mali praesentis A fresh opinion of present or instaâ—…t euill The Scriptures in like sort vse the same word opposing it to the affection of ioy and expressing by it not any actuall or absolute paine but griefe and sadnesse of minde which wee call sorow l Ioh. â—…6 v. 20. The world shall reioyce and you shall be sorrowfull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but your SOROVV shall be turned to ioy So Paul m 2. Cor. 2. I would not come againe to you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in heauinesse for if I made you sorâ—… who is he that should make me glâ—…d but the same that was made SORY by me And this very thing I wrote vnto you lest
which hee bare our sinnes to the strength of his patience and so both his paines and his patience farre exceeded all mens The rather for that Christes sense did not faile him by degrees as ours doth when the paines of death are extreamest which driue our soules from our bodies but hee did in most perfect sense feele the sting and bitternesse of paine to the last breath by reason he was of his owne accord at an instant appointed by his Father to breathe out his owne soule and so did to the great admiration of the Centurion that obserued it and consequently hee retained firmnesse of voice and exactnesse of sense all the while his paines were at sharpest The soule is punished in this life by her vnderstanding will affections and senses according as their obiects directed and strengthened by God make violent and vehement impressions the torment of hell-fire being the iudgement of another world Neither is God the tormenter of soules in hell with his immediate hand but by his wisdome and power hath ordained euerlasting fire as an externall Agent aboue nature to take vengeance of damned men and diuels according to their deserts No Scripture doth teach That God with his immediate hand tormented the soule of his Sonne on the Crosse or in the Garden notwithstanding Christes soule was full of feare and sorow in the Garden and of griefe and paine on the Crosse all which outward and inward passions ne did ne could peruert Christs will nor oppresse his power but they must all be voluntarie that they might all be meritorious and the more Christs power was to admit them when he would as he would and because he would the more his obedience was to the will and hand of God who forced nothing on Christ against his will but by that which was offered and suffered tried the obedience of his Sonne and accepted all from him as a most willing Sacrifice The wrath of God punishing our sinnes in the person of Christ was neither such as the Damned in hell nor as the Reprobate in earth doe suffer but rather common to the members of Christ who must drinke of this Cuppe haue fellowship with his afflictions and be conformed to his death though they neuer feele the true paines of hell nor haue their soules tormented by Gods immediate hand Neither was it any other wrath than such as might stand with Gods loue towards his Sonne who did not hate him for our sakes but loued vs for his and was Fatherly tempered to the strength of Christes manhood and graciously ouerruled and quenched by the fauour that God bare to the person of his Sonne And therefore the termes of meere and proper wrath if they meane proper to the damned are false and impious in Christes sufferings which neither in maner measure nor purpose did agree with the torments of the damned The true and full satisfaction for our sinnes must not be deriued from the singularitie and infinitie of Christes paines longer and greater than which the damned and diuels doe euery one suffer but from the dignitie of the person who being the only and eternall Sonne of God that made vs humbled himselfe in our stead and in our nature to restore vs and offered recompense for our sinnes which was his submission and obedience vnto the death of the Crosse more pleasing to God than our condemnation to hell could haue beene for in this ballance betweene the wrath of God against our sinnes and the loue of God towards his Sonne neither was his iustice neglected nor his loue ouer swayed but a sweet and wise temper of both was prouided for the manhood of his Sonne first to suffer with patience and then to raigne with glorie that all the sonnes of God might be the more willing and readie by his example to obey the will and abide the hand of God before they did enter into his Kingdome The Scriptures witnessing that the Sacrifices of God are a troubled spirit this might not want in Christes Sacrifice for sinne but he approching the presence of God with and for our offences lawfully might and exceedingly did feare the greatnesse and iustnesse of Gods anger against our iniquities and as deeply sorrowed that Gods holinesse was so carelesly despised and highly displeased with our manifolde iniquities Which inward sacrifices of feare and sorrow for vs and our sinnes in the person of the Mediatour were no lesse acceptable to God than the simple suffering of paine Since Gods power is despised where it is not duely feared and sinne is iustified where the displeasing of God is not thorowly sorrowed in presenting vs and our cause to God Christ was to yeeld for vs and in our behalfe that infinite submission and feare to the power of God prouoked and contrition and sorrow to the holinesse of God offended which we could neuer haue done And without these to offer to beare the burden of our sinnes was to make light account of our sinne against God and of Gods wrath against our sinne which was farre from the Sonne of God There might therefore in Christes sacrifice for sinne not without iust cause appeare exceeding feare and sorrow yet both religious and measured by the rules of obedience and humilitie though passing grieuous to the soule of Christ. Neither were these submissions and afflictions of Christs soule answerable to his perfection and our transgression if they did not reach to the highest degree of feare and sorrow that mans nature in Christ was capable of without distrust of Gods fauour or dislike of his iustice Christ did not pray in the Garden contrarie to his Fathers knowen will but made an expresse and speciall reseruation thereof euen in the first part of his prayer Neither was he amazed and confounded in all the powers of his soule and senses of his bodie as these Presumers teach but he prayed with faith and suffered with obedience both which require perfect vnderstanding will and memorie Manie things might concurre to increase Christes sorrow in the Garden as the reiection of the Iewes for spilling his bloud the dispersion of his Church all flying and forsaking him the continuall rage of Satan against his weake and fearefull members Christ now in his temptations and afflictions beholding theirs with great compassion and griefe of heart which is it that Hilarie saith Et tristitia de nobis est oratio pro nobis est Christ sorrowed for vs and prayed for vs. An Agonie is properly a vehement contention of minde to preuaile in that we vndertake rightly weighing and striuing to remoue the difficulties and impediments obiected to hinder the euent Christes bloudie sweat if it were naturall must proceed rather from zeale and intention of minde than from feare and sorow which coole the bloud and quench the spirits whereas the spirits must be mightilie kindled and the bloud much heated and thinned before it can issue forth by sweat And since by the words of Saint Luke Christ fell into an
content the Reader nor conclude the gaine-sayer I must haue leaue in larger maner as occasion serueth both to repell the Defenders bold presumptions and to confirme those things which I take to be safer Resolutions in Christian Religion The principall things which you would haue noted Sir Discourser are either defectiue in their diuisions or coincident in their partes or repugnant to your purpose All suffering of paines in man you say is from God either properly from his Iustice or from his holy loue either from himselfe alone or also from his instruments and inferiour meanes and that for sinne either inherent or imputed either as Correction or as punishment either immediatly or mediatly as anon we shall further see Not one of these foure partitions which you make the fortresse of your cause is sound and sufficient and the fift is the selfe-same with the second it onely varieth in words In these two diuisions all suffering of paines in man is from Gods Iustice or from his holy loue either as correction or as punishment you roue obscurely but absurdly at the ground the measure the purpose of all paines and punishments as they come from God on all men be they wicked or godly Christ himselfe not excepted either in this world or the next For the GROVND of them you say they proceed from Gods iustice properly or from his holy loue The MEASVRE and PVRPOSE of them you confound in saying either as correction or as punishment which you should distinguish From Gods iustice properly on men infected with sinne commeth nothing but punishment that is their due which the iust Iudge awardeth them From Gods loue of it selfe commeth nothing but grace and blisse for which cause he is the fountaine of Grace and father of Mercy to such as he loueth In the reprobate God hateth their sinnes and so their persons being the committers or inheriters of sinne still abiding In the elect Gods holinesse disliketh their sinnes as much as the others but their persons he loueth and fauoureth for Christ his sonne in whom they are chosen And though the full and due punishment of their sinne which is spirituall and eternall death be translated from them and abolished in Christ yet when men redeemed and freed from the heauie burden of their sinnes doe not earnestly repent them or eftsoones frequent them God for the conseruation of his holinesle and demonstration of his righteous iudgement to all the world doth sooner and sharper visit and punish with the corporall and temporall scourges of this life his owne children neglecting or resuming their sinnes than his enemies whom with longer patience he suffereth to heape vp wrath against the day of wrath A iudgement mercilesse therfore as S. Iames calleth it is and shall be to the wicked whereas in the godly mercy reioyceth against iudgement but not without iustice For iudgement which in God can neuer be without iustice since he is the righteous Iudge of the world must begin at the house of God and when we are iudged we are chastened with a mercifull iudgement that we should not be condemned with the world And though in the afflictions of the godly there be many things added of fauour as the measure which is tolerable not ouerwhelming their patience the purpose which is holy to recall them from the delight and custome of sinne and to perfit the graces of God in them the comfort which is great that God loueth their persons when he pursueth their sinnes the promise which is sure that if they suffer with Christ they shall reigne with Christ and such like yet the smart of Gods rod and sharpnesse of his whip wherewith he awaketh the negligent and tameth the vnruly proceed from his iust iudgement and commend his holinesse which hateth all sinne in whomsoeuer and declare his iustice to the whole world that he wincketh not either at the waiwardnesse or at the carelesnesse of his owne children The places in Scripture witnessing thus much are infinite and easie for euery childe to obserue and therefore one shall suffice for all To his Church God sayth by the mouth of Ieremie Though I vtterly destroy all the Nations where I haue scattred thee yet will I not vtterly destroy thee but I will correct thee by iudgement and not vtterly cut thee off I haue stricken thee with the wound of an enemie and with a cruell chastisement for the multitude of thine iniquities thy sinnes were increased Thy sorrow is incurable for the number of thine offences ‖ because ‖ thy sinnes were increased I haue done these things vnto thee ‖ But ‖ I will restore health to thee and heale thee of thy wounds The godly in this world doe suffer paines for their sinnes but these whatsoeuer they be yea though death it selfe are improperly called punishments they are chasticements of sinne This new Grammer doth best become your newe doctrine All paines for sinnes whatsoeuer suffered by any of the elect in this life are chasticements but in no wise you may indure to haue them called punishments except very improperly What is a chasticement properly but a punishment moderated with loue and mercy And since you be so precise that no paine suffered by any of Gods children may properly be called a punishment whence I pray you is the word punishment deriued not from the Latine word punire to punish and punio from Poena which our English tongue resembling the Latine calleth paine so that paine and punishment are wordes of one deriuation and so properly of one signification and by force of the wordes properly all paine for sinne is punishment for sinne And therefore in all mens iudgements sauing yours chasticement is a punishment tempered with fauor and not a paine excluding all punishment as you make it in your dissolute diuision Read either the text or notes of the Geneuian Translation of the Bible which you would seeme so much to follow or whose translation you will and see whether they doe not contradict your childish conceite that the Chasticement of Gods children is no punishment Moses was punished for their sakes and againe God doth not punish with the hart the Wiseman speaking vnto God with how great circumspection saith he wilt thou punish thine owne children And vpon those words of Ieremie O Lord correct me but with iudgement not in thine anger they of Geneua note He onely prayeth that God would PVNISH THEM with mercie which Esay calleth in measure ca. 27. for here by iudgement is ment not onely the PVNISHMENT but also the MERCIFVLL MODERATION of the same So that Chastisement noteth the measure of the punishment which God fauourably inflicteth on his children not according to their sinnes nor exceding their strength He hath not dealt with us saith Dauid after our sinnes nor rewarded vs according to our iniquities There hath no tentation taken you saith Paul but such as belongeth to men and God is faithfull
which will not suffer you to be tempted aboue that you be able but will giue the issue with the tentation that you may be able to beare it Yea to his enimies God mitigateth the heauinesse of his hand at first and giueth them time and place to amend before he destroyeth them I gaue her space to repent saith Christ but she repented not and therefore when the measure of their sinnes waxeth full God repaieth them the fulnes of vengeance which is puuishment proportioned to their sinnes and this is the due and proper punishments of those that are wilfull and doe not repent their wickednesse The paines of the godly are partly remembrances to cause repentance partly Chasticements to humble vs and mortifie sinne in vs but these whatsoeuer they be yea though death it selfe are improperly called punishments Here you touch after your loose maner the purpose of God in afflicting his seruants which you say is to reforme them but in no wise to punish them If God had none other meaning in afflicting the faithfull but to reforme their sins nor none other meanes to doe that but by paines your speech had some truth but because God hath diuers purposes in so doing and diuers waies without paines to amend his children this that here you bring as the rest else-where is a blind groping besides the truth and a bold presuming that you are in the truth God many times lodeth the best and chiefest of his Saintes with oftner and greater troubles then he doth the meaner sort not because their sinnes are more then others or they neede more amendment then the rest but to TRIE their faith as in Abraham and Iob or to shew the perfection of his grace as in Paul or to prepare them to glory as in Lazarus or to conforme them to Christ whose steps they must follow and often to declare his iustice as he did in striking Dauids child when the sinne was both repented and pardoned in the Father In the sicknesse and death of which child as of all other infants regenerate by Baptisme there neither was nor can be any vse of Repentance humiliation or mortification for themselues and consequently by your owne diuision since to them it can be NO CORRECTION it must in them be a punishment of sinne not actually committed by them but naturally deriued to them by the guilt and corruption of their Parents Yea the generall paine laid on Adam and all mankinde as dissolution by death priuation of originall light and grace corruption of sinne infection of soule which declare vs all to be the children of wrath by nature were they corrections or punishments of Adams sinne since after death there is no repentance nor amendment of life and the rest are neither barres to sinne nor retraits from sinne but either parts effects or causes of sinne which sticke so fast and beare such rule in many euen of the elect that no gentle or fatherly admonitions reprehensions or comminations will preuaile with them but they must be ouerruled and wearied with sharp and pearcing scourges before they will see or forsake the loathsomnesse of their sinne Wherein though it be a great fauour of God rather to persue them with all temporall plagues vnto their conuersion then to let them run headlong to euerlasting perdition yet the meanes which he vseth are mixed with iustice and mercie and are rightly beleeued to be punishments fully deserued by their sinnes though not fully proportioned to their sinnes the iust and full wages whereof in sinfull men can be none other but death corporall spirituall and eternall So that your diuision all paine from God is either correction or punishment and your position no paine in the godly is punishment are not onely friuolous and false but repugnant each to the other for so much as paine commeth from God for probation of faith perfection of grace assurance of saluation encouraging of others by example as well as for correction and death and correction in Infants where correction hath no place must by your owne partition be a punishment of sinne inflicted on the first Man and all his posteritie The which because we all inherite from our Parents and had it in vs at our birth when there was no vse of correction for vs it was then in vs all and so still remaineth a punishment of our first Parents sinne though by the grace and price of Christs death we are and shall be freed from it But come to your purpose and apply this to Christ for thither you bend and thereat you shoote is your diuision true in the sufferings of Christ then since by your owne assertion chastisements and remembrances which are the branches that you make of Correction belonged nothing at all to Christ and indeede there could be no cause to correct any sinfull corruption or affection in him where no sinne was it is a plaine confession that the bodily death and paines which Christ suffered on the Crosse were the punishment of our sinnes in his body and consequently a part of that curse which was imposed on the first mans sinne which you so stifly denied in your Treatise where you said Therefore Christs dying simply as the godly die that is a bodily death may in no sort be called a curse or cursed And if to shift of this contradiction and confession of the truth of my answere to the place of S. Paule Christ was made a curse for vs you referre these words as the godly doe not to the same kinde of death which is bodily in both but to the same cause of death which was different in Christ and his members Remember good Sir the words are not mine but your owne I put many differences betwixt the death of Christ and his Saints as namely the cause the manner and force of his death which I haue touched before but the kind of death which was bodily and not Ghostly is all one in Christ and the godly For Christ died not the death of the Soule no more doe the godly when they depart this life albeit they may oftentimes whiles here they liue draw neere to the death of the Soule by sinning which Christ could not And if you begin now to be better aduised I am not displeased with it it shall suffice that mine answere did and doth stand true that Christ in suffering bodyly paines and death for vs suffered a part of the same punishment and curse which was laid on all mankind for the sinne of Adam We must note especially that to suffer as the godly doe Chasticements and corrections is not to suffer or feele Gods wrath nor the punishment of sinne except it be in a very improper speech To suffer the true punishment satisfaction proper payment and wages of sinne onely that is to suffer properly and truely the wrath of God now then seeing the paines which Christ for vs did feele were indeede properly the
punishment and payment and vengeance for sinne such as the godly doe in no wise suffer Christ onely hauing wholy suffered that for vs all Therefore indeede his sufferings proceded from Gods proper wrath and were the true effects of Gods meere Iustice bent to take recompence on him for our offences Thou hast in these words Christian Reader the bulwarke of this mans cause concluding that Christ suffered the MEERE IVSTICE PROPER VVRATH and very CVRSE of God for sinne The frame of his reason if I vnderstand it as who vnderstandeth his mysteries but himselfe is this All paine in man is from God either as correction of sinne or as punishment for sinne In Christ there was no ‖ cause and so no neede of ‖ correction his sufferings therefore were the punishments of sinne They were punishments for sinne Ergo they were the true punishment proper payment wages and vengeance of sinne which proceeded from Gods proper wrath and were the true effects of Gods mâ—…ere iustice bent to take recompence on him for our offences His termes of TRVE PROPER and MEERE ioyned to the PVNISHMENT VVRATH and IVSTICE of God are not warranted by any Scripture much lesse referred to the sufferings of Christ nor so much as prooued by any testimony defined with any certaintie directed by any part or expounded by any meanes but onely proiected as Ridles and laberinthes to weary the wise to angle the simple and to refuge himselfe when he shall be pressed with the falsitie and impietie of his assertions Least therefore we wrangle about words in vaine which is his desire and deuise that he may seeme to say somewhat and carry the Reader into a forest of strange and vnknowen phrases where he shall hardly discerne what either side saith I thâ—…nke it needefull first to declare what the Scriptures meane by the wages of sinne and wrath of God and so to trie in what sense and with what truth his termes may be added to them and applyed to the sufferings of Christ. The wages of sinne is death saith S. Paul God himselfe foretold Adam it should be so Whensoeuer thou catest of the forbidden tree thou shalt die the death Then how many kinds of death are by God threatned and inflicted on sinners so many parts must the wages of sinne containe Now those are three the death of the Soule in this life which I call spirituall the death of the body leauing this life which I call corporall and the death of both in the next world which I call eternall For as man had two parts by which he did liue Soule and body and two places wherein he might liue if he obeyed God earth for a time and heauen for euer so disobedience depriued either part of man in either place of the life which he should haue enioyed and subiected him to the feares griefes and paines of death both here and in hell for euer The life of the body is the vnion of the Soule with the body the effects whereof are sense and motion to discerne obtaine and performe that which is needfull or healthfull for the body And as the presence of the Soule bringeth life to the body so the departing of the Soule taketh life from the body and leaueth it dead that is voide of all action motion and sense as to euery mans eyes is apparent in dead bodies The Soule therefore in the Scriptures is vsually taken for the life of the body which proceedeth from the Soule and is maintained by the Soule And these phrases to seeke a mans Soule tolay downe his owne Soule or to giue it for another to powre out his Soule vnto death with such like doe properly expresse the death of the body quickned by the Soule because men loose or leaue this life when they loose or leaue their Soules And where God threatned death to Adam euen the very same day in which he should transgresse we must not thinke that God either delayed the punishment longer or extended it farder then his words at first imported When therefore the very same day that they sinned God said to the woman increasing I will increase thy sorrow and to the man In sorrow shalt thou eate all the daies of thy life we must acknowledge that from that time forward death began to take hold and worke on both their bodies though not by present separation of the Soule from the body for Adam liued after that 930. yeeres yet by mortalitie mutabilitie miserie and namely by sorrow and paine as the instruments and agents of death Worldly sorrow causeth death as Paul witnesseth and a broken hart saith Salomon drieth the bones yea sorrow hath slaine maxy And were it not so written yet experience and nature teacheth vs that griefe of mind and paine of body where they continue or increase consume the flesh and hasten death so that when God the same day that they sinned subiected them to sorrow and paine which before they felt not He made way for death that it might continually worke in them and â—…ken them till they returned to dust The tiâ—…e of this life saith Austâ—…n is nothing elsâ—… but a race to death and truely after a mâ—…n begiâ—…th to be in this bâ—…dy he is in death The life of the soule is not her vnderstanding and will which she can neuer lose no not in hell but onely the trueth and graâ—…e of God by whose spirit she receiueth the light of faith to direct her and the strength of loue to stirre and iâ—…cite her in tâ—…is life to beholde desire and embrace the holinesse and goodnesse of Gods blessed will and promise for her euerlasting happinesse which with patience and comfort of the Holy ghost she expecteth till Gods appointed time do come The lacke or losse of this inward sense and motion of Gods spirit which only can quicken the soule is the death of the soule depriued of her life which is God and left to herselfe in blindnesse and hardnesse of heart and giuen ouer vnto a reprobaâ—…e minde and vile affections to worke wickednesse euen with greedinesse till contempt of Gods will and desperation of his mercy doe fearefully end her miserable time in this life and violently draw her from hence to see and suffer the terrible iudgements of God prouided for sinne in another world Life euerlasting is the perfect and perpetuall vision and fruition of Gods glorious presence in the heauens where vnspeakable light and honour ioy and bliâ—…e shall compasse and replenish bodie and soule in the fellowship of Christ and his elect angels for euer The exclusion and reiection of the wicked from this heauenly fâ—…licity together with the shame and confusion of sinne wounding and stinging the conscience without ease or rest and the dreadfull horror of hell the place of darknesse and diuels hauing in it continuall flames of intolerable and vnquenchable fire eternallie tormenting the soules and bodies of the damned the Scriptures call the sâ—…cond death
kindled against thee and against thy two friends though he willed them to sacrifice for their offence and promised to accept Iobs prayer for them The same may often be obserued in other places of the Scriptures The wrath of God is likewise taken for the threates whereby God denounceth what he will inflict on the wickednesse of men or for the sharpe reproofe which hee vseth against sinne committed I sware in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest saith God of the disobedient Israelites in the wildernesse In miâ—…e indignation â—…d in the fire of my wrath haue I spoken it saith God by Ezechiel surely at that time there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel So Dauid Then shall ‖ God ‖ speake to them in his wrath and terrifie them in his sore displeasure Wherefore Dauid prayeth for himselfe O Lord reprooue me not in thine anger knowing that Gods rebukes and threates ought to be as much regarded and feared of the faithfull as his plagues Lastly all the Iudgements of God awaking the negligent scourging the disobedient obdurating the impenitent in this life or renenging the Reprobate here and in hell are in the Scriptures called the wrath of God of which speech there can be no question because the word of God giueth plaine plentifull euidence in euery of those parts onely the Discourser auoucheth that the two first are no degrees nor effects of Gods proper wrath though the Scripture call them wrath but are so termed by a very improper speech These are his words To suffer chastisements and corrections as the godly doe is not to suffer or feele Gods wrath except it be in a very improper speech And this is one of the maine points on which he putteth theissue of the question I affirme saith he Christ suffered Gods proper wrath and vengeance You thinke all afflictions whatsoeuer small or great and towards whomsoeuer are the effects of Gods wrath but that is not so except in a most improper speech To the godly their afflictions both small and great are Gods fatherly and gracious chastisements and no effects of his properwrath Thou must not forget Christian Reader from what beginning we come to this issue This Rouer taking vpon him to prooue that Christ suffered the true paines of hell and of the damned made this his foundation That Christ suffered the wrath of God for vs which he affirmed to be equall to hell it selfe and all the torments thereof Mine answere shortly was I did not see what this proposition Christ suffered for vs the wrath of God if it were granted could helpe his cause or hinder mine For the wrath of God extended to all paines and punishments aswell corporall as spirituall in this life and the next were they temporall or eternall So that no paine or punishment small or great could befall the bodie or soule of Christ but it must needs proceed from the wrath of God To this he now replieth To suffer as the godly do chastisements and corrections is not to suffer or feele Gods wrath nor indeed the punishment of sinne except it be in a very improper speech Where first obserue that these words as the godly do are not conteined in mine answer but intended by him in his replie The ground on which I stood was that all the miseries of mans life what soeuer they be came first from the wrath of God reuenging the sinne of our first Father and so are degrees and parts of that wrath wherewith God punished the transgression of Adam I named no miseries peculiar to the godly but common to them with the wicked neither did I touch any speciall maner of suffering as the godly do suffer but prooued that the Scriptures which must teach vs all how to speake in Gods causes called them wrath euen in the godly And consequently since Christ suffered sorrow paine and death which came for sinne and are common to all he might and did suffer the wrath of God for vs and yet not the paines of the damned You cast about afresh Sir Discourser in your defence and tell vs the Scriptures speake verie improperlie when they call the miseries of this life the wrath of God and therefore you bring vs a new phrase of your owne framing and say the godly in no wise doe suffer Gods proper wrath that is properly taken or properly so called which Christ did suffer as you affirme Is your learning so good Sir Defender that you will applie to God wrath indignation and furie properly so called which are the highest degrees of Gods anger against the wicked Haue you forgotten who tooke vpon you such knowledge in the Hebrue tongue that the vsuall words whereby the Scripture expresseth the wrath of God against the wicked do import the nose the heat the boiling the kindling the excesse aâ—…d rage of God against the wicked which words if you referre to God by way of proper speech you make of euery one of them a barbarous and blasphemous heresie So that your late coined distinction of Gods wrath by improper speech towards his children and his wrath properly so called against his enemies is vaine and foolish the words in Scripture that note Gods wrath against his enemies are most improper and are translated from the behauiouâ—… of angrie men to God of purpose to strike a terrour into the wicked of that great and grieuous iudgement which they shall receiue But whatsoeuer the words designe in their naturall signification which the Christian faith forbiddeth vs to attribute properly vnto God because they expresse humane affections and corporall passions which are not in God by the anger which is in God against sinne the Scripture meaneth nothing els but his most holy dislike of sinne in whomsoeuer and his most iust and constant will and decree in some to reward sinne according to desert which is vengeance in this life and the next in others so to temper the punishment of sinne with loue and mercie that whatsoeuer he inflict on bodie or soule shall tend to the praise of his iustice and mercie and end with the consolation and saluation of their soules And by the anger which proceedeth from God are in the Scriptures intended either his threats against sinne or his punishments of sinne be they corporall or spirituall temporall or eternall mixed with mercie or proportioned only to iustice If you relinquish your holdfast of improper speech and rase that vnaduised shift out of your booke for God hath in him no wrath properly so called but his holinesse displeased and iustice prouoked by sinne are improperly named his wrath in the Scriptures Let vs come to the proprieties of the things themselues and see whether chasticements for sinne doe properly proceede from Gods loue onely or from his iustice tempered with loue and mercy Of the wicked I shall not neede to speake much we make no great question of them
howbeit euen their externall punishments in this life are not voide of Gods bountie and patience diuersly blessing them with earthly things often warning and sparing them by giuing them time and place to mislike and leaue their sinnes and length-fully expecting their submission and amendment which the Apostle calleth the riches of Gods bountie patience and long sufferance leading euen the obstinate and hard harted to repentance The doubt is of the godly whether their afflictions which are corrections and chasticements for sinne rise only from Gods loue or rather from his iustice mixed with loue I affirme the Scriptures doe directly and distinctly propose in the chasticements of the elect as well iudgement and wrath as mercy and loue and that not by abusing the words but by reseruing to either their naturall proprieties and seuerall consequents the one for the commendation of Gods iustice the other for the demonstration of his mercy and consolation of the afflicted For his wicked couetousnesse I was angry saith God and did smite him ‖ but ‖ I will heale him and restore comfort vnto him He must be more then absurd that will imagine God would or could say for his wicked couetousnesse I loued him that were to make God the abettour and embracer of wickednesse which is wholy repugnant to his Diuine sanctitie and glory the words therefore must stand as they doe without any euasion of improper speech and Gods anger in this place must plainely differ from his loue which cannot be added to these words without euident impietie Since then the cause was sinne which God doth perfectly hate in whomsoeuer euen in his owne and the smiting came for sinne and from anger it is not possible this chasticement should spring onely from loue but ioyntly both must worke together I meane Gods anger against sinne and his loue towards the person to make the punishment tolerable and comfortable to the bearer The like rule God giueth for all that belong to the true seed and sonne of Dauid which is Christ. If his children forsake my law and walke not in my iudgements I will visue their transgressions with the Rod and their iniquitie with sâ—…ripes but my mercy will I not take from him God threatneth no loue to sinne he threatneth anger the stripes here mentioned are not the loue of a father but mitigated by loue the mercy here promised is not adioyned as the onely cause of this correction which is ascribed to the transgressions and iniquities of the children but it serueth for a salue to heale the wound which Gods iustice prouoked by their sinnes should formerly make For he is the God that woundeth and healeth killeth and quickneth casteth downe to hell and rayseth vp againe not working contraries by one and the selfe same loue but when he hath iustly done the one for our offences he gratiously doth the other for his mercies sake in wrath remembring mercy least we should be consumed He then despouseth the Church vnto himselfe in iudgement and mercy not in iudgement forgetting mercy nor by mercy excluding iudgement for iudgement beginneth at the house of God but retaining both that the whole Church may sing mercy and iudgement vnto him as Dauid did yet with this difference that he doth not punish with the hart as the Prophet testifieth but his delight is in mercie Which plainly prooueth the Rod is not all one with loue as the Apostle noteth when he opposeth the one against the other saying Shall I come to you with a rodde or in loue but is guided by loue lest in displeasure God should shut vp his mercies These two therefore in God iust anger against the sinnes and tender loue towards the persons of his children together with their effects which are iudgement and mercy may not be confounded the one with the other but as they haue different causes and proprieties in God so haue they different effects and consequents in vs the Scriptures bearing witnesse that Gods anger riseth for our sinnes his loue for his owne names sake his anger he threatneth his loue he promiseth he hath no pleasure in punishing he delighteth in mercie he repenteth him often of the euill which he denounceth his gifts and calling are without repentance when we call vpon him he deliuereth vs out of all our troubles his mercy will he neuer take from his nor frustrate his truth Yea the godly haue a different feeling of his anger towards them from his loue they feare they faint they grieue and grone vnder the burden of affliction they waxe weary of it they pray against it they giue him thankes when they are freed from it none of which affections may with any sense of godlinesse agree to his loue But these are no effects of Gods proper wrath you thinke Christ onely hauing wholy suffered that for vs all What you meane by Gods proper wrath is knowen onely to your selfe you neuer expresse nor expound the word but with more obscure and doubtfull termes then the former At first you affirme Gods wrath towards his children was a most improper speech I haue now shewed that if you looke to the words vsed in the sacred Scriptures Gods wrath towards his enemies is as improper a speech as the other Your second wrench was that all chastisements for sinne are inflicted on Gods children properly by his loue I haue prooued that they proceede properly from Gods iustice tempered with mercie and not from his onely loue Your third shift is now they are no effects of Gods proper wrath which Christ did wholy suffer for vs all If you vnderstand by Gods proper wrath that which is only wrath and hath no admixture of his loue fauour or mercie then is your position ridiculous in your first maine point and blasphemous in the second For who euer auouched that God punished his children and his enemies with the same degrees and effects of wrath or who euer dreamed that God chastising the sinnes of his elect in wrath remembred not his mercie you doe indeede affirme of Christ that he suffered all Gods proper wrath which if you now interpret to be without all respect of loue or fauour towards him you light on a greater blasphemie then you are ware of Wherefore looke well to your new found phrases of Gods meere iustice and proper wrath with which you thinke to colour your conceits they will else proue you a weake Scholer and a worse Christian. The word proper applyed to Gods wrath may signifie either that which is not figuratiue or that which is not common to others or that which hath no mixture of loue or mercie to mitigate wrath but is wholy and onely wrath In God nothing is figuratiue he is naturally and wholy truth itselfe The words applyed to him are often improper and figuratiue because we can hardly speake or vnderstand many things that are in him but by such words as are knowen and familiar to
vs. In this sense all that the Scripture intendeth by wrath in God is most proper and naturall to God namely his holinesse abhorring sinne his iustice proportioning punishment to it and his power performing whatsoeuer his will and councell decreeth for the repressing or reuenging of sinne For which respect Zanchius a very moderate and considerate writer of our time and one whom amongst others the Discourser iudgeth no way inferior to the best of the Auncients setteth downe this for one of his Resolutions which he calleth a Thesis Ira eo sensu quo scripturae dant illam deo veré proprié ei attribuitur Anger in that sense in which the Scriptures giue it to God is truely and properly ascribed vnto him And his resolutions ensuing vpon the former are not onely that God is angry he meaneth truely and properly as his first Thesis affirmeth with all sinners as well elect as reprobate but that maior grauior est ira dei aduersus homines etiam electos propter peccata quam existimari possit ab ipsis hominibus The anger of God against his elect for sinne is greater and greeuouser then they can conceiue A second signification of proper may be that this wrath which the Scriptures attribute to God is proper to him and common to no creature els Men and deuils haue wrath but that is tumultuous or vitious and hath no communion with Gods wrath which is righteous and holy The Saints and Angels in heauen no doubt detest all iniquitie but they are no fit discerners esteemers nor rewarders of sinne The secrets of the heart they know not whose vncleannesse is open onely to the eies of God The waight of sinne they cannot truely balance he onely that is offended and cannot be deceiued rightly knoweth how farre euery sinne should displease and what euery sinne deserueth As they cannot fully ponder offences no more can they iustly proportion punishment to the demerits of euery sinner and least of all ordaine and arme meanes temporally to afflict or eternally to reuenge the bodies and soules of transgressors he onely that is all-wise all-holy all-iust and allmightie can throughly discerne perfectly dislike euenly reward and powerfully represse sinne by repentance or vengeance as seemeth best to him and therefote he onely is the righteous Iudge of the world and capable of that wrath which is proper to God A third meaning of Gods proper wrath may be this that as euery thing most rightly deserueth his name when it hath in 〈◊〉 permixtion of the contrary to alter his nature so Gods proper wrath may be that which is wholy and onely wrath without any temper of mercie or loue to diminish the heate and hight of wrath That is most properly light that hath no darkenesse trueth that hath no falshood good that hath no euill in it And since Gods iustice against the wicked admitteth neither loue to their persons nor mercie to their miseries that is also Gods proper wrath which is fully and wholy wrath without any fauour or pitie towards them that are the vessels of wrath appointed to destruction Of their damnation S. Iohn writeth The smoke of their torment shall ascend for euer and they shal haue no rest day nor night Wherby it is euident their iudgement shall be mercilesse their worme neuer dying and the fire neuer quenching And how can it be otherwise since they are both haters and hated of God Iacob haue I loued saith God and Esau haue I hated Thou hatest saith Dauid to God all those that worke wickednesse Yea the wrath of God saith Paul is reuealed from heauen against all vngodlinesse and vnrighteousnesse of men For as they regarded not to know God so God deliuered them vp into a reprobate minde to doe vnseemely things Neither is there any greater wrath in this life then for men to be left to the lustes of their owne hearts that they may be full of all vnrighteousnesse wickednesse maliciousnesse haters of God inuenters of euill voyde of all loue fidelitie and mercie and here receiue in themselues a meete reward of their errour to prepare them for eternall vengeance with diuels in the world to come This wrath of God against the wicked hath in it neither loue nor mercie but is wholy wrath proportioned to their desires which are sinnefull and their deserts which are hatefull before God and so they feele the iust and full recompence of their affected ignorance and wilfull disobedience Of this wrath the elect doe not taste they are freed from it in Christ their Redeemer and Sauiour by whose spirit their mindes are lightned and renued and their hearts perswaded to the obedience of faith and by whose death they are wholy deliuered from the wrath to come Of the two former they often taste specially when they neglect continuall and serious repentance to which free remission of sinnes is offered in the blood of Christ Iesus or when through the rebellion of the flesh against the spirit they are caried backe to the desires of their former corruption In which cases the Lord with sundry and sore afflictions letteth them sharpely feele what it is to prouoke the holinesse or abuse the goodnesse of so gracious a Father and neuer leaueth scourging them till they see and acknowledge their vnrulinesse and lament and leaue their vncleannesse taking hope and hold through faith of his mercies promised them in Christ Iesus If it can not be truely sayd of the elect that in this third sense which you vrge they taste of Gods proper wrath because of the loue which God beareth and sheweth them in Christ his sonne how much lesse may it be auouched of Christ himselfe that he suffered all Gods proper wrath on whom nothing was layed for our sinnes but with so great loue fauour and honour considering the cause which he vndertooke that God in each and all Christs sufferings declared him to be the best pleasing sacrifice and most sufficient recompense for sinne that heauen could yeeld or God would haue For whether wee looke to the choise of the person to the measure of his chastisement or to the reward of his labour wee shall see the exceeding and admirable loue and fauour of God towards him albeit the iustice of God kindled against our sinnes did not quit him from all paine yea that very chastisement by which he yeelded and learned obedience did not onely witnesse but also increase Gods loue towards him And where you Sir Discourser cast your eyes onely vpon Gods seuere and implacable iustice against sinne when you speake of Christes sufferings to serue your owne turne and to tole in hell-paines with some pretence of piety all the godly may perceiue and must confesse that God in satisfaction for sinne had greater regard of his holinesse despised by mans disobedience and of his glorie defaced by Satans triumph for our fall than of the rigor of his iustice prouoked by contempt of his commandement For
had God chiefly respected the execution of his iustice against sinne his owne sonne was most vnfit to be subiected to that vengeance which was prepared for deuils but God in the recompense which he required for sinne chose rather to haue his holinesse contented and his glory aduanced than to haue his iustice inflicted to the vttermost And therefore he selected the person of his owne sonne that might fully satisfie his holinesse and maruellously exalt his glorie but on whom of all others his iustice could take least holde not that his iustice should be neglected but that a moderate punishment in his person for the worthinesse thereof would weigh more euen in the balance of Gods exact iustice than the depth of Gods wrath executed on all the transgressours The chastisement of our peace layd vpon him will proue the same For where the wages of sinne is death and death due to sinne is threefold spirituall corporall and eternall as I haue formerly shewed such was the person of our Sauiour that two parts of death due to sinne could by no rule of Gods iustice fasten on Christes humane nature The gifts of Gods spirit and grace could not be quenched nor diminished in him he was full of grace and trueth he had not the spirit by measure as we haue but of his fulnesse we all haue receiued It is my father saith he that honoureth me whom ye say to be your God yet haue ye not knowen him but I know him and if I should say I know him not I should be a liar like vnto you but I know him and keepe his word and do alwayes the things that please him The cleerenesse of trueth knowing Gods will and fulnesse of grace keeping his word beeing continually present with the humane soule of Christ most apparently the death of the soule which excludeth all inward sense and motion of Gods spirit could haue no place in him by reason the death of the soule is the want of all grace and height of all sinne from which he was free much lesse could any part of Christs manhood by Gods iustice be condemned to euerlasting death or to hell fire since there could nothing befall the humanitie of Christ which was vnfit for his Diuinitie they both being inseparably ioyned together or repugnant to that loue which God so often professed and proclamed from heauen or iniurious to the innocencie and obedience which God so highly accepted and rewarded or preiudiciall to mans saluation which God so long before purposed and promised No weight of sinne no heat of wrath no rigour of iustice could preuaile against the least of these to cast Christ out of heauen and combine him with diuels in the second death which is the lake burning with fire and brimstone There is onely left the third kinde of death which is corporall to which Christ yeelded himselfe willingly for the conseruation of Gods iustice who inflicted that paine on all men as the generall punishment of sinne for the demonstration of his power who by death ouercame death together with the cause and consequents thereof and for the consolation of the godly that they should not faint vnder the crosse nor feare what sinne and Satan could do against them It was loue then in God towards vs to giue his sonne for vs So God loued the world that he gaue his only begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue life euerlasting but farre greater loue to his sonne than to vs though the burden of our sinnes which we could not beare were layd vpon him For since God hath adopted vs through Christ Iesus vnto himselfe and made vs accepted in his beloued of force he must be much better beloued for whose sake we all are beloued And if to make the world by his sonne were an excellent demonstration of Gods euerlasting and exceeding loue towards his sonne to send him into the world that the world through him might be saued doth as farre in honour and loue exceed the former as our Redemption by which heauen is inherited doth passe our creation whereby the earth was first inhabited Neither was it possible that God should remit the rigor of iustice against sinne for the loue of any but onely of his owne sonne whom because he loued as deerely as himselfe and had made heire of all things worthily and rightly did the wrath of God against man asswage and yeeld to the loue of God towards his owne sonne against whom no punishment could proceed but such as was fatherly and serued rather to witnesse obedience than to execute vengeance For though you Sir Discourser in the height of your vnlearned skill resolue that Christ could suffer no chastisement but all his sufferings were the true and proper punishment or iust vengeance of God for sinne yet the Prophet Esay telleth vs the chastisment of our peace was vpon him and the word Musar which the Prophet there vseth deriued from Iasar is the proper word that in the Scripture signifieth the correction of a father towards his sonne and of God likewise towards his Church Chastise thy sonne saith Salomon while there is hope As a father chasteneth his sonne ‖ so ‖ the Lord chasteneth thee sayth Moses to Israel My Sonne refuse not the chastening of the Lord. Blessed is the man whom thou Lord doest chasten The like may be seene by those that will looke Deutr. 21. vers 18. Ierem. 2. vers 30. Ierem. 31. vers 18. Psal. 118. vers 18. The Apostle concurreth with the Prophet Esay touching Christes sufferings and sayth Though he were the sonne yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered He learned obedience which is the subiection of a sonne to his fathers chastisement he tasted not vengeance which is the indignation of an enemie requiting Yea the very death which Christ suffered in the body of his flesh was so farre from being an effect of Gods proper wrath that it was an increase of Gods loue towards him and as well the price of our Redemption as the cause of all his honor following Therefore the Father loueth me sayth our Sauiour because I lay downe my soule or life to take it againe And so much the Prophet foretolde Therefore will I giue him sayth God a part in many things and he shall diuide the spoile of or with the mightie because he poured out his soule or life vnto death Which the Apostle sheweth to be thus verified in Christ. He humbled himselfe being obedient vnto the death euen the death of the Crosse. Wherefore God also highly exalted him and gaue him a name aboue euery name that in the name of Iesu euery knee should bow of things celestiall terrestrial and infernall euery tongue confesse that Iesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the father All power honour and iudgement in heauen earth and hell are therefore deliuered
without sorow and griefe of heart neither are they at any time punishments if they be good but rather Christian dueties and vertues The miseries of those whom we loue may be punishments vnto vs and our compassion on them if they be wicked may turne to be vicious and so be a punishment because it is immoderate where it should be temperate as we reade of Dauids excessiue compassion on Absalon his leud and rebellious sonne These be errours enow in so few words but these are nothing to those that follow in fauour of the soules immediate suffering from the hand of God himselfe without any instruments or inferiour meanes I might resume your former words of the soules immediate suffering from God alone but because you heape vp a great deale of rubbish to the same purpose much like the other or rather much worse than the other I thinke it best to rid all together Thirdly we must also note that God himselfe is alwayes and euermore the principall and proper punisher when the soule suffereth paines after the first maner that is in her proper and immediate facultie of suffering And that is alwayes immediatly for sinne also not for anie other cause at all Fourthly God himselfe therefore was thus the principall and only proper punisher of Christ as he sustained the punishment of our sinnes The diuels and wicked men his persecuters did their parts also indeed for other ends but yet they were all as instruments onely and vsed by God vnto his owne end namely that Christ might pay heereby a iust price and full satisfaction for our sinnes It was then the Almightie and most iust God himselfe in his seuere wrath against our sinne that principally and properly inflicted on Christ the paines and punishments which he as our suretie suffered for the paying of our ransome As it is written The Lord LAYD VPON HIM THE PVNISHMENT OF VS ALL. Your phrases be so fresh and new that your selfe can scant tell what to make of them or how to expound them In these words and those which goe but the next side before you set vs downe three interpretations of the soules immediate suffering not agreeing the one with the other All suffering of paine is you say from God either from him alone or also from his instruments and inferiour meanes This presently you call immediatly or mediatly and this commeth neerest to the sense of the word if it came as neere to the trueth of the matter For what is immediate but without all meanes The soules first maner of suffering paine then as you say is immediate that is from God only you must implie without all instruments or inferiour meanes whatsoeuer For that kinde of suffering which hath any meanes or instruments is mediate not immediate from God alone Why then in your second interpretation of immediat do you not exclude all instruments and meanes but only outward bodily meanes For thus you say in the second place It is iustly called immediate because it can and doth receiue an impression of sorrow and paine made from God only by and in it selfe without any outward bodily meanes thereunto Heere you exclude not all meanes but outward bodilie meanes And when Satan led Saul for feare and Achitophel for anger and Iudas for sorrow to despaire and in fine to dispatch themselues this desperation wrought in them by Satan was by your doctrine immediate from God because the diuell was the doer thereof without any outward bodily meanes And likewise when by hatred rage feare and furie Satan afflicteth the children of disobedience in whom he worketh this you will call the immediaâ—…e hand of God because he vseth a spirit and not a bodie for his instrument And yet doubting how this can be maintained for that God vseth men aswell as diuels to prooue and punish both his owne and his enemies you fall to a third sense of immediate where you make God alone the principall the rest to be only instruments and so that is immediatly from God which is principally from God what meanes or instruments soeuer he vse bodily or ghostly men or diuels And in this sense all paines and punishments whatsoeuer wheresoeuer by whomsoeuer are immediatly that is principally from God and by consequent all three kinds of suffering paine in the soule which you put and what meanes soeuer els can be named of inflicting and impressing paine in the soule are immediate from God that is they come chiefly from him whose power will and iudgement the rest demonstrate or execute And thus for want of trueth and lacke of vnderstanding whiles you labour to expound the soules immediate suffering of paine from God you vtterly subuert and ouerthrow all that you would say Againe God himselfe you say is alwayes and euermore the principall and proper punisher when the soule suffereth paines after the first maner that is in her proper and immediate facultie of suffering Keepe your manifold faculties to procure you more wit the soule hath but one facultie to suffer and feele paine how manie soeuer the meanes be from which or by which she may receiue paine it shall suffice to call it the first maner of the soules suffering paine When you say God is the principall and proper punisher what meane you by punisher Amongst men the Iudge determineth and pronounceth what shall be done the hangman executeth the sentence vpon the condemned and both in their kinds are punishers The like appeareth in Gods iudgements God alone is the decreer appointer and commander though he vâ—…e angels men diuels and all other creatures to execute his will for the punishing of sinne or deliuering of his seruants from the hands of the wicked This is the difference betwixt an earthly the heauenly Iudge that men giue to men right and not strength to execute their iudgements but God as he gaue to all his creatures all the strength which by nature they haue when he first made them so hee vseth their naturall strength which he gaue and giueth them farther power and force where need is fully to accomplish his will and commandement yea farther he vseth the willes and forces of men and diuels for ends and effects to them vnknowen and in them vnrighteous but to him most iust and holy So that God is the only punisher as a Iudge to decree appoint and command what shall befall euerie man for sinne he is also the onliâ—… giuer and supporter of all power and force when anie punishment is executed either by the naturall strength of any creature or by strength and might aboue nature but that God is alwaies and euermore the executioner when the soule suffereth otherwise than by her bodie or by her affections or that he was the principall and onelie proper executioner of Christ as he suffered for our sinnes or that in hell which is your vpshot God is the immediate executioner and tormentor of soules and diuels those are rather sicke mens dreames or
the wages thereof to be finall depriuation of all grace and glorie and eternall damnation of bodie and soule to hell-fire how can she but quake and tremble at the very cogitation and remembrance of her owne guiltinesse and of the greatnesse of his power and iustnesse of his anger And therefore the godlie presently fall vpon the consideration hereof to condemne and detest all their sinnes and with broken and contrite harts to lament their vnrighteousnesse and to afflict their spirits with earnest and inward sorrow till by faith and repentance they find comfort in the mercies of God through Christ Iesus For want of which the wicked often in this life and speciallie at the houre of death sincke vnder the burden of their sinnes and plunged into the depth of desperation are possessed with an horrible fright and terror of the torments prepared for them in another world they feeling here on earth in their soules the remorse of sinne and sting of conscience but not able to rise vnto true repentance and hope of saluation by reason of their continuall contempt of grace whiles it was offered them which then is taken from them After this life appeare the terrible iudgements of God against sinne which the wicked so much feare and the faithful so much shun the speciall maner and meanes whereof as farre as the Scriptures deliuer them I will deferre till I come to the particular handling of them though I haue often proposed them and in part proued them but whether the words of the Scripture expressing them be allegories that is figuratiue shadowes or plaine speeches that question is not yet debated which I reserue till I haue ended the immediate suffering of the soule as this Discourser calleth it Of these sixe meanes besides the immediate hand of God to inflict paine on the soule for the punishment of sinne it pleaseth you Sir Discourser to skip foure and the other two in effect to denie Affections you say are neither punishments nor corrections at all properly in themselues and suffering by sympathie from and with the bodie is common as you auouch to vs with beasts and is no proper humane suffering because in your iudgement your first kinde of suffering from the immediate hand of God alone is the proper humane suffering which for that cause your selfe call the soules proper and immediate suffering But what if in all this you speake not one true word what if the affections that be euill be properlie punishments of sinne what if the soules suffering from and with the bodie be the true and proper humane suffering what if God vse not his immediate hand in tormenting soules but hauing ordained and appointed meanes by his wisedome and power committeth sinfull soules to be punished by those instruments and meanes which he with his hand hath prepared and in his word expressed Do you not shew your selfe a deepe Diuine that prooue points of faith by open falsities and heape vp errours by the dozens binding them with your bare word and obtruding them to the world as oracles lately slipt from heauen but go to the parts and first to the affections which you affirme are no punishments whether they be good or euill The affections of the soule that be good as the loue of God the zeale of his glorie and hope of his mercie and trueth are the speciall gifts and graces of Gods spirit and so farre from paining the soule that they breed exceeding comfort and ioy in the Holieghost The affections that are eâ—…ill are not onely the rage and reward of sinne but inflict as great anguish as may be felt in this life Concupiscence which is the root and nurse of all euill affections in vs be they sensitiue or intellectiue what is it but the inordinate and intemperate desire and loue of our owne willes and pleasures despising and hating whatsoeuer resisteth or hindereth our deuices or delights yea though it be the will and hand of God himselfe this corruption of the soule by sinne which is now naturall in vs all whence came it but from and for the punishment of the first mans sinne what is it but the verie poison of sinne and whether tendeth it but to withstand and refuse all grace that men reiecting God and reiected of God may runne headlong to the finall and eternall vengeance of their sinne It is no small punishment of sinne for men to be left to the desires of their owne hearts and to be giuen ouer to vile affections which the Apostle calleth the reward of their error and euen the fulnesse of all vnrighteousnesse which make men the seruants of sinne whiles they wait on lusts and diuers pleasures which fight against the soule by leading it captiue vnto the law of sinne which is in the members And if you doubt whether they paine the soule or no looke but on their names or their effects and you shall soone be out of doubt Anger disdaine despaire dislike detestation feare sorrow ragâ—… furie for earthly things can these be so much as conceiued or named without euident impression or mention of paine yea the fairest of our affections and those which at first flarter vs most as loue desire and pleasure I speake still of euill and vnlawfull do they not quicklie faile sowerlie leaue and sharplie vexe with their remembrance and repentance the greatest seekers and owners of them In all these worldlie desires and delights S. Austens rule is generallie true Quod sine illiciente amore non habuit sine vrente dolore non perdet He that kept them not without alluring loue loseth them with afflicting griefe As for the intellectiue passions of the soule which are the trembling at Gods wrath the feare of his power and despaire of his fauour besides the shame of sinne griefe of heart and horror of hell what torments they breed in the condemned consciences of the wicked the godly may partly iudge by that which they sometimes taste notwithstanding their present recourse to the mercies and promises of God in Christ. So that euill affections aswell intellectiue as sensitiue be punishments of sinne and painfull to the soule howsoeuer your cogitations Sir Discourser be otherwise humored Concerning the soules suffering from and with the bodie which you say is common to vs with beasts if the soule do not consider for what cause at whose hand and to what end she suffereth as also how she may be freed and what thanks is due to her deliuerer she may be well likened to the Horse and Mule in whom is no vnderstanding but the brutish dulnesse of some earthly minded men doth not make this kind of suffering not to be properly humane which God from the beginning did and doth vse to all his seruants and saints his owne sonne not excepted and whereby God worketh in all his children correction probation perfection preparation to glorie which are things most proper to men and no way communicable vnto beasts God
the wicked shall presently beholde and see themselues reiected thence they shall inwardly grieue with vnspeakable sorrow and outwardly mourne with gnashing their teeth for very anguish of heart as perceiuing themselues excluded from that inestimable blisse for euer This collection our Sauiour confirmeth in expresse words There shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham Isaac and Iacob and all the Prophets in the kingdome of God and your selues thrust out at doores Yea where there are two sorts of paines in hell Losse of heauen and sense of euill the learned and ancient Fathers haue professed the former to be a greater and grieuouser paine than the latter There are some saith Chrysostome of an absurd iudgement who only desire to escape hell contra ego multo durius esse tormentum quoddam assero quà m gehenna est hoc est non assecutum esse tantam gloriam illinc elapsum esse But I on the contrarie aâ—…firme there is a farre worse torment than hell it selfe is to wit the losse of so great glory and the falling there-from Neither doe I thinke that we ought so much to grieue at the euils in hell as at the losse whereby we fall from heauen qui nimirum est cruciatus omnium durissimus which doubtlesse is the bitterest anguish of all the rest S. Austen in like sort To perish from the kingdome of God to be banished from the citie of God to want so plentifull abundance of the sweetnesse of God as he hath layd vp in store for those that feare him tam grandis est pâ—…a vt ei nulla possint tormenta quae nouimus comparari is so grieuous a punishment or paine that no torments which we know may be compared vnto it NAZIANZENE Those that rise to iudgement this amongst other or rather ABOVE other punishments shall torment them that they are reiected of God And Basil. The estranging and reiecting from God is an euill more intolerable than all that is feared or expected in hell If the griefe shall be so great to be excluded from the kindome of God and the same be comprised in the sentence of the Iudge where he saith Depart from me ye cursed then is there no doubt but it is an essentiall part of the paines of hell since it is not only generall and perpetuall to all the damned but a necessarie precedent to the rest of their torments which can neither take full hold of them nor afllict them in the highest degree till they be wholly depriued of all consolation and expectation of any fauour from God and vtterly confounded with the griefe and shame of that reâ—…ection which they shall suffer at the hands of Christ before men and Angels Malediction the second part of the Iudiciall sentence against the wicked noteth as well the cause of their condemnation to be sinne for which onely both men and Angels are accursed as the sequels of sinne in the condemned whom this curse excludeth from all sense and hope of Gods blessings eternall and temporall for euer and wrappeth in the fearefull remembring and feeling the number and horrour of their offences that before flattered delighted and encouraged themselues in their wickednesse For where shame sorrow and feâ—…re are by Gods wisedome and trueth appointed as waiting mates on sinne and offered to the consciences of all men to stay them from sinne or leade them to repentance when they haue sinned if they doe not harden their hearts the wicked to take their full foorth in their vncleannesse cast these behind them and not onely conceale and excuse their sinnes but quench all reuerence and remembrance of God least any thing should hold or hinder them from their pleasures And therefore the Iustice of God arising to take finall vengeance of their rebellion against him causeth extreame and inward shame remorse and feare which they so much shunned when they might haue repented and desisted from their euill wayes most dreadfully to inuade them and as mightie streames to ouerwhelme them till they sinke to the bottome of all confusion compunction and desperation Which is a most iust reward of their dalliance with God and yet a most painefull torment to the damned who in their life time wilfully renounced God to enioy their delights but there and for euer after shall without remedie or mercie behold the lothsomenesse of their sinnes and grieue at the follie and furie of their disobedience God punishing the soule of euery such transgressour with the remembrance and remorse of his madnesse with the euidence and conscience of his vncleannesse and with the sight and assurance of his perpetuall wretchednesse Quae pâ—…na grauior quà m interioris vulnus conscientiae What paine more grieuous sayth Ambrose then the wound of the conscience within Amongst all the afflictions of mans soule there is none greater saith Austen then the conscience of sinne Howe thinkest thou saith Chrysostome shall our consciences be bitten and is not this worse then any torment what soeuer The most grieuous torment of all saith Basil shall be that reproch and eternall shame Omni tormento atrociùs desperatio condemnatos affliget Worse then all other torments shall desperation afflict the condemned Giue them griefe of heart euen thy curse vpon them saith Ieremie to God No doubt then the sting of conscience and shame of sinne which so extreamely shall grieue the heart is a part of that eternall curse which shall light on the wicked and so painefull and grieuous shall it bee vnto them that they shall curse the day of their birth time of their life and all the workes of their hands that occasioned or leasured them to come within the compasse of this fearefull and euerlasting curse Torments and sorrowes shall take holde on them in the day of iudgement or of death and they shall be pained as a woman in labour with child By which it appeareth saith Ierome they are tormented with their owne conscience Tunc ipsa conscientia proprijs stimulis agitatur atque compungitur Then the very conscience of the wicked is pricked and pierced with her owne goades and stinges Magna paena est impiorum conscientia The conscience of the wicked is a great paine or punishment vnto them You did well vtterly to exempt the Sauiour of the world from both these I meane from reiection and malediction you must otherwise haue depriued him of all grace and glorie and plunged him into the shame of sinne and remorse of conscience neither of which without open impietie can be ascribed to the soule of Christ and yet both these are essentiall paincs to the damned and not circumstances as you pretend of time and place How painefull they are I leaue the Reader to consider by that which is already said essentiall they cannot chuse but be to damnation and hell not onely because they are comprised in the sentence of the Iudge which
and abhorre the vncleanesse of our sinne and in his iustice would pursue it to witnesse his vâ—…ter dislike and detestation thereof yeâ—… for so much as Christ himselfe was holy and vndefiled euen in his humane nature and did not thrust himselfe into this action but was called and annointed by God to this honor which God would yeelde to none but to his onely Sonne and this readines of the Sonne to lâ—…ke and obey his fathers counsell and decree and to pitie our miserie by laying our burden on his owne shoulders was in it selfe so glorious to God and gratious towards man that it could not bâ—… but most meritorious and acceptable to God the Author and accomplisher of mans Redemption by this meanes what cause could Christ haue to doubt of his fathers loue towards him or of his fathers approuing and accepting his office and seruice tending wholy to the perfourming of Gods will and aduauncing of Gods glorie But God was angrie with our sinnes though not with his sonne and that Anger Christ must beare before we could be freed from it The more Angrie God was with our sinnes the more contented he was with the person of his Sonne and euery part thereof that submitted himselfe to the purpose and pleasure of God to appease his wrath kindled against our offences And that Anger Christ did vndertake to quench by satisfiyng the iustice of God in such sort as seemed best to God himselfe and not by frustrating or declining it nor by suffering the substance of the same destruction and damnation which was due to vs. Yea this very point of Christs obedience and patience enduring and so vpholding Gods iustice according to Gods owne will respecting who he was that in this wise submitted and emptied him selfe was farre more contenting and pleasing to God then if the whole world had beene condemned for sinne to hell fire For God delighteth not in the destruction of the wicked but in the obedience of his Sonne he tooke infinite delight not reuenging him with rage as an enemie but imposing a fatherly correction on him for our sinnes which in his person could extend no farder that is to none other kinde of death and in ours would haue beene the eternall destruction of body and soule Wherefore the wisedome and goodnesse of God chose out the person of his owne Sonne purposely that neither our sinnes might be remitted as trifles skant prouoking his Anger nor his Iustice meete with such as no way deserued to be respected or spared but that the burden of our sinnes might be translated from vs who were vnworthy of all fauour and lye vpon the shoulders of his owne Sonne whom in all iustice he must and did most highly loue and tender and therefore could award no farder or other punishment against him for our sinnes then might stand with the moderation and affection of a father and try the obedience and submission of a sonne Sharpe was the chasticement of our peace on that part of our Sauiour which was capable of paine and smart least God should seeme to dally with our sinnes but not such as either exceeded his strength or any way chaunged or called in question Gods fauour towards him And so our Sauiour conceaued and resolued of all his sufferings that by Gods iustice they must haue in them griefe and anguish very painfull and offensiue to his humane nature because our sinnes were very lothsome and displeasing to Gods diuine nature yet so that nothing should be laid on him which might ouerwhelme or endanger his obedience or patience and that Gods purpose in so doing was to abolish sinne and abate his wrath his iustice being thus satisfied in the person of Christ Iesus and not to execute on his owne Sonne the fulnes of that vengeance which was prepared for sinne in men and Angels And where the Discourser prateth so much of Gods VERY wrath and PROPER vengeance for sinne to be executed on the bodie and soule of Christ if he meane the very same wrath and vengeance which is prepared for deuils and shall be executed on all the damned he openly blasphemeth For then must the Sonne of God be euerlastingly adiudged to hell fire as they are If hee flie to the substance and essence thereof he foolishly cauâ—…lleth or vainely seeketh to shift his hands of open impietie For if by substance and essence of hell fire prouided for sinne he meane only a sharpe and extreame paine then by this childish sophistrie an headach or toothach a fit of an ague or pang of the stone if the paine be sharpe are in substance and essence all one and the very same which the damned now suffer in hell since he is no way able to prooue that God is the immediate tormentor of soules in hell But thus to mocke and delude the dreadfull Iudgements of God against sinne and to play with the person of Christ in so waightie matters of our saluation is fitter for Pagans then Christians and well this Discourser may multiply the miste of his words but he shall neuer be able thence to derâ—…e any light of trueth If he meane the very same paine in soule or bodie which the damned suffer he runneth headlong into that impietie which he would seeme to shun For the bodies of the damned suffer hell fire which Christs did not and their Soules apprehend that God is their enemie and not onely hateth them but hath reiected accursed and condemned them for euer which to imagine of Christs soule is to charge him with plaine Infidelitie and Apostasie Christ therefoâ—…e rightly conceaued of his sufferings and knew God to be a gracious and louing father euen to his manhood though such was the constant course of Gods iustice to which Christ submitted himselfe that the price of our sinnes might not â—…e easie in the person of our Sauiour to make vs the more warie how to prouoke Gods iustice hereafter and to acknowledge our selues the more bound to him who with his no small smart redeemed vs and withall to ratifie the fearefull vengeance of God powred on the wicked to be most iust when as the exchange of our sinnes was so grieuous to the vndefiled and welbeloued manhood of the Sonne of God Since then God could no way be displeased with the nature office or action of Christ in offering himselfe a ransome for man which God himselfe first decreed before all worlds promised by his Prophers published by his Angels testified by signes and wonders and confirmed with his owne voyce from heauen and the sufferings of Christ were tempered with Gods loue proportioned to Christs strength supported with â—…oy accepted with fauour and rewardâ—…d with all honor in him and in vs for his sake what wound could this chastisement make in the depth of Christs soule when it was executed on his body or what could the soule of Christ conceaue more then that God was in deâ—…de angrie wâ—…th our sinnes and therefore would not accept our persons being in
redâ—…mption Fuller or more sufficient than eternall redemption we neither expect nor euer shall haue any since that which is eternall admitteth no change nor increase Then that redemption which Christ hath purchased by his blood is most full and sufficient by the Apostles testimony and sooner shal you proue your selfe to be no sound Teacher than that to be no sound dóctrine which hath so manifest witnesse in holy Scripture I teach that the ioynt sufferings of Christ the soule feeling what the body suffered are most auailable for our saluation and that besides the sacrifice of Christes body there is no other sacrifice of his soule which can be neither bodily nor bloody If I alone did teach thus and not the whole Church of Christ with me or if the sacred Scriptures which must guide vs all what to affirme and beleeue in the worke of our saluation did not teach the same I wâ—…re worthy to be challenged but if I say no more than the Scriptures do warrant me to speake looke you Sir Discourser to your late created Creed that can not admit nor endure the words of the Holy Ghost That the true sacrifice for sinne was but ONE and ONCE made and that it required the BODIE BLOOD and DEATH of the Offerer is not my addition but the Apostles assertion Christ appeared sayth Paul in the end of the world once to put away sinne by the sacrifice of himselfe and by reason he was an high Priest after the order of Melchisedech and a Minister of the true Tabernacle and Sanctuarie it was of necessitie he should haue somewhat also to offer Wherefore when he commeth into the world he saith to God Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but a bodie hast thou ordained me It is written of me that I should doe thy will O God by the which will we are sanctified sayth the Apostle euen by the offering of the body of Iesus Christ once Who after he had offered this one sacrifice for sinne sitteth for euer at the right hand of God For with this one offering hath he consecrated or made perfect for euer them that are sanctified That likewise without effusion of blood there is no remission and therefore Christ with his owne blood entred in once vnto the holy place and obtained eternall redemption as also that the death of the testator must be where a testament is in either of these the Apostle is euident and vehement Now if you Sir Discourser can conuey these things to the soules proper and immediate suffering the paines of hell from the hand of God and shew how these resolutions of the Apostle perteine properly yea only to the soule of Christ we shal greatly woonder at your wisdome For thereby shall you prooue that the soule hath not only a body but blood also that may be shed which are miracles I will not say monsters both in Scripture and nature A spirit sayth Christ hath no flesh and bones as ye see me haue If you can teach Christ that he neuer knew before by my consent you shal be allowed for more than a Creed-maker Howbeit you will marre your owne market in so doing For if the soule consist of bodie and of blood what shall become of her proper and immediate facultie of suffering without and besides the bodie which you so highly aduanced in the beginning as to make it the proper and principall humane suffering If you shrinke from these follies or rather frensies as I hope you will then must you grant the ioynt sufferings of Christ I meane the wounding of his body and shedding of his blood euen vnto death as the Scriptures describe it to be the true sacrifice for sinne and consequently most auaileable for our saluation If you thinke I exclude the soule of Christ from her part in this bodily and bloody sacrifice of Christ I haue so often said and shewed the contrarie in my former reply that I am weary of iterating one and the same thing though you be neuer weary of mistaking it My former words I repeat againe that the Reader may see I haue no cause to recant or controle them The true sacrifice for sinne which Christ offered must haue the body the blood and the death of the offerer none of which agree to the soule of Christ though the body without a soule could be no reasonable sacrifice and therefore I exclude not the soule whose obedience innocence and patience concurred to sanctifie this sacrifice but I note the parts of the sacrifice for sinne by the Apostles doctrine were those which I named the blood and death of the Sacrificer both which must needs be found in his bodie and not in his soule These words you quote in the margent but you take not the paines to refute them much lesse to establish your vnbloody and vnbodily sacrifice of Christs soule suffering hell paines from the immediate hand of God Which kind of offering for sinne is as strange to the Scriptures and to all the learned and auncient fathers as the rest of your vnknowne doctrine And therefore you doe well to straine still on the same string by censuring what you mislike and neuer proouing what you affirme least you should marre your musicke if you should proceede to the parts or proofes of your new found Redemption by the paines of hell Yet somewhere I seeme to yeeld wholy as much as you affirme as where I say the same part indeede might suffer in Christ which sinned in man I meane the soule Somewhat it is you find so many writers new and old on your side you here no sooner the suffering of the soule or the anger of God against sinne in any man but you presently count him vnder your coulours Euen as I make for you when I write against you so doe the Auncient fathers and later Diuines whose names you abuse But if I meane as I ought then at least I follow your meaning It is a peece of your skill when I speake directly against your fancies to make men beleeue I meane as you doe or at least I ought so to meane Indeed if you may be vmpeere what I ought to meane I shall be sure to iump with your meaning but looke to my words good Sir and measure my meaning by that which I speake and not by that which you would haue me speake I said Christs soule might suffer for sinne what collect you thence I did not adde without or with the body so that all the sufferings of Christ inflicted on his body might be and were impressed in his soule and you nothing the nearer to your purpose of hell paines suffered in the Soule of Christ. But graunt the soule of Christ did suffer for sinne without concurrence of the body must it needs follow he therefore suffered the paines of hell how many griefes and paines of the soule are there not proceeding from the body
person onely but also in his members Then first you be slipt from your former resolutio deliuered in your Treatise which is no strange thing in your writings There your words were I take it to be cleare the Apostle HERE SPEAKETH NOT of the personall sufferings of Christ but of the godly You there denie that Paul speaketh of Christs personall sufferings but of the godly Here you affirme hee speaketh of both and least you should seeme to diuide them you adde Paul doth here ioyntly together vnderstand by Christs crosse the afflictions of the whole mysticall bodie both head and members A large and long Crosse of Christ that conteineth not onely his owne death and passion and whatsoeuer persecution he suffered in his life time but ioyntly together all the asflictions of the godly from the beginning of the world to the end I will not aske you where you find or how you proue Christs crosse to be so vsed in the Scriptures you that take vpon you to frame new Redemptions new hels and new heauens to your fansie will not sticke to frame a new Crosse of Christ without any Scripture howbeit know this all wise will beware of such expositions as haue neither example nor ground in the word of God For though our Sauiour sometimes said If any will come after me let him denie himselfe and take vp his Crosse and follow me yet he neuer said let him take vp my Crosse and follow mee and Paul who often vseth the word Crosse without addition many times the Crosse of Christ neuer taketh it in all his Epistles for the afflictions of the godly but onely for the spitefull and shamefull death which Christ in his owne person suffered on the Crosse. So that howsoeuer euery Christian may be said to take or beare his Crosse the Scriptures no where apply the Crosse of Christ but only to the force and fruit of Christes death suffered on the Crosse for vs and our saluation which is the sense that I affirme Saint Paul here intended But the markes afflictions and DYING OF THE LORD IESVS are vsed in this and other places of the Scripture to signifie the afflictions of the godly Those places haue speciall wordes adioyned which can not bee referred to the person of Christ but must of force belong to the speaker or sufferer As I beare IN MY BODY the markes of the Lord Iesus saith Paul and againe I fulfill the rest of the afflictions of Christ IN MY FLESH And so we beare about IN OUR BODIE the dying of the Lord Iesus Where these words in my bodie and in my flesh are proper to the speaker and no way deriueable to the person of Christ. Wherefore the markes afflictions and dying of the Lord must either import a resemblance to the personall sufferings of Christ or demonstrate the cause for which the Apostle suffered which was for Christs sake and in this is no difficultie to suffer affliction in like manner as Christ did or to suffer it for Christs cause But the Crosse of Christ whereof the Apostle speaketh in my Text was that at which the Iewes were so greatly offended for which the true preachers were so sharpely persecuted to which the false teachers ioyned circumcision for the better attayning of saluation in which the godly most reioyced and by which the faithfull were crucified to the world and the world to them and all these are proper to the personall death and crosse of Christ as he was the Sauiour of the world and not common to the afflictions of the Saints It was a question of doctrine not of manners for which the Apostle so much striued and the highest point of mans redemption not of mans perfection in which he so much gloried For touching other mens miseries how should Paul reioyce in them or how should he by them be crucified to the world and the world to him He had good cause to reioyce in the death of Christ though it were neuer so much maligned and pursued by the Iewes because it was the wisedome and power of God to saue all that beleeued and in his owne troubles for Christes quarrell hee might reioyce as hauing thereby fellowship with Christs afflictions and made conformable to his death but to reioyce at other mens troubles that hath no warrant in the word of God Reioyce saith Paul with them that reioyce and weepe with them that weepe Wee may take comfort and giue God thankes that the faithfull haue grace to endure persecution with patience and courage but that affliction befalleth them we may not be glad For that is to reioyce at other mens harmes which is repugnant to the rule of charitie Neither could Paul be crucified to the world by other mens troubles long before dead or then vnborne examples might encourage the weake but Paul was strong and proposed himselfe as a paterne of patience suffering persecution And therefore this haling into the Crosse of Christ the afflictions of all the godly that euer were or shall be as if the Apostle so highly reioyced in them and were crucified to the world by them is wholy against the haire and hath neither dependence nor coherence with the Apostles words Besides you doe not or will not vnderstand the maine point here in question betwixt the Apostle and those false teachers of the Iewes whom he reprooueth and refuteth in this Epistle You say indeede It is manifest the Apostle here Gala. 6. v. 12. reprooueth the false teachers for mingling the pure doctrine because they were loth to taste persecution but you neither tell vs what the Gospell was which they thus mingled with circumcision nor why they feared persecution nor from whom which things if you would haue specified as the Scriptures deliuer them you should soone haue perceiued how properly the Apostle addeth for the Crosse of Christ and how rightly I referred these words to the force and fruite of Christs death which is the summe and substance of the Gospell What the Gospel was which Paul preached appeareth plainly by his owne words We preach saith he Christ crucified vnto the Iewes a scandall or offence and vnto the Grecians foolishnesse but vnto them which are called both of the Iewes and Greekes Christ the power of God and wisedome of God to saue all that beleeue For Christ is made of God to vs righteousnesse redemption and sanctification to the end That he which reioyceth might reioyce in the Lord. In so much that I esteemed not to know any thing among you sayth Paul saue Iesus Christ and him crucified So that Christ crucified the Crosse of Christ the preaching of the Crosse and the Gospell of Iesu Christ are phrases of like force vsed by Paul for one and the selfe same word of trueth which is the doctrine of our saluation by the death and blood of Christ. Christ sent me saith he to preach THE GOSPEL not with wisedome of words least
highest staire doth orderly confirme there are lower greeces so the fulnesse of Christs obedience and our Redemption performed by his death and bloodshed on the crosse doth not exclude the rest of his antecedent sufferings from the communion of his merits or cause of our saluation but onely noteth that his obedience and patience on the crosse euen vnto death as it was the last and the sharpest so it was the chiefest and acceptablest part of the sacrifice which he offered for the sinnes of the world Though then as you haue vsed the matter by adding PROPER to the sufferings of the mind and ONLY to the sufferings of the body you make some shew of repugnancie in my positions yet when your miscoloured and misconstrued patches are returned to their owner my opinions stand sound in themselues and consonant ech to other and haue that reference to my Text which I first expressed But Christs soule in a large sense may be said to be crucified if we suppose this text to signifie the whole contents of Christs crosse which I reprooue in you with such contempt It is an Idle skill and dangerous trade in you and your assistants when the necessarie parts of Christs satisfaction and essentiall points of our Redemption come to be questioned for you to bring your inuentions besides the Scriptures and without if not against the faith and then to vouch it may be said in a large sense that is by a metaphoricall hyperbolicall or metonymicall vnderstanding In exhortations we permit many things to Diuines which in positions of faith are vtterly vnlawfull So long as the words of a perswader may receaue any true construction be it proper or figuratiue we beare with his vehement and suddaine affections but in determinations of doctrine and conclusions of faith all men require plaine and proper speech that the truth may appeare and not be shadowed and obscured with darke and doubtfull riddles If your hell paines in Christs soule and the death of Christs soule be but phrases of speech first deuised by you you should not so much striue for them being no where mentioned nor applyed to Christ in the sacred Scriptures but if they be matters of faith and sufferings requisite by Gods iustice for mans saluation as you beare the world in hand why now when you see the falsitie and absurditie of them iustly reprooued come you in with a large sense a kind of speach which in resolutions of faith is not tolerable I haue no doubt but figuratiuely the soule of man and the Sonne of God may be said to be crucisied euery day For not only the Lord of glory was once crucified by the Iewes but there are that crucifie againe to themselues the Sonne of God euen such as willingly fall from the truth And that the desires and delights of the soule may and must be continually crucified the word of God is euident They which are Christs haue crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts not by fastning their bodies to the tree but by mortifying their earthly members as inordinate affection euill concupiscence couetousnes and such like which haue their seate principally in the soule The world is crucified to me and I to the world saith Paul when he meaneth that his hart despiseth for Christ all the baites and threats of the world In a large and figuratiue sense therefore Christs soule may be said to be dead and crucisied and so may the diuell be said to be God for the Scripture calleth him the God of this world but I hope these may not goe for positions of faith nor for Articles of Christian Religion without beleeuing of which we can not be saued From the word Crosse to crucified is an argument you thinke à Coniugatis as from words of the same force and inflection and therefore if Christs soule were partaker of the crosse it was also crucified From being fastened or nayled to the Crosse vnto crucified is indeede a good consequent in the proper signification of the word for so much doth Crucifigi import whence Crucifixus commeth but from the Patients instruments or the precedent or consequent circumstances of the Crosse which yet are inclosed in the contents of the Crosse to being crucified is such an Argument as none but you would make The disciples flying Peter forswearing Pilats wife dreaming the Mariâ—…s sorrowing the women of Ierusalem weeping Simon of Cyrene bearing the Crosse are all within the contents or precedent circumstances of Christs Crosse and yet it were straâ—…ge Logicke to say they were all dead and crucified The swordes and staues that were brought to take him the cordes that bound him the whippes that were made to scourge him the thornes that crowned him the nayles that fastned him the wood that bare him the lots cast on his garments the sponge that was filled with vineger to giue him drinke the speare that pearced his side are all within the contents of his Crosse Shall we thence reason and say they were also crucified only his bodie was fastned to the Crosse in which respect the whole person is saide to haue bene crucified and the paines which he suffered before in his bodie brought with him to the crosse are properly contayned in his crucifixion by reason they continued in his bodie when it was nayled to the Crosse. The rest of the wrongs paines which he suffered are figuratiuely comprised in the name of Christs Crosse because they were antecedents to his Crosse or els the name of Crosse is largely taken for all maner of affliction which befell him after his last Supper when once he yeelded himselfe to be prepared as a sacrifice for the Crosse. But what is this to the death of Christs soule or how doth it any way prooue that in soule he must suffer the paines of hell before he could redeeme vs At least yet I quite ouerthrow my second question that Christ after this went downe into Hell For either Christ got vs no purchase in hell for which we should reioyce or else I must extend the crosse of Christ and his bitter sufferings euen vnto his being in hell among the deuils and damned spirits before we may reioyce therein A conclusion fit for such a Clerke as you are that can neither distinguish things different from things pertinent to the crosse of Christ nor see the coherence betwixt the cause and effects of Christs sufferings In that I obserued the Apostle made it a thing detestable to reioyce in any thing els but in the crosse of Christ I followed therein Chrysostome Oâ—…cumenius Theophylact Bullinger Gualter and others whose litle fingers I take had more learning and iudgement then your whole head neither do I see what you bring against it but the opening of your owne follie For first there be things coherent to the crosse of Christ and things different from it Hee that reioyceth in the crosse of Christ doth also reioyce in euery thing that is
for the sinnes of the world But you after your slight and slippery manner though euen here you deny it very stifly when you be pressed with reasons or authorities conuey your selfe presently to your ambiguous and deceitfull termes of meere bodily sufferings and the proper sufferings of the soule and from thence you make your aduantage But what are meere bodily sufferings such as haue no communion neither with the sense nor grace of the soule can a liuing body die a shamefull and cruell death as Christ did and the soule neither like or mislike it nor so much as feele it This you inferre vpon the word onely when I conclude that Christ died a bodily death onely If the sacrifice say you As it is onely bodily and bloudy doe wholy purge sinne ‖ it followeth that no action or passion of the soule neither by Sympathie nor any other I say none at all As being in the soule was regarded as propitiatorie and meritorious Graunt first your owne termes to be true which are neither my words nor my meaning that Christs MEERE bodily sufferings without any proper sufferings of the soule were the whole Ransom for sinne how exclude you the sense affections and actions of Christs soule not to be meritorious Had Christ any sufferings in his body which his soule felt not and when his soule felt them did he not patiently obediently and willingly endure them for our sakes Or was not the patience obedience and loue of Christ meritorious How then will it follow that if Christs sufferings were MEERE BODILY without any proper sufferings of the soule no affection nor action of Christs soule was meritorious But you adde â—…f the Sacrifice As it is onely bodily bloudy and deadly doth wholy purge sinne thâ—…n no action nor passion of the soule was propitiatorie and meritorious If you meane that Christs body as it was onely dead for that is your word did without soule or life wholy purge sinne then indeed your consequent is good that neither action nor passion of the soule could be propitiatorie because the soule was not present when the body was dead But who maketh that blockish Antecedent besides your selfe Or who euer excluded Christs innocence obedience patience charitie and digniâ—…e from his bodily and bloody sacrifice before you will you seuer the manner of offering from the thing offered and call it a perfect and propitiatorie sacrifice As it was only bodily and bloudy it had no communion with any action or passion of Christs soule As being in the soule Why entangle you the Reader with an As and an As of your owne adding which no where are found in my words What sense can any wise man pike out of this The sacrifice As it is only bodily excludeth all actions and passions of the soule As being in the soule Is it so strange a kind of speech to say that Christ died only a bodily death which so many learned and auncient Fathers haue so frequently vâ—…ed before me that you should bring in your As and your As thus to kicke at it In death as in death if thereby you meane the priuation and want of soule and life there is neither paine nor sense and in the body As in the body if you take the body for a dead corps there is no absolute necessitie of a soule otherwise no body could be dead What then Had therefore Christs body no soule nor his death no paine when he suffered for our sinnes Or are you of late so souced in Sophistrie that when you heare of a body you will inferre there is neither action nor paâ—…sion of the soule in that body as in a body or whâ—…n you are told of a man tormented to death you will assure vs that in his death as death he had neither paine nor sense All men besides you conceaue in the sufferings of the body the soule as the soule must haue the sense and feeling thereof and is thereby vrged by Gods ordinance to seeke for the cause and ease thereof In their affliction saith God by his Prophet they will seeke me And Dauid sill their faces with shame that the may seeke thy name And likewise by the suffering of death they vnderstand the paine and sting of death approching and lastly separating the soule from the body And therefore Christs sacrifice for sinne though it were only bodily because no part of Christ died but only the body yet the soule endured the paine and discerned the cause thereof And though it were deadly because it ended in death and was finished by death yet the actions and affections of Christs soule as well from her selfe as from his body at the time of his passion impressed or stirred either by the cause smart author or manner of his sufferings were meritorious and made way for the satisfaction of sinne which was not accomplished but by that death of Christs body that God had determined Let therefore the Reader iudge how well you impugne my conclusion that Christ died for our sinnes the death of the body only and not the death of the soule nor of the damned and how vainly you vouch Christs death and sacrifice as they were bodily had neither paines nor patience obedience nor charitie nor any other action or passion of his soule in them Else-where I see in you manifest contrarietie hereunto for sundry times you teach that Christ did suffer peculiarly and seuerally some proper punishments which I hope were propitiatorie and meritorious in his soule besides his bodily suffering yea that this was a part of his crosse and an effect of God wrath on his soule as well as the suffering in his body I pray thee Christian Reader obserue that this Discourser plainly and fully here confesâ—…eth that I SVNDRY times teach that Christ BESIDES his bodely sufferings did suffer peculiarly and seuerally some PROPER punishments in his soule and that this was a part of his Crosse as well as the sufferings of his bodie Now iudge whether it be not a meere shift for him to beare thee in hand that the question betwixt vs is whether Christs meere bodily sufferings without anie proper sufferings of the soule be all that Christ suffered for our sinnes and the whole ransom for sinne or whether that be or can be my meaning as he outfaced thee the next Page before the contrary whereof I sundry times teach as he now confesseth But I crosse my selfe he thinketh write I know not what Sir Trifler if I contradict my selfe shew me my words my writing is extant If you will be priuie to my meaning against my words you are a strange if not a sturdie Prophet But indeede I haue neither meaning nor words sounding that way I auouch that Christ for our sinnes suffered the death of the body only and not of the soule or no death but only the death of the body Vpon these words the death of the bodie onlie if it may be inferred by
bodilie death which God had irreuocably pronounced and executed on Adam and his ofspring by returning him and them to the earth for manie thousand yeeres before Christ came but rather in that to partake with vs that he might saue vs from the rest which in all the wicked did accompany this death and in the end to raise vs againe to a better life lest we should faint vnder the hand of God who fastneth vs to the afflictions of this life by the example and fellowship of Christs sufferings For if we suffer with him we shall raigne with him and we must first die in Adam before we can be quickned againe in Christ. They are now profitable for vs you will say and so rather helpe vs than hurt vs in this corruption of sinne with which we are compassed I doubt not thereof and so were they from the first instant that they were imposed on Adam but how came this corruption of our nature if not as a punishment of sinne in Adam and consequently the remedies thereof do also witnesse Gods displeasure against sinne though they be farre more holesome for vs than to rot in the sores of our inward corruption Can any man doubt but God was and is able to cleere vs though neuer so corrupt from the infection and dominion of sinne by the working of his Spirit more mightilie and casilie than by troubles and griefs if it had so seemed good to his wisdome and iustice And had he determined to shew vs onlie loue without all regard to his iustice how readie was it for him in Christ to haue released as well all corporall and temporall affliction to his elect as he did spirituall and eternall But he resolued otherwise in his most wise counsell for the conseruation of his iustice and so now healeth our corruption with the salue of affliction to let vs haue continually presented before our eyes and impressed in our bodies what our sinne at first did and still doth deserue though he neuer withdrew his mercie from vs which in the end shall most abundantly recompense all Wherefore it is no reason that because troubles are profitable or necessarie for our corrupt state therefore they are not effects of Gods displeasure against sinne yea rather because God could haue otherwise cured sinne in vs and would not but by perpetuall affliction it is an argument that God so hated sinne in our first parents that he would haue the verie remembring curing thereof to be alwayes in this life painfull and grieuous to our outward man though he would also comfort vs in Christ whiles heere we liue and heereafter crowne vs with glorie for Christes sake Neither is this a question of words whether they be proper or improper in the Scriptures but a point of doctrine necessarie to be receiued of all men that the corruption and dissolution of our nature and life in this world doth manifest the exceeding hatred that naturallie God hath of sinne who rewarded it in all mankinde so seuerely that he spared neither the bodies soules states nor liues of his elect from sensible signes of his detesting sinne in them though for his sonnes sake in whom they were beloued and adopted he would by his wonderfull power rather further than indanger their saluation euen by those maladies and corrosiues of sinne This sheweth the greatnesse of Gods power and goodnesse of his mercie towards vs but this altereth not the iudgement which God pronounced and punishment which he inflicted on Adam and all his ofspring for sinne The corruption and infection of sinne which naturally and continually dwelleth in all the godly called by Diuines concupiscence is it no punishment of sinne because the guilt thereof is remitted in Baptisme and now it is left in vs to humble vs and awake vs to call for grace and to resist sinne that striuing with it we see not only the danger of sinne assaulting vs but the Spirit of God assisting vs and bountie of God rewarding vs The actuall sinnes of the faithfull shall we thinke them no sinnes but fauors from God because by them God worketh repentance submission conuersion yea faith zeale ioy and thanksgiuing in his elect God worketh sayth Austen all things for the good of those that loue him and so farre forth vtterly all things that if any of them stray and for sake the right way euen that God turneth to their good because they returne more humble and better taught The like I say of death and other miseries of mans life pronounced first by Gods mouth and still inflicted by Gods hand They are as they were degrees or effects of Gods anger against sinne in Adam pursuing him and all his posteritie for the confirmation of his iustice though by Gods mercie towards his they now serue as they did euen at the first in Gods children to represse sinne to worke repentance to raise confidence in God and contempt of all earthly things and to exercise the graces of Gods Spirit giuen them as patience obedience and such like and to giue them assurance of a better life The Church of Christ euer was and is of the same minde with me that the death of the bodie with her seeds and fruits in this life first entred and still remaineth as a PVNISHMENT of sin Men shunned saith Austen the death of the flesh rather than the death of the spirit that is the punishment rather than the cause of the punishment We came vnto death by sinne Christ by righteousnesse ideo cum sit mors nostra poena peccati mors illius facta est hostia pro peccato and therefore where our death is the punishment of sinne his death was the sacrifice for sinne Theodoret speaking of the separation of bodie and soule wherby that which is mort all sustaineth death the soule remaining free from death as being immortall asketh his aduersarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doest thou not thinke death to be a punishment Who answering The Diuine Scripture teacheth so much Theodoret inferreth Is death then the punishment of sinners The other yeelding that this is granted of all men Theodoret concludeth Why then since both the soule and bodie sinned doth the bodie alone sustaine the punishment of death Fulgentius Nisi praecessisset in peccato mors animae nunquam corporis mors in supplicio sequeretur Except the death of the soule had gone before by sinne the death of the bodie had neuer followed after as a punishment And therefore of our flesh he sayth Nascitur cum poena mortis pollutione peccati It is borne with the punishment of death and pollution of sinne And of yoong children By what iustice is an infant subiected to the wages of sinne if there be no vncleannesse of sinne in him or how do we see him strooken with death if he felt not the sting thereof which is sinne Maxentius in the confession of his faith We beleeue sayth he that not only the death of
the bodie which is the punishment of sinne but also the sting of death which is sinne entred into the world because we consent not to these men who say the contrarie but to the Apostle who testifieth that sinne and death went ouer all men Prosper The punishment of sinne which Adam the root of mankinde receiued by Gods sentence saying Earth thou art and to earth thou shalt returne and transmitted to his posteritie as to his branches the Apostle sayth entred into the world by one mans sinne and so ranged ouer all men Beda The death as well of vs men as of Christ is called sinne because it is the effect and punishment of that sinne which Adam committed The second councell of Arrange about 450 yeres after Christ confesseth no lesse If any man affirme that only the death of the bodie which is the punishment of sinne and not sinne also which is the death of the soule passed by one man to all mankinde he ascribeth iniustice to God and contradicteth the Apostle who sayth By one man sinne entred into the world and by sinne death passed ouer all men Our later writers though they fully defend that God doth not punish his either to destruction as he doth the wicked nor for satisfaction of sinne as he did his owne Sonne for the sinnes of all his Saints and to comfort the afflicted they set before them the presence of Gods power assisting them in their miseries or deliuering them from their troubles the purpose of God respecting wholy their good and the promise of God exceedingly recompencing their patience yet when they come to the causes prouoking God to this seueritie they acknowledge that to be sinne and teach euery man to descend into himselfe and to giue God the glorie in that his righteous iudgement beginneth at his owne house Of the euils which we suffer in this life there be many and sundry causes saith Bullinger but sinne it selfe is counted to be the generall cause For by disobedience sinne entred into the world and by sinne death diseases and all the mischiefes in the world The persecutions and cruell tortures inflicted on the Church of God or on particular Martyrs as they were offered them for the confession and testimony of the faith and truth of the Gospell so for the most part they had for their causes the offences and sinnes of the godly which the iustice of God did visite in his seruants though for the good and welfare of his Saints The people of Israell sinned against the Lord in the desert vnder the Iudges and Kings very often and very enormously and were grieuously punished by the Lord but againe they were speedily deliuered as often as they acknowledged their sinnes and turned vnto the Lord. If therefore any man suffer any euill for sinne committed let him acknowledge the iust iudgement of God vpon himselfe and humble himselfe vnder the mightie hand of God confessing it vnto God and asking pardon with lowly praier let him patiently beare that which he hath so well deserued to suffer It is certaine saith Zanchius that all the punishments and miseries which we feele in this world are from sin and inflicted for sinne In which place he resolueth by a plaine thesis that death is the punishment of sinne and so are all those things which are the fruits of death as well in Soule as in body and in our externall state It is an argument saith Gualther of a mind skant religious wholy to despise death quam per peccatum ingressam peccati poenam esse omnes Scripturae testantur which all the Scriptures witnesse came in by sinne and is the punishment of sinne In the Philosophers commendations of the death of the bodie there are some things saith Peter Martyr not agreeable to the Christian faith and to the sacred Scriptures For we say that death must not be accounted any good but an euill thing Quandoquidem Deus illam vti poenam inflixit nostro generi For so much as God inflicted it as a punishment on mankind And so else where Omnes pij statuunt in morte â—…rae diuinae sensum esse ideoque sua natura dolorem horrorem incutit All the godly resolue that in death there is a sense of Gods wrath and therefore of his owne nature it impresseth a griefe and terror And if there be any to whom it is contenting and acceptable to die they haue that from some other fountaine and not from the nature of death There might be assigned saith Musculus many kinds of the wrath of God but for this present we content our selues with a triple diuision thereof whereby we diuide it into generall temporall and eternall The generall wrath of God is that wherewith the whole posteritie of Adam is enwrapped for originall sinne Hence come all the miseries of mankind which equally follow the condition of men and cleaue as well to our minds as to our flesh The temporall wrath of God is that Qua peccat is non impiorum modò sed piorum irascitur ac paenas de illis sumit in hac vita whereby God is angry with the sinnes not of the wicked onely but of the godly also and taketh punishment of them in this life Whether I speake or thinke otherwise then these new and old Diuines haue spoken and taught let the Reader iudge But mine owne Authors in the very places which I alleadge doe say that the nature of death is changed and that God is angry with his elect as a Father with his beloued children to chasten and amend them Peter Martyr saith indeede the nature of death is chaunged by Gods goodnes making that profitable to vs which of it selfe is very harmefull but with what condition doth he say it is changed Puta si quis obediente animo eam sube at néque poenam illam reijciat quam diuina iustitia nos omnes voluerit exoluere If a man submit himselfe vnto it with an obedient hart and reiect not that punishment which the iustice of God would haue vs all to suffer And so it was chaunged euen when it was inflicted on the elect in Adams loynes For Christ was first promised to be the bruizer of the Serpents head Now if death afterward tooke full and euerlasting hold on Christs members then the serpent preuailed against Christ and his chosen and not Christ against the Serpent Wherefore God so moderated his sentence that he adiudged Christes members in Adam no farder then to the earth whence Christ should raise them and vtterly abolish from them all the Serpents poyson that is sinne death and corruption but this prooueth not death to be good in Gods Children or to be no punishment of sinne in them because God conuerteth it to their aduantage in the ende no more then their sinnes are good because God turneth them also to the benefite of his elect For as you heard before Saint Austen
or amended then was he not punished for correction On the other side much lesse did God purpose to destroy Christs person being his owne and onely Sonne as he doth the wicked whose bodies and soules he will destroy in hell and consequently Christ was not punished to destruction That is proper to the reprobate whose persons God hateth and leaueth in their sinnes that they may prouoke his iust wrath to their vtter destruction Then was Christ neither punished as the godly are for amendment nor as the wicked are for vengeance and so your partition is false and defectiue and all your collections grounded thereon are like the foundation that is voide of all strength and trueth What then was Gods purpose in punishing Christ for our sinnes euen that which you alwayes passe by with deafe and dull eares though it be often repeated and vrged vnto you because you will not be turned from the trade of your hellish paines Why God would not haue man redeemed but by the death and passion that I call the punishment of Christ Iesus the Scriptures yeeld many causes though of Gods will no cause may be required some respecting God himselfe some concerning Christ and some regarding vs. Touching God the crosse of Christ doth commend his wisdome shew his power manifest his loue content his holines preserue his iustice Christ crucisied as Paul sayth is the power of God and the wisdome of God to them that are saued howsoeuer the crosse of Christ seeme foolishnesse and weakenesse to them that perish Then to controle the carnall wisdome of the world and to confound the pride and strength of Satan and his members God would vse the basenesse and feeblenesse of the Crosse in sauing his elect Also to witnesse his loue towards vs he decreed the same So God loued the world that he gaue his onely begotten Sonne to be an offering and a sacrifice of a sweet smelling sauour vnto God With which Sacrifice the holinesse of God resteth so well pleased that he accepteth vs as holy and sanctified by the oblation of the bodie of Iesus Christ once made The vpholding of Gods Iustice by the death of Christ is often specified in the Scriptures By a man came death and by a man the resurrection from the dead Him that knew no sinne God made sinne for vs to wit a sacrifice for sinne that wee should be made the righteousnesse of God in him Therefore it was expedient that one man should die for the people and that the whole Nation perished not He was wounded for our transgressions and by his stripes are wee healed The Lord layed vpon him the iniquitie of vs all And where a Testament is there must be the death of the Testator for a Testament is confirmed when men are dead So that by the Scriptures themselues God decreed the Crosse of Christ in mans redemption to reueale his wisdome power and loue to the world and wholly to satisfie his holinesse and iustice which were thorowly displeased and prouoked with mans disobedience but as thorowly recompensed and appeased by the submission and obedience of Christ. As for Christ himselfe it is euident by the Scriptures that his enduring the crosse declared his obedience patience humilitie charitie perfection and power in more effectuall maner than without it he could haue done For therein he emptied and humbled himselfe and became obedient vnto death euen to the death of the crosse When hee was reuiled he reuiled not againe when he suffered he threatned not He was oppressed and afflicted yet did he not open his mouth For so he loued vs that he gaue himselfe for vs and greater loue than this hath no man to bestow his life for his friends But God setteth out his loue towards vs that whiles we were yet sinners Christ died for vs. Once then he suffered the iust for the vniust that he might bring vs to God and being consummate through affliction was made the Prince of our Saluation For in that he suffered and was tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted and became a mercifull and faithfull high Priest to make reconciliation for the sinnes of the people And therefore he died and rose againe that he might be Lord of the dead and the liuing and through death destroy him that had power of death euen the diuell On our behalfe it was not needlesse that Christ should die the death of the crosse For besides that we are bought with a price lest we should be our owne euen with the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe vnspotted and vndefiled and reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne which couenant is irreuocable being sealed with his bloud by his crosse Christ left vs an example how we should follow his steps and be partakers of his sufferings that when his glorie shall appeare we may be glad and reioyce For it is a true saying if we be dead with him we shall liue with him if we suffer with him we shall raigne with him We are buried then by Baptisme into his death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorie of his Father so we should also walke in newnesse of life knowing this that our olde man is crucified with him that the bodie of sinne might be destroyed that hencefoorth we should not serue sinne He died for all that they which liue should not hencefoorth liue vnto themselues but to him which died for them and rose againe Infinite are the places of Scripture witnessing the causes effects and fruits of Christs death on the Crosse all which this Dreamer must denie or delude before he can defend that Gods purpose in Christes sufferings was only to punish our sinne lying on him For if Gods purposes in appointing Christes Crosse were so acceptable to the Father so honourable to the Sonne and so profitable for man as the Scriptures mention with what face can it be said that God punished his Sonne only for vengeance or that whatsoeuer Christ suffered all his life long specially at his death was verie wrath and vengeance from God properly taken Christ suffered the same things here on earth which the godly likewise do in this life as appeareth by the history of his death and passion and other paines or deaths in Christ the Scriptures doe not specifie Gods counsell in decreeing the Crosse of Christ for mans redemption considering the true desert of our sinne and terrible vengeance prouided for others was varie fauourable and fatherly not ouerpressing the patience of Christes humane nature nor wearying his obedience and had in it farre more gracious and glorious intents and euents than our afflictions can or ought any way to match or approch If then Gods fauour to his elect make their sufferings in this life no wrath nor vengeance nor so much as punishments why should
shall neuer inferre by phrases of your owne making which only serue to hide your owne meaning that Christ suffered the paines of hell As for Gods wrath against sinne it hath many degrees and parts by the verdict of holy Scripture though you will not heare thereof For as Gods blessings benefits when he first made man were of his heauenly goodnes richly prouided for man and plentifully powred on the body and soule of man as well for the leading of this life in plenty safety and delight as for the surer attaining of euerlasting ioy and blisse in an other place so when man by sinne fell from God by iustice God depriued him and his of all those earthly and bodily fauours and comforts no lesse then of the spirituall and inward gifts and graces of the mind by that meanes making way to his euerlasting and dreadfull Iudgements against sinne Now if these externall things bestowed on man in his first creation were iustly called and must be confessed in their kind to be the blessings and fauours of God afforded to all mankind when he made man and the whole world for his vse then out of question the taking them away from man and subiecting him by iustice to the contrary for sinne committed may as truly be named and must be beleeued to be the signes and effects of Gods displeasure against sinne which the Scripture nameth wrath And so God calleth either of them when he promiseth the one to the obseruers of his Law and threatneth the other to the breakers thereof who vseth not to promise or threaten words but deeds Neither hath it any reason because the reiecting of man from the greater and higher blessings of inward grace and eternall blisse was farre the sorer and sharper punishment of mans sinne that therefore the withdrawing of these should be no degree nor effect of Gods wrath against sinne no more then the losse of a legge or an arme should be counted no mayme because a man hath an head and an hart which are more principall parts of his body Wherefore though in comparison they may be iustly diminished and abased farre beneath the worthinesse of the rest of Gods blessings which are reserued for his Children in an other life yet can they not be denyed to be Gods blessings euen in this life and if to giue them to man when he was first made were the fauour and bountie of God towards man which no Christian may deny to take them from man for sinne must truely argue Gods displeasure against sinne not in improper speech as you gloze but in a lesse degree then those which bring with them perpetuall subuersion of Body and Soule And when the Scriptures meane to expresse the spirituall and eternall wrath of God they doe it not by proprietie of words as you pretend but by different circumstances either of the TIME after this life when no wrath is executed but that which is euerlasting as Christ deliuereth vs from the wrath to come and thou heapest vp wrath against the day of wrath which is the day of iudgement or of the PERSONS who are wicked and the vessels of wrath prepared to destruction and for whom is reserued the mist of darknesse for euer as for such things commeth the wrath of God on the Children of vnbeliefe or of the CONTINVANCE which neuer ceaseth as the wrath of God abideth on him that beleeueth not or of the HIGTH thereof when it is full as the wrath of God is come vpon them to the vttermost or of the CONTRARY when it is eternall life as God hath not appointed vs vnto wrath but to obtaine Saluation by Iesus Christ or of the CONSEQVENTS which are suddaine destruction and such like as kisse the Sonne least he be angry and ye perish in the way when his wrath shall suddenly burne blessed are they that trust in him By these and such like particulars we may perceiue when the Scriptures speake of the one wrath and when of the other but otherwise the wordes are common to both as also the cause which is sinne O Lord saith Moses why doth thy wrath waxe hote against thy people turne from thy fierce wrath and desist from this euill towards thy People And againe I fell downe saith he fortie daies and fortie nights before the Lord because of all your sinnes which yee had sinned doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord and prouoking him For I was afraid of the wrath and indignation wherewith the Lord was kindled against you to destroy you and the Lord heard me at that time also Exceeding many are the places which teach vs that our iniquities auert the outward blessing of this life and that our sinnes hinder good things from vs Though God after that comfort his people when their warrefare is accomplished and they haue receaued sufficient Correction at the hands of God for all their sinnes Surely these warnings of the holy Ghost are not empty words or improper speeches but effectuall and faithfull instructions for the Church of God to learne them that God doth visite their sinnes when they forget to repent and obey though he spare them in comparison of that wrath which is effunded on the wicked And therefore the name of wrath is rightly and truely applyed in the Scriptures euen to those afflictions wherewith God scourgeth his owne Children for their negligence and impenitence though God haue an other and greater which is eternall wrath laid vp in store for the Reprobate who die without Repentance and Remission of their sinnes Howsoeuer the strife for words standeth wherein I confesse I may not be brought to disalow the tongue and pen of the holy Ghost it is most certaine that the Gospel reporteth of Christs sufferings nothing but what was common to him with his members euen in this life where he suffered The Apostles plainely prooue as much to wit that we haue fellowship and communion with Christs afflictions and are conformed to his death Now there is no communion but where the same things are common to both though the degrees may differ And you your selfe when it maketh for you can vrge that the Apostle speaking of Christs sufferings saith He was tempted in all things like to vs yet without sinne So that in my iudgement it is a most cleere case as well by the witnesse of Scripture as by your owne confession that all Christes sufferings were LIKE yea the SAME that ours are as being common to both and consequently if you any way vnderstand what belongeth to trueth or reason the sufferings of the godly must either bee wrath as well as Christes or if their bee not his were not since they were the same And so the godly must either in all their afflictions small and great suffer as Christ did the proper wrath of God and true paines of hell which you make equiualent or if the godly doe not so
any certaine measure of Christes paines felt in his bodie or soule by which his soule might easily be afflicted as farre as his humane strength could stretch but the matching and euening of it with hell fire I take to be a presumptuous and irreligious deuice of this Dreamer for the reasons which I haue formerly shewed to wit that hell paines are not executed in this life where Christ suffered nor sufferable to the bodie which is mortall nor tolerable to the strength of men or angels Now though the gifts and graces of Gods Spirit in the soule of Christ exceeded the measure of angels as well for himselfe who is Lord and Iudge ouer all as for vs that receiue of his fulnesse yet in his crucifying the Scriptures note his infirmitie not his infinitie and auouch him by the suffering of death to be inferiour to the angels and not in strength of flesh to be superiour vnto them who are not able to endure hell paines with patience as we finde by triall in diuels Wherefore assure thy selfe Christian Reader they are more than follies which this man fableth of Christes paines equall and euen to hell fire it selfe and such is his constancie in his new Diuinitie that sometimes Christ suffered the verie paines of hell themselues and the same which the damned doe sometimes Christes paine was equall to it and as hot as hell fire and so not the verie same that the damned do suffer who feele indeed the true force of hell fire though not in that heat and heigth which they shall feele it at and after the day of iudgement It is most necessarie and most comfortable to be vnderstood of all men how the Lord assigned to his Sonne in the worke of redemption two persons as it were or countenances or conditions His owne naturally which God euer deerely loued and our countenance or person or condition which the Lord truely accursed and punished His owne Nature felt the sorrow and paine of the curse and hatred but the hatred and curse was bent against the load of our sinne wherein he stood foorth as guiltie before God and appeared as it were clothed therewith The taking of our Nature person and cause by the Sonne of God for our saluation is a key of Christian pietie that most concerneth and most profiteth vs if it be rightly vnderstood But as Waspes out of sweete flowres gather sharpe and hote liquors so out of the wholsome mysteries of true religion you labour to encrease the tartnesse of your vnholsome humour The eternall and true Sonne of God by the determinate counsell of his Father tooke our humane nature that is both the bodie and soule of man into one and the same person with his diuine glorie that by the sanctitie power and dignitie of the one the basenesse and weakenesse of the other might with more certaintie securitie and facilitie performe the worke of our redemption For by the neere and inseparable knitting of those two natures together not onely the person was able by his owne power to destroy sinne death and Satan and of his owne right to giue the spirit of trueth and grace and euerlasting righteousnesse and happinesse to all that beleeue in him but his birth life and death that is his humilitie obedience and patience were of infinite price and value with God by reason the same person that so humbled himselfe to obey the will and suffer the hand of his Father was also God though he could not suffer in his diuine but onely in his humane nature And to assure vs of his mercies towards vs by making vs partakers of his graces and merits with him he tooke all his elect into one and the same bodie with him ioyning himselfe vnto them by the power of his spirit as the head to the members that from him they might draw the strength hope and ioy of eternall life and all his meritorious passions and victorious actions be fully theirs as performed in their names and to their vses by him that for their sakes became their like and their leader I meane their head and their Sauiour And because sinne was the thing which seuered vs from Gods holinesse and prouoked his iustice against vs subiecting vs to death and damnation Christ therefore tooke vpon him the recompence of his Fathers holines by his obedience the preseruance of his Fathers iustice by his patience admitting into his humane soule and bodie not the infection or pollution of our sinne much lesse the confusion or destruction due to vs for sinne since he could neither be defiled with our sinne nor damned for our sinne but the purgation and satisfaction of our sinnes To which end by his obedience he abolished our disobedience that as by one mans disobedience which was Adam many were made sinners so by the obedience of one which is Christ manie should be made righteous and through death suffered in the bodie of his flesh for the redemption of our transgressions he reconciled vs to God and set at peace by the blood of his Crosse things in earth and things in heauen bearing our finnes in his bodie on the tree that we might be healed by his stripes We then were in our selues defiled hated accursed reiected and condemned for sinne yet Christ our Redeemer and Sauiour tooke vs into himselfe and our cause vpon himselfe not to partake with vs in our spirituall filthinesse and eternall wretchednesse but to clense vs from the one and to free vs from the other So that we did neither defile nor endanger him But his blood washed vs from all our sinnes and by his death he destroyed him that had power ouer death euen the deuill You speake then not onely without booke but without trueth when you say that Christ was euer deerely loued of God for his owne condition yet in or for our condition he was truely accursed and hated You might with as much faith and religion haue said That Christ by or with our condition was truely polluted with sinne and truely reiected confounded and damned for sinne For so were we and if his taking our cause vpon him doe truely and necessarily subiect him to our deserts and dangers then can none of these things be auoided which you so much abhorre as blasphemies All those things were due to vs in the highest degree euen when Christ tooke vs and our cause vnto him and were not released vnto vs but in Christ and for Christ and consequently if your two countenances and conditions in Christ be such as you make you may aswell affirme the last as the first that is as well pollution of sinne and damnation for sinne as malediction and hatred for sinne But who is so foolish amongst men as to thinke or call him a Theefe and a Felon that vpon repentance of the partie and recompense for the fact intreateth and obteineth pardon for one that was a Theefe and a Felon or so childish to say that
none can ransome a Prisoner condemned to death but by suffering the same death which the other should haue done How come you then to conclude of Christ because it pleased him to be our Mediatour and Redeemer that therefore he was guiltie of our sinne or liable to the same death of bodie and soule which otherwise we should haue suffered A ransome he payd for vs of farre more value than we were woorth which was his obedience vnto death and the shedding of his precious bloud for vs. But he neither owed nor payed the destruction or damnation of himselfe who neither by his person could nor by his office needed to suffer any such thing He came to giue his flesh for the life of the world and to lay downe his life for his sheepe that his death might be a ransome for vs and for our transgressions Farder or other ransome than this the Scripture mentioneth none and therefore God required none who by his will reuealed hath thorowly expressed what recompense for vs best contented both his holinesse and iustice Could not Christ stand euer blessed and beloued in his owne Nature and yet be truly accursed and hated in our condition and person In the wicked God hateth and accurseth their persons for their sinnes because their iniquities are neither ransomed nor repented and so not pardoned but in Christ and his members it was and is farre otherwise God still hateth and abhorreth the sinnes as well of the faithfull as of the wicked but because he loueth the persons of his elect whom he hath adopted in Christ his Sonne therefore he destroyeth their sinnes in them by repentance and remission thereof for Christes sake and saueth their persons whom he can not be sayd to hate though he truely hate their sinnes by reason that loue and hatred in God can not be permixed or varied as they are in men For Gods loue is perfect and constant as likewise his hatred and for that cause either in him is perpetuall without ceasing or altering If Gods loue to men for Christes sake be so setled that it can not be remoued nor transferred to the contrarie how much more then was the naturall and eternall loue of God towards the person of his Sonne so fixed and feruent iu the highest degree that for no cause and in no condition he could be truely hated or accursed of God The partaking with vs in penurie sorrow shame and death which first came in as signes and effects of Gods iust displeasure against sinne and curse vpon sinne made him the more blessed and beloued of God since the voluntarie submitting himselfe to these things in his humane nature taught vs obedience and patience vnder the mightie hand of God and how rightly to distinguish and willingly to want temporall and earthly blessings that we may be partakers of eternall and heauenly It is no consequent therefore in vs that we are truely accursed or hated of God because we are often depriued of his earthly blessings and so subiected to his temporall and externall curses for that we enioy by faith and hope greater and perfecter blessings which being in honor comfort and vse farre aboue the other make vs blessed and so remaining blessed for possessing the better we can not be accursed for wanting the smaller which indeed doe not truely make men blessed or cursed since the lacke of them doth not exclude the true and eternall blessings of God Much lesse then might the nature or person of Christ which so greatly abounded in all spirituall and heauenly blessings be counted accursed and hated of God because he was content to taste of those things which were inflicted on our condition as remembrances of Gods displeasure against our sinne For since no mans person can be truly blessed and truely accursed with God in as much as they are perfect contraries and so the preualent state doth prooue the person to be either blessed or cursed but not both much lesse then might the person of Christ be both though he did vndergo some things in this life which were the priuations of Gods outward and earthly blessings and so kinds of curses in their first entrance and ordinance And yet because those temporall and externall curses were nether permanent nor predominant in Christs person or condition whether you respect his owne or ours in him and he otherwise was a fountaine of blessing for himselfe and all vs it is euident that Christs suffering those outward and earthly curses for so the Scripture calleth the priuations of Gods blessings in the same kinds imposed on mans condition for sinne could not preuaile to make him accursed or hated with God For as Christ was made sinne for vs and yet no sinner but still continued holy harmlesse vndesiled and separate from sinners so was he made a curse for vs and yet not accursed by reason he endured the smart of our sinne and tasted of our curse in this life but he no waies receiued the guilt or endured the dominion of either much lesse was he by them depriued of any part of his inward and euerlasting blessings which being by many degrees superiour to the other must needs vphold his blessednesse and ouerwhelme the griefe and name of those curses which were temporally and tolerably laid on mans state and condition to make him the humbler in him selfe the mindfuller of his maker and the warier against the flatteries of that old and craftie Serpent the Diuell You shall doe well therefore Sir Collector to learne more reason if not more Religion and euen in naturall things to remember that the night is darkenes though it haue some light and the tree may be fruitfull though some bough wither and the â—…thiope is blacke though his teeth be white and the Bones be hard though the Marrow be soft and so in all cases and creatures the most preuaileth and nameth the subiect though there be in them some small admixture of the contrarie The next thing you vndertake is the saluing of a contradiction with which you say you are charged by me wherein the patient Reader if he be at leasure and haue the Booke at hand may take a plaine view of your idle Rouing and litle vnderstanding For I doe not charge you with saying that Christ suffered ALL he suffered in his whole manhood as you vntruely report I doe Let the Page 248. of my conclusion which you cite be perused by him that will I there expresly touch the contrary My words are This Antecedent as you vtter it doth neither good nor hurt to the Question That Christ suffered in his whole Manhood for the Redemption of our sinnes is a thing by me neuer doubted nor denied and that he suffered all that hee suffered in his whole manhood your selfe doe disclaime in the next Page Your Indefinite proposition I said prooued nothing and your selfe disclaymed the generall Where now doe I charge you with saying that Christ suffered all he suffered in
by the body or the things proper to the Body And though we expound it as some doe for the things done in the Body yet all three expositions conuince that the Soule can not sinne without the Body but by or in the Bodie and that the condemnation for sinne reacheth as well to the Body as to the Soule Else the resurrection of the Body were superfluous in the wicked if Gods Iustice did not determine for sin to punish the Body together with the Soule Where Tertullians Rule taketh place to prooue them both guiltie of sinne that shall be both punished for sinne They can not be seuered in the reward which were ioyned in the worke Let not the flesh be partaker in the sentence that is of iudgement if it were not partaker in the cause that is in sinne Of his opinion in this point were all the learned Fathers of Christs Church Athenagoras an ancient and Christian Philosopher and writer in his Treatise of the resurrection of the dead veâ—…ie learnedly persueth this argument and by manie reasons proueth that the whole man sinneth and not this or that part and therefore the whole as well bodie as soule must be iudged for euerie sinne If tâ—… whole nature of man sayth he be vniuersally composed of an immortall soule and a bodâ—… made and at tempered thereto and God hath not giuen either birth breath or this whole life to the soule by her selfe or to the bodie apart but to men consisting of these two it is altogether necessarie since one liuing creature consisteth of both and feeleth all the affections of the soule and doth and performeth whatsoeuer belongeth to the bodie and all things needing the iudgement of sense or reason the whole course of these things should be referred to one end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that all should wholly concurre to one harmonie and sympathie that is to one ioynt action and passion of the whole man And if there be one ioynt action and passion of the whole liuing creature as well in those things that proceed from the soule as in those that are performed by the body then must there be one close and reward for all these things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I affirme both together to be a man composed of bodie and soule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the man so composed to be brought to iudgement for all his actions and for them to receiue either honour or punishment It is therefore apparent to euerie man that according to the Apostle this corruptible though it be dispersed must put on incorruption that euerie one may iustly receiue the things that he hath done by his bodie whether they were good or bad Gregorie Nysâ—…ene teacheth the verie same in effect What define we a man to be both a bodie and a soule ioyned together or either of them seuered It is manifest that the coniunction of both maketh a man Let vs also consider this whether those things which men do and commit for example adulterie murder theft and whatsoeuer is consequent to these or on the other side sobrietie continencie and euerie action that is opposite to vice may be sayd to be the effects of both or be referred to the soule alone But in this the trueth is manifest For in euerie action both coupled ech with other doe ioyntly vndertake and performe the things which are done If then in good deeds the bodie laboureth and suffereth together with the soule and in sinnes it is not absent what moueth thee to bring the soule without her bodie into iudgement Thine assertion is neither iust nor well aduised For if the soule alone and by her selfe haue sinned God will then punish her alâ—…ne but if she haue a manifest helper the iust Iudge will not let that escape Epiphanius refuâ—…ing those that thought we should rise with another bodie than here we liue in sayth How shall the soule remaine alone the bodie not present that sinned together with it Such a soule may contradict the iudgement of God and say I alone sinned not but the bodie with me For since I departed from the bodie I committed neither fornication nor adultrie nor theft nor murder nor idolatrie neither did I any euill and her defence shall be found reasonable Vpon this reasonable defence of hers what shall we say Shall the iudgement of God cease or will God punish men vniustly God forbid Therefore as God made the man one compound of bodie and soule the iust Iudge will raise the bodie againe and giue it his owne soule and so shall the iudgement of God be iust both parts communicating either in punishment for sinne or in reward for vertue Ambrose giueth the same reason for the resurrection of the bodie Et haec est series causa iustitiae vt quoniam corporis animique communis est actus quae animus cogitauit corpus efficit vtrumque in iudicium veniat vtrumque aut poenae dedatur aut gloriae reseruetur This is the course and ground of iustice that because the act of sinne is common to bodie and soule the bodie performing what the minde deuised both should come into iudgement and both be awarded to punishment or reserued to glorie For it seemeth almost absurd where the law of the flesh impugneth the law of the mind and the minde often doth that which she hateth whiles the sinne or corruption of the flesh dwelling in man worketh that the soule should be subiected to the iniurie as guiltie of anothers fault and the flesh should enioy rest which is the author of the miserie and the soule alone should be punished which alone did not sinne or alone be glorified which alone did not striue for glorie Theodoret treadeth the same steps though with a larger processe To suspect that soules alone shall be released or punished and the bodie cast away to corruption as a brute thing and altogether vnprofitable what reason can it haue that the â—…le depriued of the bodie should be adiudged to torment For being condemned shee may worthily say to the Iudge I did not alone transgresse thy lawes Lord but together with the bodâ—…e 〈◊〉 fall on the rocks of wickednesse or rather if I must speake the trueth the bodie drew me into the pit of sinne Snared with his eyes did I curiously view the beautie belonging to others and affected both lands and riches they compelling me to behold such things The affections of the bodie brought me to seruitude and tooke away the libertie which thou gauest me I was forced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as bred with him and his fellow-seruant to minister vnto him and prouide for his wants Often times grieued therewith haue I yeelded to the necessities of the flesh yea not knowing what els to do and verie much sorowing haue I beene driuen to wait on the desires of the bodie And often haue I resisted and stifly repelled his snares but his continuall conflicts manie
the eares by which we must come to the knowledge of all heauenly and much more of all earthly things The loosing and decaying of mans knowledge in this life after he hath gotten it will proue the same no lesse then the lacking thereof before he doth by sense attaine it For when the sensitiue spirits in the braine be either grosse and heauie as in fooles or extreame hoate and whirling as in madde men or obstructed and choked as in Lethargies and Apoplexies men want the vse of reason because the obiects whereon the minde worketh are by these meanes hindered and hid from the vnderstanding This is the true resolution both of Philosophers and Diuines Ad facultatem intelligentem exercendam non eget mens organo tanquam medio per quod intelligat quanquam eget obiecto in quod intueatur ex quo intellectionem concipiat Hoc autem obiectum sunt phantasmata seu rerum a sensibus perceptarum simulachra ad phantasiam perlata To exercise the facultie of vnderstanding the mind of man saith Zanchius needeth no instrument as a meane by which she may vnderstand but she needeth an obiect whereon to looke and whence to conceaue the act of vnderstanding This obiect are the sensitiue apprehensions or the resemblances of things receaued from the senses and caried to the phantasme or imagination of man And to this obiection that vpon the hurt or wearinesse of the braine we find by experience our mind can not vnderstand and worke in those things as it did before he answereth Ideo non potest lesis aut defatigatis turbatisque organis mens nostra intelligendis contemplandisque rebus operam dare quia phantasmata ipsa quae sunt in organo corporali quae sunt ceu obiectum intellectus turbato ipsorum organo videri percipi non possunt Therefore our mind can not contemplate and conceaue when the instruments are hurt wearied or troubled because the resemblances of things which are in a corporall instrument and are as an obiect to the vnderstanding can not be seene and perceaued For the resemblances of things in mans Imagination are to his vnderstanding and mind as colours are to his sight Now the eye seeth nothing but the colour of euery thing though therewithall it distinguish number quantitie motion and figure and so taketh the knowledge of euery sensible thing In like manner without the similitudes and shapes of things caried from the sense to the phantasiue imagination or apprehension and there remaining the mind vnderstandeth nothing of those things that are without it and no knowledge is naturally within it but what God hath reuealed to it His conclusion is Haec partis sensitiâ—… facult as propinqua est intellectiâ—… huic suppeditat materiam cogitandi intelligendi denique omnia sua officia faciendi This facultie of the sensitiue part is placed neere vnto the intellectiue and ministreth thereunto matter of Cogitation vnderstanding and performing all her dueties In inward tentation to euill Saint Iames rule doeth generally take place Euery man is tempted being drawne away and entised by his owne concupiscence And lust conceiuing bringeth foorth sinne So that lust naturally dwelling in vs and conceiuing and bringing foorth sinne is the very mother and nurse of all sinne in vs. Austen maketh two chiefe rootes of sinne in man desire and feare Omnia peccata duâ—… res faciunt in homine cupidit as timor Cogitate discutite interrogate cordâ—… vestra perscrutamini conscientias videte vtrum possunt esse peccatanisi cupiendo aut timendo Two things cause ALL SINNES in men desire and feare Bethinke your selues discusse examine your hearts search your consciences and see whether there can possible bee any sinnes but by desiring or fearing Where least Austen making two fountaines of all sinnes desire and feare should iarre with Saint Iames that setteth downe lust for the first spring of euery tentation to sinne we must either take tentation of which Saint Iames speaketh for a delightfull prouocation to sinne resting within vs and terrour which Austen addeth for a violent and externall induction thereto proceeding from others or else wee must deriue desire and feare from the loue of our selues which originally dwelleth in vs and lusteth after euery thing that liketh vs or lastly wee may ioyne the one as a consequent to the other since the naturall desire wee haue of our owne ease and welfare breedeth in vs that dislike and feare of euill which so much vrgeth and forceth vs. If then desire and feare be the motiues and inducements to ALL SINNES that men commit as most resolutely Saint Austen auoucheth and these two desire and feare on which depend the rest of our affections be passions of the sensitiue part of the Soule permixed in this life with corporall spirits certainely all sinnes in men haue their prouocations and incitations from and by bodily senses spirits or motions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By bodily spirits saith Clemens Alexandrinus man hath sense desire reioyceth and kindleth to anger yea and by the same spirits doe the thoughts and resolutions of the minde proceede to action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Where is it iust sayth Athenagoras that DESIRES pleasures FEARES and sorrowes should haue their motion or rising from the body and the sinnes occasioned by them and the punishments for the same sinnes should lie on the Soule alone Damascene defining the passions or affections of the Soule saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A passion or affection of the Soule is a sensible motion of the desiring or appetitiue facultie vpon the imagination of good or euill In which description are three plaine proofes that the passions of the soule which by the confession of Damascene and all other Diuines are DESIRE FEARE ioy and sorrow doe not mooue in this life without the body First in that they are sensible motions they must be perceiued in the body next in that they rise from the sensitiue appetite they are conioyned with the body thirdly in that they come vpon the phantasiue imagination of good or euill they are kindled from the senses of the body What sensible motions these affections of the soule doe raise in the outward and inward parts of man we shall anon perceiue when we come to the impressions that the soule maketh on the body in the meane time it is not amisse to know how Satan who hath that name from his desire and power of tempting worketh and preuaileth in his temptations vpon men It is euident by the Scriptures that God alone searcheth and changeth the heart of man because he alone is the maker of it and therefore Satan though he be a spirit yet can hee not by himselfe either discerne the thoughts or alter the will of man but in the one he obserueth the secret impressions of the soule on the bodie and in the other he stirreth and vseth the spirits and affections of the
and the basenesse and deiection of his soule One that is subiect to luxurie or gluttonie or amazed with feare who can endure to beholde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The disposition of the soule piercing to the very outsides of the bodie euen as the prints of the seemlinesse of the soule appeare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the composed behauiour and gesture of the godly The alterations of the bloud and motions of the spirits within the bodie which the soule raiseth in all her affections are not so open to the eye as the former yet are they the causes of all outward mutations and sensible enough to the parties themselues when they grow any thing vehement For this is Gods ordinance in all things which haue sense or reason that good any way perceiued should delight stirre and inflame the will and appetite of beasts men and angels with desire and loue thereof and euill contrariwise should not onely auert and quench the will and appetite with hatred but offend and oppresse the patient with feare and griefe When then the soule of man vnited to her bodie liketh any thing obiected or apprehended vnder the shew of good she kindleth and moueth her selfe to attaine her desire and therewithall incenseth the vitall and animall spirits which warme the bloud enlarge the heart and diffuse themselues to persue or embrace the good that is approching or present And when she seeth any euill which she can not decline but must endure she staggereth and sincketh for feare which quencheth the spirits cooleth the bloud and closeth the heart depressing all three with a slacke colde and heauie remisnesse If she may withstand or requite the euill that is towards she raiseth her selfe to anger which maketh the bloud to boile the heart to swell and the spirits to flie to the outmost parts as readie to resist or reuenge So that LOVE and HATRED of good and euill obiected to the sense or minde of man are the two chiefe springs of all his affections and actions and the branches thereof which are desire feare ioy griefe and anger moued either by the sense or vnderstanding haue their manifest or secret alterations of the bloud and motions of the heart by the intension or remission of the spirits kindled or quenched more or lesse according as the obiect of good and euill is greater or nearer By this meanes the soule affected and mooued with good or euill affecteth and moueth her bodie and sheweth her inward disposition and inclination to either and the heart of man which is the seat of will hath his naturall and different motions raised by the soule vpon het liking or disliking of good or euill perceiued by sense or by vnderstanding These alterations and motions naturally impressed by the soule on the bodie not onely Philosophers and Physitians haue obserued but the Diuines of all ages that haue waded therein haue fully confessed Aristotle by the rules of nature collected and inferred thus much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The beginning of motion is that which in our actions must be persued or declined and of necessitie heat and cold do follow vpon the cogitation or imagination of either That which is grieuing is declined that which is pleasing is persued Howbeit in small things this is scant sensible So that almost all things grieuing and pleasing vs bring with them a sensible kinde of colde and heat as it is euident by our affections the parts enlarging by heat and shrinking with colde This alteration either the sense or the imagination or the cogitation can make Wherefore some shake and feare onely vpon the cogitation of things The euill or good which grieueth or pleaseth vs bringeth naturally colde or heat to the bloud and so enlargeth or shrinketh the heart which alterations do come as well vpon cogitation and imagination as vpon sense Galene an exact and skilfull obseruer of mans bodie writeth that the first and principall cause of shaking is the recourse of the naturall heat to the inward and outward parts which is found in manie affections of the soule and with the same are as well the spirits as the bloud caried sometimes inward to the fountaine of the heart and there compressed sometimes extended to the outward parts and there diffused Those spirits and bloud together with the heat that is in either or both the soule vseth for her first instruments in all her operations or els dwelleth in them and those motions of the soule we may plainly beholde in manie other things but chiefly in the affections of the soule For feare presently driueth the spirits and the bloud to the inward parts and presseth them to a narrow roome by cooling the outsides of the bodie Anger doth hastily send forth diffuse and heat the bloud and spirits and therefore the beating of the arteries and the heart in them that feare are small and weake but very great and vehement in them that are angrie That feare doth straiten and contract the hart and ioy dilate it and make it leape and the signes of either preuaile and appeare in the body the auncient Father Saint Basile did long since obserue Teares the effect of griefe doe rise saith he when an impression against our wils doth strike the Soule and draw it together the spirit about the heart being compacted and straitned Ioy is as it were the leaping of the Soule exulting or aduancing it selfe for things answerable to our mind Wherefore the Soule sheweth signes in the Body accordingly For in those that sorrow the masse of flesh is pale wanne and cold In those that reioyce the habite of their body is floorishing and ruddy the Soule euen leaping and for pleasure offering to rush to the outmost parts Thomas Aquinas a man well learned though led with the errors of his age very truely noteth First Quod in omni passione animae additur aliquid vel diminuitur a naturali motu Cordis in quantum cor intensiùs vel remissiùs monetur That in all the passions of the Soule somewhat is added to or diminished from the naturall motion of the hart in as much as the hart mooueth either swifter or slacker Secondly that From the loue of temporall things all sinne proceedeth all our affections being caused by loue which melteth and mollifieth the hart that the thing loued may pearce it contrary to coldnesse and hardnesse of hart which is a disposition repugnant to loue whose perfection is to be zealous and feruent The cause of all sinne then which is the loue of our selues and of temporall things delighting vs so flameth in our harts that it seeketh all occasions and vndertaketh all actions to content our appetites and this heate and motion of loue being impressed in the hart by the soule it is manifest that the consent of sinne is communicated from the Soule to the Body Leonardus Fuchsius a learned Phisitian of our time and a professor of true Religion in his institutions of Phisicke
Our Sauiour knew no more waies when he said to Peter Flesh and blood hath not reuealed it vnto thee but my Father which is in Heauen Where men that are teachers or learners are called flesh and blood because without the Body the Soule learneth nothing in this life but what is reuealed vnto it by the spirit of God Saint Iohn knew as few That saith he which we haue seene and heard declare we vnto you that you also may haue fellowship with vs. This a man would thinke were plaine enough that all knowledge must be either naturally infused in vs as it was in Angels or collected of vs by sense and experience or reuealed to vs from God For if we be borne voide of all knowledge as the Scripture expresly testifieth we know not at first our right hand from our left then must we get it by meanes And meanes to come by the knowledge of particular and externall things what can you assigne besides the sense If therefore the Heathen saw this and you see it not you prooue your selfe to haue lesse vnderstanding then the Heathen The Soule indeede by the power of vnderstanding and reason wherewith she is endued of God doth in continuance obserue discerne and compare the agreements and contrarieties of things as also their causes and consequents and what of her selfe she can not perceaue she learneth with more ease of others who are longer and better acquainted therewith and whose phantasiue spirits are thinner and quicker to pearce into the depth of things The differences then and defects of mens wits doe cleerele witnesse that not onely the instruments of sense but the Imaginatiue spirits must concurre to attaine and encrease knowledge in this life vnlesse God inspire the Hart aboue nature which he doth when and where pleaseth him These may be the meanes of thinking and yet not the causes or occasions of mis-thinking The naturall meanes of thinking must still be the meanes of well and ill thinking they varie not howsoeuer the minde varie in her resolutions What or how manie may be the causes or occasions of ill thoughts maketh nothing to this question it sufficeth for my purpose to make the bodie liable to the punishment of euery sinne that the parts powers or spirits of the Body haue any communion with the suggesting admitting or performing of ech sinne For in all sinne not onely the Doers but the leaders directors aduisers helpers consenters allowers and reioycers are in their degree partners with the principall Yea all the instruments are iustly detested where the crime is worthily condemned But whence ill thinking commeth can you tell A man may thinke and speake of all the errors and heresies in the world and yet not sinne It is the liking and embracing of them that maketh the offence and not thinking or reasoning of them The will then causeth thoughts to be good or euill the vnderstanding doth not Now the will must haue somewhat to lead it which is either the show of truth or the loue of some other thing which doth preiudice the truth There is no truth but in the word of God which we must either heare or read before we can apprehend If we stop our eares against the word of God shall not that wilfull deafenesse of ours turne to the deserued destruction of Body and Soule If we open our eares but not our harts to the voice of God doth not the loue of some earthly good or feare of some temporall harme close our harts against the truth Both which as well loue as feare come from the bodily senses and affections and make their manifest impression on the hart leading the will to consent to their law For where all ill thoughts are against veritie charitie or temperance men are ledde from the truth by commoditie glory soueraigntie or credulitie as Austen obserueth whereto if we put ease enuie and luxurie we see the causes of all ill thoughts which haue no place in the Soule apart from the Body The proper prouocations and pleasures of sinne are often times not outward at all but the mâ—…ere peruersitie and malignitie of our euill mind is vsually the very cause of ill thoughts and ill determinations You would say some what if you could tell how Doth any thing properly prouoke it selfe Doth the fire prouoke it selfe to burne or the Sunne prouoke him selfe to shine Lamenesse maketh a creeple to halt it prouoketh him not And so doth pitch defile the hands and not prouoke them to fowlenesse The next and necessarie causes of things are called efficients and not provocations So that will you nill you prouocations are externall either to the person or to the part that is the principall or speciall Agent The Apostle teacheth you how to vse the word properly when he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prouoking one an other The very composition of the word proueth as much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or prouocare is first to call or vrge a man to any thing before he him selfe be willing Then the naturall and inward corruption of the minde is no prouocation but the cause efâ—…cient of ill thoughts and if there be any prouocations they must be externall to the part or partie prouoked And did you know the principles of learning or grounds of nature you would soone perceaue that as well the will of man as his desire is led with respect of somewhat that is good or at least seemeth good which prouoketh and draweth both sense and will to performe her actions Now though the desire Antecedent and delight consequent be inward and inherent yet the good things which we affect and would attaine are then externall when we pursue them and when we vse them or enioy them they are but conioyned with vs in possession or opinion which contenteth both Body and Soule As you do not vnderstand what PROVOCATION meaneth so do you lesse perccaue what PLEASVRE is You mingle Soule and sense head and heeles together to make some shew of opposition but in the end you bewray your presumptuous ignorance and daube it ouer with your wonted words of PROPER MEERE which are as much to this purpose as salt to make sugar The PROPER prouocations and pleasures of sinne are often times you say not outward at all I vsed not the word outward but sayd the soule tooke from the bodie all PROVOCATIONS and PLEASVRES of sinne brought to effect and committed all ACTS of sinne by her bodie you neither marke the restraint which I made in the beginning of that section of all sinnes brought to effect neither see the words following in the same sentence which expresse as much the acts of sinne committed but rouing quite from the matter you â—…arle at my words without iudgement or memorie For as you fumble about prouocations so do you about pleasure which you would make to be meerely spirituall But notwithstanding your toying with termes that is properly PLEASVRE which the soule
is the chiefest agent in so much that these faile when the Soule departeth from the body yet that doeth not pâ—…ooue that in all these things the Soule doeth noâ—… vse her body You say occasion of sinne is not giuen by the senses but taken by thâ—… 〈◊〉 Then doeth the world which onely offereth things to the senses giue lesâ—…e occaâ—…on to sinne and Saint Iohn had no cause to say All that is in the world thâ—… 〈◊〉 of the flâ—…sh the dâ—…sire of the eyes and pride of life is not of the Father but of the world and 〈◊〉 whole world â—…eth in euill For the things which are in the world are the good creatures of God and by their first institution serued to show the bountie of God and to pâ—…ouoke man to thankfulnesse and expectation of better things which shall not peâ—…ish But man poysoned with sinne abuseth them all and turneth his desire and loâ—… from God to transitorie and earthly delights And so now considering his corruption they are not onely occasions but prouocations to induce and intise him to sinne And therefore God knowing vpon the fall of Adam what snares they would become vnto Man for whose sake they were made subiected them all to vanitie calling Satan 〈◊〉 Prince and Ruler of this world for that by infecting man with sinne he had altered and iâ—…uerted the vse and ende of the whole world If then the creatures which in themselues are senselesse and altogether innocent bee now baites to drawe men from God and so made occasions of sinne how much more are the senses of man alluâ—… 〈◊〉 sinne which not onely present these pleasures to the minde but inflame the afâ—…ctions to persue them and worke the will to imbrace them The corruption you say is properly and principally in the minde which being first sinfull abuseth their operation As if all the powers of the Soule obeying the will that is euill were not subiect and seâ—…uants to sinne as well as the minde Or the senses and affections of man rebelling against the minde and incensing the will with their delights and desires were not sinfull as well as the minde It is the Soule that taketh her pleasures of sinne as well by her senses as by her vnderstanding and to that end setteth her sensitiue powers on worke the naturall action of the vnderstanding is no more sinfull in it selfe then is the sense but the corruption of the Soule abuseth them both in their kinds to content her sinfull appetites Though then the senses bee not the very causes of sinne which resteth chiefely in the will yet since the Soule ioyneth her selfe vnto the powers of sense by them to imbrace and enioy the pleasures of this life aboue or against the loue of God at least they must be occasions of sinne if they be no more For you to affirme that the Soule committeth all acts of sinne by the body and that God did not forbid Adam to like or desire that fruite is more then strange doctrine In you nothing is strange no not new hels new heauens new deathes of the Soule and new redemptions of mankind vnknowen to the Scriptures and all the fathers of Christes Church but vnto you euerie thing is strange that fitteth not your distempered taste My words that the soule committeth all acts of sinne by her bodie what differ they from Cyprians which I cited that the spirit by the flesh performeth whatsoeuer it affecteth What diuersitie finde ye betwixt them saue that I say soule for spirit bodie for flesh all for whatsoeuer and acts for things affected my words being somewhat plainer and easier than Cyprians and for ought that I see hauing no disagreement The other words that God did not forbid Adam to like the fruit smell of your owne forge which reporteth nothing truely For to prooue that Adam transgressed the commandement with more than his minde I obserued that God did not say to Adam Thou shalt not like it which the soule of Adam did but Thou shalt not eat thereof Which precept since Adam did wholly violate it followeth he sinned with his hand mouth and not with his minde alone You clippe off that which I concluded and neglecting the affirmatiue which I adioyned you note the negatiue which I did not simplie exclude but augmented with an addition of another part that Adam sinned also with his bodie and therefore not with his soule alone or without his bodie The place of Scripture which Tertullian as you say pointeth vnto that out of the heart come euill thoughts being considered will prooue the contrariâ—… For Christ heere meaneth not by heart any part of the bodie but meerely the minde and soule of man and that with opposition to the bodie in this case of sinning You found in your Note-booke that the heart of man is taken in the Scriptures for his will and affection moued with knowledge either from the vnderstanding or from the sense but the reason why it is so vsed you neuer read or doe not remember For if a man should aske you why the hart of man rather then his hand or his heele doth import in the Scriptures his knowledge and will what answere would you frame That it is a figure of speech without all reason or cause Such indeed are your figures but the holy Ghost vseth no such The Scriptures by the parts of mans body expresse the powers of mans soule there seating and there working as sight by the eye hearing by the eare speaking by the tongue going by the feete doing by the hand lusting by the raines and many such The very same reason causeth the hart of man to be taken in the Scriptures for his will which is seated in that part and by which all his cogitations affections and Actions are made good or euill So that the vse of the hart in the sacred Scriptures well considered doth first plainely prooue that the chiefe Seate of the Soule is the hart and next that there it worketh where it dwelleth euen in the hart and on that part impresseth all her affections resolutions when they once grow to be liked or disliked And this is so farre from opposition to the Body in cause of sinning that it doth manifestly communicate sinne vnto the Body In effect Christ saith not the Body sinneth by taking in but the Soule by sending out that is to say the Soule onely properly sinneth and not the Body at all no not in grosse facts except as the Body is the Instrument the Soule being the Agent Your exposition of our Sauiours words and your illation vpon them doe well become one the other Our Sauiour doth not say the Body sinneth not But that which goeth into the mouth or eating with vnwashed hands defileth not the man Now this must be your reason if hence you make any Eating or meate defileth not a man Ergo the Body sinneth â—…ot How good this argument is I leaue to
your friends and your selfe to consider But you farder inferre That which commeth out of man defileth man ergo the Body sinned not at all no not in grosse facts except as an Instrument This is figuratiue Logicke to make the consequent cleane contrarie to the Antecedent Out of our Sauiours words that which commeth out of man defileth man it rightly followeth that sinne comming from the hart defileth man to wit the whole man and so both Body and Soule For man is not this or that part of man but the person composed of both Who then besides you vpon these words of Christ that murders adulteries thefts lyes and slaunders defile a man would conclude that these defile not the Body or else though they defile the Body yet that sinneth not as if Christ spake here of any pollution but of sinne The Body you say sinneth not except as an Instrument How the Body sinneth we neede not discusse so long as it is cleere by our Sauiours voice that the sinne of the hart defileth the Body as well as the Soule that is the whole man more I doe not affirme not require And so much doe euill thoughts no lesse then euill deeds by the position of our Sauiour euen they defile the man as well as adulteries thefts murders and such like Your admitting at last the Body to be an Instrument of sinne doth rather strengthen then weaken mine Assertion For since the Body is no dead but a liuing instrument and so capable of pleasure in sinne as also of paine in punishment it iustifieth my Collection that sinne is common both to Body and Soule and the satisfaction for sinne must likewise be common to both But yet as I obserued the ancient Fathers haue in this Question comprised in the name of the Body the powers of life and sense permixed with the Body as also the sensitiue desires and affections which sometimes obey and sometimes rebell against the mind and these in man are not onely capable of sinne but the causes of sinne and in that respect the Body with his sensitiue powers and desires is more then an Instrument That which you adde of boâ—…ly infirmities letting the operation of the Soule as in Lethargies Apoplexies sleepe frensie c. Peraduenture then it thinketh and considereth more freely in it selfe and by it selfe then when the Body setteth it on worke otherwise aâ—… other times To let the simpler sort see that the Soule doth not sinne in her vnderstanding and will without coniunction with her Body and some concurrence of her Body I specified three or foure cases open to all mens eyes as sleepe frensies Lethargies Apoplexies which are often so strong that they leaue in man no vse of sense reason memorie nor will whereby he may or doth sinne To this you answere Peraduenture the Soule then considereth more freely in it selfe and by it selfe then when the Body setteth it on worke A Resolution without peraduenture agreeable to the rest of your Doctrines that men depriued of their senses wits and memories perhaps perceiue more iudge righter and remember better then when they were indued with all three Surely if madnesse with you may be sobrietie if Lethargie may be memorie if the ouerwhelming of sense reason and remembrance as in strong Apoplexies may be the encreasing of them you shall doe well to professe this new Phisicke with your new Diuinitie that it may shew the perfection of your puritie Many such Conclusions will driue vs to thinke that your considerations are wiser when you sleepe then when you wake If this conceite be true you were best perswade men to runne out of their wits or to desire and procure Lethargies and Apoplexies as much as they can that their Soules may be then more considerate What it pleaseth God sometime to reueale or shew to men in sleepes and traunces we are not to meddle with they are things to vs vnknowen the naturall and ordinarie course of vnderstanding and remembring appointed by God for men is that which we reason of and that is often so stopped and hindred by sicknesse or violence that neither reason memorie nor will can rightly performe their functions Which is so well knowne not onely to Philosophers and Phisitians acknowledging strong Lethargies and Apoplexies to be the decay and sometimes the ouerthrow of reason and memorie but vnto Diuines that with one consent they grant men oppressed with violent furie or naturall follie not alwayes to sinne in their actions no not of murder adulterie theft and blasphemie for want of iudgement and memorie to direct their willes But how commeth this sudden change in you now to confesse that the bodie setteth the soule a worke in her thoughts or considerations good or badde who not ten lâ—…nes before vtterly denied that the bodie sinned at all no not in grosse facts otherwise then as an instrument Doth the axe set the hewer on worke or the saw the drawer or the penne the writer The Agent moueth the Instrument the Instrument setteth not the Agent on worke And if the bodie setteth the soule on worke I hope it is to do euill as well as good vnlesse you will defend that from the bodie commeth nothing but that which is good Why then if the bodie set the soule on worke when we are waking and well aduiâ—…ed shal not the bodie haue communion in sinne with the soule which is the verie point you here impugne and yet here you acknowledge before you be ware It can neuer be proued that the soule in those accidents and infirmities vtterly ceaâ—…h operaâ—… and câ—…n doe nothing If it could not what is that to this purpose The operation of the soule is so hindered by them that often it doth not sinne and that is sufficient to prooue all sinne to be common to soule and bodie which is our queâ—…n Let the soule pâ—…incipally and properly sinne if in the soule you comprise all the powers of reason sense and life which proceed from the soule and the bodie be only her instrument yet so long as the soule can not actually sinne except the bodie haue lâ—…fe and sense it is euident that in sinne the bodie must concurre with the soule Now if we adioyne life and sense to the bodie which is the subiect of both though the cause of neither as the learned and ancient Fathers doe and the Scriptures likewise when they speake of the temptation and rebellion of the bodie and the members therof conteining no more in the soule of man then the will and vnderstanding which they call the minde or the inward man then apparently the bodie is not only the instrument or occasion of sinne by his desires and pleasures but the first and last sâ—…at of corruption in this life and the continuall Agent and Atturney for sinne and Satan during thâ—…s life insomuch that infecting and subiecting the soule to the lusts of the flesh it maketh the soule be called flesh which she can not be in substance but
soeuer are punishments of our first sinne inflicted on Adam and all his posteritie whiles here they liue is newes to none but to you Saint Austen saith Sunt duo tortores animae Timor Dolor There are two tormentors of the Soule sorrow and feare Now torment without sinne the Soule should neuer haue had Fnding then sorrow and feare in the Soule of Christ by the witnesse of the Gospell though the cause thereof be not expressed I resolued that Christ tasted these which were punishments of sin by their first institution as well as other our infirmities of Soule and Body What followeth hereupon That these were proper punishments inflicted on Christ by Gods very wrath Who saith so You or I They are your words in deed but no way mine It followeth you say euidently from my words As how Christ was not free from SORROVV and feare and these were punishments of our first offence ergo what Ergo the whole Question is granted in a word Ergo fooles might flee but for want of wings The Question is whether Christ died the death of the Soule or suffered the paine of the damned You heare me say Christ sorrowed and feared as also he hungred in the desert and thirsted on the Crosse which likewise came into mans nature as punishments of sinne will it hence follow that hunger and thirst are the paines of hell No more doe sorrow and feare inferre the whole Question except in a mad moode you will auouch that no man can feare or sorrow vnlesse he suffer the paines of the damned and death of the Soule But Christ suffered these as a punishment of our sinnes you will say And so did he those For though euery thing which he suffered did not yeeld satisfaction for our sinnes because death was required to make the full paiment thereof yet euery infirmitie and miserie that he felt consequent to our condition were receaâ—…ed in him as punishments for sinne fastned to our nature and state I feare you meane his holy affections as deuotion to God and compassion to men Were there any sufferings in Christ that were vnholy Would you haue him afraid that he was or should be reiected and condemned of God Or sorrow for the losse of Gods grace and sauour in him selfe That were vnholinesse in deede to be in any sort so affected and without hainous blasphemie you can not suspect that of Christ. But his paine you thinke was infinite Then was his patience and obedience the more religious and pretious in Gods sight wheresoeuer he felt the paine either in Soule or in Body or in both And when you haue said what you can and deuised what you will except you will weaken Christs faith hope and loue in God which without sinne can not be you must leaue feare and sorrow in him to be naturall and holy affections and no way defiled with our sinne The obiect or cause of Christs feare is that you would speake of if you could tell what to make of it but you dare not depart from your couert of Gods very wrath and proper punishment for sinne least you should vtter as many absurditics as syllables That feare and sorrow then were affections in Christ I thinke no man doubteth besides you and that they were in him most holy you dare not deny least to folly you should ioyne heresie and so notwithstanding your feare what I meane sorrow and feare in Christ were most holy affections whatsoeuer the occasions of his feare and sorrow were If they were affections common to Body and Soule how then were they punishments proper to the Sonle I vse not PROPER as you doe for that which is peculiar to the Soule and not imparted to the Body for so no feare nor sorow is proper to the Soule in this life and least of all Christs whose Body no doubt was afflicted with the feare of his minde which as you thinke astonished and ouerwhelmed all the powers of Christs Soule and senses of his Body but I take proper for that which first beginneth in the Soule though it after offend the Body Otherwise the Body feeleth nothing which doth not affect the Soule neither is there any feare or sorrow in the Soule which is not impressed on the Body The sorrow of this world worketh death saith the Apostle which it could not do but by changing and decaying the Body and godly sorrow for sinne though it make a deepe impression in Soule and Body yet the pardon of sinne and comfort of grace doe more reuiue the spirits then sorrow doth quench them and so that hurteth not mans life as worldly sorrow doth But why cite I the Fathers that Christ did not feare either death or hell Forsooth because you and your friends make that the cause of Christs feare and Agonie though now you hide it vnder the name of Gods proper wrath And if it be an absurd impudent and impious assertion to say that Christ trembled or doubted for feare of hell as due to him or determined for him what is it then to defend that he did and must suffer the very paines of the damned and of hell before we could be redeemed If he did not feare it how could he suffer it since he was not ignorant what should befall him A naturall feare you say he had of death and hell A disliking and declining of hell Christ might haue as well for him selfe as for vs that were ioyned in one Body with him but a doubtfull feare what should be the end of him selfe or his sufferings he could not haue The weaknesse of mans nature might also iustly tremble and shake at the might and power of God prouoked with our sinnes which were to be answered and ranfomed by his Body but other feare Christ could haue none and these I trust be religious submissions and not amazed confusions such as you put in the Soule of Christ. You come now to your fortifying of your speciall reasons not speciall for any more excellencie in them then in the rest which you may safely sweare but for that they more specially touched the question as you say though you neuer offered to come necre it To the words of Esay the Prophet by you cited that Christ bare our iniquities and sustained our sorowes themselues I answered shortly the words made nothing to your purpose the text did not expresse whether Christ sustained all or some What now replie you I meane all and euery whit so farre as possibilitie will admit Keepe your meaning to make sawsigies as I aske not after it so I little regard it How prooue you the Prophet meant so Not by his words for they are not generall what other helpe you haue to come by his meaning I would gladly heare The verie text expresseth so much WITH GREAT EMPHASIS Christ bare our sorowes themselues You shew your skill when you come to your proofs for first this is no Emphasis and were it how prooue
restraineth his wordes of Christs sufferings in that whole Section The death therefore which hee saith Christ suffered as the punishment appointed by God for haynous offences or for mans wickednesse and thereby conquered the deuill who had the rule of death was the cruell and shamefull death which the Iewes put Christ to on the Crosse which was the death that God either allotted to all men for sinne or prescribed specially for grieuous offences as an accursed kind of death euen in this life where Christ suffered though euerlasting death did ensue the wicked in the next world from which Christ was free Neither can the deuill be said to be the ruler of the second death if it be inflicted as you would haue it by the immediat hand of God except you make the deuill ruler and gouernour of Gods immediate hand which is notorious blasphemie It is there also written that Christs will was to suffer all extreamitie for vs who had deserued all extreamitie and all these things being taken vpon him hee destroyed them all You sliely slippe your Authors words in the question prefixed which is the cause of this answere and lighting on a Latine phrase which you scant vnderstand you pursue that to the pit of hell The question proposed in the Catechisme is this Since Christ had power in himselfe to choose what kind of death he would why would he rather be fastned to the Crosse then suffer any other kind of punishment The answere is Vltima omnia pati voluit pronobis quia vltima omnia eramus commeriti Christ would endure for vs in all things the vttermost which the Iewes could doe vnto him because in all things we had deserued the vttermost And that the phrase vltima omnia the vttermost in all things is referred to the Iewes to note the worst they could doe vnto Christ appeareth by that which is added as a reason of those words For the Crosse saith he was of all others a detested and abhorred kind of death which yet Christ would chiefly sustaine at the Iewes hands for vs that he might receiue on him the grieuous curse which our sinnes had fastned to vs and by this meanes deliuer vs from it All despightes all reproches and punishments offered him by the Iewes Christ counted light for our saluation and endured to be contemned and abiected by them as the basest or vilest of all men So that the Catechisme had no intent to say that Christ willingly would suffer the worst that God could doe vnto him that were defiance to Gods power and iustice which was fardest from Christs thought and must be from the Catechizers words except you will haue him blaspheme but in deede our Sauiour did submit himselfe to the worst and vttermost that men could doe vnto him which was the determinate counsell of God for the satisfaction of his iustice and redemption of our sinnes and therefore Christ made choise of the Crosse to yeeld vp his life that the Iewes might to the last breath loade him with all maner of despightes reproches and tortures which they by Satans instigation failed not to performe Leaue then your peruerting of other mens words and subuerting of their meanings and I see no one syllable yet cited by you out of the Catechisme that tendeth towards your new found hell or the death of the damned to be suffered in Christs soule But Christ you thinke could deliuer vs from no more then he suffered for vs. You might haue learned the contrarie to that out of the Catechisme where you are plainly taught that Christs corporall and temporall wrongs reproches and paines inflicted on him by the Iewes did quit vs from all spirituall euerlasting debts deaths feares and paines Christ in our name and place vndertooke to his Father to satisfie him for our sinnes and with the most sweete sacrifice of his obedience to appease his Fathers wrath conceaued against vs for our obstinacie and so to restore vs to fauour with God And therefore Christ the most innocent Lambe of God was bound with cordes to free vs who for our deserts were deliuered captiues to Satan sinne and damnation Christ who was vtterly without all fault was accused and condemned by the sentence of an earthly Iudge that he might absolue vs before the heauenly Tribunall who were euery way guiltie and most worthy of damnation Christ with his precious bloud shed for vs did wash and clense the spots and filthinesse of our sinnes Lastly Christ with the reproches which he sustained most vndeseruedly and with the most shamefull and most sharpe death which was inflicted on him deliuered vs from the punishment ignominie and death euerlasting which we had most iustly merited with our wicked offences and so all our sinnes were buried in obliuion and remooued farre from the sight of God by Christ. This doctrine if you could brooke you would not so much disable the sufferings of Christ at the hands of his persecutours as you doe not so hastily commit the soule of Christ to the paines of the damned from the immediate hand of God before you wil acknowledge our redemption to be perfect by the crosse and death of Christ but as your manner is you steppe by whole leaues that are against you and stumble at a word that happily may be wrested from his right sense and that you thinke is strong enough to beare the waight of all those absurdities if not impieties which you would reare Marke also what doctrine the Law of this Realme consonantly publisheth and commandeth in the homilies of Christs passion The first homily maketh Christes putting himselfe betweene Gods deserued wrath and our sinne the extreamest part of his passion You alleaged the Catechisme rather for your pleasure then any profit to your cause you do the like now with the booke of Homilies You cite but little thence and that to litle purpose That Christ put himselfe betweene Gods deserued wrath and our sinne to appeare the iust displeasure of God kindled against vs and to auert it from vs I knowe no man that maketh any doubt thereof and I maruaile to what ende you alleage it For what needed a Redeemer but to saue vs from the wrath of God prouoked by our wickednesse and armed with infinite power to take vengeance of mans vnrighteousnesse Or how could Christ be a Mediatour if he did not stand betweene vs and the dreadfull anger of God irritated by our iniquities to quench the same and to keepe vs from euerlasting destruction But the Homily you say maketh that the extreamest part of Christs passion which was a further feeling then the sense of bodily paine onely And therefore by the Homilie he felt Gods proper wrath spiritually which our sinne deserued You no sooner heare the name of Gods wrath but you run to your old bias and straightway pitch on your hell paines There are no such words in all that Homilie as that Christs putting him selfe betweene Gods wrath and our sinne was
the extreamest part of his passion Gods wrath against mans sinne was indeede the cause of all that Christ suffered and not the extreamest part onely of his sufferings by which you would extenuate the rest as not extreame enough till that were added But the Booke of Homilies teacheth you no such Doctrine that proposeth the death of Christ suffered in his Body on the Crosse for the FVLL and ONLY satisfaction or amends of all our sinnes Heare the words that the Reader may see what a counterfeite pretence you make of publike Authoritie as if it were consonant to your new conceited errours when it plainly impugneth them So pleasant was this Sacrifice and oblation of his Sonnes death which he so obediently and innocently suffered that God would take it for the ONLY and FVLL AMENDS for all the sinnes of the world No tongue surely is able to expresse the worthinesse of this so pretious a death Yea there is none other thing that can be named vnder heauen to saue our Soules but THIS ONLY VVORKE of Christs pretious offering of his Body vpon the Altar of the Crosse. The death of Christs Body you thinke did not manifest the wrath of God against our sinnes the death of the Soule and paines of hell must be added before the wrath of God will appeare in Christs Crosse. So teach you but the Booke of Homilies teacheth the cleane contrarie Christ being the Sonne of God and perfect God himselfe who neuer committed sinne was compelled to come downe from heauen and to giue his Body to be brused and broken on the Crosse for our sinnes Was not this a manifest token of Gods great wrath and displeasure towards sinne that he could be pacified by NO OTHER MEANES but ONLY by the sweete and pretious bloud of his deare Sonne Therefore in the Booke of Homilies as there is no mention so is their no intention that Christ suffered spiritually the proper wrath of God which our sinnes deserued These are your phrases and fansies added to the booke of Homilies which neither speaketh nor meaneth any such thing as you idlely inferre Againe Christ bare all our sinnes sores and infirmities vpon his owne backe no paine did he refuse to suffer in his owne bodie But as he felt all this in his bodie so he must feele the greatest part primarily and much more deeply in his soule ergo he refused not to suffer all the paines of the wrath of God both in bodie and soule This kinde of ergoing passeth mine vnderstanding To the first proposition taken out of the booke of Homilies that Christ bare all our sores and infirmities vpon his owne backe refusing no paine in his owne bodie to deliver vs from euerlasting paine you put what pleaseth you without any proofe and then you inferre what you list without any sequele of reason or trueth For how hangeth this geere together Christ bare all our sores and infirmities in his owne bodie ergo he suffered all the paines of Gods wrath both in bodie and soule Are there none other paines of Gods wrath but the sores and infirmities of our bodies And if Christ did suffer all bodily paine incident to men heere on earth doth it therefore follow that he suffered all the paines both of bodie and soule that Gods wrath here and els where hath prouided for sinners If a man would set himselfe purposely to crosse the booke of homilies I know not how he might do it more directly then you do to conclude expresly the contrary to that which is there deliuered It is no maruell that so manie writers are of your side as you say when you can enlarge them and interlace them after this sort but you shall doe well to thinke that your Reader now hearkeneth after the publike doctrine of this Realme authorized by the lawes thereof in the booke of homilies as you professed and not after your secret conceits intercepting and peruerting the trueth there taught by your pernicious and erroneous glozes Christ you say must feele the greatest part of his bodily paines primarily in his soule Haue you not brought vs monsters enough in matters of faith but you must hatch vs more Must bodily paines for of those speaketh the booke of homilies as appeareth by the next words Christ refused no paine in his owne bodie and the first wordes are he bare all our sores and infirmities on his owne backe must I say bodily paines be felt primarily in the soule If you shift all sense to the soule then the bodie beareth that is feeleth nothing and so you refute the booke of homilies you follow it not If you allow sense to the bodie tell vs I pray you how violence first offered to the bodie is primarily felt in the soule It may be betwixt first in English and primus in Latine you haue found some deepe difference The soule you thinke doth primarily consider of the paines of her bodie that you meane by feeling Then leaue you to the bodie a second consideration of his owne paines and so you giue reason and memorie to the bodie distinct from the soule which well becommeth a man of your wisdome That Christ duely considered of the cause for which he suffered and of the Iudge by whose appointment he suffered these things in his bodie from the Iewes I haue often sayd it and you haue often reiected it as not sufficient to satisfie the wrath of God against our sinnes and therefore you euery where vrge the proper punishment and iust reward of sinne due to vs on the soule of Christ and when you come to proue it you rest on the religious consideration that Christ had of his sufferings and call that the wrath of God as if you might choppe and change the wrath of God to your best liking and neuer be constant in any thing Howbeit the question now is what the publike homilies teach the people to beleeue of the worke of their saluation and not how you can shift and sheere wordes to make them sort with your errours Shew therefore somewhat out of the booke of Homilies established by the lawes of this realme that may cleerely confirme or concurre with your doctrine and sell vs not the verdiuyce of your owne deuices in stead of good wine allowed by publike authoritie Christ tooke vpon him the reward of our sinnes the iust reward of sinne But the same homilie sayth the reward of our sinne was the iust wrath and indignation of God the death both of bodie and soule Therefore by the homilie Christ tooke on him for vs the iust wrath and indignation of God the death of the bodie and soule Your trade of iugling will but shame you if you can shift hands no cleanlier then here you doe Your first and second propositions here cited out of the Booke of Homilies are so curtayled by you that they seeme nothing lesse then that they are in their right places The writer of the Homilies hauing taught
the people that Christ came to saue the house of Israell by giuing his life for their sinnes and that sinne caused the onely Sonne of God to be crucified in the flesh and to suffer the most vile and slaunderous death of the Crosse and consequently willed them to remember how grieuously and cruelly Christ was handled of the Iewes for our sinnes and to set before their eyes Christ crucified with his body stretched on the Crosse his head crowned with sharpe thornes his hands and his feete pearced with nayles his heart opened with a speare his flesh rent and torne with whips his browes sweating water and bloudâ—… by this stirreth vp the hearers to the hatred of sinne that was so grieuous in the sight of God that he would not be pacified but onely with the bloud of his owne Sonne And though there were a thousand examples in the Scripture shewing how greatly God abhorred sinne yet this one is of more force then all the rest that the Sonne of God was compelled to giue his body to bee bruised and broken on the Crosse for our sinnes After these premonitions follow your words Christ hath taken vpon him the iust reward of sinne which was death not the whole reward of sinne which is an vtter exclusion from all grace and glorie and the eternall damnation of body and Soule in hell fire but the death of his body bruised and broken on the Crosse by the cruell rage of the Iewes which is particularly and plainely before described Now the death of the body inflicted on all mankind for sinne is the iust though not the full reward of sinne and by suffering that Christ freed vs from all condemnation of sinne which otherwise in vs would haue beene euerlasting And this explication the same Homily addeth to the former words which you cite though you purposely suppresse it When all hope of righteousnesse was past on our part and wee had nothing whereby wee might quench Gods burning wrath and worke the saluation of our Soules Then euen then did the Sonne of God come downe from heauen to be wounded for our sakes to be reputed with the wicked to be condemned vnto death to take vpon him the reward of our sinnes and to giue his body to be broken on the Crosse for our offences Here are both the places which you patch together the one noting Death to be the iust reward of sinne the other expressing what kind of death Christ suffered for vs as the reward of our sinne euen the breaking of his body on the Crosse for our offences In the second proposition you shew more deprauing of the publike doctrine of this Realme For where the second Homily saith in expresse words that our Grandfather Adam by breaking Gods commaundement in eating the Apple forbidden him in Paradise purchased not onely to himselfe but also to his posteritie for euer the iust wrath and indignation of God who condemned both him and his to euerlasting death both of body and Soule you transferre this iudgement from Adam to Christ which the Homily doeth not and least you should bee taken tardie with open blasphemie you leaue out the word EVERLASTING which is euident in the Homily and vpon those maimed and forged collections you inferre that by the Homily Christ tooke on him for vs the death both of body and Soule Why say you not Christ tooke vpon him EVERLASTING death both of body and Soule which was the iust and due purchase or wages of our sinne by the plaine words of that Homilie You feared blasphemie and therefore you chose rather to falsifie the place then to want some defence for your Doctrine Christ you will say died that death which was the reward of our sinne by the Booke of Homilies To belie publike Authoritie so grossely in so great causes is a quadruple iniquitie What death Christ died for our sinnes is openly professed and euen pictured before our eyes in this very Homilie the words I repeated in the Section before What death was the wages of our sinne if the word euerlasting did not fully declare the same Homilie in the same Section whence your words are taken doth twice most abundantly teach Adam tooke vpon him to eate of the tree forbidden and in so doing he died the death that is to say he became mortall he lost the fauour of God he was cast out of Paradise he was no longer a Citizen of heauen but a fire brand of hell and a bond-slaue to the Diuell And sixe lines after So that now neither Adam nor any of his had any right or interest at all in the kingdome of heauen but were become plaine Reprobates and cast-awaies being perpetually damned to the euerlasting paines of hell fire It would fairely fit your new Doctrine to defend that Christ was a Reprobate and a Cast-away yea a fire-brand of hell and a bond-slaue to the Diuell perpetually damned to the euerlasting paines of hell fire And though I be perswaded you detest these diuelish impieties and hellish blasphemies yet you regard little your cause or your conscience which vouch in Print that Christ suffered that reward of sinne which by the Booke of Homilies was due to vs all those things by the same Booke in the same place being due to vs. You will shift of this matter as if these things might be granted in substance not in circumstance and in our countenance not in his But such shifts are so shamefull and sinfull in this case that I thinke your owne friends wil altogether mislike your flying to the Booke of Homilies for the death of the Soule or the iust reward of sinne in all mankind there mentioned to be suffered in the Soule of Christ. Also our great Bible appointed by Authoritie to be read in publike Churches expresly saith as much It is a poore pittance when you finde no helpe for your new made hell in the whole Text of the Bible to run to the Printers additions set by the sides of the Booke who often annexe things in the Margine for direction or explication as they thinke good which declare the Printers or Correctors but not the Authors nor Translators mind Your wits I trust be not so weake but you can discerne between the English translation of the Text commaunded to be publikely read in the Church and the Marginall notes added by others without any warrant of publike Authority for ought that I see And therefore I take not my selfe nor any man else to be bound to those notes farder then they euidently concurre with the truth of the Text though they may be sometimes profitable for the opening of hard places That Christ was in an Agonie the Euangelist affirmeth and the English Translator hath done his duetie in expressing so much but what the cause was of that Agonie is beyond the Commission of a Translator to specifie since the Scripture concealeth it and so publike Authoritie which appointed
the English Translation to be openly reade in the Church confirmeth not the Marginall appositions which may not be read in the Church though they may be receiued so farre as they haue manifest coherence with the Text or consequence from the Text in respect rather of their veritie then Authoritie For these notes at first were not affixed and in sundry editions they haue been altered increased as the Corrector liked euen this note which you alleage somewhat differeth from the Geneuian notes whence this and the most of the rest were taken The words of the Geneuian edition vpon this place are these The word Agonie signifieth that horror that Christ had conceaued not onely for feare of death but of his Fathers Iudgement and wrath against sinne The Printer of the great English Bible or his Corrector ouer against those words of the Text he was in an Agonie setteth this obseruation in the Margine He felt the horror of Gods wrath and iudgement against sinne I refuse not those words as if they gainsaid the Doctrine which I defend but I see no farder ground in them then ghesse when they ayme at the cause of Christs Agonie which the Scripture suppresseth Howbeit let the words stand in their full strength though by no meanes I acknowledge either Authentike or publike Authoritie in them they rather euert then support your opinion The vttermost here ascribed to Christ is HORROR that is a shaking or trembling feare of Gods Iudgement and wrath against sinne which all the godly finde in them selues when they enter into the serious cogitation of Gods holinesse displeased and his Iustice prouoked with their sinnes but this is farre from the death or paines of the damned except you make the vengeance of the Reprobate all one with the repentance of the faithfull This therefore is like the rest of your proofes no way tending to your purpose The feare of Gods wrath against sinne which is common to all the godly in this life though not at all times hath no fellowship with the feare of the Reprobate much lesse with the torments of the damned The one is a religious and godly sorrow for sinne which worketh saluation and yet agniseth with feare and trembling the iustnesse and greatnesse of Gods wrath against sinne the other is the beholding of the terrible and eternall destruction of Body and Soule prepared for them without all hope of ease or end In Christ there might be a double cause of this horror conceaued or felt by him as affections are felt in the Nature of Man the one touching vs the other touching himselfe Christ might tremble and shake at the terror of Gods Iudgement prouided for vs which was euerlasting damnation of Body and Soule in hell fire and the more tenderly he loued vs the greater was his horror to see this hang ouer our heads euen as we naturally tremble to see the desperate daungers of our dearest friends present before our eyes And if Paul said truely of him selfe we knowing the terror of the Lord meaning the terror of the Lords Iudgement against sinne how much more then did the Sauiour of the world know the same the cleare beholding of which might iustly worke in him a manifest horror to teach vs to take heede of that terrible Iudgement at the sight whereof for our sakes he did tremble in the daies of his flesh An other cause of that horror might concerne himselfe For since the wrath and Iudgement of God against our sinne was so terrible to behold that Christ in his humane nature trembled at it how could it but raise an horror in him to know that he must presently receiue in his owne Body the burthen thereof and make satisfaction therefore with his owne smart which how farre it would pearce his patience the weakenes of our flesh in him might well feare and tremble though his spirit were neuer so resolute and ready to endure the most that mans nature in this life could sustaine with obedience and confidence So that either the sight of Gods wrath against sinne due to vs or the satisfaction of the same which Christ was to make might vrge his humane nature to that feare and trembling for the time which these notes obserue and yet neither of these come neere the feare of the wicked or paines of the damned Besides that religious horror and feare is nothing lesse then the paines of hell inflicted on the Soule by the immediate hand of God which is the deuice that you seeke to establish Thus my Text of Scripture is also iustified that Christ gaue himselfe the price of Redemption for vs WHICH ELS VVE SHOVLD HAVE PAYD If wresting adding and altering may be called iustifying then is your sense of that text iustified indeed otherwise there is nothing yet alleadged that any way approueth that meaning of the text which you would inforce The price of our redemption Christ payd not the same which els we should haue payd had we not beene redeemed for so Christ must haue suffered euerlasting damnation of bodie and soule which was the payment exacted of vs but he payd a PRICE for vs that more contented his displeased Father than our euerlasting destruction could haue done You dallie therefore with the doubtfulnesse of the word PAYD which sometimes signifieth the enduring of punishment sometimes the yeelding of recompence The Price of our sinnes which we should haue payd that is the punishment of our sinnes which we should haue susteined was eternall destruction of bodie and soule in hell fire and other payment we could make none This payment due to vs or punishment which we should haue payd the person of Christ could not suffer it is most horrible blasphemy so to speake or thinke but he payd a price for vs that is a SATISFACTION and AMENDS for our sinnes which by no meanes we were able to pay And so much the word ANTILYTRON noteth euen a Price Recompence or Ransome in exchange of the punishment or imprisonment which the captiue should suffer This Price you will say was himselfe I make no doubt that Christ gaue himselfe to die but NOT TO BE DAMNED for our sinnes as we should haue beene Neither can the common custome of redeeming captiues inferre any more than the giuing of a price for the Prisoner And therefore I did iustly aske Who told you that the Scripture here speaketh after the common vse of redeeming Captiues taken in warre And where you answere the nature of the word ANTILYTRON importeth so much which is properly vsed in such cases you vndestand neither the nature of the word neither the maner of our redemption rightly For first the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence Antilytron commeth properly signifieth a mutuall redemption of ech other as Aristotle obserueth and so we should redeeme Christ as he redeemed vs. Wherefore the word is heere improperly taken and signifieth no more than LYTRON without composition Againe the common vse of
that doctrine to the people The iust and mercifull God did not so vse the iniurie of his will those are his words that to restore vs hee would only shew the power of his clemenâ—…ie but because it was a consequent that man committing sinne should be the seruant of sinne God so fitted the medicine to the sicke the pardon to the guiltie and redâ—…mption to the captures that the iust sentence of condemnation should be dissolued by tâ—…e iust worke of the 〈◊〉 For if only the Godhead should haue opposed it selfe for vs sinners not so much reason as power should conquer the diuell The Sonne of God therefore admitted wicked hands to be layed on him and what the rage of the persecutors offered with patient power he suffered This was that great mysterie of godlinesse that Christ was euer loaden with iniuries which if he should haue repelled with open power and manifest vertue he should haue exercised onely his diuine strength but not regarded our cause that were men For in all things which the madnesse of the people and Priests did reprochfully and 〈◊〉 vnto him our sinnes were wiped away and our offences purged The diuell himselfe did not vnderstand that his crueltie against Christ should ouerthrow his owne kingdome WHO SHOVLD NOT LOOSE THE RIGHT OF HIS FIRST FRAVD IF HE COVLD ABSTAINE FROM THE LORDS BLOVD But greedie with malice to hurt whiles he rusheâ—…h on Christ himselfe falleth whiles he taketh he is taken and persuing him that was mortall he lighted on him that was the Sauiour of the world Iesus Christ being lifted vp on the tree returned death vpon the Authour of death and strangled all the principalities and powers that were against him by obiecting his flesh that was possible giuing place in himselfe to the presumption of our ancient enemie who raging against mans nature that was subiect vnto him durst there exact his debt where he could finde no signe of sinne Therefore the generall and mortall hand-writing by which we were solde was torne and the contract of our captiuitie came into the power of the Redeemer The person of the Sonne tookâ—… vpon him properly the reparation of mankinde that whose maker he was he might be their restorer so directing his counsell to effect that to destroy the kingdome of the diuell he rather vsed the righteousnesse of reason then the power of his might For whiles the diuell raged on him whom he held by no law of sinne he lost the right of his wicked dominion I repeat the more to let the Reader see that the Fathers in this case doe not play with figures as this Discourser dreameth but they consonantly propose and vrge with earnest and euident words a great point of Christian pietie Gregorie teacheth the same lesson When Satan tooke Christes bodie to crucifie it he lost Christes elect from the right of his power And by Gods speech to Satan concerning Iob Beholde he is in thine hand but saue his life hee thus declaâ—…eth Gods Commission to Satan touching Christ Tâ—…ke thou power against his bodie and lose the right of thy wicked dominion ouer his â—…lect Damascene also noteth that one respect why Christ was made man was to stoppe the diuels murmuring if God should haue taken man out of his hands by the power of his Deitie Christ was made man sayth he that that which was conquered might conquer God was not vnable who is able to doe all things by his almightie power and force to take man from the Tyrant that helâ—… him but that would haue beene a cause of complaint to the Tyrant that had conquered man if he were forced by God Therefore God who pitied and loued vs willing to make man that was fallen the conqueror of Satan became man restoring the like by the like that is man by man And in this sayth Damascene appeareth Gods iustice that man being ouerthrowen he would haue none other besides man to conquer the Tyrant neither would he by violence take man from death but whom death had of old brought into bondâ—…ge by sinne eâ—…en him would the gracious and righteous God make conquer againe What reason then haue you to reuell at Saint Augustine and Saint Ambrose in such sort as you doe that their names are of no waitht to warrant such a Doctrine as those words of theirs pretend Or what teach they different from the rest of the Fathers if their words be rightly taken and not wrested aside to your crooked conceiâ—…s That the bloud of Christ was so sufficient a price for vs that not onely the voluntarie sacrificing thereof throughly satisfied the displeased Iustice of God and obtained remission of all our sinnes but eâ—…en the wrongfull shedding thereof by Satans instigation wrought the subuersion of Satans power and right in all the â—…lect God by the rule of Iustice giuing vnto Christs manhoode the spoyle of Satans kingdome â—…or the patience which Christ shewed whiles Satan by the mouthes and hands of the wicked spoyled Christs humane nature of honor and life for the time what danger is there in this to the Christian Faith or what repugnancie to the sacred Scriptures THEREFORE VVILL I giue him his part in many things â—…aith God of Christs manhoode and he shall deuide THE SPOYLE of the mightie or with the mightie because he powred forth his Soule vnto death this the Apostle shâ—…weth was executed against the Diuels them selues Christ SPOYLED Principalities and Powers and made a shew of thâ—…m openly triumphing ouer them in his owne Person According as God threatned the Serpent vpon his first deceauing the woman I will put enmitie betweene thy seâ—…de and her seâ—…de he shall bruize thine head and thou shalt bruize his heele Where God expresseth plainly the Recompence that the seed of the woman should haue for suffering Satan to bruize his heâ—…le euen the bruizing of the Serpents head For nothing is more equall with God then to remâ—…ate the same measure to men and Angels that they mâ—…te to others It was therefore a thing most iust in the sight of God as he subiected Man to Satans power when by sinne he first conquered Man so he subiected Satan to the will and power of Christs manhoode when by righteousnesse Christ conquered the diuell And as Christ patiently endured to be wrongfully depriued of his life by the meanes and members of Satan so in requitall of that presumption and iniurie Christ powerfully and iustly depâ—…ed Satan of all his â—…ight and interest to the Elect for whose sakes Christ gaue his life This excludeth not the voluntarie seruice and sacrifice of Christs obedience vnto death wherewith the Iustice of God was satisfied and appeased but this sheweth that as God had chiefe regard of his owne Iustice and mercie towards man in giuing his owne Sonne to be the pacification of his wrath and propitiation of our sinnes so he dealt iustly with the diuell in causing the
the Crosse for remission of our sinnes and receiued violent wrong from the diuell in putting him to death In reuenge and recompence whereof as all these fathers confesse God tooke iust cause to make not the Diuine nature which had that right before and could not loose it but mans nature which Satan had by sinne conquered and subiected to himselfe to be in the person of Christ conquerer and Lord ouer Satan and all his power to take whom hee would to make them vessels of mercie and to reserue the rest as vessels of wrath vnto the terrible iudgement of Christ. Wherein these Fathers doe not swarue from the Pophets and Apostles meaning howsoeuer they vse different words that Christ should diuide the spoyle of the mightie because hee powred out his Soule vnto death And that therefore God highly exalted and gaue him a name at which euery knee boweth in heauen earth and hell for that hee was obedient vnto the death of the Crosse. Neither doth Ambrose when he speakerh of a Price required by the diuell or yeelded to the diuell meane any more then a CAVSE SVFFICIENT why the spoyling of Satans kingdome was giuen vnto the manhood of Christ and al the power of darknesse sinne death and hell put vnder his feete For a Price doeth not alway import an honourable condition or a pleasing satisfaction as it signifieth when it is referred to God but as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke which is properly a Price noteth either Reward or Reuenge so doth pretium in Latine comprise both and generally whatsoeuer is balanced one against the other to be exchanged one with the other is the price of ech other So that it is no dishonour to the bloud of Christ to be so precious that not onely the voluntarie offering therof did fully satisfie the iustice of God displeased with our sinnes but that also the wrongfull shedding thereof which was necessarily to be committed to Satan and his members as the onely fit instruments for such an impietie was a iust occasion why God in requitall of that wrong made the manhood of Christ the subduer and destroyer of Satans kingdome Not that the diuell had any right or command ouer vs against or without the will of God but that hee was so blinded by the wonderfull wisedome of God in reuenge of his subuerting the first man that he was made by shewing his malice against the manhood of Christ an Actor in our Redemption and the Author of his owne subuersion whiles without his knowledge and against his meaning hee was Gods instrument for our saluation and his owne destruction This you can not quietly brooke because you make the chiefest point of our Redemption to bee the killing of Christs Soule with Gods immediate hand and so farre are you from confessing Christ to be vniustly slaine as an innocent that you defend him to be sinfull hatefull defiled with our sinnes and hanged by the iust sentence of the Law and the diuel to be onely a minister and executioner of Gods iudgement against Christ. Yea your similitude if you stand to it of prisoners taken in warre and your ransome yeelded to God as to an enemie for his captiues setteth iarres if not warres betweene the first and second person in Trinitie by making God the Father an enemie both to the Redeemer and Prisoner For among men whose vse and custome you presse in this place the detainer is alwayes a professed enemie to the redeemer since confederates doe not vse to take or detaine ech others subiectes or seruants but open enemies The Ransomer then and the prisoner haue one and the same enemy and consequently by your resemblance God is an enemie as well to Christ as to vs. The proofe which you bring to shew God to be an enemie to his elect out of the fift of S. Matthew is impertinent to the cause and diâ—…erent from the trueth For besides that the new writers as Erasmus in his paraphrase Bucer Bullinger Musculus Caluine Gualterus in their commentaries vpon this chapter and the old as Tertullian Ierom Chrysostome Hilarie Theophylact Euthymius and others with one consent referre this admonition of Christ to men that are Aduersaries Iudges and Iaylours here in this life which is wide from your purpose your making of God to be an Aduersarie in that place acknowledgeth a superiour Iudge to God to whom the Aduersarie must by complaint not by command deliuer vs and your comparing the deuill to an obedient minister of the Law excuseth him from being a rebell to God and an accuser of men But if you would speake or thinke as the Scriptures leade which you pretend but not perfourme you should finde in them though not in this precept that the deuill is by a speciall kind of notation called our ENEMIE as indeede he is the ancient eger and continuall supplanter and impugner of man and that God to his elect is and euer was a gracious and louing father when he was most displeased with their sinnes and euen then so carefull and mindfull of their saluation that he gaue them his owne Sonne when they were his Enemies to dâ—…e for them and by that death to make satisfaction and purgation of all their sinnes which was not the part or worke of an Enemie how much soeuer his holines then did and still doth dislike their vnrighteousnesse And since the punishment of our sinnes was layd vpon Christ and we healed by his stripes if therein God professed Enmitie to his elect and executed it all on Christ the deuill being but the Iaylor and Executioner or as else where you say an Instrument onely and by that parable not to be blamed for doing no more then he is commaunded by the Iudge your wholesome doctrine commendeth the deuill as an obedient seruant and maketh God an Inferiour and yet an Enemy to the manhood of Christ. Which if you did not meane you must temper your words and proofes better and learne not so egerly to reiect euery phrase in an ancient Father that pleaseth not your palate when your selfe spake and wrote so licentiously and dangerously But I fit your similitude you say to your desire farther then your selfe did expresse because I say the Ransomer is not bound to be Prisoner for his Redeemed but may satisfie the enemie by money or otherwise You are a happie man that euery thing fitteth your desire You positiuely teach that Christ our Redeemer must suffer the selfe same paines of hell which we should haue suffered The reason you yeeld for it is a poore similitude drawen from the common vse and custome of men in redeeming their captiues taken in warres I replyed that your similitude prooueth no such thing because amongst men the Ransomers neede not nor doe not sustaine the same seruitude and imprisonment which the captiues doe and must if they be not redeemed Yet the whole price you say must be payd by
a true and corporall punishment appointed by God for sinne though mans error inflict it on innocents or true repentance abolish the rest that would follow after this life if God were not reconciled vnto vs. In the wicked then which persist in their mischieuous purposes without repentance your reason taketh place that hanging to them is a part of that true and terrible curse the whole whereof shall be executed on them for their sinnes but in repentants it is starke false and in Christ of whom this question riseth it is irreligious and impious to say that he suffered the whole curse of the Law prouided for sinne or the death of the soule and of the damned which is properly due to sinners Now vnderstand Chrysostome thus as we before haue distinguished the punishment of Christ and of the damned and then we differ not Suppose Chrysostome to teach falsly and talke absurdly as you doe and then you may soone bring him to weare your badge but leaue him at libertie to tell his owne tale and hee is farre enough from your follies He sayth they were dâ—…erse curses in Christ and in the damned to signifie diuerse manners of one and the same curse in Nature He speaketh not of the damned at all he speaketh of the whole people of the Iewes which were vnder the curse of the Law for sinne till they were thence deliuered by Christ which the damned neuer were nor shall be His words are The people were in danger of another curse which saith Cursed is euery one which abideth not in the things written in the booke of the Law For not one of them had obserued the whole Law Christ then since he was not subiect to the curse of transgression admitted this curse to hang on the Crosse in steede of that to loose the people from their curse Chrysostome truely learnedly and consonantly to the rest of the ancient Fathers distinguisheth two kindes of EVILS or CVRSES incident to men which are sinne and the punishment of sinne The one is an vniust action pleasing man but displeasing God the other is a iust passion pleasing God but displeasing man Mala dicuntur Delicta Supplicia The OFFENCE and the REVENGE are both called â—…uils sayth Tertullian Duo sunt genera malorum peccatum poena peccati there are two sorts of Euils sayth Austen Sinne and the punishment of sinne For by Gods prouidence ruling all things as man doth the euill which he will so he suffereth the Euill which he will not Then sinne is not onely euill before it be punished but a greater euill then the punishment is since it is an euill in his owne nature repugnant to the righteousnesse of God Now as God is all good and therefore all blessed so sinne forsaking God falleth from goodnesse and so from blessednesse and is consequently more accursed with God then punishment is and ought so to be with men if they be rightly aduised as being the cause and continuance of their punishment For accursed signifieth as well detested and depriued of blessednesse as subiected to miserie or deuoted to destruction So that sinne in it selfe is a curse with God that is hated and detested of God and depriuing man of all communion and participation with the fountaine of blessednesse though no punishment did follow Yet because men would with neglect and despâ—…ght of God abide and reioyce in their wickednesse if sense of grieâ—…e and paine did not force them to feele theiâ—… wretchednesse therefore the wisedome and iustice of God pursueth such as dwell and delight in their sinnes with sharpe and bitteâ—… plagues that locâ—…ing on their miserie they may timely repent or eternally lament their obstinacie To these two kinds of curses Chrysostomes wordes and proofes doe leade The whole people were not damned as you deuoutly dâ—…eame but they had sinned and so were subiected to the danger of Gods displeasure foâ—… sinne and of his indignation against sinne From this Christ was free for he did not sinne 〈◊〉 was guile found in his mâ—…uth as Chrysostom concludeth out of the Scriptures Since then Christ was not subiect to the curse of Transgression he admitted â—…other Curse euâ—…n the punishment of sinne which is a curse also for sinne though of an other Nature then the committing of sinne by one to dissolue the otheâ—… that is by his owne paine to abolish the guilt of our sinne Chrysostomes woâ—…ds are as plâ—…ne as his proofes The curse of transgressing was another curse and not the 〈◊〉 which Christ suffered Yea Christ might not be subiected to that curse to which the people were for transgressing the law but changed that for another and so loosâ—…d their curse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another and not the same be as forciâ—…le woâ—…ds to shew different natures and persons as any the Greeke tongue hath and your shift of diâ—…erse degrees in the same nature is a childish toy since much and little like and vnlike sâ—…ew diuers degrees or measures in one nature but another and not the same thing directly noteth the substance or nature to be diuers Austen on whom you triumph is stretched beyond his meaning he deaâ—…eth against a Mainichâ—…e who denied that Christ had true human flesh Now he proueth that Christ truely died because the Apostle saith he was made a curse for vs in that he hanged on a Tree I haue cause to content my selfe that so leaâ—…ned and religious a Father as Saint Augustine was so highly reuerenced in the Church of God did more then twelue hundred yeers since in his conflicts with Hereticks refute the greatest part of your positions as repugnant to the faith of Christ and the soundnesse of the Sacred Scriptures And I thinke few men so foolish as in the grounds of our Redemption and saluation by Christ to reiect the Doctrine which he taught as false and receaue your scambling conceits as true And in my Iudgement you were best to take heed least if the resolutions which Saint Austen and other Catholike Fathers made against Heretickes disprooue your new found faith you be taken tardy with bringing Baggage into the Church of Christ long since condemned and banished from the Creede of all Christians What Saint Austen proueth you are no fit reporter except you did read more attentiuely and iudge more sincerely For did you euer peruse the words wrong course in so wise a Father if he meant purposely to prooue against the Manichees that Christ truely died for vs and not in shew onely as they supposed to ouerskip all the Testimonies and circumstances of Christs true death recorded in the Scriptures as his giuing vp the Ghost Pilates examining and the Centurions confessing the truth thereof as also the Souldiers perceiuing him alreadie dead and so not breaking his lâ—…gges but pearcing his side with a speare and the* gazing and watching of his â—…nemies and of the whole multitude ouer him
to see him die as likewise his buriall by his owne followers the sealing of his Tumbe and his lying three daiâ—…s in the graue to omit I say all these things with silence and to produce a word which the Manichees reiected as odious and iniurious to Christ and the Christians defended none otherwise then as common to all men that die both good and bad were no small ouersight in so learned a writer But this is a â—…ite of yours to shift of the truth of his answere it is no part of his meaning He sheweth against the Manichees and likewise against you since you defend the Contrarie that the death of the Body is in all men the punishment of sinne and that this death INFLICTED ON MANS NATVRE for sinne which is the MORTALITIE OF OVR FLESH by the Scriptures is called a Sinne and a Curse euen in Christ not that Christ was properly and truly accursed with God as transgressours are which is your erroneous assertion but that he submitted himselfe to receiue the punishment of sinne in his owne person by the death of his Body which was common to him with all men If the former words of Saint Austen were not plaine enough he hath playner If thou deny Christ was accursed deny Christ was dead If thou deny he was dead now â—…ightest thou not against Moses but against the Apostles If thou confesse him to haue beene dead confesse that he tooke the punishment of our sinne without sinne Now when thou hearest the punishment of sinne beleeue it came either from Gods blessing or cursing If the punishment of sinne came from blessing wish alwaies to be vnder the punishment But if thou desire to be thence deliuered beleeue that by the iust Iudgement of God the punishment of sinne came from the curse Confesse then that Christ tooke a Curse for vs when thou confessest him to haue beene dead for vs Nec aliud significare voluisse Mosen cum diceret maledictus omnis qui in ligno pependâ—…rit nisi mortalis omnis moriens omnis qui in ligno pependerit and that Moses had none other meaning when he said Accursed is euery one that hangeth on a Tree then to say euery one that hangeth on a Tree is Mortall and dieth He might hauâ—… said Accursed is euery Mortall Man or accursed is euery one that dieth How thinke you would Austen prooue that Christ truely died because he was truely accursed or that Christ tooke vpon him a Curse because he tooke vpon him the death of the Bodie which is the punishment of sinne in all mortall men and so proceeded from the curse whereunto all men for sinne were subiect He doth not defend the Apostle by Moses but he expoundeth Moses by the Apostle and so resolueth in plaine words that Moses had none other meaning when he said accursed is euery one that hangeth on a Tree then if he had said accursed is euery mortall man because death came first on all men as a Curse for sinne You acknowledge not the death which all men die to be a punishment or Curse for sinne But all the wit you haue will not answere Saint Austens reasons For the death of the Body which is common to all mortall men must of force be a blessing or a Cursing If it be a blessing why doe we beleeue or hope to be free from a blessing but if we detest continuance vnder it and desire deliuerance from it then certainly the death of the Body in all men euen in the Saints of God was and still is a punishment and Curse of Sinne till Christ raise vs from it An other reason Saint Austen vrgeth to the same effect which is this Vnlesse God had hated sinne and our Death he would not haue sent his sonne to vndertake and abolish the same What maruaile then if that be accursed to God which God hateth God that is him selfe all life and gaue vs life as his blessing in this world must needs hate death which is priuation of life as repugnant to his Image and euerting the worke of his hands wherewith he ioyned Soule and Body to participate in life And though by his Iustice he inflicted death on all men for sinne yet of his mercie he sent his owne and PAINFVLL death to be that part of the curse which Christ suffered for vs. This I hope is more then shame though shame and reproch were not the least parts of Gods curse against sinne euen in Christ. You would needs in a brauado set vp your bristles and aske What nothing but the shame of the world will any man of common sense affirme that this was all the curse that Christ bare for vs I replied that shame and ignominie was an expresse part of the curse which Christ dying suffered for vs and that there was no cause you should so much disdaine Chrysostome and Austen for so saying The Scriptures themselues in that point concurred with them as I haue fully shewed in my Conclusion and you can not auoid it Lest therefore your Reader should take you to be tongue-tied you cleane change the case and would haue men beleeue that I defend and endeuoured to proue that shame was the whole curse which Christ endured As though I alleaged not S. Austen at large to proue that death in all men Christ not exempted was a part of the curse inflicted on mankinde for sinne And therefore when Chrysostome sayd the crosse is the onely kinde of death subiect to the curse I did not set him and Austen at variance as if the one did trippe the other but I thus reconciled them that not only death as in all men but the verâ—…e kinde of death which Christ died was accursed by the very words of the Law in Chrysostomes iudgement This then is one of your familiar trades and trueths to set downe that in my name which I neuer spake nor meant and so by lying when you can not by reasoning to support your cause Indeed if a man will admit your absurd and false positions so much is consequent out of their words For where you will not haue the death of the bodie to be any part of the curse inflicted on sinne except the death of the damned be coherent with it as in the reprobate it followeth from Chrysostomes words that the corporall death of Christ seuered from all other sorts of death had no part of Gods curse in it besides shame which yet is as farre from being a true curse where the cause is good as death it selfe since neither shame nor death are true and inward curses when they are suffered for righteousnesse but rather causes and increases of blessing not in nor of themselues but by Gods goodnesse accepting and recompensing them with all fauour and blisse Againe you mislike that I sayd Christs dying simplie as the godlie die may in no sort be called a Curse or accursed I mislike that you can not or
owne mouth to bruize the Serpents head before death was inflicted on Adam and his of-spring And therefore the punishment of mans sinne following could extend no farder in the Elect then to the death of the Body vnlesse you will make Gods punishment repugnant to his promise of Christ made before to his Elect which were to charge God with Inconstancie And therefore either the death of the Body was neuer any punishment of sinne in Adam which is repugnant to the Scriptures and the full consent of all Diuines old and new or else it resteth still the same to the Elect which it was at first when it was inflicted on them in the person of their first Father Indeede the promise of Christ to the faithfull brake of the sequence of eternall death which in the wicked is coherent to the death of their Bodies and that made God in his Iudiciall sentence pronounced against Adams sinne to comprise no more but Adams returne to dust for that he meant no more to his Elect though he would suffer death to haue his full force against the Bodies and Soules of the wicked both in this world and in the next for euer As for the Saluation of the faithfull before Christs comming in the flesh I see not which way that should be endangered by their afflictions in this life It is written of Lazarus dying before Christ that in his life time he receiued euill and therefore after death he was comforted So that their chasticement in this life which was a moderate and fatherly correction and punishment of their sinnes could be no impediment to their saluation but worke rather in them that were patient in their troubles as it doth in vs an excellent and eternall waight of glorie For in that the Iudgement of God began here in this life with them their humbling themselues vnder the mightie hand of God with true Repentance of their sinnes and full assurance by faith that in the promised Seede their sinnes should be pardoned caused God of his mercy to turne their â—…eauinesse into ioy and in due time to exalt them Further you except against me touching Innocents and Martyrs executions who I say are most blessed If you meane their Soules are most blessed I said as much before you if you respect their patience and loue in laying downe their liues for the truth I make no doubt the death of Gods Saints is precious in his sight But if the suffering of death were a blessing and aduantage as you would haue it it were no such thankes with God to taste of his blessings for his name sake The greatnesse of their reward sheweth the shaâ—…pnesse of their conflict with the sting and smart of death which because they refuse not for Christes cause their patience is the more precious in Gods sight but this doeth not prooue the corruption of their bodies turned to dust to bee any blessing but rather an enemie that must be destroyed before their bodies shall enioy the true blessing of immortall glorie that is reserued for them The holy men are in trueth most glorious and blessed in them If you speake of their bodiâ—…s you speake falsly and directly against the Scripture which expresâ—…ely saith They are sowâ—…n in corruption and dishonour but they shall be raised in incorruption and dishonour and what can be more repugnant to the trueth or more reprochfull to the resurrection from the dead then to say that corruption in the bodies of the Saints is most glorious and blessed The Saints and Martyrs can not be properly cursed and properly blâ—…ssed too in any measure Can you see that in the members of Christ and can you not see so much in Christ himselfe You defend with might and maine that Christ was properly and truely accursed and that he was also truely and properly blessed except you will bee worâ—…e then a Turke you may not denie For euen his manhood was personally ioyned with his Godhead and more abundantly blessed then any Martyr can be as hauing in him the fulnesse of blessing for him selfe and vs all How hangeth then this not onely monstrous but impious Assertion of yours together that the Soule of Christ was truely and properly most abundantly blessed and most properly cursed at one and the same instant You will come in with your two countenances and conditions his owne and ours but in vaine doe you salue a manifest contrarietie and impictie with countenances Christ was truely accursed in no condition or countenance since he was most blessed in himselfe and the spring of all blessing to vs. The Soules of the Martyrs are not blessed vnlesse their bodies be blessed also and free from the true curâ—… although you seeme to denâ—…e this point Of the TRVE curse â—…aide on the bodies of Martyrs I spake neuer a word and therefore that is no vncouth Assertion of mine as your phrase is but an impudent fiction of yours that thinke best to belâ—…e the trueth when you cannot otherwise preuaile against it I said not a woâ—…d moâ—…e then Saint Austen said before me Maledictus omnis moriens Accursed is euerie one that dieth And when the godly are so streightned that they must either commit Idolatrie or suffer Martyrdome euen in that case of Martyrs Saint Austen saith Elâ—…gendum est maledictum in corporiâ—… morte quo maledicto ipsum corpus in Resurrectione liberabitur deuit andum autem maledictum in animae morte ne cum suo corpore in aeterno igne damnetur A Christian when these two are proposed must chuse the curse of a bodily death from which curse the body shall be freed in the Resurrection and hee must shunne the curse of the death of the Soule least that be together with the body condemned to euerlasting fire And to prooue this to be non Anicularis malâ—…dictio an olde wifes curse as the Manichees called it but a propheticall prediction hee giueth sound reasons to all that list not to moâ—…ke and elude the trueth as you doe Morsipsa ex maledicâ—…o Death it selfe came from the curse that was laide on all mankinde for sinne Maledictum est omne peccatum siâ—…e ipsum quod sit vt sequatur supplicium siâ—…c ipsum supplicium quod alâ—…o modo vocatur peccatum quâ—…a fit ex peccato Accursed is all sinne whether it bâ—…e the fact deseruing punishment or the punishment it selfe which is after a sort called sinne because it is cauâ—…d by sinne Which words though you afterward idlely abuse yet are they sound and consonant to the Scriptures Of sinne there is no question but that is in it selâ—…e truely accursed as being the roote and cause of all Gods curses vpon men and Angels where it is not remitted and howsoeuer of mercie God doeth paâ—…don it vnto his Elect yet hee hateth their sinnes in such sort that either sinne must die in them by true and hartie repentance or they must perish with
to cast in his face And though there be neuer so manie old and new writers that would leade you to the true senâ—…e of these words you leaue them all and will needs by wilfull abusing the Scriptures haue Christ to be sinfull and defiled hatefull and accursed euen to God for taking vpon him to purge vs from our sinnes I shewed you the iudgement of Austen and Ambrose in my conclusion for the right vnderstanding of these words but you satisfied with nothing saue with your owne sense pasâ—…e surly by them and the rest as multitudes of men and preferre the proud conceit you haue of your selfe before them all Yet for the Readers sake that he may settle his iudgement with trueth and sobrietie he shall see the consent of all ages and writers how Christ was made sinne for vs and how he condemned sinne in the flesh Origen that Christ was made the sacrifice for sinne and offered for the clensing of sinnes all the Scriptures witnesse touching this sacrifice of his flesh it is said he condemned sinne in the flesh as the same Apostle else where sayth he appeared in the later times to destroy sinne By this sacrifice then of his flesh which was offered for sinne he condemned sinne that is he chased sinne away and abolished it Cyrill Christ is therefore made according to the Scriptures a sacrifice for sinne For this cause we say he is called sinne at selfe for so Paul writeth Him that knew no sinne God the Father made sinne for vs. We doe not say that Christ was made a sinner God forbid but being iust yea Iustice it selfe the Father made him a sacrifice for the sinnes of this world Ierom the Father made Christ who knew not sinne to be sinne for vs that is as the sacrifice offered for sinne is called sinne in the Law In Leuiticus it is written He shall lay his hand on the head of his sinne So Christ being offered for our sinnes tooke the name of sinne Augustine Christ then did no sinne but God made him sinne for vs that is as I haue said a sacrifice for sinne For if thou remember or wilt reade thou shalt finde in the bookes of the old Testament the sacrifice for sinne to be called sinne Againe God then made Christ sinne for vs that is a sacrifice by which our sinnes should be remitted because sacrifices for sinne are called sinne And so in the questions vpon Numbers It is said he shall offer a Lambe for a sinne because that which was offered for sinne was called sinne Whence it is that the Apostle saith of the Lord Christ him that knew no sinne God the Father made sinne for vs that is a sacrifice for sinne He that will see this more at large repeated and confirmed let him read at his leasure Saint Austen 120. Epistle cap. 30. the third booke and 6. Chapter against the two Epistles of the Pelagians his Enchiridion cap. 41. besides the seuenth Sermon De verbis Apostoli and the 48. Sermon De verbis Domini secundum Ioannem which I formerly alleaged Oecumenius the sacrifice which is offered for sinne is called sinne as the Prophet saith they eate the sinnes of my people that is the sacrifices for sinne So the Father made the Sonne a sacrifice to be offered for sinnes Primasius likewise the sacrifice for sinne is in the Law called sinne though it did not sinne as it is written and he shall laie his hands on the head of his sinne So Christ being offered for our sinnes tooke the name of sinne Sedulius obserueth the same words Beda Our Redeemer was made sinne that we might be the righteousnesse of God in him How In the Law the sacrifices which were offered for sinne are called sinne When the offering was brought for sinne the Law sayth the Priests shall put their hands vpon the sinne that is vpon the sacrifice for sinne And what els was this but Christ the true sacrifice for sinne Behold by what sinne he condemned sinne by the sacrifice which he made for sinne euen thereby he condemned sinne To skip Haymo Lyra and others the eleuenth Councell of Toledo in the confession of their faith Christ in the forme of man which he assumed is according to the trueth of the Gospell beleeued to haue beene borne without sinne and to haue died without sinne who aloâ—… was made sinne for vs that is the sacrifice for our â—…innes The new writers beare euen with the old To omit Erasmus Bullinger Peter Martyr Musculus Gualter Vitus Theodorus and others who doe follow the same steps Aretius vpon these words God by sinne condemned sinne in the flesh that is saith he All our sinne in our flesh God condemned by or for sinne to wit by or for the Sacrifice appointed for sinne Now Christ is the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinne of the world this Lambe is called sin because in the Law the sacrifices are called the sinne for which they are offered Hence is it that Christ who knew no sinne was made sinne by his Father Beza in his notes on the New Testament and on those words Him that knew no sinne God made sinne sayth Paul calleth sinne in this latter place the sacrifice for sinne after a maner of speech proper to the Hebrewes with whom the word Ascham is so taken as Leuiticus 7. 2. Tremelius the publisher and interpreter of your Syriack Testament obserueth the like vpon the same place Him that knew no sinne he made sinne for you that is a sacrifice for sinne which euery where in the bible is called Chattath by which name sinne also is called The booke of Homilies authorised in this Realme holdeth so fast to this exposition that it setteth it downe in the Apostles name as the Apostles true meaning S. Paul likewise sayth God made him a sacrifice for our sinne which knew no sinne that we should be made the righteousnesse of God in him The Apostle farder sayth the second time Christ shall appeare without sinne meaning that the first time he appeared with sinne Put the Apostles words vttered in the same place touching Christes first appearing with sinne to these which you cite and the sense is plaine and easie of it selfe In the end of the world Christ appeared once to put away sinne by the sacrifice of himselfe and vnto them that looke for him he shall appeare the second time without sinne vnto saluation Christes first appearing was with sinne that is either with an offering for sinne or with the infirmitie tentation miâ—…erie and mortalitie of sinne for such was the time of his humilitie when he came to purge sinne by the oblation of his bodie the next time of his appearing shall be in glorie that is without either sacrifice for sinne or any other infirmitie of sinners For sinne applied to Christ in the Scriptures may receiue a triple interpretation as Austen obserueth
and yet none of them maketh Christ sinfull hatefull or defiled which is your vncleane doctrine We affirme sayth Austen that Christ had no sinne neither in soule nor flâ—…sh and yet in taking flesh after the likenâ—…sse of sinfull flesh by sinne he condemned sinne Which being somewhat obscurâ—…ly spoken by the Apostle may be two wayes opened either because the similitudes of things vse to be called by the names of the things themselues and in that respect the Apostle would call the similitude of sinfull flesh Sinne or els because the sacrifices for sinnes in the Law were called sinnes all which were the figures of Christs flesh the true and only sacrifice for sinne A third way is that the punishment of sinne is after a sort called sinne as being a consequent to sinne which S. Austen before testified and in that respect as well mortalitie as all other miseries and infirmitâ—…s that inuaded mans nature for sinne may be called sinne that is the effects of sinne The wrongfull and shamefull death of Christ Chrysostome Theodoret Theophylact and others take to be the punishment of our sinnes in the flesh of Christ and in that regard they thinke Christ was made sinne that is punished as a sinner though he were innocent and righteous Him that was righteousnesse it selfe God made sinne that is he suffered him to be condemned as a sinner and to die as one accursed for accursed was he that hung on a tree Christ sayth Theodoret when he had fulfilled all righteousnesse and not admitted any blemish of sinne and yet as a sinner sustained the death of sinners he reproued the iniustice of sinne that deliuered his bodie to death no way deseruing it and dissolued both sinne and death Theophylact as his maner is followeth Chrysostome almost word for word The Sonne who knew no sinne and was righteousnesse it selfe the Father made to die for vs as if he had beene a sinner and malefactour S. Austen ioyneth with them Christ had the similitude of sinfull flesh because his flesh was mortall sinâ—… vllo omnino peccato but vtterly without any sinne that by sinne for similitude he might condemne the sinne that is in our flesh through true iniquitie True iniquitie in Christ there was none mortalitie there was Peccatum non suscepit sed poenam peccati suscepit Suscipiendâ—… sinâ—… culpâ—… poenam poenam saâ—…it culpam Christ tooke not our sinne vnto him he tooke the punishment of our sinne And taking the punishment without any fault he healed both the punishment and the fault I leaue the Reader to his choise which of these he will embrace or whether he will conioyne them all together for the one impugneth not the other they all impugne the Defenders false collections and lewd surmises out of these places that Christ when he is called sinne is intended by the Scriptures to be defiled with our sinnes and hatefull to God and accursed of him for our sinnes which the Church of Christ did neuer endure to heare Master Caluin warily enough sayth Vt personam nostram suscepit peccator erat maledictionis reus As Christ tooke vpon him our person he was a 〈◊〉 and guiltie of the curse I had rather you had commended Master Caluins wisdome to ioyne with the whole Church of God in giuing Christ his due then his warinesse in going a by-way without all the learned and Catholike fathers to hemme Christ within the guilt of our sinne and curse Master Caluin truely I honour for his great gifts and paines in the Church of God but I may not take him for the first founder of Christian religion and therefore where he dissenteth from the worthie Pillers of Christs Church in matters of Doctrine I dissent from him And I more commend his warinesse elsewhere and thinke it fit that when his speech soundeth somewhat hard or offensiue to the Godly it should be expounded by other places of his writings least you make him in so waightie points as these are very inconstant or very inconsiderate This therefore which you bring I interpret by none other then himselfe vsing the very same words of the very same matter in his Commentaries vpon the very next Epistle of Saint Paul before this which you quote You shall haue it in Latine because you shall see how he qualifieth these very words which you would presse to your aduantage PERSONAM nostram QVODAMMODO suscepit vt reus nostro nomine fieret tanquam peccator iudicaretur non proprijs sed alienis delictis quum purus foret ipse immunis ab omni culpa paenamque sâ—…biret nobis non sibi debitam Christ tooke vnto him our Person AFTER A SORT that he might be accused or Iudged in our Name and condemned as it were for a Sinner not for any of his owne offences but other mens since he himselfe was pure and FREE FROM ALL FAVLT or guilt and suffered the punishment due to vs not to him Take these mitigations from Master Caluins owne mouth and then your labour is lost in putting his words to the Racke and these are farre truer then your whirlegigges set running by the businesse of your Braine Christ was AFTER A SORT A SINNER Saith Caluine that is Christ presented the Persons and procured the cause of vs â—…at were sinners and was guiltie that is accused condemned or punished in our steedes Reâ—… doth not alwaies import an offender if you know what Latine meaneth it noteth one â—…uius res agitur whose cause is handled or brought into Iudgement whether he be guiltie or innocent And when it goeth farder then iudiciall inquisition it may be applied either to the fault which is conuinced or to the Iudgement which is decreed or to the punishment which is deserued or appointed And so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke which the new Testament vseth for guiltie or worthie of or subiected to punishment is as much as fast held either by the Crime committed or by the sentence pronounced or by the punishment prepared and assured Thus you see Caluins words limited by himselfe make nothing for you and howsoeuer you rack the word Reus you may not thereby bring Christ to be defiled or hatefull with our sinnes except mercie humilitie and charitie by your learning defile the Sonne of God and make him hatefull to his Father Euen as by Gods true and reall imputation not by any iâ—…hesion we now in this life are iust holy and blamelesse before God so was he sinfull and defiled by Imputation not inherently This is neither the Apostles speech nor sense it is your soone-come and soone-gone gathering from the Apostles words The one is the cause of the other but the one is not in all points proportioned to the other God made him Sinne for vs that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him Thus speaketh the Apostle Omit Christs Sacrifice for sinne whereby our sinnes were pardoned and
that iudgeth Iustly But if it be Ambitiâ—… to let the Reader see that I follow the steps of so learned and approoued Teachers what is it for you being I trust no more then a Man to deuise a new Saluation a new Redemption which neither Scriptures nor Fathers either professed or published howbeit if these three Fathers whom you name and meane to cite make any way for your nâ—…w found fansies they shall content me also so you doe not peece out their Texts with your vntruths for then you alleage not them but your selfe vnder their shadowes The first who is Cyprian saith Christ sustained and suffered him selfe to bee called sinne and a curse by Moses and the Apostle because he had the like punishment as we should haue had bâ—…t not the like fault Cyprians words we haue already once heard and once answered there the Reader shal find them more at large they make nothing for you but rather against you For first it is euident by Cyprians sentence that Christ was callâ—…d sinne and a curse by Moses and the Apostle not for any guilt or fault deriued from vs but onely by reason of the likenesse of punishment with those that were sinners and accursed Then was not Christ defiled or sinfull by sustaining our person oâ—… cause for so much as he had no likenesse nor communion with our sinne but only with our punishment Now the punishment which Christ suffered could not defile him but rather commend his obedience patience and charitie towards God and man But he had the like punishment as we should haue had Likenesse as well consisteth in the part as in the whole and if it were but like then was it not the same except you haue forgotten as well the rules of reason as of trueth Nullum simile est idâ—…m Nothing is like to it selfe If then it were like it was not the same What get yoâ—… now by Cyprians words or what doe I loose by them Your slight answere that it was like in part not in all saluâ—…th not the matter It pleaseth not your affection but it fully remooueth your obiection and the trueth of it is most manifest For if Christs punishment were in all points like as we should haue had for our sinnes you know well enough by this tâ—…e how lewd and false that Assertion is which you would sow vnto Cyprian And therefore as likenes in part iâ—… suâ—…cient to verifie Cyprians words so doth it iustifie his speech to be sober and sound which you would haue to be â—…ous and impious Cyprian meaneth Christs punishment was so like ours as waâ—… possible We talke of Cyprians words which are extant not of his meaning which you know not and would faâ—…ne force to be like to yours This is a poore reply when you can say nothing out of Cyprians words against mine exposition of them for which I yeeld so iust ground to flie to your owne imagination of Cyprians meaning which yet is false and foolish For it was possible if we respect nothing but possibilitie omitting Gods Counsell and Decree for Christ to haue suffered longer time and other sorts of bodily paines as fire fleaing and such like at the Iewes hands so that your possibilitie was no part of Cyprians meaning but a waterish deuice of your own to frame Cyprians words to your fansie Alâ—… by this your weâ—…ke answere you are contrary to your selfe in that you acknowlâ—…dge God vsed Christ as he doth sinners Well you may deuoutly dreame of Contrarieties but your eyes dasle too much to see them truely Doth euery Aduerbe of Similitude with you make a full and perfect Resemblance in all points I send yoâ—… saith Christ as sheepe among Wâ—…lues Will you put hornes and haire vpon Christs Disciples to make them as sheepe The Sunne saith Dauid commeth foorth as a Bridâ—…groome out of his Chamber and reioyceth as a mighâ—…e Man to runne his Course Will you build a Chamber for the Sunne and allow him two feete and ten toes that he may leape and runne his race like a man As new borne babes saith Peter dâ—…ire thâ—… sincere mâ—…ke of the word Will you bring men backe to their Cradles swadling cloâ—…ts and the teats of their Mothers that you may verifie this similâ—…tude in them There can nothing be more senselesse absurd and false then to require euery Similitude or Comparison to be full and perâ—…ct in all points Throughout the Scriptures any one thing that is common to many or any resemblance of that which an other hath â—…rueth to frame thence a Comparison or similitude So that any one punâ—…shment inflicted on Christ which Gods Law threatneth to sinners was suffâ—…cient to make good my words thâ—…t God vsed Christ as he doth sinners How then doe you conclude from my speech that Christ was vsed in all things as sinners are both here and in hell or that God laid on him punishment so lâ—…ke to that which we should haue had as was possible Tâ—…e it is though not by any force of my words alleaged by you that God by his secrâ—…te oâ—…dinance lâ—…id on his Sonne not onely the common Infirmities of mans Nature and miseries of mans life but also shame reproch paine and death which are by his Law reseâ—…ued and threatned to sinners but touching the death of the Soule or true paines of hell which all this while you fish for you finde nothing in my words nor in any of these Fathers whose names you abuse Athanasius saith Ipseper se sententiam soluit sâ—…b specie condemnati He himselfe satisfied and 〈◊〉 the sentence of the Law vnder the appearance of a DAMNâ—…D MAN Did not God then vse him as he doth sinners in all extremitie of punishment so far as was possible You doe wisely not to be 〈◊〉 in producing multitudes of Men. as you call them for you doe but shame your selfe and sincke your cause when you coâ—…e to shew the grounds of your Doctrine by the testâ—…monies of ancient Fathers As they say nothing for you so you vnderstand nothing in them no not the coherence or force of thâ—…ir words or sentences It is no small matter that here you vndertake out of Athanasius to prooue in Christ the appearance of a DAâ—…D MAN which by and by you interpret to be all extremitie of punishment vsed by God to sinners so farre as was possible the paines of the damned not excepted I would gladly aske you whether you purpose to cite places as you find them to seeke out the truth or only professe to picke out heere and there a word to make you availe to hide your head for shame You maruell what I meane I will soone tell you You alleage but fower words out of Athanasius besides Prepositions and Pronouns and in them you commit fiue notable faults and three of them grosse wilfull and wicked corruptions Sententiam you call the sentence of the Law Where Athanasius expresly noteth the sentence
which God gaue against Adam for eating of the forbidden fruit Soluit you interpret he satisfied where the word is he loosed or dissolued it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you translate vnder the appearance Athanasius meaning the substance of mans soule and bodie which he calleth the fourme of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you render of a Damned man applying it to Christ for some countenance to your cause in laying the paines of the damned on the soule of Christ where Athanasius speaketh that word of Adam that was condemned for sinne in whose substance or forme Christ appeared that is a true man to dissolue the sentence giuen against Adam when he was first condemned And that which is most intolerable where Athanasius in the same sentence the verie next words expresly addeth that Christ was altogether vntouched either with condemnation or with sinne to shew that he ment Adam in the former word of condemnation you purposely skippe and neglect that which should lead you to the trueth of his speech and directly against his plaine and manifest words you referre Damnation to Christ as if in spite of Athanasius though he earnestly and openly professe the contrary you would wrest his words to dishonour and belie Christ and make the Reader beleeue that some before you had ascribed damnation vnto Christ. But be ashamed of these monstrous falsifications if you haue any shame in you or if not your Reader will soone perceaue what cause it is you haue in hand that must be vpheld with such hatefull forgeries Athanasius doctrine is very sound and good though you will not acknowledge it that Christ in his owne person taking our humane nature vnto him dissolued the sentence that he gaue against Adam when he condemned him for transgressing and by his bodie dead and laid in the graue he freed our bodies from the power of corruption and with his soule descending into hell he quited our soules from all the right and power that hell had ouer vs by sinne This whiles Athanasius mindeth to expresse he saith He that examined Adams disobedience and gaue iudgement comprised a double punishment in his sentence saying to the earthly part earth thou art and to earth thoushalt returne and to the soule thou shalt die the death and thereupon man is deuided in twaine and condemned to goe vnto two places to wit his bodie to the graue and his soule to hell It was therefore needfull that the pronouncer of that sentence should himselfe by himselfe dissolue his owne sentence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appearing in the forme or substance of him that was condemned but yet without either condemnation or sinne that the freedome of the whole man might be wrought by man in the newnesse of the image of the Sonne of God I shall not need to prooue that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the substantiall forme as well of God as of man the Apostle applieth it to both and Athanasius in this verie place saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fourme of his owne soule vnsubiected to the bands of death Christ sent present before them and so againe Christ deliuering vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his owne perfect and true formâ—… or substance answerable to ours This could you not chuse but see if either you perused Athanasius himselfe or the verie page 181. of my conclusion which you cite and whence you tooke this authoritie where it is euident by the full wordes of Athanasius in the same sentence that Christ was cleere from sinne and vncondemned and that man was the person condemned for sinne which you could not misse without infinite negligence or inexcusable blindnesse Austen we saw a little before We saw his name as now we doe but we sawe no words of his that any way made to your purpose He saith Accursed is all sinne whether it be the deed deseruing or the punishment deserued which is called sinne because it commeth by or from sinne And likewise that Christ receaued our punishment without sinne that thereby he might dissolue our sinne and end our punishment Truely accursed is sinne and the punishment inflicted on the ofâ—…ender for sinne abiding without remission or repentance otherwise punishment after sinne remitted as in the godly or without desert of sinne as in Christ is not a true curse separating from God not from the true blessings of God which make vs certainly and euerlastingly happie but it is a curse depriuing vs of externall and corporall blessings which God of his bountie first bestowed on the life of man and often recalleth for triall of obedience and chastising of disobedience as also for preuenting occasions of sinne and auoiding of greater vengeance if we should be suffered to walke secure and carelesse in the waies of our hearts Christ then receaued a curse for vs which in him was the chastisement or punishment of our sinne yet as he no way deserued it so was it not destruction which lighteth on the wicked for their wilfull persisting in sinne but a proofe of his obedience and a full satisfaction for our offences respecting his person that suffered it who was God and Man and is by Saint Austen called our Punishment as well for the cause which was wholy ours as for the likenesse it had with the punishments prouided for vs in this life where Christ suffered and not in hel where Christ could not suffer It is no euill in it selfe to be punished but to deserue punishment And so Basil. The true euill is sinne whose end is destruction that which seemeth euill with afflicting or greeuing the sense hath the force of good in it Your former sense that Christ was a sacrifice for sinne how differeth it from your second that he was punished for our sinnes With you it may be a question with me it is none For though they were both ioined in Christes sufferings yet that is no reason to take away their difference In the sacrifice which Christ ofâ—…ered vnto God for the sinnes of the world himselfe was the Priest and the Offerer and by his willing obedience submitting himselfe to his Fathers will made a recompence for our sinne which we could not doe In his Martyrdome he was a patient sufferer of that which the Iewes with cruell and wicked rage wrongfully laid on him when he was deliuered by Gods determinate counsell into their hands Now betweene his patient suffering from men and willing offering to God there is some difference if you could see it though they were both coupled in his death they both prooue directly and necessarily that he must be indeed sinnefull by imputation The one prooueth that he bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree but by no meanes that he was guiltie of them the other sheweth that he clensed our sinnes and so was no way defiled with them How could he be truely punished for sinne by God but that he was sinnefull by imputation Because he
of his seruants and none that trust in him shall perish yea He shall redeeme Israell from all his Iniquities And so God in his owne person speaketh by his Prophet I will Redeeme them from the hand of hell I will Redeeme them from death Repentance is hid from mine eyes Here is he that first vndertooke out cause and professed and promised to be our Redeemer â—…uen the Sonne of God who being the brightnesse of glorie and the Character of his Fathers substance or liuely Image of his Person supporting all things with the word of his power made the purgation of our sinnes by himselfe that is in his owne Person Now if you being a Christian haue any bands to tie God withall besides his loue and his truth you were best shew them forth we shall otherwise take you if you stand vpon it for little better then an Arian to lay subiection or seruitude on any of the Persons in the most glorious Trinitie The word is vsed in the Scripture it selfe he was made a Suretie of a better couenant Is not this sufficient to warrant the goodnesse and aptnesse of the similitude against your vndutifull reproofes of it It is not written in the Scriptures that Christ was made our Suretie to God much lesse that he was a Suretie bound to the Law to pay our debts for vs. Our debt was euerlâ—…ting damnation of Body and Soule which either Christ or we must pay or suffer if your prophane vrging of this Similitude take place The Scripture saith He was made a Suretie of a better Testament proouing expresly by the Comparison of two Testaments a former and a weaker which was the Law a later and a better which was the Gospell that Christ was not a Suretie of the Law nor to the Law as you falsely conceaue but of a better Testament then the Law that is he was Gods assurance to vs that all his promises of â—…ercie grace and glory should stand fast notwithstanding our iniquitie indignitie and Infirmitie were neuer so vnmeete and vnworthie thereof This Suretiship of Christ to establish with his bloud the new couenant which God made with vs not we with him without all respect of our merits to pardon our offences and to make vs heires of his heauenly kingdome the Scripture mentioneth which is no more like to your Suretiship then freedome is to bondage I therefore reprooued not the word which my selfe also did vse I reprooued your seruile applying the word to bring Christ from loue and libertie which led him to be our Redeemer vnto thraldome and debt to make him thereby sinfull and defiled with our vncleannesse And is it not worthie of reproofe when a word is vsed in the Scriptures to one purpose for you to take vpon you to draw it as you list to your deuices It is plainly written in the Gospell The Sonne of man came noâ—… to be serued but to serue Will you hence presume your selfe to be Christs Master and take him bound to fulfill your Commandement as seruants must their Masters He saith of himselfe I am a worme and not a man Will you trample on him as you doe on wormes God hath giuen vs his Spirit as the pledge of our inheritance Shall we claime power ouer Gods spirit as we doe ouer pledges that are in our possession What wickednesse may not be bolstered if we stretch Similitudes vsed in the Scriptures farder then they were intended and we authorized You say Christ was not as a Suretie bound to the Law but of a better couenant euen of grace Verely a Suretie to vs of both Verely if you say that Christ was bound to vs or to the Law in both that is as well to beare our sinnes as to giue vs grace you broch two apparant blasphemies If you shift with saying Christ doth assure vs he hath done both for vs you slide from your former Assertion For that both these are done by Christ we bothagree only you would haue him when he bare our sinnes to be thereto bound and in that respect worthely condemned by the iust sentence of the Law which layeth the Penaltie on the Suretie when the Debtor cannot discharge it I told you that not onely we were in our selues to wicked and hatefull as being Enemies to haue any loue or fauour due to vs from God but also the Person of the Redeemer was so full of might and maiestie that no bands could be laid on him by the Lawe because he was afore the Law and aboue the Law that vndertooke our Redemption To this what reply yon He was a Suretie to vs of both But was he bound to vs or to the Law in either Why speake you not to that which is in Question It would well become the rest of your conceits to say that Christ was bound to redeeme vs being his Enemies and that the Sonne of God was bound to beare our burdens for vs. He promised so to doe Then the Loue of God which began it the Will which published it and the Truth which performed it are the more to be magnified by vs in the Sonne of God who could owe vs no duetie nor be bound to vs nor to the Law Those are the greatest bands that God can enter If Gods Counsels purposes and Promises be bands to barre the freedome of his fauour grace and mercie and in all these to impose on him a necessitie then is there in God no freedome but onely bondage which God forbid should come within any Christians hart He is most constant in all his thoughts words and waies which we may not thinke much lesse call debts to vs or bands to him without euident and extreame impietie but as he giueth all things to all and oweth nothing to any which the Scripture calleth his Grace whereof he is a giuer and not a Debtor so he cannot repent or change as men doe which we must ascribe to the infallible stedfastnesse of his most wise and glorious will the only Rule of all his gifts and works No band then if you know what a band meaneth can be fastned on God since that hath in it a debt which must of necessitie be yeelded whereto the partie may be compelled and forced by the right of the Law which chalenges in Gods promises are most prophane and heathenish Blasphemies It is written that Christ was made Hyponomon subiect to the Law or vnder the Law which you mightely denie against expresse Scripture You are so well acquainted with corrupting and deprauing other mens words that you make no care to doe the like to mine That Christ was vnder the Law I neuer denied no more then that he was vnder death but I said he was not bound to the Law no more then he was bound to death though he willingly for our sakes subiected himselfe to the rudiments of the Law for of those the Apostle speaketh to liue vnder them for a time
promised to deliuer vs. And our debt being eternall damnation of bodie and soule to hell fire you will tie Christ to paie our debts without dispensation or qualification except it please you with your possiâ—…ilities to releeue him And the law to which you will haue him bound was first that which inflicted penalties on vs for sinne then it was the Gospell which shewed vs our saluation in Christ and now it is the eternall decâ—…e of God whereby Christ was appointed to be our Sauiour And all this impiety and inconstancie you build neither on Scripture nor Father but vpon the similitude of a Suertie taken from Westminster Hall where men mistrusting ech others words and willes take bands with Sureties to haue their due payed them But know you good Sir that God had no distrust of his Sonnes will and loue to vs nor doubt of his abilâ—…ty to performe our redemption and therefore bound him not as you desperately drâ—…ame when he offered to be our Redeemer but accepted his loue which could not faile and his will which could not change making no decree for the maner of our redemption but what the Sonne himselfe with the rest of the persons in Trinitie liked for the preseruing of his owne diuine iustice and shewing of his owne exceeding loue towards vs. Then as it is certaine by the Christian faith the Sonne of God could not be bound to helpe or redeeme vs being his enemies nor to humble himselfe to the forme of a seruant but only was thereto led with the loue of his Fathers glorie and of our safetie so it is euident that the same person after he had assumed our nature vnto him could not be forced with any necessitie nor vrged with any commandement against his will but the humane will of Christ was so guided and directed by his diuine will and power that it readily and gladly submitted it selfe in all things to the will and pleasure of his Father which indeed was also the will of his owne diuine nature forsomuch as the three persons in Trinitie haue all one the same glorie and maiestie will and worke And therefore aswell the Scriptures as the Fathers do plainly testifie that euen Christes manhood had power enough giuen it to withstand all that was offered him by men or diuels but that for our sakes the person would submit himselfe to the seruitude infirmitie miserie and mortalitie of our condition therein to comfort vs thereby to redeeme vs and therefrom to deliuer vs which he could not do but in his humane nature since his Godhead was impassible This fredome and power not to be bound nor compelled to any of his sufferings we must reserue to the person of Christ that his obedience might be meritorious and voluntarie not only at his first consenting thereto which is this Defenders drift but in his continuall persisting therein and finall performing thereof that is in all and euery part of those things which the wisedome of God thought requisit for our redemption When you haue done all those things sayth our Sauiour which were appointed you say We are vnprofitable seruants we haue done that which was our bounden duetie to dâ—…e Will you bring Christ within the compasse of an vnprofitable seruant by doing that he was appointed and bound to do Without thy liking sayth Paul to Philemon I would do nothing that thy good should not be as it were of necessitie but willingly If God so much respect the willingnesse of the heart that he will not haue men tied with necessitie to doe good shall we thinke that he would binde his owne Sonne to the obedience of a seruant and not suffer his submission to be voluntary that it might be acceptable and thanks worthy to God And to what purpose lay you these bands on Christ If he were willing there needed no bands besides the bands of loue which is the surest hold that God requireth of vs. If he were not willing his vndertaking our cause was neither loue to vs nor obedience to God who loueth a cheerefull giuer but a compulsion or exaction which ouerthroweth the very ground-worke of Christes submission and our saluation To preuent all lewd and wicked surmises of bonds duetie or necessitie to be layd on the Sonne of God in redeeming vs the Scriptures exactly say that Christ loued his Church and gaue himselfe for her that is he was led by loue and by no compulsion noâ—… commandement to giue himselfe for her which otherwise by no meanes could be exacted of the Sonne of God And therefore he EMPTIED HIMSELFE taking the forme of a seruant and HVMBLED HIMSELFE becomming obedient vnto death euen the death of the Crosse to assure vs it was loue that caused him to giue himselfe that is at first to offer and after to yeeld himselfe for vs which otherwise could by no decree nor band be imposed on him nor required of him And this libertie to do and suffer of his owne accord euerie thing which he in his diuine wisdome together with the Father and the Holy Ghost thought meet for mans saluation the person of Christ kept vntouched euen to his death in his death and after his death himselfe most plainly professing so much of himselfe in the laying downe of his soule that none tooke it from him but he layd it downe of himselfe and would in three dayes raise vp againe the temple of his bodie by taking his soule vnto him And this was the chargâ—… and appointment that he receiued of his Father to do and suffer these things of himselfe that is without any band force or necessitie but only of his owne accord and voluntarie obedience to that which was his Fathers will because it was first his owne good will and offer and so accepted and decreed to the whole Trinitie as a most sufficient amends for mans disobedience and a most iust and full desert of mans adoption and saluation by the meanes and merits of Christ Iesus For which cause the Scripture resolueth vs that Christ loued vs and gaue himselfe for vs to be an offering and a sacrifice of a sweet sauour vnto God that is a most willing free and acceptable seruice and satisfaction to God for all our sinnes The Catholike Fathers were very carefull to continue this Doctrine in Christs Church Nos Dominum verum hominem suscepisse credimus in ipso visibiliter inuisibilem apparuisse in ipso inter homines conuersatum fuisse in ipso ab hominibus humana pertulisse Totum autem hoc nulla fecit necessitate We Christians saith Austen beleeue that the Lord tooke vpon him the true Nature of Man and therein did visibly appeare to men when he was before inuisible and in his Manhood conuerâ—…ed amongst men and in the same sâ—…ffered the tâ—…ings which men may offer to men All this did â—…e with no necessitie To shew what Christ suffered from men Austen addeth The word was made
force and leading him captiue with a most glorious triumph in the sight of God and his Angels And though you can not digest it yet I make no doubt but the omnipotencie of the Sonne of God by which he is equall to his Father in the same essence was able by the only command of his will to haue taken mankinde from the dominion of the Diuell but the submission and humilitie of the Sonne of God vnto death was so vnknowen and vnlooked for to Satan that his confusion was the greater when he saw with his owne eagernesse he had beene the instrument of mans redemption and his owne destruction Doth not the verie maner of speech import some mightie contention and violent opposition where yet at length an absolute and most glorious triumphant victorie was obtained The words import a glorious conquest but what contention or opposition could there be betweene the Sonne of God and the diuell farther than pleased Christ himselfe to permit and admit I hope you will giue the diuell no power nor abilitie to resist God against his will It was Gods will and Christs good liking that the serpents head should be crushed by biting the heele of the promised seed for so the Scripture expresseth the contention and opposition that Satan should be suffered to haue against Christ. Grant then Christ suffered the diuell by the violent hands and tongues of the Iewes to doc his worst which may be proued by other places of Scripture though not by this that you bring what thence inferre you This must be conceiued and felt by Christ. What must Christ conceiue and feele The question is not whether Christ wanted sense but what the diuell did against him These could be none other effects but only of Gods proper wrath seueritie and indignation against the sinne of the world We are no whit the wiser for this answer though this be plainly repugnant to your former principles which make the soules proper suffering in Christ to be from the immediate hand of God and that the diuell I trust is not If it be truth that you teach why speake you not more directly and particularly what it was that Christ suffered from the diuell Are your mysteries so bottomlesse that they can not or so truethlesse that they may not be specified It could not be the reuealing of any glorie or comfort which such instruments procured vnto him and wrought vpon him Make you the diuell the authour of Reuelations vnto Christ It may be he is the founder of your fansies but Christ needed no such Reuealers Or do you reason that because the diuell reuealed no comfort to Christ therefore he tormented the soule of Christ These are some new found Reuelations they are no conclusions in any diuine or humane learning Against this you bring not a word I need not bring any thing against it till you bring somewhat for it but you be farre from prouing it that can not or dare not expresse it What if no tongue can expresse the maner as neither haue I once endeuoured to expresse it shall not therefore the testimonie of the Holy Ghost be true that on the Crosse Christ had such a conflict as I haue obserued Few men besides you conclude that which they can not expresse but your maner is to prate of your obseruations as if they were some reuelations which yet you neither vnderstand nor can declare The testimonie of the Holy Ghost is as true as yours is false and hath no more concordance with your conceits than light hath with darknesse A conquest you say implieth first a conflict But a conquest extendeth farther than the conflict for not only the persons and weapons of the resistants are in the Conquerers power but all the goods rights and dominions that any way belong to the vanquished It is therefore true that Christ subduing Satan subdued sinne hell eternall malediction confusion desperation and damnation but these things did not inwardly assault Christ howsoeuer by the mindes and mouthes of the wicked Christ was reputed and reproched as a reprobate The Scriptures then describe the outward tentations and afflictions that Christ suffered from the malicious thoughts tongues and deeds of the Iewcs fired and inflamed by Satan to this mischiefe but of your mysticall internall and Satanicall prouocations and torments the holy Ghost speaketh not a word I gaue you occasion enough to speake of these things when I tolde you the diuell had nothing to doe with the soules of men but either to tempt them or torment them which words you report but you after your loose maner leade your Reader by by-wayes and crosse-paths to eye other things then you glance at my exceptions forgetting still that the reason which you made remaineth both weake and idle for ought that you haue brought first or last n Defenc. pag. 81. li. 17. Before I answer you directly this we may consider Christ might and no doubt he did in his soule discerne conceiue and applie to himselfe all the rage malice and violence of the Iewes tormenting him to death as set on fire by Satan himselfe and by all the powers of hell You were to proue the diuell himselfe did worke on the Soule of Christ without any meanes of men whom he maketh his Instruments for his wicked purposes and now you tell vs that Satan did set the Iewes hands and tongues on worke to reproch the Soule and torment the Body of Christ. This that you last say is most true and ouerthroweth all that you would say For if Christ discerned and felt no worke nor force of Satan but by the mouthes and hands of the Iewes then certainly Satan had no such inward and spirituall conflict with Christ as you imagine much lesse had Satan any power to possesse and torment the Soule of Christ which is the thing you must proue before your hell paines will be haled out of Christs triumph o Defenc. pag. 81. li. 22. These powers of hell also were set on worke by the Iustice and seuere wrath of God now purposety laying punishment on his Sonne thereby to take Satisfaction for all our sinnes If you meane that God by his secret Counsell and Iustice losed the raines to Satan to shew his malice against Christ by the mouthes and hands of the wicked as he doth in the afflictions of all his Saints for purposes to him knowne and by him liked I see not how this should any thing helpe your Cause but if by this you would that Satan was Gods Instrument inwardly to torment the Soule of Christ or that the diuell had any speciall Commission to inuade the manhoode of Christ otherwise then by the violent hands and virulent tongues of the Iewes as it is most false that you ashrme so is it most wicked that you intend p Defenc. pag. 81. li. 24. Now this feeling and suffering in the Soule of Christ made an other kind of impression in him
guided to be done Heere apparantly is the hand of God named and confessed but mediate that is ordering and disposing the Iewes rage and violence according to Gods foresetled counsell Wherein the goodnesse of your iudgement and cause appeareth that when you should prooue any thing you produce places that euidently impugne your purpose With like discretion you cite that which followeth For what if God condemned that is abolished sinne in the flesh of which words I haue spoken enough before doth that imply that God punished Christes Soule or bodie with his immediate hand Small store of proofes you haue for your vpstart doctrine of God tormenting Christes soule with his immediate hand when you turne aside to texts that no way mention any such matter and prate in your pride that the word of God is flat contrarie to me p Defenc. pa. 82. li. 12. Gods owne hand then did smite Christ and inflicted on him whatsoeuer he suffered as the condemnation of sinne Well leapt From Gods hand vsing the Iewes and Gentils as his meanes to doe to Christ whatsoeuer his counsell had determined you step to Gods owne hand excluding all meanes directly against the profession of the Apostles and the whole Church with them and against the tenor of the new Testament which sharpely rebuketh the rage and wickednesse of the Iewes that put Christ to death Were you not caried with the spirit of slumber and giddinesse could you thus loosely conclude so weightie causes not onely without but against the Scriptures q Ibid. li. 16. The punishment ordained for sinne by the iustice of God and inflicted by the hand of God whatsoeuer meane it pleaseth him to vse is called the wrath of God as you acknowledge My words make as much for you as the Apostles did euen now when they expresly contradicted you but such as your cause is such is your conscience you duck and diue you care not where nor whether so you may haue a generall Phrase to beare you aboue water when you are out of breath You set your selfe to prooue that God with his immediate hand afflicted the Soule of Christ and when your proofes faile you you catch vp my words auouching r Conclus pa. 245. li. 31. the punishment ordained for sinne by Gods Iustice or inflicted on vs by Gods hand WHATSOEVER MEANE HE VSâ—… is called the wrath of God Would you hence inferre that because God vseth meanes therefore he vseth no meanes but inflicteth all punishment of sinne with his immediate hand Or because all punishments great and small on vs or on whomsoeuer come from the Souera gne power hand of God therefore God vseth no meanes Or what other absurd conceite would you collect out of my words I speake not here of the Reprobate I speake of all mankinde though you leaue out my words inflicted ON VS of purpose to serue your owne sense Neither do I say it is Gods eternall or spirituall wrath but all afflictions imposed on vs for sinne by what means soeuer are in the Scriptures called the wrath of God as I haue else where shewed albeit they tend not to damnation nor destruction What is this to Gods immediate hand punishing the Soule of Christ Or which way recall you this to the Conquest that Christ had ouer Satan and all his power wherewith you began s Defenc. pag. 82. li â—…8 Then how may we thinke Gods infinite iustice and power punished Christ You must goe by thoughts indeed and neither by warrant nor word of holy Scripture How Christ bare our sinnes in his body on the tree and gaue the same to be t Matth. 26. broken for vs and t 1. Pet. 2. his bloud to be shedde for many for the remission of sinnes we shall need no thoughts nor concerts of yours the description of his sufferings is so particularly and precisely set downe in the Scriptures that no man doubteth thereof besides you that respect moreyour secret sansies then the publike histories of the Euangelists x Defenc. pag. 82. li. 21. In his spirit certainâ—…â—…e suffered spirituall and incomprehensible punishments being no sinnes such as mens soules are subiect vnto as from God Though by no learning you can truely deriue any such thing from the Scriptures touching the tormenting of Christs soule by the immediate hand of God yet your conceit is so strong that you CERTAINLY auouch any thing For in these few words you presume more then you will prooue whiles you liue to make God with his immediate hand to afflict the soule of Christ with the same paines that the damned are tormented and other reason for it you haue none but because all power in heauen earth and hell is from God and called the hand of God By which the Scriptures doe not imply the immediate hand of God but his power working by meanes appointed and established by him In the Scriptures God is euery where proclaimed to be THE LORD OF HOSTES and therefore as there is no power in Angels Diuels Men or other creatures that cometh not from him so they are not idle armies nor lookers on but are indued with power from God as well to protect as to punish where when how and whom they shal be appointed Which the wisdome and power of God hath ordained and setled not to shorten his arme nor to weaken his strength as needing assistants but by constituting Seruants and Ministers vnder him to let men and Angels good and badde continually behold how mightie and wise righteous and glorious he is that wanteth no meanes to execute his will and yet directeth all things by his wisdome Is not God able to preferre and keepe his Saints by his word or his will without aide of others who doubteth it And yet y Psal. 91. He giueth his Angels charge ouer thee to keepe thee in all thy waies And z Psal. 34. the Angell of the Lord pitcheth round about them that feare him and deliuereth them Is he not able also to punish with his own hand to reuenge his enemies without helpe of his creatures Who denieth it that knoweth what belongeth to a God And yet Dauid praied thus against his enimies a Psal. 35. Let them be as chaffe besore thâ—…â—…nd the Angel of the Lord scatter them Let their way be darke slippery the angel of the Lord persecute them And the Psalmist describing the plagues powred out on b Psal. 78. Egypt saith God rest vpon thâ—… the fiercenesse of his anger indignation wrath vexation 〈◊〉 the senâ—…ing in of euill angels amongst them God then in this life vseth men angels to perâ—…orme his iudgements chiefly the diuel is vsed againstsinners as we may see by the Apostles â—…peech and course who deliuered hainous offenders vnto Satan as vnto the publike tormentor appointed by God to execute vengeance wherein though he were to haue power leaue from God yet execution was allotted to him The auncient
did but to giue place to the diuel to fill his hart with wicked spirituall motions as you call them which God forbid should come within any Christian mans hart And therefore if ignorance carie you to thâ—…s conceite recall it in time if Pride for my part I must needs deâ—…st â—…t as much as I doe any point in all your Defence Defenâ—… pag. 83. li. 37. Thus tâ—…en it was possiâ—…le and most likely it is also that Christ was assaulted and wrastlâ—… withall by the diuels spirituall suggestions now when in his most bitter Agonie he hanged on the Crosse. In steedâ—… of full and infallible proofes to iustifie your strange conceits you pretend possibilities and probabilities which to me are nothing else but ignorant and absurd impâ—…eties For you labour tooth and nayle to shew the holinesse of your cause by drawing the Sonne of God within the limites of our sinnes not onely aâ—…â—…earing them on the Crosse in his Body which the Scriptures affirme but as desiâ—… with thâ—…m and hatefull to God for them and guiltie of them not by Imputation alone where you first began but by the violent and inward impression thereof in Christs hart and on Christs Spirit through the working of Satan And the sinnes wherewith you would haue Christs owne hart by Satans Instigation assault him in the Wildernesse were no lesse then distrust in God presumption to tempt God and blasphemous adoring of the diuel besides a manifest and malitious dishonor to God that Satan gaue all the kingdomes of the earth to whom he would And on the Crosse you ascribe to Christ in like manner the spirituall and inward cogitations of reprobation dereliction malediction confusion desperation and damnation wherewith his owne hart tempted him as you would haue it by the diuels spirituall suggestions since this is the inward conflict which you dreame Christ had with the powers of hell not outwardly filling his eares with these reproches from the mouthes of his blaâ—…phemous Persecutors as the Scriptures witnesse but the diuell inwardly so distracting and diuiding Christs thoughts that his own cogitations by your vngodly resolutions prompted and suggested these things vnto him as thereto stirred and incensed by Satan k Defenc. pa. 84. li. 5. You say he was tempted of Satâ—…n all the time of his abode heere on earth I haue no doubt but Satan did what he could as well by flatteries as by contumelies to sift the soule of Christ all the time of his abode heere on earth but he did not this with his owne voice saue onely in the wildernesse by others he did it and sometimes by such as were neere about Christ as when Peter l Matth. 16. tooke him aside and said Master spare thy selfe this shall not be vnto thee To whom Christ replied Get thee behinde me Satan thou art an offence vnto me because thou sauourest not the things that are of God bâ—…t of mâ—…n Where Christ sharpely rebuked Peters counsell and loue as stirred by Satan vnder shew of good will to hinder him in his purpose of mans Redemption But I neuer said as you alleage my words that Christ was tempted by Satan all the time of his â—…ode on earth by which you would haue men beleeue that I confesse Satan inwardly tempted Christ all his life long My words are He m Conâ—…lus pa. 283. li. â—…4 was tempted in the desert by Satan himselfe and by Satans members all the time of his abode on earth n Defenc. pag. 84. li. 6. Then you denie not but now euen on the crosse Christ was tempted and assâ—…lted by Satan that is by Satans instruments mooued and enraged by him That men may be the diuels instrumens in perswading or persuing others both which are called temptations there is no cause why any man should doubt and if these externall temptations could haue sufficed your humorous head you needed not to haue plunged your selfe so dangerously as you haue done into the spirituall cogitations of Christs heart leading and moouing him to sinne in Satans steede Yea rather you would haue seene that as men cannot be Satans willing instruments in this case but they must be partakers of Satans wickednesâ—…e so the heart and thoughts of Christ could not be Satans meanes to suggest any sinne to Christ in Satans place because euerie part and thought of Christ was holie and vndefiled God himselfe conceaueth and considereth of all mens wickednesâ—… when he reprooueth or punisheth the sinnes of men To conceaue therefore or consider what Satan by his owne voice or by the mouthes of his members saide vnto Christ was no way vnfit for Christes humane integritie and puritie but that Christs heart or inward thoughts should suggest or perswade the same vnto him which Satan and his members did if you know what you say you cannot auoide either haynous impietie or monstrous stupiditie o Defenc. pag. 84 li. 9. This is none other indeed but that which in the entrance of this Question here I obserued which as I haue before shewed sufficeth to prooue Christs combating as it were wrastling with the powers of â—…ell on the crosse Ment you no more al this while but that in tormenting reuiling Christ on the crosse the Iewes were Satans instruments What needed then so many foolish and lewd speeches of Satans p Defenc pag. 83. li. â—… 14. 27. â—…7 inward spirituall motions and â—…mptations spiritually suggested into the heart of Christ And what proofe is this of Gods proper wrath and indignation laid on the soule of Christ that the wicked derided him as they doe God himselfe Or is this all the spoile and triumph that Christ had ouer hell and Satan that he endured whatsoeuer mockes and paines they could deuise This no doubt he did and so did frustrate all the force of hell with his patience and confidence in God his Father but he had an other manner of triumph and recompence for the wrong which he suffered at Satans hand except you list to deface his glorie as you doe his innocencie Howbeit the Reader may heere perceaue on what conceits and coniectures your new redemption by the paines of hell is founded euen on your owne dreames and deuices which you cannot expresse and daâ—…e not specifie for feare of hatefull absurdities and impieties q Defenc. pag. 8â—… li. 12. But you obiect against this that outward temptation by the mouthes and hands of the wicked is no effect of Gods wrath No is Heere you are cleane contrarie to your selfe and the trueth Were it newes to see you wander either from the trueth or from your owne positions heere a man might take a full view of your idle and forgetfull rouing and snatching at euerie thing where not taking the paines to peâ—…use the whole reason or to looke fower lines farder to the knitting of the conclusion or to weigh the wordes themselues which you bring you foolishly mistake my words grounded on your assertion as if they were mine
owne intention and presse them as contrarieties in me which are absurdities in you Out of these words of the Apostle Christ spoiled powers and principalities triumphing ouer them you would needs conclude in your Treatise after your dissolute and distempered manner r Trea pa. 45. li. 11. 20. 22. These principalities are the diuels therefore it is certaine he felt them the verie instruments that wrought the verie effects of Gods seueritie and wrath vpon him By the verie effects of Gods wrath vpon Christ in this place you ment s Conclus pa. 284 li. 14. the force of Gods proper and immediate wrath vpon the soule of Christ as I admonished in that sentence part whereof you cite to make me contrarâ—…e to my selfe Since then the diuels if they wrought any thing on the soule of Christ must either t Il id pâ—…g 283. li 21. tempt or torment his soule as I first obserued u pa. 284. li. 8. and inward temptation by the heart Christ could haue none because that proceedeth from concupiscence and corruption of sinne from which Christ was most free and x li 9. outward temptation by the mouthes and hands of the wicked is no such effect of Gods wrath as you mentioned in those words y li. 15. but rather a triall of Gods gifts and graces bestowed on vs It rested I said by your owne words as a consequent from them that Christ felt the diuels tormenting his soule Out of this illation from your conceâ—…ts you catch the middle wordes wherein I said that outward temptation was no effect of Gods wrath by you intended in this place and will needs haue it in me a contradiction to my selfe and to the trueth not seeing that I presently in the same sentence shew what wrath of God you meane and to what part of Christ you fasten it in this collection and in my conclusion note that by the true construction of your owne wordes these things follow vpon your owne supposals Notwithstanding all this let the words lie as they doe and Gods wrath there not be taken in your sense nor depend on your principles which yet in all mens eies saue yours will be plaine enough considering the reason is a collection from the true intent of your owne wordes as I admonished the Reader in that verie place what fault now finde you with the wordes themselues imagining they were mine owne and not drawen out of your vessell z Defenc. pag. 84 li. 15. Elsewhere you truely acknowledge that all outward crosses and â—…fflictions small or great are in their nature punishments of sinne and effects of Gods wrath Now those doubtlesse are temptations But you impugne that saying when you please and will haue all afâ—…ictions in vs of whom I speake changed into blessings and when the Scripture calleth them wrath that speech you say is most improper and now for an aduantage you creepe to the contrary For if you marke my words in this place I speake of the temptations of the godly which come from the mouthes and hands of the wicked and aâ—…e trials of Gods gifts and graces bestowed on vs which are not imparted to the wicked And therefore if now I crosse the trueth when I say as you suppose that the temptations and aâ—…ctions of the godly are no effects of Gods wrath then haue you all this while mainely and mightely resisted the trueth in making this one of the chiefest strengths of your cause that no crosses or afflictions in the godly are signes or effects of Gods wrath against sinne Howbeit you leaue my wordes and make consequents of them full like your owne that is without toppe or taile when you come to oppose my speeches one against the other For where tentation in the Scriptures is sometimes taken for persecution and affliction sometimes for perswasion and allurement to euill and sometimes for probation or triall what a man will doe you take hold of the ambiguitie of the word and where one place speaketh of perswasion to euill the other of affliction you iumble them together and make the one repugnant to the other Now though afflictions may be called temptations yet all temptations are not afflictions nor effects of Gods wrath otherwise Adam could neuer haue bin tempted in Paradise before sinne and friendship fauor and flatterie do more often and more properly tempt or prouoke then affliction which doth more violently prooue the obedience and patience that is in men What temptation might well be ment in this place appeareth by the word of torment opposed to it when I said the diuell doth either tempt or torment where temptation if you will needes take the words themselues must note that which is no torment and consequently be taken for perswasion by faire and friendly words or meanes by which the diuell tempteth as dangerously as by force and violence And so neither way you hit the trueth nor can conclude any contrarietie in me though indeed I spake those words out of your sense of Gods wrath which is pregnant enough against you knowing that in your reason which I refute you made the diuels to be the verie instruments of Gods proper and spirituall wrath against the soule of Christ. a Defenc. pag. 84. li. 21. You say outward temptation is rather a triall of Gods gifts and graces bestowed on vs. And is not inward temptation in the godly so to I pray you what oddes is this that you make betweene inward and outward temptations If you know no oddes betweene outward Difference of outward and inward temptations and inward temptations you be deepely seene in Diuinitie Saint Iames telleth you that b Iam. 1. v. 14. euerie man is tempted when he is drawen away and intised by his owne concupiscence which of it selfe naturally lusteth against the spirit and much more when it is inflamed by Satans suggestions and motions This kinde of temptation riseth from the corruption of our sinnefull nature and is the poison of sinne dwelling in vs the verie motion whereof is forbidden by the law of God Thou shalt not lust though it be pardoned in the elect for Christes sake as all their sinnes are Outward temptations haue no such necessary condition It is no sinne to be tempted externally otherwise Adam had sinne before his fall and Christ himselfe was subiect to sinne for they both were outwardly tempted though not inwardly as I teach and the Church of Christ before me taught the same howsoeuer you take a pride in departing from the full conseâ—…t of all learned and religious antiquitie to maintaine your vpstart and most absurd noâ—…elties that with figures and fansies you may seeme wise in your owne conceit c Defenc. pag. 84. li. 29. 33. 36. Furder Satan might spiritually and extraordinarily worke together with these his Instruments outwardly afflicting Christs body and Christ likewise extraordinarily might apprehend the same And thus might Christ suffer most strange Temptations and incomprehensible sorrowes
duely consider it appeareth so cleere as the Sunne at noone day that the paynes of his passion which plainly now he felt and feared because he knew he was to feele them further vnto death were the proper and direct cause of those agontes But we assume that such strange and lamentable things and behauiour in Christ were not the effects one lie and meerely of his bodilie paines and death Therefore Christ felt and endured more then his meâ—…re bodilie paines and death by the testimonie of the Scriptures which thinge you denie Your cleare Sun is the darke cloud of your owne imaginations your proper direct causes are the light and false coniectures of your owne braine your conclusion is a childish digression not onely from the thinges questioned by me but from the verie matters proposed by you onlie in the vpshot you hold your wonted course to strengthen your cause with a lie when trewth will not stand you in steed To beginne where you end you are not ignorant that I defend no such thing as meere bodily paines your selfe haue directly confessed the contrarie as I haue formerly shewed I say indeed Christ suffered no death but only the death of the body that you turne to a manifest vntrewth and say I denie that Christ felt any more then meere bodilie paines To what purpose then is your conclusion that Christ endured more then bodily paines What gaine you by that so long as Christ suffered none other death but the death of the body Christes feare and sorrow which the Scriptures expresse in the Garden were more then meere bodily paines and those though he felt you shall neuer thence conclude that he felt the paines of hell or of the damned l Defenc. pag. 91. Your assumption as you say I graunt and acknowledge and so your labour is the lesse but the proposition I gaine say in my whole discourse denying that the paines of Christes passion or the naturall feare of them was the proper and direct cause of those agonies or that the Scriptures implie so much If you looke well to my wordes they containe two things first that the n Serm pag. 17. li. 13. right cause of Christes agonie in the Garden is not n 14. determinately and o 15. certainely reuealed in the Scriptures secondly that the suffering of hell paines at that present was the least probable cause thereof if not altogether intolerable let vs now see how you impugne either of these p Defenc. pag. 91. li. 22. 14. 27. this your assertion I simply deny and then my proposition standeth firme that his paines inflicted on him by way of proper punishment and vengeance for sinne were the proper and maine cause thereof This is the cleerenes of your Sun-shining at noone day you deny my assertion and then your proposition standeth firme ergo the Scriptures doe certainly specifie the proper and direct causes of Christes agonie and those were the paines of the Damned which you call the proper vengeance for sinne Then if you list to denie any thing the contrary is presently prooued and concluded by you as cleere as the Sunne at noone day such proofes and conclusions which are nothing but strange and violent Imaginations your booke is full of and these twentie leaues and more which here you spend in examining Christs agonie haue nothing els in them but such meere falshoods and confusions Before we speake of the firmenesse of your proposition I would gladly know which of these three propositions which here you haue varied to shew the settlednes of your conceits is that which you offer to be examined In the first you say q Defenc. pag. 90. li. 37. the paines of Christs passion which plainly now he felt and feared to feele further vnto death in the second you say r Pa. 91. li. 7. those paines or the naturall feare of them in the third you say s Ibid. li. 26. his paines inflicted on him by way of proper punishment and vengeance for sinne these were the proper and direct cause of â—…hose agonies These and those these or those these alone and not those are childish and foolish contrarietiâ—…s with any wise man saue with you and yet all these are cleare and firme because you haue the witt to denie mine assertion Touching your proposition that the Reader may conceiue how you clutter things together to holde on your accustomed carriage he must marke that Christes agonie had many parts and circumstances some inward some outward some affections The parts of Christs agony some actions some apprehensions and all these had their causes efficient and adiuuant neere or remote sole or concurrent according to their differences The Scriptures expresly note in that agony which Christ had and shewed in the Garden the inward affections of sorrow feare admiration submission contention of mind in Christ. My soule saith he t Matth. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is on euery side sorowfull or compassed round with sorow euen vnto death And he began sayth Matthew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be full of sorow and much grieued For so the Apostle vseth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what sense soeuer it beare with prophane writers whereof we shall not need to dispute u Phil. 2. v. 26. I thought it necessary to send vnto you Epaphroditus my fellow souldier and your messenger for he was very desirous of you all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and very pensiue or much grieued because you heard he was sicke S. Marke sayth Christ in the Garden beganne x Mar. 16. v. 33 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be afrayd or astonied and full of heauinesse or griefe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth feare and admiration which so fixeth the minde for the time that a man neither speaketh nor vseth the vigor of his senses As for submission of mind Christes y Matth. 26. falling flat with his face z Mark 14. on the ground when he powred foorth his prayers to God sufficiently sheweth as much inward humiliation of the soule in Gods presence as this outward gesture of his bodie declared or required His ardent zeale in prayer and vehement contention of minde S. Luke noteth when he sayth An a Luc. 22. Angell appeared to him to strengthen him with a message from God Christ then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 falling into an agonie prayed more earnestly or feruently and his sweat was like drops of bloud trickling downe to the ground Of this agonie you haue often spoken and here you spend no small time about it but I scant beleeue you know what an agonie meaneth much lesse what was the true cause of this agonie Though an agonie be sometimes abusiuely taken for feare yet properly it is aâ—…firmed b Etymologicon ex Orione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of him that is readie to descend into any combate or conflict with another as Orion a most ancient Grecian obserueth Damascene confesleth that 〈◊〉
and toies That I make but one cause to witte Religious feare in the 23 Page of my Sermons looke there who list he shall find you a fabler In the fift cause that might be of Christs agonie which was the deprecation of Gods wrath I yeelded to some mens speeches so farre for quietnes sake that it â—…ight be said Christ feared that is l Serm. pag. 22 li. 2â—… shunned euerlasting death and that the sight of gods wrath l Serm. pag. 21. li. 19. tempered and made ready for the finnes of men which the Scripture calleth a cupp n Pa. 22. li 35. might for a time somewhat astonish the humane nature of Christ yet so that the sight of our sinnes and the wages thereof o Pa. 23. li. 2. impressed nothing that is no feare in the soule of Christ but a religious feare to sorow for the one and pray against the other Here are expresly named religious feare sorow and zealous praier occasioned by the sight of the cuppe of Gods wrath prepared for our sinnes How then doth this exclude the rest of the causes which are there precedent or consequent or how come you to cast away Christes sorow for sinne and praier against the desert of our euill deedes whereof the first rose from the submission that Christ made vnto Gods wrath prouoked and the second from the compassion that Christ had towards men endangered and to leaue but one where I name three Are you so well skilled in the Scriptures that you doe not know a Religious feare of God compriseth the whole seruice of God and therefore might much more containe the holines of Christs affections when he submitted himselfe to the will and hand of God for our sakes What rudenes then or rashnes or both is this when I note diuers partes or effects of one thing or vse diuers words to describe one and the same matter for you to quote out contrarieties by Arithmetick because the wordes be different and neuer to weigh the sense in which they accord So trifle you with the two generall causes as if they could not containe the six speciall that I say might be of Christs agonie when yet those six are but remembrances of some respects that Christ might haue in his feare and sorow and those two comprehend all six as parts or consequents of Christs submission to God and compassion on men Neither doe I pretend or professe that euery of these six was the whole and entire cause of his agony It is your dottage so to dreame and no piece of my mind These six and many moe reasons and occasions Christe might haue at that time to feare and sorow wherin I doe not determine which was the full and true cause of that agonie but how many respects might lead him to feare and sorrow at that present which I doe not conclude as certaine but propose as possible and farre more probable then your reall paines of the damned supposed at that instant actually to torment the soule of Christ. Leaue therefore your one two and six to Tilers to tell their pinnes or Wittalls to number their Geese and shew that either I determine any precise or particuler cause ef Christs agonie thereby to deserue mine owne censure as you doe or that those six which I mention may not be referred to those two generalls which I note that so at least you may make me disagree with my selfe p Defenc pag. 92. li. 32. Last of all this your resolution making Christs piety and pittie to be the onely proper and maine cause of all his wofull passion is vtterly false and vntrew hauing no ground but meere coniectures Your memorie is as brickle as your reason is feeble Those six causes of Christes agonie and not of all his wofull passion as you lightly leape you know not whither I did no otherwise propose then that they q Serm. pag. 17. li. 28. 29. might be euery one of them more likely and more godly then your deuice of hell paines As for the onlie cause of that agonie I medled with no such matter my words are euideâ—…t to the contrarie r Ibid. li. 30. Others at their leasures may thinke on more which I shal be content to hâ—…are but that piety or charity or both must be the Rootes of Christs feare and sorow and not infidelitie and distrust of Gods fauour towards his person or function nor the Reall and inherent sense of Hell paines common to him with the damned as you doe peremptorilie but pestilently dreame in that I said I was resolute and so I yet remaine And you shall sooner proue your selfe to be the man in the Moone then Christes soule to haue beene tormented with any reall paines inflicted on him by the immediate hand of God which position of yours hath impietie for the ground and follie for the proofe howsoeuer you thinck to face it out with your insolent verbositie s Defenc pag. 92. li. 37. Your first cause is submission to the maiestie of God-sitting in iudgment when Christ was thus astonished and agonized therewith I pray thee Christian Reader to remember in all these causes what was my purpose and promise euen now specified not to conclude The first cause concurring to Christs agoniâ—… these as necessarie and entire causes of Christes agonie but to shew them possible and more likely and Godlie then his Pagent of Hell paines inflicted on the soule of Christ. The reason that led me to set downe this as one of the causes that MIGHT BE of Christes agonie for so I alwaies meane though perhaps in course of speach I alwaies adde not so much were the wordes of our Sauiour t Iohn 1â—… Now is the Iudgment of this worlde now shall the Prince of this world be cast out And I if I were lifte vp from the earth will draw all men vnto me This said hee signifiyng what death he should die The iudgment which here our Sauiour noteth was not at that instant when he spake these words but at an houre to come when Satan the Prince of this worlde should be u Iohn 16. iudged that is eiected and cast out from x Reuel 12. accusing the Saints and the x Reuel 12. saluation of God and power of his Christ established in heauen So much the words of Christ imported when he said Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out and not now alreadie is he cast out This Iudgment then was Redemptorie not condemnatoriâ—… wherein the sonne of God in our flesh was admitted to make satisfaction for the sinnes of all that should beleeue in him and to pay the price that should appease the iustice of God prouoked by our misdeeds and so to reconcile vs to the fauour of God by the bloud of his Crosse that there might be no more place for Satan to accuse vs any longer y Reuel 12. night and day before God as otherwise he did The issue
of this iudgment Christ before expressed when he said and I if I were exalted to the Crosse will draw all men vnto me And after when rising from his feruent praier he said z Marke 14. Behold the sonne of man is deliuered into the hands of sinners As also to the Iewes that came to apprehend him a Luke 22. This is your verie hower and the power of darkenes as likewise to Peter when he b Iohn 18. drew his sword and smote the high Priests seruant and cutt of his right eare put vp thy sword into thy sneath b Iohn 18. shall I not drinke of the cup saith Christ which the Father hath giuen me The fruit of this Iudgment is euerie where specified in the Scriptures c 1. Pet. 2. Christ bare our sinnes in his bodie on the Tree by whose stripes ye were healed that being deliuered from sinne wee should liue to righteousnes What need you then so curiously question Against whom or in what cause sate God in iudgment now when Christ was thus astonished and agonized God sate in iudgment to receaue satisfaction for the sinnes of his elect at the hands of his owne Sonne by his humilitie and obedience vnto death d Defenc. pag. 93. li. 3. Of necessitte it must be one of these three wayes First Gods maiestie and great iustice now at this time might sit in iudgment against vs and so consequently yea chiefly against Christ himselfe as our Ransomepaier Suertie in our steed e li. 16. Secondly God might be considered now as iudging Satan the Prince of this world f Pa. 94. li. 40. Thirdly Gods matestie iustice may be considered sitting in iudgment meerely against sinfullmen You be copious where you neede not and carelesse where most cause is you should be circumspect to make an idle shew of small skill you bring here a TRIPLE iudgment of God First against vs and Christ our suertie Secondly against Satan Thirdly against sinnefull men which were either elect or reprobate as though one and the same iudgment of God for mans Redemption did not concerne all three to witt Christ as the Redeemer Gods iudgement for our redemption concerneth Christ men and Satan Satan as the accuser the Elect as the ransomed leauing the reprobate in their sinnes through their vnbeliefe vnto the dreadfull day of vengeance In that the Redeemer was by this iudgment receaued and allowed to make satisfaction for the sinnes of his elect Satan was excluded from all place and power to accuse them for sinne or to raigne ouer them by sinne and the purgation of their sinnes which should beleeue in Christ being made by the Person of the Sauiour they were reconciled to God by the death of Christ and discharged from the wrath to come the anger of god remaining on such as by faith obeied not the sonne of God Saue therfore your fruitlesse paines in the rest and shew why the beholding of Gods power and iustice now sitting in iudgment to redeeme the world and to receaue recompence from the person of Christ for the sinnes of men might not breed a religious feare and trembling in the humane nature of Christ. g Defenc. pag. 93. li. If you meane that thus Christ with submission beholding his Father in iudgement at this time was cast into this agonie it is the verie trewth and the same which we maintaine You take this for a shew to build your fansies on but as your maner is you abuse trewthes to serue your turnes Let it stand for good that Christ now beheld his Father Christ might beholde the power of his Fathers wrath against sinne and yet not feare the vengeance due to the wicked sitting in iudgment to require recompence for the sinnes of the faithfull what followeth that God awarded the selfe same vengeance against the person of Christ that we had deserued and should haue suffered if we had not beene redeemed This is a false hereticall and blasphemous conclusion no way coherent to the premisses and no way consonant to the Scriptures For then finall destruction desperation confusion and euerlasting damnation of soule and bodie to hell fire which without question were the wages of our sinnes as we may see by their example that are not clensed from sinne by the bloud of Christ must without reseruation or remedie haue lighted on the person of Christ. If that vengeance of sinne which was due to vs could by no iustice be inflicted on the person of the sonne of God no not if he had borne the sinnes of the whole world how then could the doubt or feare of his punishment on himselfe cast him into this agony you will release him of the circumstance but tie him to the substance of the selfe same pains which the damned endure When you sitt in iudgement on Christ shew your wicked and witles conceits as much as you list but the father to whom of right it appertained sitting in iudgment to receaue 〈◊〉 from the person of his sonne who was most willing thereto ne did ne could by iustice determine any thing against his owne sonne that should either derogate from the person of Christ or abrogate the loue which God professed and pronounced so often from heauen towards him God might haue condemned vs that most iustly deserued it but to adiudge the same condemnation to his owne Sonne was simply impossible to the Iustice holines trueth and loue of God For so the vnion of Christes person must either be dissolued which god hath faithfully sworne and mightily wrought or els the second person in Trinitie must haue tasted of the same vengeance with the damned and with the Diuells which is a blasphemie that the Diuell neuer drempt nor durst to broche h Defenc pag. 93. li. 8. This 〈◊〉 not but that Christ had recall paines inflicted from the Father as from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against vs in him who were thus acquited by him Not denying is a slender proofe of that which you should with most infallible certaintie conclude 〈◊〉 you did a 〈◊〉 If Christes manhood might and did righteously and iustly seare and tremble at the glorie power and maiestie of God sitting now in iudgement to proportion the price that should be payed for mans ransome how doth that 〈◊〉 the reall paines of the damned were inflicted on the soule of Christ at that instant except in madde mens conceits which respect more their pangs than their proofs and preferre their willes before the wisdome of Gods spirit or witnesse of mans reason All iudgement against sinne you will say tendeth vnto condemnation No iudgement against the Sonne of God could proceed vnto damnation for what or whose sinnes soeuer And therefore to me and to all that obserue the words of the Holy Ghost it is a cleerer case than the Sunne-shining at noone day that we are reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne and healed by his stripes who bare our sinnes in
his bodie on the tree and whose 〈◊〉 was shed for many sor remission of sinnes Your infliction of hell paines on the soule of Christ is no such trifle that it may be lightly taken vp for your pleasure or humorously surmised vpon your vaine coniectures you must euidently and ineuitablely prooue it before any wise or sober Christian will or should beleeue it Châ—…istes feare and agonie you thinke could haue no other cause Of all others this can neuer be concluded to haue beene the cause since there is no witnesse nor word thereof in all the Scriptures That euerlasting damnation was due to our sinnes we haue no doubt but that any such iudgement could be decreed or executed against the Sonne of God or against any part of his person we lesse doubt Wherefore it is most manifest to all that list not to mixe their desperate deuices with Gods eternall trueth that no such iudgement could be giuen against the person of Christ as we should haue 〈◊〉 or as the damned feele but the i Esa. 53. chastisement of our peace was layd vpon him and k Heb. 5. though he were the Sonne yet by the things which he suffered he learned obedience It is no iudgement you will say where nothing is condemned In the finall iudgement of God against the wicked both their sinnes and their persons shall be condemned that is their persons shal be euerlastingly reiected and adiudged to perpetuall torments of bodie and soule in hell fire for their sinnes which God iustly hateth and punisheth In the l 1. Pet. 4. iudgement which beginneth at the house of God sinne is condemned in their flesh as it was in Christes but their persons are beloued in Christ and so cleansed from sinne by him that sanctifieth himselfe for their sakes and whose bloud clenseth them from all their sinnes The paterne of which iudgement was precedent in Christ their head to whose m Rom. 8. image the whole bodie must be conformed that n 2. Tim. 2. suffering with him they may raigne with him and being o 1. Pet. 4. condemned as touching men in the flesh they may liue as touching God in the spirit There must be the same minde in vs that was in Christ euen as there is the same condemnation in our flesh that was in his For in Christ and all his members sinne was condemned in the flesh that their spirits might liue to God and their bodies be raised againe to be partakers of the same blisse with their spirits The Scriptures therefore doe not appoint the iudgement of hell or of the damned vnto Christ and his members but only the destruction of their flesh ioyned with the saluation of their spirits What need had Christ you will aske to feare this iudgement As Christ had lesse need to feare the iudgement seat of God than all his members so had he more will care and power to giue God his due than all the rest of his brethren And therefore approching to God for sinners and with sinne as he vndertooke their persons and cause that is to present them to God and to profer satisfaction for their sinnes so he taught vs all our duties which is to approch the throne of Maiestie with all reuerence and feare when we beholde his passing glorie and our exceeding infirmitie and in faith of his goodnesse and feare of his greatnesse to tremble and shake before him This Christian submission which God requireth of all men Christ did most of all performe when he presented vs and our cause to God and therefore prostrate flat on the earth he humbled himselfe with greater feare and trembling but without distrust or doubt of Gods fauour than euer man before or since did This feare and trembling with all submission and deuotion yeelded by the humane nature of Christ to the diuine Maiestie of God you no way like but in a selfe conceit will haue it to be the feare of desperate and damned persons and Christes soule to be actually tormented with the same paines that are the sharpest in hell and all this you gather vpon none other ground but for that Christ exceedingly feared and sorrowed in the Garden But if no man guided by Gods spirit may heare the words doe the works or receiue the messengers of God but with feare and trembling as a seruice and duetie belonging to the Creatour from the weakenesse of the creature how much more might the humane nature of Christ now offering vs all that were sinfull to the presence of God with infinite desire and most ardent prayer to make recompence in his owne person for our offences and so through his loue and sauour with God to reconcile vs to God how much more I say might Christ in our cause and in our names shew all possible feare and trembling to so great Maiestie so mightily displeased with vs And therefore in either respect both of his owne religious humilitie and our sinfull infirmity he might performe this seruice and submission vnto the throne of Gods heauenly presence p Defenc. pag. 93. li. 32. Your testimonies touching men sinfull make nothing to the purpose at all for these could not by reason of their sinnes endure the verie presence of Gods Maiestie being in any measure reuealed vnto them but Christ in himselfe being free from all sinne could be in no such case Your exceptions are more friuolous and no way fit your fansies for what if conscience of sinne breed an amazed feare in men when the glorious presence of God is in any measure reuealed vnto them doth that exclude the religious affection submission of feare and trembling which mans weakenesse in this life oweth to the diuine Maiesty q Esa. 66. Him will I respect saith God that is poore in spirit and trembleth at my words Not only Gods glory reuealed but his word denounced requireth submission and reuerent trembling r Phil. 2. Worke your saluation sayth the Apostle with feare and trembling not meaning men should alwayes be amazed or that God still reuealed his glorious presence but that our infirmitie remembred and his Maiestie considered we should do all things commanded by him with feare and trembling Of the Corinthians Paul testifieth that they receiued Tite s 2. Cor. 7. with feare and trembling Such reuerence the faithfull yeeld to the words and works of God that they tremble at the presence of his messengers And lest you should thinke that only conscience of sinne and the brightnesse of Gods presence impresse this affection the Apostle requireth seruants to obey their t Ephes. 6. carnall masters with feare and trembling and witnesseth of himselfe when he preached the Gospell to the Corinthians he u 1. Cor. 2. was amongst them in feare and much trembling So that not onely guilt of sinne maketh men to feare and flie the sight of God as in Adam when he first transgressed and in Peter before he was called whose words you abuse to elude
time when he shall come to Iudge the quicke and the dead but now s Iohn 3. God sent not his Sonne to condemne the world but that the world through him might be saued t Ela. 42. A bruized Reede saith the Prophet shall he not breake and smoking flaxe shall he not quench So farre was he at this time from doing or delighting in any violence how certaine soeuer you make your selfe of his ioyfulnesse to see destruction executed on that Nation The words of Dauid that u Psal. 58. the Righteous shall retoyce when he seeth the vengeance licence no man to desire vengeance but to expect Gods time whose will we pray may be done and concerne those enemies onely that with implâ—…cable malice seeke the vtter ruine of the godly In which case the deliuerance of the faithfull being ioyned with vengeance on the wicked God will haue his me cies towards vs magnified though it be mixed with the destruction of the wicked Otherwise Christ hath commanded vs to x Matth. 5. loue our enemies to blesse them which curse vs to pray for them which persecute vs so that we may be the children of our Father which is in heauen But you haue found a Foxe or a ferne brake because it was said Let this Cup passe from me and not from them What if I answere you with Ierom Christ said not y 〈◊〉 in Mat Cap. 26. Let the cup passe from me but 〈◊〉 this cuppe passe that is of the people of the lewes which can haue no excuse of ignorâ—…nce if they killme since they haue the Law and the Prophets which daily feretell of me This Christ requesteth not as fearing to suffer but in 〈◊〉 towards the former People that he might not drinke the 〈◊〉 by them And with Ambrose z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore Christ said take this cuppe from me not because the Sonne of God seared death but for that he would not haue them though cuill to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pe pernicious to them which should be healthfull to all And with 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 â—…n 〈◊〉 tract 35. For those then whom he would not haue perish by his Passion he said Father if it be possible let this cuppe passe from me that both the world might be saued and the 〈◊〉 not perish in his Passion And with b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ca. 〈◊〉 Bede who exactly followeth Ieroms words You will reply there is no truth in them but the more you vse such answeres the more pride and lesse wit you shew to thinke that all men 〈◊〉 absurd besides your selfe when you can seant speake one word touching vour new found faith without a sensible absurditie c Defenc pag. 94. li. 31. Your next supposed cause 〈◊〉 towards men containeth three 〈◊〉 causes here First for the 〈◊〉 of the Iewes Secondly for the dispersion of his Church Thirdly his zealous griefe generally for the sins of the world All these 〈◊〉 alwaies in Christ and The second cause 〈◊〉 to Christs agonte caused no 〈◊〉 alwaies heauines in him yet no more then a godly heauenly mind could and would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 digest and beare It is well that of your 〈◊〉 at last you see these six causes may be reuoked and referred to the two gene 〈◊〉 roots whence I said Christs agonie might proceed and so no reason but a meere desire to 〈◊〉 did lead you to demonstrate my disagreements by one two 〈◊〉 six which vpon your better aduise your selfe can reconciie within the space of a lease For as these three are contained in Christes compassion towards men or rather did procced from the astection of his loue to man so the rest are as easily reduced to Christs submission yeldâ—…d in pictie vnto God or to the same profession of charitie towards man or to both Touching the e three you grant they were alwaies in Christ â—…nd caused no doubt alwaies an heaâ—…ines in him but moderate such as a godly minde might cheerefully digest First then how come you so sodainly to fling of your former Resolution made not fifteene lines before that certainly Christ would haue greatly 〈◊〉 to see the execution of Gods deserued iustice on the Iewes would Christ both certainly and greatly haue reioiced to see the destruction of that people and citie and yet the foresight therof caused no doubt alwayes heauines in him These are not your contrarieties but concordance wherein you rightly agree with your selfe that neuer vsein your assertions to make one piece agree with an other How much Christ might grieue at those things we shall presently examine but that he grieued more at this time now in the garden for these respects then at any other time before you doe not grant because you see no reason for it Of Christs affections neither I can yeeld nor you may aske the reason they were voluntarie and rose within him when his will gaue place vnto them He saw Ierusalem often and knew of her desolation from the beginning Why wept he then but once ouer her why did he not the like for other Cities wherein the Iewes dwelt can you tell he was often tempted by the Pharisees and still saw the hardnes of their harts Why did he then but once that the Scripture reporteth behold them with d Mar. 3. anger and griefe for their obstinacie his passion he alwaies remembred and often fore told why then was he troubled with the thought thereof but once that we read Athanasius giueth this answere e Athanasius de incarnat Christi Now is my soule troubled this now was when he himselfe would Damascene f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ca 23. insisteth on the same words and maketh the rule generall that g 〈◊〉 li. 3. ca 20. 〈◊〉 affections and infirmities in Christ neuer preuented his will because nothing in him was forced but all voluntarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. he hungrea when he would he 〈◊〉 when he would he feared when hewould and died when he would Saint Austen obserueth the same h 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 49. Turbaris tu nolens Turbatus est Christus quia 〈◊〉 Thou art troubled against thy will Christ was troubled because he would He hungred it is true but because he would he slept it is true but because he would he sorrowed it is true but because he would he died it is true but because he would In illius potestate erat sic vel sic 〈◊〉 velnen affici it was in his power to be so or so affected or not affected The reason which he giueth is sound and the Scripture on which he buildeth is plaine i Ibidem Quiâ—… enim 〈◊〉 posset nisi 〈◊〉 ipse turbare vbi summa potestas est secundum voluntâ—…tis 〈◊〉 turbatur 〈◊〉 Who could trouble him besides himselfe where 〈◊〉 power is there 〈◊〉 is troubled according to the 〈◊〉 of the will And so the Scripture noteth k Iohn 11.
Your fourth obseruation is like the rest that is voide of all reason and trueth For though you take vpon you to be bold with Moses and his praier which yet you cannot shew u li. 14. was directly against his owne saluation as you auouch what proofe haue you that Paul aduisedly and considerately writing to the The fourth errour pretended from the former examples Romans was amazed and had no remembrance that Gods election was immutable and certainly reserued for him and the rest of Gods chosen in the heauens will you tell vs that the Scriptures were written by men amazed and forgetting the first principles of religion euen in their writings you may do wel to make that your fift obseruation rightly matching your doctrine deuotion but I weene few wise men wil allow this or that audacious enterprise in you I did in those words of mine which you bring describe what astonishment by nature was to wit feare admiration so mixed that for the time both sense speach are suddenly interâ—…upted whiles the soule most earnestly beholding or declining that which she 〈◊〉 not or endureth not neglecteth the sense or speach of her bodie as regarding or attending greater things that presently or fearefully oppresse her What is this to Moses or Paul if they were astonished with feare then neither could they speake nor write how els they should be caried besides themselues I doe not see nor you doe not say Moses had often accesse to god and so feared not to speake or pray vnto him and at the first kindling of Gods wrath against the people for making the Golden Calfe Moses carefully and mindfully proposed in his x Exod. 32. vers 11. praiers to God both the reproch which the y 12. Aegyptians would breath forth against gods holie name and the z 13. oath made by God to Abraham Isaac and Iacob to giue their seed the land of Canaan for an euerlasting inheritance And the Scripture saieth that vppon that praier before Moses went downe from the mount a Exod. 32. vers 14. The Lord changed his mind from the euill which he threatned to doe vnto his people Lesse cause then had Moses afterward to be amazed hauing alreadie diuerted and pacified the brunt of Gods anger against the multitude and praying now for the quite abolishing of this sinne out of Gods remembrance and the continuance of his fauour and presence to goe before his people Augustine thinketh Moses was well aduised in his praier and knew Gods mercy to be such that he would rather spare the wicked then destroy the godly of which goodnesse in God Abraham presumed when he made request for Sodom b August in Psal. 77. God sayth Austen so spared that nation that he kindled not his whole wrath vtterly to roote them out and make an end of them which appeareth plainly in Gods speach and Moses praier for their sinnes where God said I will rase them from the earth and make thee a great people But Moses interposeth himselfe paratior deleri pro ipsis quà m ipsos readier to be cut off than they should 〈◊〉 apud misericordem se id agere qui quoniam nullo modo deleret ipsum etiam illis ipsis parceret propter ipsum knowing he should preuaile with him that was mercifull who would by no meanes destroy him but rather spare them for his sake So that Moses by the iudgement of S. Augustine was not amazed in his prayer as you falsly presume but remembred himselfe well enough and put his life into Gods hands as more willing to be slaine than the whole multitude should and knowing that God would rather spare them in mercie who were trespassers than slay him that was innocent For Paul you haue lesse reason since he doth not actually wish it but sayeth hee could wish it if it were lawfull and possible meaning he could be content to put bodie and soule into Gods hands to doe there with what pleased him so the trueth of Christ might be receiued and acknowledged of the Iewes His maner of speech which must be conditionall except you grant it to respect the time past proueth that he was well aduised in referring all to Gods will and reseruing as well Gods counsell as his word reuealed without touch or impeach And therefore that the Apostle so writing was amazed I see no ground besides the gulfe of your owne inuentions I am farre therefore from scofâ—…ing at them as if they were in a traunce in whom I see no such amazednesse as you imagine much lesse may you take vpon you for your pleasure to put the sonne of God into the same distemper as you call it with others since both his wordes and deedes recorded by the Euangelists declare him to haue beene not onlie full of grace and trueth but mindfull of the least circumstance that pertained to his passion and of purpose to direct his sayings and doings to all those issues which the Scriptures forespake of his sufferings c Defenc pag. 97. li. 20. Specially you should acknowledge that his maruelous perplexity might well be a meanes that his suddaine wishes against his owne constant purpose and Gods will were yet no sinnes That Christ might be somewhat astonished in the Garden I doe not deme because that was an affection incident to our nature and specially for that the Scripture applieth the wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d Mar. 14. he began to be afraid and astonished vnto him but that this astonishment continued all the time of his passion or of his praiers in the Garden and that it proceeded from the sense of hell paines inflicted on him these are your voluntarie fansies voide of all foundation in the word of God and wholly depending on your priuate conceits For were it an astonishment as it was suddaine so it must be short and though for the time it might suspend sense and memorie yet when Christ began to pray he resumed not only the power of speach which in a maze men want but of vnderstanding also since praier without faith is a sinnefull temptation of God and faith requireth as well knowledge what we aske as perswasion of Gods goodnesse that he will graunt our desires So that both the turning of Christs tongue to speake and the directing of his hart in praier doe prooue sufficiently that Christ speedily recouered both sense memorie if we grant he was on the suddaine somewhat astonished the cause whereof you boldly conceaue to be what you list as your maner is without any care to make proofe thereof But as your obseruations were most absurd and false so are your collections that Christ by his paines then felt and feared had e Defenc. pag. 97. li. 23. infinitly more cause to be in his mind amazed then either Moses or Paul since the Scriptures mention no paines then felt of him in his mind besides the affections of feare and sorow which though they be painfull
to mans nature yet differre they farre from the paines of the damned to which you seeke in this place to fasten the soule of Christ. f Defenc. pag. 97. li. 26. As for the Fathers which you cite if they meane as they seeme to doe that now at his passion among other causes of sorow there wanted not this euen his great pittie towards his forlorne countriemen then we ioine with them If they meane as you would haue them that this was the maine and chiefe cause of his extreame sorow and amazednesse therein Ivtterly leaue them You haue a long while in most lauish maner vntowardly pretended that g Defenc. pag. 94. li. 20. Certainly Christ would haue greatly reioiced to see the due execution of Gods most holie and deserued iustice vpon the Iewes and now with a suddaine retraite you ioine with Ambrose Ierom Augustine and Bede that this among other causes of sorow wanted not in the Garden Then as here you be more soberlie minded then before or he at least that made this collection for you so this often crossing your selfe argueth that either you haue not yet recouered your witts to vnderstand what you write or that your helpers being in diuers places and not seeing the one what the other wrote you haue vnhandsomely patched their notes together without marking wherein they contradicted each other But this we take to be the nearest the trueth since I doe not vrge this cause to exclude all others which by any due circumstance of the Scriptures might concurre to greeue him in the Garden onely I noted that those learned and auncient fathers coniecturing the causes of Christs sorrow at that instant neuer drempt of your hell paines which you haue lately coyned out of the hollownesse of your owne hart but obserued other causes that might afflict his mind which you in your Treatise reiected with great skorne howsoeuer some of your friends haue since drawen you to be otherwise minded As for your leaning them it is little to the purpose they will remaine wise and godly expositors when such a blind guide as you are will be lightly regarded withall your fantasticall Nouelties h Defenc. pag. 97. li. 31. Howbeit this here note in the that these Fathers auouch Christ feared not his bodily death or passion for thereof only they speake here questionles You contrariwise say that Christ feared bodily death for thereof also you discourse and had more cause as you thinke so to doe then any of his members First then they questionlesse gainsay your new plot of mans redemption by the paines of hell For they speak of the death which Christ died for our sins accordingto the Scriptures which if they tooke to be only bodily as you graunt they knew nothing neither of the death of the Soule nor of the second death of the damned which you auouch Christ must suffer before he could redeeme vs and so they or you are cleane besides the Christian faith Againe they doe not simply say he feared not death for then should they crosse other fathers and euen themselues affirming that Christ had a naturall feare of death but the feare thereof was not the cause of this Agonie that is he feared it not so much as to be thus afflicted at the remembrance of it Otherwise Ambrose himselfe saith i Ambros. in Luc. li. 10. de tristitia dolore Christi Debuit ergo Dolorem suscipere vt vinceret tristitiam non excluderet nos disceremus in Christo quemadmodum futurae mortis mestitiam vinceremus Christ was therefore to admit sorrow that he might conquere it not exclude it and we in Christ might learne to ouercome the feare of death approching So Cyrill k Cyril The sauri li. 10 ca. 3. Quando formidasse mortem videtur vt homo dicebat Pater transeat à me Calix iste When Christ seemed to fâ—…are death as a Man he said Father let this Cup passe from me For though as a man he abhorred death yet as a man he refused not to performe the will of his Father and of himselfe being the word or Sonne of God Morti ergo quam vt homo formidabat seipsum pro nobis vt Deus tradidit To death then which as a man he feared he deliuered himselfe for vs as God And Athanasius l Athana Ora tio 4. contra Aria As by Death Christ abolished Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all humane miseries by suffering them as a man so by vsuall feare he tooke away our feare and made Men no longer to feare death And Damascene m Damascen orthodoxae fidei li. 3. ca. 18. As a Man Christ would haue the Cup to passe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These wrrds proceeded from a naturall feare And Theophylact n Theophyl in 26. ca Matthaei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is incident to the nature of man to feare death for death entered besides or against Nature and therefore nature flieth death o Idem in Luc. cap. 22. The common feare of mans nature Christ cured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consuming or dispersing it in him selfe and making it obedient to the will of God This your ignorance apprehendeth as a contradiction in them but were you quietly minded or better acquainted with their positions and reasons you would soone see that these may stand together that Christ might haue a naturall feare of death incident to man and yet that feare not to be the whole cause of this agonie p Defenc. pag. 97. li. 37. Thirdly touching his regard of his Church generally the same answere serueth as it is giuen to the last point before You meane that among other causes of his sorrow this wanted not which is as much as I auouched And the more dearely he loued his The third cause concurring to Christs agonie Disciples that followed him and the whole Church that should after beleeue in him the more inwardly he might sorrow for their infirmities and earnestly pray for their safeties being no way ignorant of satans eger and watchfull malice against them Since then after his resurrection and ascension he should in glory appeare to the face of God for them what let was there but he might now in the daies of his flesh approching to his passion for their deliuerance in most humble and ardent manner mediate aswell for their redemption as preseruation and in this loue zeale towards them for whom he gaue himselfe powre out both abundant teares and bloudie sweats to shew the height of his desire and care to prouide and purchase their protection and saluation His supplications for vs were a necessarie part of our reconciliation to God as well as his sufferings for vs and the Prophet expressing the one adioyneth the other as no lesse requisite then the former in saying q Esa. 53. he bare the sinne of many and prayed for the Trespassers And no doubt he chose this place and time before his
apprehension with inflamed and vehement affection of prayer to direct the course and strengthen the force of all his sufferings that receauing comfort and courage from aboue he might wade through the worke of our redemption with greater assurance and confidence in the eyes of all his enemies to whom he would shew neither feare nor sorrow but silent and constant patience r Defenc. pag. 98. li. 1. If you vrge that these Fathers are so resolute for these causes as their words pretend then you your selfe abuse them more than euer I did or meane to doe where you say it is curiositie to examine presumption to determine impossibilitie to conclude as these doe what was the true cause of Christes agonie A wise answere forsooth and woorthy the vigor of your wit to say their words are so resolute that I condemne them more than you when they with all inoderation temper their speech and by the generalitie or diuersitie of occasions that might engender feare to Christ in the Garden shew they meane nothing lesse than to conclude any direct or particular cause of that agonie Ambroses words are s Ambros. in Luc. lib. 10. de tristitia dolore Christi Nec illud distat a vero Neither is that dissonant from the trueth And againe s Ambros. in Luc. lib. 10. de tristitia dolore Christi Et fortasse ideo tristis est And perhaps he was therefore sorowfull And so Augustine t August in Psal. 87. Non incongruè nos dicere aestimo I thinke we speake not without some reason The rest admonish in generall that Christ sorowed not for himselfe but for vs. Doth this conclude any speciall and certaine cause of that agonie But when you can not otherwise decline them you thinke it enough to shift them off with such a iest as this is Indeed they touch your free holde somewhat neerely when they say Christ sorowed not for any sufferings of his owne this you impugne for life and if their assertion in this be true they turne your hell paines cleane out of Christes passion For if Christ suffered as you dreame the death of the damned he had good cause to feare and grieue at that which he felt but with one consent Hilarie Ambrose Ierome and Bede reiect that as false that Christ did thus feare and grieue for any sufferings of his owne Whether therefore you or I most abuse these Fathers let the Reader iudge And howsoeuer your helpers haue somewhat haltered your headlong humours not long since as I haue sormerly shewed you flung off these Fathers in this very case as u Trea. pa. 67. fond absurd and voide of likelihood reason and sense which whether it be an abuse to so graue and godly writers I leaue the Reader to censure as he seeth cause x Defenc pag. 98. li. 6. Fourthly you alleage his inward sorow and zealous griefe for the sinnes of the world to be the maine and chiefe cause of this agonie Surely euen to rehearse these your arguments is refutation of them enough Your peâ—…uish peruerting of my reasons and clapping a The fourth cause concurring to Christs agonie conclusion vnto them against my expresse purpose and premonition is indeed as soone refuted as rehearsed but referre them to that for which I bring them and then your bragges are more than boyish I plainly professed in my Sermons that since the Scriptures expressed no particular cause of Christes agonie in the Garden it was impossible certainly to conclude any direct or determinate cause thereof What follie then is it in you to suppose that I goe about to inferre that which precisely I forwarned was impossible to be concluded Of the causes which I produced I professed no more but that they were consonant to the rules of pietie and might concurre in Christes agonie which you do grant after your nice maner by confessing these wanted not and when you haue yeelded as much as I vrged then you runne backe to your sillie shift and say they were not the maine or chiefe causes of that agonie your hell paines are left out which must haue a place as you thinke in that perplexitie of Christs in the Garden But sir first prooue your hell paines were then and there inflicted on Christs soule and then you shall haue leaue to couple that to the causes of Christs agonie Till you so doe in vaine you denie the rest for want of this It sufficeth me to shew religious and zealous respects of pietie and charitie which might mooue Christ to those affections and other proofe of voluntarie actions and inward affections can none be brought And yet you may remember sir Defensor though you dissemble it that when you trample so readily but yet so rudely on my reasons you wrong the ancient fathers whence I collected them more then you doe mee Hilarie and Ambrose doe peremptorily teach that Christs sorow in the Garden was not for himselfe nor his owne sufferings but for our sinnes and woundes And though you refute me with breathing out more absurdities then sentences in this your defence yet the sober Reader will not suffer you so soone to deface their iudgements and opinions whom I follow But we shall heare some doubtie dispute to mainetaine this matter y Defenc. pag. 98. li. 9. All these are proper parts of his holinesse and righteousnesse as I haue said but no proper parts or causes of his bloody and most dreadfull agonie that is of his sacrifice satisfying for sin Onely his paines were which then he fâ—…lt and feared All these were religious respects of feare and sorow which wanted not in Christs agonie as you grant now whether they were painfull or no a man would thinke should be no great doubt but with one that hath lost both witte and sense Saint Iohn saith z 1. Iohn 4. Feare hath painfullnesse a August de verâ—…is Domini secundum Iohannem Sermone 42. Sunt duo tortores animae timor et dolor There are two tormentors of the soule feare and sorow saith Austen And who that hath but his fiue witts doth not feele that feare and sorow are afflictions and vexations of the soule Wherfore your excluding them from the sacrifice for sinne because they are no paines is a learned peece of worke which neuer a Morter-maker in England would stumble at besides you Let shame if not sense teach you that feare and sorow are very painfull afflictions of the soule and rather comprised then exempted in Christs sufferings by that text of Scripture which you pretend and therefore necessarie respects and pertinences to the sacrifice for sin b Psal. 51. The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit saith Dauid Why then should not the affliction of Christs spirit with feare and sorow be properly a part of his sacrifice and suffering for sin They were proper parts you say of his holinesse And might they not also when they grew vehement grieuous be parts
of his sufferings You would seeme skilfull after your vnlearned maner in the soules-suffering Is there any suffring more proper to the soule then feare sorow from her owne cogitations apprehensions affections from the immediate hand of God you thinke is more proper That in some cases may be possible though in Christes you can prooue no such thing but that is most proper which the soule neuer wanteth and hath of her owne nature And therefore so farre is it from being exempted from the sacrifice of sinne that in vs there is none other sacrifice for sinne but repentance which is all one with godly sorow bringing with it c 2. Cor. 7. ver 11. câ—…re fâ—…are desire zeale and such like effects of true detestation of sinne as the Apostle describeth Repentance for himselfe Christ could haue none because Inward and 〈◊〉 sorow for â—…ur 〈◊〉 must be â—…ound in Christes sacrifice for them he neuer sinned but as our transgressions displeased the holinesse and prouoked the wrath of God against vs so when our Lord and Sauiour came to make full satisfaction for our sinnes he did not onely appease the iustice of God by enduring his hand but contented the holinesse of God by inward and infinite sorow for our sakes and sinnes which we were not able to yeeld vnto God To haue accepted the punishment which Gods iustice awarded and to haue neglected the offence and displeasure which gods holinesse conceaued against sinne had beene not to pacifie but to prouoke God in not regarding the cause which mooued him to take vengeance on sinne It is therefore most agreeable to the rules of pietie that the inward sorow for our sinnes which the sonne of God impressed on his humane soule when he prepared himselfe to make purgation of them did no lesse affect and afflict him then the outward paines receaued in his body and why you should exclude this from his agonie there is no reason but that you are most in loue with that which hath least proofe or likeliehood to be the cause of this agonie This being exactly noted by Hilarie Ambrose Cyrill and other auncient and learned Fathers I did rightly to obserue it how lightly soeuer your insolent conceit esteemeth it d 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 li. 10. Igitur cum tristitia de nobis est oratio pro nobis est non possunt non omnia propter nos gesta esse intelligi cum omnia pro nobis quibus timebatur orata sunt Since then both Christes sorow was concerning vs and his praier for vs all the rest must needes be vnderstood for our sakes for so much as all his praiers were powred forth for vs for whom he feared So Ambrose e Ambros. de fide ad Gratianum li. 2. c. 3. mihi compatitur mihi tristis est mihi dolet Ergo pro me et in 〈◊〉 doluit qui prose nihilhabuit quod doleret Doles igitur Domine Iesu non tua sed mea vulnera non tuam mortem sed meam infirmitatem Christ is affected for me he is heauie for me he soroweth for me He sorroweth then in me and for me who had nothing in himselfe to sorrow for Thou sorrowedst Lord Iesu not for thine owne woundes but for mine not for thine owne death but for my weakenesse And Cyrill f Cyril de recta fide ad Reginas li. 2. ca de Sanctâ—…fication 〈◊〉 Christi That Christ might make our praiers acceptable to God himselfe beginneth the matter euen opening his fathers eares to the nature of man and making them most readie to the praiers of such as were in any perâ—…ll for his cause Therefore in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in a second root or first fruits of mankinde we were praying with strong cries and not without teares that the power of death might be abolished and the life restored or strengthened which was at first bestowed on our nature And Bede g Bedâ—… in Lucâ—… câ—… 22. If Christ were sorowfull to vs that is for our sakes it must needs be that he was comforted by the Angell for vs and to our vse For what should he aske with that agonie for himselfe who here on earth gaue heauenly things with power Then neither Christes sorow in the Garden nor his prayer with that agonie after he was comforted by the Angell were for himselfe or his owne sufferings much lesse for hell paines deuised and inflicted by you on the soule of Christ but his extreame sorrow and affectionate prayer might well be for our sinnes whose cause he vndertooke and for our sakes whose persons he then presented vnto God with most vehement contention of spirit and of all the powers of soule and body h Defenc. pag. 98. li. 12. Neither in respect of these your supposed causes could Christ say Saue me from this houre nor Let this cuppe passe from me as in respect of his infinite paines he might The houre and cuppe which Christ speaketh of are by himselfe referred not to any paines What cup Christ dranke of suffered in the Garden as you pretend much lesse to the paines of hell inflicted by Gods immediate hand on Christes soule as you would haue it but to the time and maner of his sufferings from the hands of the Iewes Of the houre after all his prayers ended in the Garden and his last returne to his Disciples he sayth i Mar. 14. v. 41 Sleepe hence forth and take your rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the houre is come beholde the Sonne of man is giuen into the hands of sinners Here is that houre that Christ so much spake of euen the time that he should be deliuered into the handes of sinners to suffer a cruell and shamefull death at their hands And so he told them that came to take him k Luc. 22. v. 53 This is your verie houre and the power of darkenesse And this he called the Cuppe which his father gaue him to drinke For when Peter drew his sword to defend his Master from the hands of the Iewes Iesus said vnto him l Ioh. 18. v. 11. put vp thy sword into thy sheath shall I not drinke of the cuppe which my Father hath giuen me Peter neither did nor coulde hinder the cuppe which you imagine Christ dranke in the garden from the immediate hand of God he ment plainly to resist the Iewes that they should not apprehend Christ. That enterprise of Peter when Christ would represse and submit himselfe to his fathers will and counsell for his death he said as we saw before shall I not drinke of the cup which my Father hath giuen me So that the Scriptures mention the houre cup of Christs suffering on the Crosse from the rage of the people malice of the rulers of your inuisible cuppe containing the death of the damned they say nothing m Defenc. pag. 98. li. 16. His holy and righteous affections were at all houres and seasons in him
without measure holy yet now at his death did not so expresly breake out and shew themselues as they did at diuers times before You receaue a iust reward of your error that whiles you labour to impugne the trueth your lucke is not to light on one true sentence to your purpose That extreame feare and sorrow were at all houres and seasons in him which yet were holy and righteous affections in Christ is a notable vntrueth and that they did not breake out so expresly in the garden as at diuers times before is another as false as the former and but that it is no newes in you to fasten on fancies a man would maruell to see so many falshoods couched so closely together Christes quiet and constant affections of pietie to God and mercy to men were alwaies in him but these were not at all houres and seasons painfull vnto him comming now to make What feare and sorrow Christ was to yeelâ—… to God when â—…e offered the ransome of our sinnes satisfaction for our sinnes as the head for the members and the Redeemer for his prisoners Christ was to yeeld vnto God as much feare of his iustice prouoked and sorrow for his holinesse displeased by our sinnes as his humane nature could admit without losse of those gifts or decay of those graces which the fulnesse of the holie Ghost had rooted and established in him Wherefore damnation and desperation excepted and all dubitation excluded as well of his person as of his function hee might yeeld to God for vs and as part of our ransome the lowest degree of submission and deepest impression of feare and sorrow that mans nature could feele without doubting or distrusting the fauour and goodnesse of God towards him or his Wherein he did not onely religiously giue vnto God that which was due vnto the holinesse and Iustice of God but he set vs a patterne how we should approch to God when we finde our selues loaden with sinne euen in all feare and trembling of so great power and maiestie and with inward griefe and groanes of heart for displeasing so admirable holinesse that we may receaue comfort from God when we doe not spare truely to acknowledge his goodnesse and earnestly to lament our owne wickednesse These verie painefull but yet very holy impressions of feare and sorrow with teares and sighes vnspeakeable Christ shewed and sanctified in his owne person as an acceptable sacrifice to God not for any blemish of his owne who was the cleane and vndefiled lambe of God but for our haynous and enormous sinnes the excesse whereof could neuer be matched or purged but by the infinite dignitie and humilitie of him that owing nothing paid all and forced to none of these freely offered his obedience to the honour and glorie of his father n Defenc. pâ—…g 98. li. 21. It standeth not with his piâ—…tie to wish that his strong and vehement affections of holinesse should passe from him or be weakned in him for my part I can see no sense nor sappe in these assertions You see sense and sappe in that which hath neither trueth proofe nor vse in the word of God and in the plaine principles of pietie so vnsauerie is your palate you finde no taste Those words Let this cuppe passe from me most men referre to the death of the crosse which Christ was after to suffer Will you thence inferre that the feare and sorrow which he felt in the garden before his apprehension were not grieuous because they were religious And what if Christ spake of the present impressions of feare and sorrow which he wished to be mitigated with comfort from God as they were within a while by the sending of an Angell from heauen did he therefore wish the holinesse of his obedience and humilitie to be changed because he praied the burden thereof might be eased o Psal. 51. Restore to me saith Dauid the ioy of thy saluation Doth that prooue Dauid praied against the godlinesse of sorrow for sinne because he would haue the sharpenesse of it turned into ioy no more is it consequent when Christ weakened himselfe with exceeding susception of feare and sorrow though both religious that he wished the holinesse of either might cease when he would haue the painefulnesse of either asâ—…waged A damned or desperate feare and sorrow you would better digest in the soule of Christ though Christian pietie doe detest it but a vehement affection of godly feare or sorrow you endure not because it hath no concurrence with your hell paines p Defenc. pag. 98. li. 24. Where you ascribe to this his deepe sorrow of zeale for mens sinnes his sweating bloud in his agonie aboue Nature after a strange and maruelous manner I dare say you deliuer strange maruailes in Diuinitie Christ sweating bloud if it were naturall I doe not ascribe to feare or sorrow but rather to vehement intention of prayer which the Euangelist mentioneth in that place if it were aboue nature as q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 28 29. Hilarie Augustine Prosper Bede and Bernard doe thinke there can be no reason required of his voluntarie affections besides his will the cause whereof is secret to vs though some ancient writers coniecture at the significations of it But why it should not be maruelous haue you any reason for admit your owne conceite were true which as yet is no way iustifiable by the sacred Scriptures euer read you there that any man before or besides Christ had sweate like droppes of bloud falling from him for all their complaints Christs 〈◊〉 sweatâ—… was not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proper to Christ. as you pretend of hellish feare sorrowes and paines It must then be maruelous which no man else but onely Christ did euer performe whatsoeuer the cause thereof were and in your fansie most maruelous since you dreame that all the members of Christ suffer the like paines as due to mankind for sin and yet you can produce none of them that euer did sweate bloud but Christ alone And where you make the paines of hell to take hold of Christs Soule till the time of his death yet did he not after this shew any such thing but onely in the Garden How could it then be but maruelous that so violent a cause continuing and increasing as you imagine the effect which in your fansie was this bloudie sweate should cease and not appeare but when Christ would but whether of vs deliuereth strangest maruailes in Diuinitie you that hold the death of the damned and the true paines of hell were here inflicted on Christs Soule by Gods immediate hand and must likewise by your supposall on all Christes members or I that teach Christ as our head in the worke of our redemption for the satisfaction of our sin offered as much sacred feare of Gods power and inward sorrow for our displeasing the holinesse of God as mans nature without despairing or doubting was capable of let all the faithfull iudge and examine
euery man his owne conscience in which of these twaine he is like vnto Christ. For they must be conformed to his sufferings before they shall be partakers of his glorie If then none shall raigne with Christ but such as haue suffered with Christ which must be hell paines as you defend I leaue it to each mans secret cogitation that shall light on this question how many thousands of good and godly men must giue ouer all hope of saluation since with sighs and sorrowes vnspeakable stirred in them by the holy Ghost for their offending and displeasing the goodnesse of God they are and ought dayly to be acquainted but with the true paines of hell death of the damned in this liâ—…e few Christians haue any communion And if any through distrust of Gods mercies and assault of their owne sinnes be terrified with desperation or dubitation let them assure themselues in either of those they be most vnlike vnto Christ whose faith stood euer fast and fully resolued of Gods fauour both towards his person and function which was the purgation of our sinnes and the reconciliation of God with man r Defenc. pag. 98. li. 28. The fift cause you say might be the Cup of Gods wrath tempered and made readie for the 〈◊〉 of men â—…hich you interpret to be eternall malediction You are no good Thâ—… fift cause conâ—…urring to Christs agonie reporter of my words in auouching that I interpret the Cup of Gods wrath tempered for the sinnes of men to be eternall malediction My words are s Sermo pa. 21. li 22. In this Cup are all maner of plagues punishments for sinne as well spirituall as corpor all eternall as temporall And before I came to declare what Christ might behold and by prayer decline in the mixture of this Cup I expresly forewarned that t Sermo pa. 21. li. 27. diucrse men haue diuersly expounded those words of Christ let this Cup passe from me u li. 36. and in this varietie of iudgements I meant to refuse none that any way agreed with the rules of truth So that I here repeate the opinions of others and onely shew in what sort and sense they must be restrained and referred before they can be concorded with the truth of the Scriptures But let vs heare what you impugne and how x Defenc. pag. 98. li. 30. You say Christ knowing what our sinnes deserued might intentiuely pray to haue that Cup passe from him which was prepared for vs. For vs whom meane you the elect or the reprobate what malediction the whole and absolute paines thereof onely or the eternitie of the continuance thereof also Wrangling is your best refuge when you know not otherwise how to right your selfe Is this so hard a question with you what was the desert and wages of our sinnes by Gods iustice had we not beene redeemed and saued from the wrath to come by Christ Iesus Is it so strange Diuinitie to separate nature from grace and iustice from mercie in the elect that they may discerne what they were and should haue been in them selues without the fauour of God in Christ who freed vs when we were seruants to sinne quickned vs when we were dead in sinne and saued vs when we were iustly wrapped in the same condemnation with others for sinne Doe not all these words Redemption Remission Reconciliation and Saluation in Christ prooue that of our selues and in our selues we were prisoners subiected to sinne and condemned as enemies to God without Christ in whom we are freed pardoned reconciled and saued Your eares are very curious that can not abide to heare what was deserued by our sinnes and prepared for our sins had God dealt with vs in iustice not in mercie for his Sonnes sake It is healthfull and needfull for vs to remember acknowledge what our naturall desert and condition was without Gods heauenly commiseration on vs and election of vs in Christ his Sonne y Defenc. pag. 9â—… li. 35. If you meane the Elect Christ knew that he must not onely see and contemplate but feele and suffer all the whole paines of that punishment which our sinnes deserued and this was prepared for himselfe our ransome payer and not for vs. Christ was not onely to suffer that which in his person should be sufficient in the righteous iudgement of God to appease his anger and purge our sinnes but he was farder to see and behold from what he deliuered vs euen from the wrath to come How should the price and â—…orce of his death be knowen vnto him if he were ignorant what dreadfull and terrible vengeance was reserued and prepared for sinne if he did not redeeme vs Wherefore he was not onely to feele that which should free vs but exactly to view know the rest that was due to our sinnes if he did not auert it And where you proclaime with open mouth that Christ must feele and suffer all the whole paines which our sinnes deserued it is a pestilent and euident impietie For either you must defend that our sinnes deserued not the losse of Gods kingdome and the perpetuall paines of hell fire in bodie and soule or else you must confesse that Christ suffered the same You spake euen now of strange maruailes in Diuinitie These monsters be past maruailes which you prooue onely by your selfe and by your owne surly conceite this was prepared for him and not for vs Was hell fire prepared for Christ he was ordained to be our Sauiour by the sacrifice of himselfe on the Crosse that by his death full of shame and paine he might redeeme the transgressions that were in the former Testament but that hell fire or euerlasting death which is the desert of our sinnes was prepared for him is a Doctrine fit for no man but for him that hath made a shipwracke of his faith to land his fansies on shore Damnation you will say was not prepared for vs but rather Saluation meane you without Christ or in Christ in Christ I haue no doubt but we were before all worlds appointed to be heires of Saluation when in our selues we should deserue farre otherwise But here shewing the meanes of mans redemption I speake of man not yet redeemed and therefore lâ—…ing as yet in the desert and danger of damnation iâ—… Christ did not deliuer him In which sense the Apostle not onely saith z Ephes. 2. We were by nature the children of wrath as well as others but a Rom. 5. by the offence of one death came on all men vnto condemnation Which speech the auncient Fathers doe euery where follow b August Epistoâ—…a 89. Qui per generationem illi condâ—…mnation obligati sunt per regenerationem ab eadem condemnatione soluuntur They which by birth are obliged or fast tied to that condemnation are by regeneration deliuered from that condemnation And so c Idem Epistola 105. merito namque peccati vniuersa massa damnata est By the
humour when the Scriptures and fathers precisely conclude the contrarie x Defenc. 〈◊〉 100. li. 27. Therefore I conclude he thus feared not his bodily death but it was the paines of the second death which he felt and so feared This conclusion may well be yours it rightly resembleth the Maker Christ feared somewhat and not his bodily dâ—…ath ergo he felt the second death which the Scripture sayth is the lake y Reâ—…el 21. that burneth with fire and brimstone So many gappes in one conclusion would no man make besides you For first how prooue you that feare was the cause of his bloudie sweat If it were naturall feare whiâ—…h quencheth the spirits cooleth the bloud could not procure a bloudie sweat If it were supernaturall and mysticall as Hilarie Austen Prosper Bede and Bernard obserue then can you conclude no cause thereof but must leaue it as a secret and wonderfull effect of Christes power and will knowen to God and vnknowen to man Secondly if we grant â—…eare might be the cause thereof the feare of Gods power infinitly able to punish the sinne of man on the person of Christ without the paines of the damned might iustly strike the Manhoode of Christ with any terrour that mans nature was capable of without the losse of grace and faith For feare doth not alwayes apprehend what danger is toward but onely that some danger aboue our reach or strength is imminent ouer vs. Thirdly if feare of what you will were the cause of this agonie it is no way consequent that that which Christ feared was really inflicted on him since feare is of future not of present euiâ—…l and the Apostle beareth witnesse in this case that Christ was heard or freed z Heb. 5. from that he feared Fourthly how many things Christ would or did obtaine of his Father for vs by his sufferings so many things might concurre as causes of this inflamed prayer whence 〈◊〉 by order of the Euangelists narration this bloudie sweate So that there being fourâ—… maine exceptions against your collection whereof you shall neuer auoid any one you soaring aloft and stooping to nothing but your owne dreames light iust on your hell paines not because the Scriptures make any such mention but because that best pleaseth your humour And this is the very closet of your cause and pride of your proofes touching hell paines suffered in the Soule of Christ Neword ne letter of Scripture to warrant it but as you wrested Pauls wish to foure notable vntruths so you sweep vp Christs sweate to make perfect your Pageant that from things obscure vnknowen and doubted with all men as touching the precise and particular cause thereof you may resolue what you list and tiâ—… your Conclusions with cart-ropes of vanitie and falsitie a Defenâ—… pag. 100. 〈◊〉 28. But you say pag. 26. you should put 25. the sorrow and feare of death which it pleased our Sauiour to feele in oâ—…r nature came not for want of strength but of purpose to quench and abolish those affections in vs. I say it came from both And I say you doe not onely rashly crosse Saint Austen in that Negatiue but you know not what you say For the question is not whether feare and sorrow be infirmities which is your wise conceite but whether Christ admitted them by his power and will or by constraint and necessitie which Saint Austen there calleth infirmitie and I named want of strength His words a man would thinke are so resolute that without better ground then you haue any a sober Diuine would not so proudlie confront them b August in Iohannem tract 60. Non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dubitandum non â—…um 〈◊〉 infirmitate sed 〈◊〉 turbatum It is by no meanes to be doubted that Christ was troubled not for any weaknesse of minde but of his owne power What saith your wisedome to this Austen meaneth not onely by infirmitie but also by his owne will and power Coherent and different things may be thus coupled together because both may be true and diuerse respects may reconcile contraries but in one and the same sentence and sense to harle priuations and positions whereof the one excludeth the other as you doe is to make no construction but a contradiction in Saint Austens words As if a man should say this answere of yours is not onely foolish but also wise not onely vnlearned but also learned weâ—…e it not ridiculous And yet you knit Saint Austens words together in that sort where if the one be true the other is false For if Christ were troubled by infirmitie and necessitie then was he not by his power and will as Austen auoucheth he was Wherefore you hit Saint Austens meaning as rightly as if a man should post to London Bridge with his backe towards it or else you confute him your selfe as how because I say with Austen Christ admitteth these affections and infirmities of mans nature not for want of power to represâ—…e them but by volunâ—…arie obedience and humilitie that in him they might be meritorious Then how these affections preuailed on Christs Soule is the Question whether by necessitie Christ not being able to resist them or moderate them which is the weaknesse of mans nature or by his owne submission when he would as he would and to what ende he would c August in Iohannem tract 49. Thou art troubled saith Austen against thy will Christ was troubled because he would In illius potestate erat sic vel sic â—…ffici vel non affici It was in his power to be affected thus or thus or not to be affected Where there is soueraigne power there infirmitie is gouerned according to the direction of the will He must be ruler and commaunder of nature by his power that was not troubled with any affections or infirmities but according to the liking of his owne will So was it in Christ. d August ibidem tract 60. Non â—…rgo est aliquo cogente turbatus Affectum quippe humanum quando oportuisse iudicauit in seipso potestate commouit Christ was not troubled by the compulsion of any For when he thought it needfull he did stirre in himselfe by his owne power humane affections If to raise feare and sorrow within himselfe when he would were power aboue nature and no humane infirmitie as also to appoint how farre they should preuaile in him what was it then by the power of these affections in him to represse and temper all our infirmities and affections and to endue vs with heauenly grace and courage to resist and restraine the excesse of those affections in our weake natures was it power or infirmitie in Christ thus to worke either in himselfe or in vs It was power no doubt in Christ to limit the time degree and force of those affections which his will would admit and in all these things the lesse necessitie of nature vrged him the more acceptable was his obedience vnto God that would
the one after the other that S. Iohn confirmeth it with his owne i vers 35. sight lest so strange a thing should not be beleeued k Defenc. pag. 106. li. 35. Though it be against the common course of our nature for any paines or feare to sweate bloud yet the diuine power with and through paines and feares might wring out of his body that trickling bloudy sweate As it is plaine that it did by the wordes next before in the text an Angell came to giue him some comfort Your head was troubled about some waighty worke when one sentence wrang from you such contrarieties and falsities But the l Pag. 105. li. 38. Page before you tooke speciall exception against me if I did not thinke that Christ was vrged to his bloudy sweate for thereof you speake in that place by violence of paines or feare procuring it in him NATVRALLY here you say it is against the common course of our nature for any paines or feare to sweat bloud Could it be naturally procured in Christ and yet against the common course of our nature againe if it be against the common course of our nature for any paines or feare to sweate bloud by what reason or authority doe you conclude hell paines out of Christes bloudy sweate for if no paines or feare can by the course of our nature procure a bloudy sweate how know you that Christ did sweate bloud for paines or for feare for hell paines you will say he might Not by any course of our nature For then all his members which at one time or other feele the like which Christ felt should sweate bloud as Christ did But that I trust is sensiblely false The diuine power might wring it out of his body So it may raise Children to Abraham out of stones Doth that inferre that men are made of stones and might not the diuine power wring this sweate for that is your phrase out of Christes bodie as well without hell paines as with them is it hard for God to make a man sweat bloud without the paines of the damned It is plaine that it did by the words next before in the text Doth the text name hell paines or the feare of hell what will you not aduenture that thus presume to outface the Scriptures the text nameth many thinges before and you like your crafts-master will make your choise though the Scripture doe not expresse what was the cause thereof The words next before the text are an Angell came to giue him comfort Then comfort belike cast him into this bloudy sweate if the wordes next before declare the cause thereof which were very strange that a man by comfort should be cast into a bloudy sweate Why may not I rather say that the vision of an Angell put him rather into this sweate then the comfort which was brought him since Daniel was m Dan. 8. v. 27. stroken sicke and astonished with a vision as diuers others of Gods saints haue beene yet I thinke neither of these to be the cause of that sweate but as I say in my Sermons it might be voluntary either for signification as Austen Prosper Bede and Bernard do thinke or for sanctification and consecration of his person and sacrifice answeareable to the manner of the legall oblation prefiguring this as the trueth or for vehement contention of spirit in praier which indeed is the next thing mentioned before his sweate and shewed his desire and zeale to be more then humane for the Redeeming and reconciling of man to God by the shedding of his bloud n Defenc. pag. 106. li. 27. You conclude that Christes agony demonstrating Christs Priesthood must not rise from the terror of his owne death and yet a little before you openly confesse and graunt that his agony did rise from the feare of his death The effect of Christes Priest-hood performed in the garden must in no wise concerne himselfe For he was not a Priest to make intercession or to offer sacrifice for himselfe but for vs. And therefore his praiers then vttered in his agonie with strong cries and teares if they pertained to his Priesthood they were made for vs and not for himselfe and declared his voluntarie profering and presenting his body and bloud to Gods pleasure to be the sacrifice for mans Redemption and his feruent supplications to haue it accepted as the full Ransome for his elect that the accuser and supplanter of his Church might be remooued from Gods presence and wholy subiected vnder Christes feete Now if this desire and offer for vs must not only be voluntarie but inflamed with wonderfull vehemencie then would not Christ sweat bloud for any terror of his owne death but for his infinite feruency to preuaile and obtaine his petition for vs. You permix Christes feare and his feruent zeale together and call the whole action his agonie though it containe both feare conceaued at first when he approched Gods presence in iudgement for sinne and comfort receaued at last by message brought from Heauen and out of this confusion you collect what you list and say what you please to no purpose That Christ might haue a naturall feare of death I then said and yet see no cause to recall it but that I said Christ did sweate bloud for feare of his bodily death this is one of your painted faces with which you would outface the trueth Howbeit this persisting in your ignorant folly without remembring or regarding what is said on the other side argueth ridiculous negligence or malitious diligence of which because I haue already spoken I will say no more o Defenc. pag. 106. li. 33. Why should Hilarie deny that Christes bloudy sweat came of infirmity or Austen that Christes feare and perturbation was of infirmity Because they had learned iudgments and sober considerations in these matters which you want They beheld Christes power which no force of hell or Satan could impeach but where and when himselfe would permit They saw the innocencie and integrity of Christes humane nature which could not be tossed nor troubled with inward affections but when and how farre he was content to admit them They knew the infinite loue of God to his son for whose sake we were all beloued and adopted and that the father was so farre from tormenting the soule of his sonne with his immediate hand that p Iohn 17. he gaue him power ouer all flesh and q Iohn 13. gaue all things into his hands euen before his death and against the time of his agony in the garden Wherefore as the r Iohn 14. Prince of this world had nought in him and for that cause neither sinne nor corruption were found in him and s Iohn 10. no man tooke his soule from him but he laid it downe of himselfe so neither necessity nor infirmitie of our nature could oppresse or possesse him but he must first giue place to it by his will and guide it by
body be giuen for them and his bloud to be violently shed for remission of sinnes if this sweate did indeed purge all our sinnes but you speake in this as you doe in all other things without caring what you say so you bring somewhat to continue your cauilling This sweate the Apostle calleth m Heb. 5. teares and ioyneth them with Christs vehement prayers in the garden which he saith were heard Then Christs feruent desire to preuaile in the worke of our redemption against all the hinderances thereof might in all reason mooue him to pray with teares respecting our miserie and yet indignitie for whom he prayed and so be the cause of this bloudie sweate and your hell paines must giue place till you find some better proofe for them then your bare auouching that this sweate might rise from the very paines of the damned which is your single supposall with farre lesse warrant then any thing that Austen Prosper Bede or Bernard said And as for your binding all their significations and your imaginations in a bundell together when you first prooue that the Scriptures affirme any such thing as the second death or the paines of the damned to be suffered by Christ then we will talke what might rise from your hell paines in the meane time know you Sir wanderer that if the rest might be the causes of this bloudie and voluntarie sweate then you may put vp your pen and lay your vnquiet head to rest n Defenc. pag. 107. li 31. Hitherto we haue made it manifest that in truth you haue nothing in all these words against our Doctrine that paines and sorrowes were the true and proper cause of Christs dreadfull agonie nor to prooue that his meere bodily paines or death was the whole cause Now we are to shew the like in his most wofull complaint on the crosse where he saith My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And I haue made it more manifest that you haue lesse for your doctrine of the second death and the paines of the damned to be suffered in the Soule of Christ whiles he prayed in the Garden For what reasons be these Christ feared and sorowed in the Garden and he prayed so intentiuely that his sweate was like bloud ergo he suffered the second death and the paines of the damned except a man were disposed to run madde with reason He feared somewhat else besides a meere bodily death What then how many degrees and causes of feare and sorow haue I shewed that might conioyne in Christ now seeing in Gods presence and iudgement the waight of our redemption and the number of our sinnes together with the vengeance prouoked by them and the power of Gods anger displeased with them and yet no point nor part of the second death to be suffered by him if there might be any cause besides yours then yours can neuer be certainly concluded from the Scripture which is the thing I first affirmed to the Reader You aske me where I reade mine in the word of God and I aske you the like The Text saith Christ feared and sorrowed but the cause of Christs feare or sorrow is not there declared Then no cause being expresly mentioned neither mine nor your I leaâ—…e it to the censure of the Christian Reader which of vs two taketh the surest course I that 〈◊〉 no cause but concording with the maine grounds of the Scriptures and such as you confesse wanted not in Christ at that present and whereto the learned and Catholicke Fathers giue full consent and approbation or you that wade alone by your selfe in your owne conceits such as haue no foundation in the word of God and are repugnant to the Principles of Christian Religion confirmed by the Scriptures and confessed by the greatest pillars of Christs Church next after the Apostles And where you promise to shew the like in Christs complaint on the Crosse I easily beleeue you will performe the one as well as you did the other by your owne fansies without all regard of truth or proofe o Defenc. pag. 107. li. 37. You will aâ—…ke me here what kind of forsaking may this be Loose not your labour I will aske you no such thing What haue I to doe with your vntidie deuices wynoing words as men doe chaffe to and fro without any manner or offer of proofe The question I did and doe aske is not what you parle out of your owne platforme but how you can prooue by the word of God that forsaking in this complaint of Christs was either damnation or the second death which your Reader perceaueth now to be your purpose though you long dissembled it Your interlacing those words with qualified phrases serueth but to saue you from apparent heresie and blasphemie It maketh no manner of proofe that those words must so be vnderstoode or that the paines of the damned may thence by any colour be concluded p Ibid. li. 3â—… I plainly shewed you before if you had regarded it And I more plainly opposed those things against it which you neither did nor can answere and doe you thinke that neglecting what you list I must be forced laboriously to disprooue all your deuices before you shew what dependence they haue with the Sacred Scriptures or with the primatiue faith of Christes Church my grounds excluding your exposition and conclusion are to be seene in my Sermons pag. 32. 33. and are such as you shall neuer defeate The first is that dereliction and forsaking doe no where throughout the Scriptures import damnation or the second death which is your drift in this place but are alwaies applied to the iudgements of this life The second that in the wicked castawaies it argueth reprobation from grace and desperation of glory which if any man imagine of Christ it is rather furious blasphemie then erroneous follie Thirdly that in the godly the word vsed by Christ noteth either destitution of help or diminution of comfort in time of trouble but neither in Dauid who first spake them nor in Christ doe they with any shew conclude the true paines of the damned Fourthly that no construction must be made of this word that may decrease in Christ the fulnesse of truth and grace which neuer wanted in his Soule or draw him within the compasse of erroneous mistrusting or mistaking Gods fauour counsell towards him These grounds standing good which you shall neuer be able to remooue your warbling with those words to make them pliable to your will is but time and paines lost wind them which way you can by example of any Scripture you shall neuer wrest them to that height which you desire But because you are so far in loue with your owne fansies and my leasure now serueth me better then it did before let vs heare what kinde of forsaking you would faine fasten to Christes complaint on the Crosse. q Defenc. pag. 108. li. 1. Christ being now in the feeling of infinite paines inflicted
for saken of God whose cause to reconcile them 〈◊〉 then vndertookest and as a most skillfull Patron for seruants thou didest not disdaine to take the person of a seruant and SO FARRE thou didst compassionate the weake that thou wast neither afraid nor ashamed to be crucified and to dy leauing for a time thine owne higth and emptying the maiesty of thy glory that the dispersed might returne and the forsaken might take breath or comfort The forsaking which Cyprian here describeth in Christ consisteth in leauing of his diuine power and glory for a time and in abasing himselfe SO FARRE as to dy the death of the Crosse for their sakes but no farder And these wordes he saith Christ would haue vnderstoode to be a cause of their Reconciliation to God who had deserued for their sinnes to be forsaken of God and therefore he addeth presently f 〈◊〉 I consider thee Lord on that crosse where thou seemedst without helpe or forsaken how with an Emperiall power thou didst send the theefe before to thy kingdome by assuming of whom it is manifest how much thou hadst preuailed for those that were forsaken You would faine so wrest Cyprians wordes that he should say Christ vndertooke our cause and no more but he withall affirmeth that Christ tooke vpon him our person and that his carefull complaint were the wordes of his beloued If the wordes were spoken as well in our person as in our cause then we were indeed forsaken and Christ by laying downe his glorie for a time and obeying his fathers will did by those wordes declare that he reconciled vs to God when we were forsaken and in signe thereof with full power made the theefe partaker of his kingdome that had deserued and was condemned to die the death of a for lorne and forsaken malefactour g Defenc. pag. 109. li. 2. If you thincke they ment that Christ spake this by some strange metonimy naming himselfe but meaning his Church that can haue no good sense I shall not need to tell you The first sense of 〈◊〉 complaint on the Crosse. what I thinke let them speake themselues what they ment and when you haue heard their meaning out of their owne wordes you shall see how much you abused Cyprian to make him speake that he neuerment It is plaine enough which Athanasius saith h Athanaâ—…ius de incarnatione Christi Christ spake those wordes in our person for he was neuer forsaken of God and Austen is as euident i August epist. 120. why disdaine we to heare the voice of the body by the mouth of the head to me that is to my body my church and my litle ones So was it said why hast thou forsaken me euen as it was said he that receaueth you receaueth me No doubt we were in those wordes and the head did speake for his body And likewise Leo k Leo Serm. 16. de Pâ—…ss Dom. Christ spake those wordes in the voice of his Redeemed Neither are they alone in this opinion Theodoret satith l Theodoret. iâ—… Psalm 21. because Christ was the head of mans nature he speaketh for the whole nature of man So Bede m 〈◊〉 a in Psal. 21. Quare dereliquistime idestmeos ideo scilicet quia longè te fecerunt peccata esse à salute mea id est meorum Hec verbaplane innuunt caput non in persona sua hic loqui Quomodo enim derelictus vellonge à salute factus posset esse ille Why hast thou forsaken me that is mine because sinne did put thee farre from sauing me that is mine These words do plainly prooue that the head doth not here speake in his owne person For how could he possiblely be forsaken or remooued from saluation And Euthymius n 〈◊〉 in Psal. 21. The Lord taketh vnto him the person of mans nature as lincked to him and saith why hast thou forsaken me now a man that is the whole nature of man And Damascene o 〈◊〉 Orthodoxe fidei li. 3. ca. 24. Christ was neuer forsaken of his owne Godhead but we were those that were forsaken and despised Wherefore appropriating our person he praied in that sort And expressing what it is to appropriate or assume an others person he saith As when a man doth put on an others person of piety or charitic and in his steed vseth speach for him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which agreeth not vnto himselfe If then we take dereliction for the want of Gods fauour spirit and grace as these Fathers doe it is euident Christ could not so be forsaken and consequently these wordes in that sense which is proper to the Children of Gods wrath could not agree to the person of Christ though it were true in his members that they by nature were forsaken and destitute of grace till he reconciled them to God and diffused his spirite into their harts to make them partakeâ—…s of his holinesse And as for the strangenesse of the metonimy count you that strange which Christ vseth in one Chapter more then thirty times and find you no strangenesse in your conceits which are no where throughout the Scriptures either expressed or so much as coherent with the continuall speach and plaine rules of the Scriptures p Defenc. pag. 109. li. 5. That can haue no good sense For how can it be that we were forsaken of God when Christ was on the Crosse Nay euen then and there we were purchased vnto God not forsaken by God Doth any man vse when he would make reasons for his opinion to refuâ—…e himselfe as you doe we were purchased you say on the Crosse vnto God you must adde by the bloud of his sonne which was also God for that Saint Paul in the plâ—…ce which you cite nameth as the true and right price of this purchase God purchased his Church with his owne bloud and not by the direfull paines of hell as your braine hath lately broched Now if we were purchased on the Crosse then till we were purchased we were enstranged from God and so forsaken of him And what hindreth this complaint or prayer of Christs to beare witnesse that we were now reconciled and purchased vnto God which before were forsaken and separated from God For those words doe not imply that we still continued forsaken but that formerly without Christ we were vtterly forsaken and now by him restored to fauour And the goodnesse of this sense I doe not thinke but any man of meane capacitie will soone conceaue and iudge it more fruitfull for vs to know that by Christs mediation and oblation on the crosse we are now no longer strangers vnto God nor forsaken of him as before we were for our sinnes then that Christ suffered the direfull and infernall paines and death of the damned in his Soule before we could be freed from our sinnes For of the first there can be no question and of the second you neither haue nor euer shall be able to bring one
passage The premisses be as good as the conclusion For they haue neither any certainety nor veritie in them Christs agonies and complaint belonged directly you say to his Passion and Sacrifice Belonged what is that as an Antecedent Adiunct or Consequent as a necessary or a voluntarie pertinent It will be long before you draw any good conclusion from this belonging Againe Christs agony if you take it for all that Christ did or suffered in the Garden how diuers and how different parts had it as inward affections of feare and sorrow desire and zeale humble often and intentiue prayer besides the comfort of an Angell and sweate like blood and sundry other things which I haue mentioned before all these belonged directly to Christs action in the Garden Wherefore hereafter afore you professe such cleerenesse in your reasons either vsesuch words as the Scripture doth or foretell vs how farre you extend and what you intend by the words which you bring Your minor is worse where you say but Christs whole Sacrifice consisted in afflictions For where is the puritie of the Sacrifice which must be vnspotted the dignitie which must counteruaile the offence the voluntarie presenting thereof to God that it might be accepted as meritorious and not inflicted as ignominious yea where is the Sanctification of this Sacrifice which required not onely prayer but pietie and charitie as also humilitie to commend it to God All these things were in Christs Sacrifice as chiefe and maine respects which you haue blotted out with expressely falsifying the Scriptures to make roome onely for hell paines For though we haue no doubt but God in his secret wisedome and iustice did d Hebr. 2. consecrate the prince of our saluation through afflictions yet the Scripture sayth not wholy or onely through afflictions as if neither sanctitie nor submission nor pietie nor pitie nor obedience nor willingnesse nor any thing else were requisite but only to suffer affliction The Scripture fairely intendeth that God who had tried the obedience of his Sonne in all kind of holinesse and righteousnesse would now trie him by affliction that the perfection of his graces and gifts might be sacred and shewed to the vttermost in these things wherein it is hardest for the nature of man quietly and willingly to endure the hand of God Therefore God would also consecrate the prince of our saluation by affliction but not onely by that as if nothing else were needefull in the author of our saluation but onely affliction which assertion hath in it an heape of huge absurdities and impieties This is your drawing of expresse Scriptures to serue your vnlearned and vnsetled fansies that where you would professe to be strongest there euery child may perceiue you to be weakest e Defenc. pag. 115. li. 11. If you say these were afflictions in him I answere they properly belonged to his holinesse as parts thereof and were not immediatly directly nor properly in him as the wages and price of sinne You be soone wearie of your proofes that you since come to your answeres and there in steede of trueth you runne for refuge to your wonted termes of immediately directly and properly as the wages and price of sinne But leaue your termes for another time and shew vs some proofe besides your owne preface that either the sacrifice for sinne might haue nothing in it but onely afflictions or that the religious feare of Gods power and wrath against sinne and hartie sorrow for displeasing God with our sinnes are no afflictions or no necessarie parts of Christs sacrifice for sinne For if you faile in those your great promises of cleere cases expresse Scriptures are idle and emptie florishes Your replying that these properly belonged to his holinesse as parts thereof is meere trifling For Christs affections and submission in all his sufferings were parts of his holinesse neither could any paines make any impressions on his soule were they neuer so grieuous which were not also religious And so much the very words which you bring in fauour of your cause confirme For God did consecrate him through afflictions to be the prince of our saluation What is consecration by God but holinesse deriued from God and accepted of God if then Christ were consecrated by his asflictions they wrought no impressions nor afâ—…ections in his soule but such as were SACRED and religious Yf you doubt whether the parts of holinesse may be painefull and greeuous vnto the soule of man looke either on repentance compassion zeale or charity in vs and see whether as well in our owne causes as in other mens they may not be painefull and greeuous to the mind euen when they be also faithfull religious Repentance doth or should worke in vs an inward earnest and harty sorrow that we haue displeased and prouoked God with our sinnes I aske whether penitent sorow be not painfull because it is religious and faithfull Were it not painfull it were no sorow much lesse repentance or an acceptable sacrifice to God f Psal. 51. A troubled spirit is a sacrifice to God a broken hart thou God wilt not despise When we do voluntarily afflict our owne soules because we haue displeased him he is pleased in mercy g 1. Corin. 11. vers 31. not to iudge vs since we iudge our selues Saint Iames saith h Iam. 4. v. 9. Clense your hands ye sinners and purge your harts ye wauering minds be afflicted inwardly in soule and sorow and weepe he meaneth in respect of their continuall and manifold sinnes Is this asfliction and sorow not greeuous to men because it is religious It is no punishment of sinne you will say Saint Austen saith it is whose iudgement I farre preferre before yours k Psal. 90. Iniquitas i August in Psalm 58. omnis 〈◊〉 magnaue sit puniatur necesse est aut ab ipso homine poenitente aut a Deo â—…indicante Nam quem poenitet panit seipsum Prorsus aut 〈◊〉 aut 〈◊〉 Vis non puniat puni tu All iniquity be it little or great of necessity must be punished either by man repenting or by God reuenging For he that repenteth punisheth himselfe Certainly then either thou must punish it or God will punish it Wilt thou not haue him to punish punish it thy selfe Then in vs sorow for sinne is a voluntary but a holy punishment of sinne and is in all the godly both grieuous and religious and the more grieuous the more religious Since then voluntary sorow for sinne committed which is repentance is an higher and acceptabler sacrifice to God then vengeance shall we thinke that our Sauiour who was to yeeld God his due for vs in all things agreeable to his person Inward and voluntarie sorrow of the soule is a sacrifice to God did omit this excellent sacrifice of inward and infinite sorow for that our sinnes so much displeaseth the holinâ—…sse of God and that it was not grieuous to him because it was religious
not proue them to be either irreligious or vtterly comfortlesse since b Heb. 12. for the ioy that was set before him he endured the crosse and despised the shame and c Reuel 3. ouercomming sitteth with his Father in his throne By which confession of our Sauiours we must learne that he vsed no power to repell or rebate his paines but that he had as sensible and tender feeling of all his sufferings in the weaknesse of his flesh which he with obedience and patience subiected to that burden as any man could haue and rather more in that he willingly layd aside his strength whiles he suffered for sinne d Defenc. pag. 115. li. 21. You do very ill to make these parts of Christs holinesse proper parts of his satisfaction and the maine causes of his agonie and complaint And woorse you doe if you ascribe them not to any paines in him at all And what doe you to acknowledge no cause in Christ of his complaint or agonie neither religious nor naturall but only the paines of hell and to seuer the inward sacrifice of an afflicted spirit from the outward sacrifice of his bodie for the purgation of our sinnes since he wanted in no point that was required or accepted of God but yeelded that to him which was due from vs in farre more excellent and perfect maner than we can comprehend It is therefore voluntary blindnesse and deafenesse in you to shut eyes and eares at all sorts of religious sorowes and feares when you reade that Christ feared and sorowed in the Garden and so to pitch on the paines of the damned which haue no witnesse in holy writ that nothing can remoue you or content you but your owne conceit e Defenc. pag. 115. li. 25. Secondly the summe of these fore-noted texts must be considered namely that Christ expresly wished sundry times in his dreadfull astonishment suddenly euen against Gods knowen will in one respect and here are expressed with his strange astonishment his mightie sorowes and feare of them partly felt and partly further to come After a large promise of cleere proofs and expresse Scriptures for so great and weighty matters as these are you trole out your owne false and absurd conceits no way gathered from the Scriptures but violently vrged on them with more rage than reason and now so often refuted that a man would be wearic if not ashamed to spend so much time in these idle repetitions of the selfe-same misapprehensions and misconstructions of some words of the Euangelist The summe of all these fore-noted texts is that the Euangelists say Christ professed his soule was heauie vnto death that the Apostle addeth he was heard in that he feared that himselfe on the crosse sayd My God my God why hast thou forsaken me All these places are already handled and cleered and no paines of the damned or of the second death found any thing neere to any of these words What meaneth then this importunitie to obtrude them againe as fresh and new proofes without any farder paines bestowed on them then barâ—…ly the repâ—…ating of only two poisened rootes you haue added to them out of your owne store the one is the dreadfull and strange astonishment during all the time of Christs praier in the Garden the other is the sundry suddaine wishes of Christ in that astonishment euen against Gods knowen will which things as your maner is you proue by your owne authority painting them out with dreadfull strange and mighty words when your proofes be weake and childish That Christ praied suddainly and sundry times against the knowen will of God is a false and wicked position and as directly repugnant to the Scriptures as any thing may be Saint Luke saith his praier was f Luc. 22. v. 42 Father if thou wilt take away this cup from me And the Apostle saith he was heard in that he feared So that not only you auouch this thing against expresse Scripture but you bring the sonne of God within the compasse of vnaduised and faithlesse praiers which you excuse with as false and lewd a deuice because he was past sense and memory what he did whereas he well remembred mentioned and reserued his fathers will in his praiers and warned his Apostles to g Matth. 26. watch and pray that they entred not into temptation and constantly continued his praiers till he was h Luc. 22. comforted by an Angell from heauen and i Heb. 5. heard in that he â—…eared As for his astonishment neither doe the words vsed by the Euangelist Saint Mark import any such strange and dreadsull want of sense and memory as you imagine neither doe the consequents declare any such continuance as you pretend but in both these you prescribe your owne will ro be the rule of your faith First the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth either admiration alone or â—…ls a mixtion thereof with some feare vpon any suddaine or strange sight When the Creeple that lay at the beautyfull gate of the temple asking almes was healed by Peter and Iohn the people seeing him walking and leaping and praising God were filled with admiration and astonishment and flocked to Salomons porch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 euèn amazed This affection in them Peter expresseth in the next verse after this sort k Acts 3. v. 12. Ye men of Israell saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why wonder you at this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or why looke you so steadfastly on vs so that stedfast beholding and inward admiring are the force of this word in that place When Christ returned from the mountaine where he was transfigured to his nine Disciples that were disputing with the Scribes l Mar. 9. v. 15. All the people as soone as they saw him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were amazed and came to him and saluted him In neither of these places can we imagine the people were stroken with such great feare that should take their senses from them and in this last it is expressely written they ranne and saluted him which argueth that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth a sudden admiration sometimes without feare and sometimes permixed with feare for the sight of some strange or vnknowen thing So the people when they saw him cast out vncleane spirits with his word m Mar. 1. v. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were all amazed and asked one of another What thing is this What new doctrine is this And the women that went earely to Christes sepulchre and n Mar. 16. v. 5. saw a yong man sitting clothed in a long white robe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were afrayd and he sayd to them o 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be not afraid In none of which places the word signifieth any hellish paine or confusion but either admiration or such sudden feare ioyned with some wondering as a strange or vnknowen sight breedeth though we feare no hurt towards our selues And of these very
so grieuous feare trouble and sorow of mind or soule that he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me I make good difference betwixt the Booke of Homilies confirmed as well by the publicke authority of Prince and Parliament Anno Reginae 13. ca 12 as by the generall subscription of the vpper and neather house in the conuocation Anno 1571 to a In the 35. article of Homilies containe godlie wholesome and necessarie doctrine and the Catechisme then licenced to be taught in Schooles to yong scholers but without any such autoritie as the former is Shew the like approbation and you shall freely call it the publike autorized doctrine of England till you doe so giue me leaue to tell you that the one is indeede by publicke authority receaued and ratified euen as the articles are the other was by priuate discretion permitted and tolerated to be taught in Grammar schooles but publicke authority of the whole Realme you may chalenge none vnto it And therefore I take my selfe in matters of faith not bound vnto it farder then it accordeth with the manifest trueth deliuered in the â—…acred Scriptures Againe your selfe doâ—… more impugne the Catechisme then I doe For if your owne wordes be true that Christ when he vttered those b Defenc. pag. 110. li. 28. 34. words spake in his mind of his constant and continuall ioy in God and was in exceeding generall and constant ioy What place leaue you for any of those wordes which you cite out of the Catechisme to haue any trueth in them since they speake of exceeding and horrible feares and sorrows which I thinke are contrarie to your triumphant generall and constant ioy And although I thinke it no reason that a thing priuatly permitted should abrogate the full and maine consent of the learned and auntient Fathers as you would haue it to doe and therefore make it free when the Carechisme swatueth from their sense and interpretation to be of another mind yet I condemne nothing in it as wicked but wish that soâ—…e few places had been more cleerly and more particularlâ—…e deliuered and expressed to auoid such cauillers as you and some others are But you with open mouth reiâ—…ct euen those places which now you produce as passing strange doctrine and simply impossible For where the Catechisme here in these words which you alleage saith Christ was Aeternae mortis horrore perfusus perfused or wholy touched with an horror which is a trembling feare of eternall death you not only reason against it that c Defenc. pag. 9â—… li. 13. Christ could not feare that which he perfectly knew concerned him not at all and by no meanes could euer possibly come neere him but you make it d li. 12. passing strange doctrine and simply impossible that Christ should feare or pray against the whole and intire cup of eternall death And yet the Catechisme saith he trembled and was ouercast with the horror of it You misâ—…ike that the Catechisme saith except you may peruert it to your pleasure and in steed of fearing eternall death you say Christ suffered the second death which is die death of the damned and so refusing the Catechisme for saying so much you say more and thinke the Catechisme is of your mind But sir tell vs how Christ could be stroken with the HORROR OF ETERNALL DEATH for those aâ—…e the wordes of the Catechisme and not how he suffered your new made hell which the Catechisme neuer speaketh of I haue deliuered two senses to salue the Catechisme which you impugne The first that Christ in respect of his members to whom that death was due might in loue and pietie towards them inwardly tremble at the punishment deserued by them since mercie maketh vs truely feele the very smart of other mens harmes and dangers and where we hartily loue no lesse then if they were imminent ouer our owne heads The second that Christ fearing the power of Gods wrath against sinne which is infinite may in a sort be sayd to tremble at the effects thereof by reason he trembled at the cause thereof And in this sense the consideration and apprehension of Gods infinite power and displeasure against sinne might brâ—…ede those horrible feares and sorrowes which the Catcchisme talketh of Otherwise I must be plaine the Catechisme sayth more then can be prooued by any Scripture or any learned and auncient Father and more then you your selfe allow or like saue that you would out of his vehement speaches make some aduantage to your cause though in substance you wholy dissent from the maker thereof For he speaketh of feare and sorrow you of re 〈◊〉 al solute suffering he of eternall death due to sin you of a new found hell from the immediate hand of God which is no part of the Catcchisers meaning since he plainely nameth future and euerlasting death due to sinners and not a present and temporall hell which is not the full wages of sinne nor of the damned The like I say for the notes added by the Printer or correctour to the great Bible whose text is authorized to be read in the Church but not the notes to be of equall credit or authoritie with the text And if you may turne of the whole aâ—…ay of auncient and Catholike Fathers because they diflent from your conceits how much lesse am I bound to correctours or Printers adding often times to other mens workes and labours what pleaseth themselues Though the note be not such but that it may receiue the former construction and be tolerated welâ—… enough Wherefore I meane euen the same giddy spirit which before I did buzzing in the eares of the people his owne fancies against the Scriptures against the Fathers and against the doctrine of this Realme confirmed by publike authoritie of Prince and Parliament The recollecting of your former reason so lately and largely answered I omit as tedious trifling and since you say no more then is before refuted what should I trouble my selfe and the Reader with repeating the same things so often iterated e Defenc pag. 118. li. 10. You haue yet heere and there some exceptions against this our doctrine which are not to be cleane neglected First you say I extend Christs agonie to farre because I will haue is proceede from the intolerable sorrowes and horrors of Gods siery wrath equall to â—…ell I shew not there the cause of Christs agonie and feare I shewed it of purpose in the beginning Why did you not refuse that You extend it so farre according to my wordes yea your maine purpose is to make that the cause of Christs agonie in the garden and on the crosse onely you would vse some cunning in the carriage of it first to make sorrowes and feares the cause thereof and at the next step to aske what sorrowes and feares could those be but the intolerable sorowes and horrors of Gods fierie wrath equall to hell And to this end you quote both the
from the body Take an example of this fire which we see and know If it be not possible without a miracle from the mighty hand of God for flesh to abide or life to dure in the paine of burning and flaming fire how lesse possible is it for the wicked on whom God sheweth no such wonders to liue and continue in the paines of the damned whiles they are heere fastened to the flesh b Chrysost. ad Theodorum lapsum epâ—…st 5. Hic quidem non simul contingit vehementia poenarum earum diuturnitas Altera enim cum altera pugnat propter conditionem corruptibilis huius corporis non ferentisea In this life saith Chrysostome the violence of paines and the continuance thereof cannot stand together The one fighteth with the other by reason of this corruptible body which cannot beare both And againe c Idem ad Populum Antioch homil 49. Name fire or sword or any thing that is more grieuous then these yet these are scant a shadow to those torments d Defenc. pag. 121. li. 16. And if hell paines in this world may be in any much rather may they be in Christ whom God purposely sent through paines and afflictions the extreamest that might be to be consecrated the Prince of our saluation If the true paines of hell might be in others here liuing yet in Christs soule they might not be since his soule had alwaies greater inward ioyes of the holy Ghost which you call heauen then any man here liuing on earth could haue except your learning serue you to put both the ioyes of heauen and the paines of hell at one and the same time in the soule of Christ. As for your proofe when you shew that the paines of hell are sacred and holy then bring them to consecrate the Prince of our saluation Till then refraine this apparent collusion to make Christ both obedient and astonished patient and ouerwhelmed in the paines of hell and learne that God tried the obedience and patience of his Sonne by the things which he suffered and so consecrated or consummated him to be the Prince of our saluation who must be conformed to his image to suffer with him not the pains of hell but the miseries and afflictions of this life with all obedience to the will and counsell of God if we will reigne with him e Defenc pag. 121. li. 14. 19. If you say yet thus it will follow that the extreamest paines of hell are not to be found in this world as the hiest ioyes of heauen are not likewise by my confession I answere I know not neither meane I to determine the measure and depth of sorowes which Christ in his Passion suffered Either you change mindes with the windes or he that wrote this wrote not that which went before In the 52 page of this booke li. 25. you prated apace that Christ suffered a sense of Gods wrath EQVALL to hell it selfe and ALL THE TORMENTS thereof And in the 15 page li. 16. you solemnly concluded whence it must follow that the paines of Christs suffering were the same in nature and ALTOGETHER AS SHARPE and as painfull as they are in hell it selfe Now you know no such thing nor meane to determine it It were good you tooke vpon you to know lesse of your hellish mysteries till you were more assured of them or better learned in them This floting vp downe like the waues of the sea shew that either diuers mens pens haue beene in your papers or that vnquiet buzzes are in your owne braines who sometimes can not nor will not and yet somtimes can and will determine and pronounce the paines of hell suffered by Christ to be EQVALL to hell and all the torments thereof and AS SHARPE as the sharpest in hell But your Reader if he be wise will see you more constant in your owne conceits before he giue any credit to them and lesse maruell that men fallen from the trueth thus reele to and fro f Defenc. pag. 121. li. 22. Only grant this plainly that Christ suffered in his soule the true effects of Gods proper iustice and wrath and we seeke no more Tell me first what you meane by the effects of Gods proper iustice and wrath and then from what Scripture you deriue it and you shall soone see what I grant Only say you no more than you haue expresse warrant of the holie Ghost to beleeue and I aske no more With the name of Gods proper wrath you haue plaied a long time and a number haue deceaued them selues For as it is most true that God would haue laid none of these things which Christ suffered on his owne sonne but displeased and angrie with our sinnes for which he was to satisfie the Iustice of God least our iniquitie should seeme a matter of dalliance and easily â—…uerpast so it is as true that God neither was nor could be wroth and offended with the person of his owne sonne in whom he was well pleased and for whose sake he was reconciled to vs but that the chastisement of our peace being imposed on him who for the innocencie and excellencie of his person was able to tolerate and mitigate the wrath of God prouoked by our sinnes he made the purgation of them by that kind of satisfaction which was conuenient both to the dignitie and safetie of his person and argued apparantly the loue of God towards him and his loue towards vs whiles he put him selfe in the gappe by his owne smart to auert and appease the iust wrath kindled against vs. Now what this chastisement was wee may neither of vs nor any man els seeke farder then the holie Ghost hath deliuered that g 1. Cor. 15. Christ died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures and h Philip 2. became obedient to the death euen the death of the crosse which is plainly described by the Euangelists and should not be questioned by any that is not more wedded to his conceits than to the word of God i Defenc. pag. 121. li. 31. Though Christ suffered all which he did suffer here in this world yeâ—… for any thing I can see there is cause why Christ should be an extraordinarie person in the case of suffering for sin in this life and that therefore as touching sorow and paine he might feele more than euer any els hath or could feele for the time He was an extraordinarie person indeed as being the true and only Sonne of God that is both God and man in one person bearing the burden of our sinnes in his bodie but appropriating or accounting the same to the dignitie of his person that by his death he might abolish him that had rule of death and restore vs to life by his humilitie and obedience which was so precious and glorious in the sight of God that he accepted it as a full sacrifice and satisfaction for all our sinnes and made him the authour of eternali saluation
to all that obey him but that he must be God aswel as man to be able to suffer the paines of hell the second death that is a new deuice of yours not conuerting the Godhead of Christ to the infinitenesse of his merits but abusing it to the infinitenesse of his paines to make place for your new-found hell from the immediate hand of God where Scripture mentioneth no such thing in the worke of our redemption but plainly and fairely teacheth vs that we are k Rom. 5. reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne who l Coloss. 1. by the bloud of his Crosse procured perfect peace in heauen and in earth and restored vs to the fauour of God through death in the bodie of his flesh in which he m Rom. 8. condemned sinne that we might be n Heb. 10. sanctified by the offering of his bodie once made on the altar of the Crosse. And this doctrine so euidently and frequently deliuered by the Holy Ghost in the sacred Scriptures is so sufficient that I see no cause nor need of your hell paines besides no warrant nor witnesse of them except we dreame that the spirit of God did not well vnderstand or could not aptly expresse your hellish mysteries which he alwaies ouerpasseth with silence when hee speaketh of the purgation of our sinnes and our redemption by the precious bloud of the Lambe vnspotted and vndefiled If therefore it be not lawfull in the highest points of faith to adde ought to the word of God nor to thinke that the spirit of Trueth faileth or defecteth in his instruction vnto trueth I do not see with what dutie to God you and others may be so bolde with the Sonne of God as to subiect his soule to the second death and to the paines of the damned when the Scriptures offer vs no such part or point of our beliefe o Defenc. pag. 121. li. 36. You seeme to grant vnto Christ all naturall sorrow and feare neither doe we seeke any more but you trust the paine of the damned is more than a naturall oppressing and afflicting of the heart with humane feare and sorow For sooth it is not It is no more than a very naturall humane feare and sorow It proceedeth immediately and principally from God himselfe who is the Nature of Natures Also mans nature is apt to receiue such sorow and feare from him Thus the very paines of the damned are meerely naturall If you make vs many such conclusions you will proue your selfe a meere Naturall For if all things be meerely naturall to man that God either bestoweth or inflicteth on man then grace and glorie are meerely naturall to man yea heauen it selfe is as naturall to man as hell and the Holy Ghost himselfe shall become meerely naturall to man for God doth giue and we p Rom. 8. receiue the spirit of adoption whereby we crie Abba Father yea the second person in Trinitie is inseparably ioyned to mans nature and as well the â—…ather as the Sonne q 1. Ioh. 4. abide and r 2. Cor. 6. dwell in all the Saints So that the coniunction communion and inhabitation of the godhead in man is meerly naturall vnto man by your doctrine and not only God but the Diuell is as naturall to man and so are those things which are most vnnaturall and most repugnant to mans nature For man doth and suffereth them by and from God or the Diuel As corruption and incorruption mortality and immortality righteousnesse vnrighteousnesse saluation and destruction eternall life and eternall death are meerly naturall to man by your learned discourse which if you persist to defend take heed least men doubt whether frensie be naturall to you or no. Natural I called not whatsoeuer is any way incident to men in this life or the next but that which is generall necessary to all men in that they are men Wherfore I make neither hell nor heauen naturall vnto men since the one God giueth by his power and grace aboue our nature for our nature is not to be as the Angels of God and in the other by iustice and wrath God worketh against our nature For that fire should euerlastingly burne and flesh euerlastingly dure therein and soules be extreamely tormented therewith are to my vnderstanding farre beyond nature except you beâ—…eaue God of his almighty power and will which the Scriptures confesse in him and call him by the name of nature which is no more but the condition and operation that he hath assigned in this world to euery creature If you would needs know whence I tooke the word naturall read either Fulgentius or Damascene and you shall soone see what they and I meane by nature s Tulgentiâ—… ad Trasimundum li. tertio Because Christ saith Fulgentius tooke vpon him to be a true man ideo cunct as naturae humanae infirmitates ver as quidem sedvoluntarias sustinuit therefore he sustained all the infirmities of mans nature truely but voluntarily and so Damascene t Damas. li. 3. ca. 20. We confesse that Christ vndertooke all naturall and sinlesse passions Naturall and sinlesse passions are those which entered into mans life by the condemnation of Adams transgression as hunger thirst wearinesse labour weeping shunning of death feare agonie and such like which are naturally in all men So that what is geneâ—…all and necessarie to all men in this life is naturall to man which I trust neither hell nor heauen is though by iustice or mercie all men after this life shall feele the one or enioy the other u Defâ—…nc pag. 122. li. 6. Supernaturall I graunt they are if we meane this that they are aboue our natures state to beare or to comprehend them If your rule be true that men naturally receiue the paines of hâ—…ll why should not mans nature as well beare them or compâ—…ehend them as receiue them except you meane the bearing of them with patience or comprehending the end of them what punishment men receiuâ—… that they beare x Gala 5. He that troubleth you shall be are his condemnation whosoeuer he be And againe y Gala 6. euery man shall beâ—…re his own burden And so elsewhere z Ephes. 3. I bow my knees vnto the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ that he will grant you that ye may be strengthened by his spirit in the inward man that ye may be able to COMPREHEND with all Saints what is the breadth length and depth and height and to know the loue of Christ which passeth the knowledge of man And if men shall feele the paines of hell why shall they not comprehend that which they feele They shall apprehend no end nor ease thereof but feeling is a comprehension of the paine though it shall be so great that they cannot endure it with any patience And yet since you striue for the paines of hell in the soule of Christ aduise you whether Christ shall
Both these Christ affirmeth in the garden k Matth. 26. vers 53. Thinkest thou saith he to Peter that I cannot now pray to my Father and he will giue me more then twelue Legions of Angels how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so And at the second time of his returne to praier l Ibid. vers 42. O my Father if this cup cannot paesse away from me but that I must drinke it that is thereof thy will be donne So that by the first frame of Christs praiers m Ibid. ver 39. O my Father IF IT BE POSSIBLE let this cup passe from me If we vnderstand either Christs purpose to make it appeare that his death reuealed in the Scriptures was now by Gods counsell necessarily required for our redemption and that it was no want of power nor neglect of his safetie that put him into the hands of his enemies but his owne good will obeying the wisedome of his Father for our saluation or els that he desired the sharpenesse of the Cuppe might passe from him so farre as was possible that it might not ouerpresse his strength and patience in either of these two senses the words stand well and haue no touch of declining or disliking the counsell and determination of God to ransome and reconcile the world to himselfe by the death of his Sonne If with Chrysostom Cyril Damascene and others we like to make it the voice of mans weake flesh in Christ but still subiected to the will of God there is no repugnance to the will of God which is alwayes preferred though there be a declining of his hand if it were possible to stand with his will For so long as obedience ouerruleth the sense of nature and nature sheweth nothing but that which is ingraffed in it by Gods power and will I doe not see what aduantage you can take Sir Defender at this third sense of Christes words though we grant the flesh of man to be so created that it shrinketh at the weight of Gods hand and would decline it if it might stand with Gods will Els were it not lawfull to pray that affliction might be ended or eased if we might desire nothing that were possible to be contrary to Gods will since we know not his particular will touching our temporall troubles but by the euent n Defenc. pag. 126. li. 16. Thus Dauids and Christs were not onely possible to be contrarie but contrarie in deede as the sequell shewed You may as well inferre that God himselfe had contrary willes when he repented that he made man when he threatned destruction to Niniâ—…eh and death to King Ezechiah and yet vpon their prayers spared both howbeit it were blasphemie to say that God hath willes indeede contrary one to the other as the sequell sheweth He hath an absolute will working and perfourming in heauen and earth whatsoeuer pleaseth him which cannot be resisted nor frustrated by any means He hath a conditionall will by iustice threatning and punishing vs when we are sinfull and carelesse and by mercy sparing vs when we repent and turne vnto him And this will in him though it worke contrary effects in vs yet it is in him onâ—… and the same will wherewith he giueth his owne as he best liketh pardoneth the penitent and reuengeth the obstinate the one agrâ—…eing with his mercie the other with his iustice So Christ had two willes the one proportioned to Gods creation whereby the flesh shrinketh and shunneth paine the other measured by Gods determination which declared his obedience and in either of these he accorded with the will of God who ment not onely to strike but to haue the stroke felt with paine and griefe to mans nature in Christ. o Defenc. pag. 126. li. 17. Howbeit both their desires were neuerthelesse holy made in faith assured to receiue as conditionall desires may be directed aright prepared sufficiently yet only for this cause seeing Dauid simply knew not Gods contrarie will Christ knew it not at this instant Dauid repented his sin with which God was displeased the more earnestly instantly because he saw the dislike which God had of his fact was the cause of death denounced to his child So that Dauids desire to please and pacifie God with most humble and inward submission the rather if it were possible to auert the wrath of God threatned to his child for his offence had in it pietie charitie humilitie and other good points of godly repentance and his prayer for his child was pardonable because he knew not Gods certaine resolution to the contrarie though he heard the Prophet in Gods name denounce p 2. Sam. 12. the child should surely die which Dauid tooke to be conditionall as other Gods threats are oftentimes the rather to reduce sinners to more zealous and hartie conuersion vnto God But in Christes prayers no such thing can be pretended His not remembring what he knew most assuredly and beleeued most stedfastly could not make his prayers to be prepared sufficiently directed aright and assured to receiue For neither preparation direction faith nor assurance could be in the soule of Christ without vnderstanding and memorie since neither forgetfulnesse nor ignorance of that which we should know doe warrant our prayers to be holy much lesse to be perfect and such as are assured to be heard And if all these conditions of faithfull and Godly prayer were found in Christs petition in the Garden as you confesse shew vs how they could be indeed contrary to Gods knowen will I haue no doubt of all Christes prayers and speaches but they were well aduised rightly prepared and throughly assured to be heard that is perfectly holy as he intended them but Christes not remembring the will of God reuealed to him could not performe or effect these things in his prayer but rather contrariwise his full knowledge and present remembrance of Gods will with exact obedience and submission thereunto Otherwise not remembring that which he well knew might excuse from sinne if hee were so amazed that vnderstanding and memorie failed him but it could not make him assured to receiue since God doth graunt their desires to such as dewly remember and not in such as in part or wholy forget his will Againe not remembring the trueth of Gods will reuealed is not faith in any man since faith is the sure and full perswasion of Gods will and promises toward vs which if we remember not how may we be said to be fully assured and firmely perswaded of them Wherefore you make out this matter with emptie words as your manner is least you should be taken tardie with a plaine error and haue peeced together very vntowardly diuers mens places the head not agreeing with the hâ—…eles since you first defended that Christ was forgetfull and all confounded in all the powers of his soule and senses of his bodie or else he had sinned in praying against Gods knowen will and now you
for That the death of the soule or body should haue dominion ouer him was simply impossible and Christ 〈◊〉 knew so much as your owne words yeeld Then neither did he nor could he pray by your positions for any such thing and consequently God did not heare him in those things for which he praied not And so your two waies of hearing and deliuering Christ your selfe by your owne doctrine ouerthrow rather as iests then iust deliuerances And then doth my sequell persue you more strongly then before that Christ must be freed from suffering that he feared not by suffering it since he neuer doubted and so neuer praied by your diuinity to be sustained in it nor after suffering to be freed from it p Defenc. pag. 132. li. 15. In another place you seeme to obserue a point both strange and very contrary to your selfe in saying feare is more intolerable in Christ then doubting when you haue so often and so earnestly affirmed that Christ feared for feare became astonished To him that neuer read leafe nor line of holy Scripture this may make some iolly shew but to him that can distinguish white from blacke it will appeare to be rather an ignorant conceit in you then a repugnant speach in me A naturall feare of euill is incident to all mens natures by Gods ordinance in his first creating vs and so common to Christs manhood with all men be they good or bad For therefore did God threaten death to Adam if he disobeyed that both the loue of God enioied and feare of euill if he transgressed might restraine him from sinne A religious feare of Gods greatnesse and in cause of committing or suffering for sinne the trembling at the power of his wrath is proper to the godly wherein Christ might and did communicate with them as being to beare the punishment of our sinne though he were free from all sinne A distrustfull feare which quencheth faith and excludeth hope is common to all the wicked and therein Christ might not concurre with them least he conioined with them in siâ—…ne The first was tolerable the second was commendable in Christ the third was neither Of this third kind of feare I speake when I say feare is more 〈◊〉 in Christ then doubting But perhaps you could not discerne so much because my speach was darâ—…e I am content to be tried by the Reader whether any man might mistake my words euen there where you stumble at them but he that would wilfully peruert them My words stand thus In that perfect persuasion knowledge and assurance of Gods euerlasting q Sermo pa. 118. li. 22. purpose fauour and loue towards him that he should be the Sauiour of the world if doubting be not tolerable how enexcusable is feare and terror as if he were for saken of God Doâ—… I heere speake of all kinds of feares or of that only whereby Christ should feare least Gods purpose promise and loue towards him might faile my illation in that very page is this The soule of Christ must therefore be farre from fearing or doubting least r Ibid. li. 32. God would change his mind recall his word frustrate his promise and violate his oâ—…th for these are blasphemies against God in the highest degree He must be more then blind which doth not see what kind of feare I exclude from Christ but you did cunningly to peruert my words when you could not resist my reasons For all your apprehensions of Gods proper wrath and fierie indignation which you so much proclaime if you direct them to the person of Christ as if he conceaued feared or doubted any change or decrease of Gods fauour and loue towards him or his sacrifice then are they these verie feares which heere I banish from Christ as vtterly blasphemous It was therefore some skill to shift of these words with a slanderous and false crimination least they should make you breath before you were disburdened of them if you toke them rightly s Defenc. pag. 132. li. 19. You seeke a weake aduantage in that I said eisaekonstheis may seeme to shew that Christ was heard being in that which he was saued from You see I chalenge no certaine but a seeming reason from that word In the maine ground of our saluation and redemption which are most certaine in the Scriptures to impugne the doctrine there deliuered with seeming reasons is the guise of him that would seeme a good Christian but is none Indeed you haue beset your selfe in your defence with store of seemings as I could specifie the places and points if it were to this purpose and I thinke your whole defence hath nothing in it but your seemings you vse therein so few either authorities or reasons other then your owne conceits and assertions But vpon these seemings you set pestilent positions slanderous imputations and false conclusions as euen here you both resolue that Christ was in your hell paines and you presume so to translate the word eisakonstheis he was heard being in it as if that were the true force of the Apostles words But your selfe maketh a stranger conclusion ergo the actiue 〈◊〉 Treat pag. 63. li. 26. referred to God importeth that God being in the same pains did heare him Yet such a conclusion as your collection cannot auoid For where Christ was heard God did heare the passiue in Christ noteth the actiue to be truely affirmed of God that he did heare Christ. If then that word as you boldly with your seeming reason and false translation affirme import being in the paines of hell it must so signifie as well in the actiue referred to God as in the passiue applied to Christ. If you be now ashamed to heare of these vnseeming and vnsauery reasons blot them out of your owne booke and bestow your time better hereafter u Defenc. pag. 132. li. 24. Lastly you say but in the garden Christ neuer praied with strong cries and teares to be saued from death that we read in the Scriptures I hope you doâ—… not read in the Scriptures expressely at all that thus he praied in the garden You may soundly gather it from the Scriptures I grant My words are not that the Scriptures expressely name Christs teares in the garden but that none other place nor time of Christs praier mentioned in the Euangelists doe admit teares but the garden For there the place being priuate and his praiers so vehement that his sweat was like bloud both olde and new writers haue collected that the Apostles words were verified in the garden yea the sweat of Christ Bernard calleth teares where he saith x Bernardus in Ramis Palmarum Serm. 3. Christ falling into an agony prayed the third time where he seemed to weepe not only with his eyes but with all the parts of his bodie that the whole bodie of his Church might be purged with the teares of his whole body Zinglius confesseth as much y Zinglius in Historiam Passio Non
all his Disciples to feare him euen God y Luc. 12. who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell Shall we thence inferre by your diuinitie that God will cast all the faithfull into hell because he hath power so to doe which they must feare z Philip. 2 Finish your saluation with feare and trembling saith the Apostle Shall we therefore neuer be saued because we must alwayes tremble and feare vnder the mightie hand of God Vnder the same hand of God migh Christ feare and tremble not doubting of his saluation nor distrusting his Fathers loue but knowing that the hand of God was Almightie and able to impose farre greater paine on his bodie then his humane flesh was able to beare It is therefore due to Gods power from all the faithfull and was likewise from Christes manhoode for men to be afrayd of the strength of Gods hand when he ariseth to punish sinne though when and how he will doe it we may not or cannot determine And if we should graunt that Christs flesh euen thus feared the power of Gods hand that was able to keepe him from death and to inflict what paine pleased him you are no whit the nearer to your new found hell or to your second death of Christs soule which you labour to deriue from these words of the Apostle to the Hebrewes But to let the reader see how rashly rudely you conclude what you list out of the Apostles words without any sure ground The word which all this while you haue taken to import a coufused and perplexed feare in Christ hath no such signification in the Greeke tongue and in this place of the Apostle by the iudgement of the ancient and best learned interpreters of all ages that are not infected with this new fansie is taken for reuerence or a religious feare of God Of which signification there can be no question with any man that is meanely learned And albeit some fauouring your fansie haue sough farre and neere for examples where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might signifie a painefull and amazing feare yet find they none neither in prophane nor sacred writers but only a carefull feare to decline euill or a religious feare honoring God to be the true force of that word How prophane men vse the word with that I haue elsewhere sayd this may suffice Diogenes Laertius deliuering the decrees and opinions of the best philosophers saith of them they affirme a 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 carefulnesse is contrary to feare as being an honest and reasonable declination of euill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that a wise man is neâ—…er amazed with feare but wary to decline euill Saint Ierom confesseth as much among Christians b 〈◊〉 li 3 〈◊〉 5. â—…pist â—…d 〈◊〉 He that feareth hath paiâ—…e and is not perfect According to which signification of feare seruants haue the spirit of bondage in feare There is another kind of feare named by the Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and with vs it may be called 〈◊〉 though this doe not fully match the force of the word The Prophet Dauid knew tâ—…e 〈◊〉 of the perfect when he said nothing wanteth to them that feare the Lord. Of Simeon that tooke Christ in his armes when he was brought to the Temple by his mother Saint Luke saith he was a iust man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and one that religiously feared God So of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. that buried Steuen the Martyr he saith d 〈◊〉 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certaine mâ—…n Fâ—…ARING GOD caried Steuen to bee buried And in the twelfth of this Epistle the same Apostle vseth the very word which he applied before to Christ for the common duetie of all the godly e Hebr. 12. Let vs haue grace by which we may serue and please God with reuerence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a religious feare Which is M. f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 12. ca. epistolâ—… ad Hebreos Bezaes owne interpretation of that place howsoeuer he swarue from it in the formâ—…r words of the same Epistle Neither doth the Syriack translation any thing helpe him since the word dechalta which in the fift Chapter is affirmed of Christ in the 12. Chapter of the same Epistle and indiuers other places of the new Testament is by the same translator referred to al Christians as expressing a generall duty belonging to God And therfore there is no need why any man should translate the one otherwise then he doth the other specially the whole Greeke and Latin Church concurring in one and the same signification and exposition of the word which is a better precedent to follow then any one mans translation And where some others would take aduantage of the Greeke preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifiâ—…th for as well as from signifying alwayes from and not for it is an euident ouersight in them abusing their skill to maintaine their will more then trueth enforceth For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the new Testament and with the Septuagint noteth vsually as well for as from In the 14. of Saint Matthewes Gospell when the disciples saw Christ walking on the waters at the fourth watch of the night and approching the ship wherein they were they cryed g Matth. 14. vers 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for feare The souldiers likewise that kept the Sepulchre when they saw the Angell that rolled away the stone and sate on it they were h Matth. 28. vers 〈◊〉 astonished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for feare and became as dead men Zacheus by reason of his low stature could not see Iesus i Luc. 19. v. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the multitude or presse that was about him The Apostles that cast theiâ—… net into the sea at Christs commandement could not draw it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the number k Ioh 21. v. 6. of fishes that were in the net Paul reporting the maner of his conuersion how he was stroken to the ground with a great light that suddenly shined on him from heauen sayth When I could not see l Acts 22. ver 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the glory of that light I was led by the hand to Damascus The Sâ—…ptuagint in many places vse the same proposition in the same sense Israels eyes were dimme m Gen. 48. v. 14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for age My bones sayth Iob are drie n Iob. 30. v. 30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for heat You shall crie o Esa. 65. v. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for griefe of heart and houle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for affliction of spirit sayth Esay of the Iewes reiected Where the Septuagint doe make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equiualent to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an accusatiâ—…e which noteth the cause of any thing Infinite are the examples that might be brought out
towards a trueth but this is cleane kam to that you said before Your former speach was these paines doe alwayes accompanie the wicked and now you turne the cake in the pan as if that side were not burnt and tell vs they are alwayes wicked whom those paines doe accompanie ordinarily Forsooth this is not How handsomly the defender shifteth hands that you said before and if you be ashamed of your follie and falsehood I am not against repentance But it were plaine dealing to confesse the fault and not to bring in an ape for an owle and say it is the same Creature And yet forsooth whether this position be true or not is without the compasse of your skill For first what is ordinarie with you once a weeke once a moneth or once in seuen yeeres you haue gotten a word that you may winde at your will and limite as you like best and yet without all proofe you resolue that these paines doe ordinarily accompanie the wicked experience I trust you will take none vpon you for then by your owne rule you must be alwayes wicked to sift other mens souls what paines they feele though they be wicked I win you haue no way but by report or conâ—…ecture which are both vncertaine Warrant in the word you haue none that such paines doe alwayes or ordinarily accompany the wicked the contrarie may rather be thence collected For when the wicked shall say q 1. Thess. 5. Peace and safetie then shall suddaine destruction come vpon them Peace and safetie in the paines of hell I suppose they haue nor cause nor will to say In Peace then safety not in the pains of the damned are many if not most of the wicked till destruction come vpon them which is not alwaies nor ordinary since they can be destroyed but once and vntill that time their ease and abundance make them forget God r Defenc. pag. 141. li. 18. Againe you pretend to haue much against me where I say the feeling of the sorrwes of Gods wrath due to sinne in a broken and contrite heart is indeede the onely true and perfectly accepted sacrifie to God True so I said and againe I say it What see you annsse in it Then vnhappie men are the godlâ—…e say you which are at any time free from the paines of the damned to what purpose is this I speake of Christs sacrifice Thus your triumphs before the victorie come to nothing but blasts of vanitie If I mistooke your meaning you are the more beholding to me the sense which you now expresse is worse then that I charged you with and yet I tooke your words as they lay which because they were namely applied neither to Christ nor to vs by you I pressed you with the lesser absurditie of the twaine Why your words might not be referred to the faithfull I saw no cause Dauid confessing that the s Psal. 51. v. 17. sacrifices of God he meaneth esteemed and required of God are a troubled spirit and a contrite and broken heart causeth the sacrifice of righteousnesse to be accepted I strained your words no farder then Dauids but sayd you miâ—…construed the wordes of the holy Ghost if you tooke a broken and contrite heart repenting his former sinnes for the paines of hell suffered in the soule You now say you ment this of Christ that his broken and contrite heart feeling the most vehement paines of the damned was the onely true and perfectly accepted sacrifice to God and aske me what I see amisse in this I will soone tell you Where I would haue charged you with a single error against the Godly by reason your wordes are indistinct and doubtfull you loade your selfe with a double iniurie against God and his Sonne For first the sacrifice of Christes bodie by which we are sanctified as saith the Apostle is excluded from being a true and perfectly accepted sacrifice if the paines of hell in his soule be onely the true sacrifice Secondly a false sacrifice deuised by your selfe and neuer offered by Christ is obtruded by you vnto God as the onely true sacrifice which he must perfectly accept and so where before you blazed an vntrueth you be now come to bolster it vp with impietie For where no Scripture doth witnesse that Christ suffered any such sorrowes and paines of hell as you surmise you now openly professe that all sorrowes and sacrifices besides this were neither true nor acceptable vnto God and that this your deuice surpasâ—…eth all the merits and obedience of Christ whatsoeuer t Defenc. pag. 141. li. 30. Where Austen seemeth to denie that Christes soule might die he denieth that Christ suffered any paines of damation locally in hell after his death as it seemeth some held about his time whom heere he laboureth to confute If your ignorance were not euery where patent some man perhaps would stumble at your report but you are growen to such a trade of outfacing that almost you can doe nothing else That any such opinion was held in Austens time as you talke of and that he laboured there to confute the same is a maske of your making to hide your owne blemishes Austen refelleth that as a fable in exact words when he saith Quis audeat dicere who dare say so Now if some had so held he must haue said some doe say so but who dare say so is as much as no man dareth say so If no man durst so to say then no man was so wicked or irreligious in Austens time as to dare say that Christs soule died which now is become the greatest pillar of your pater noster As for suffering in hell locally it is a fiction of yours fastened to S. Austen he hath no such words and therefore no such meaning u Defenc. pag 141. li. 37. He had no necessary cause â—…o speake of the second sense thereof how the soule may be sayd to suffer death extraordinarily for sinne imputed onely neither doth he speake against that in Christ. S. Austen a man would thinke had cause to know how we wâ—…re râ—…d by Christ and surely if he were ignorant thereof you would not iudge him worthy to be a Curate in your Conuenticles but shew that he who taught so much and wrote so much as his works declare euer spake word of your new-found redemption by the paines of hell suffered in the soule of Christ or by the second death Against it he often speaketh when he so soundly and sincerely collecteth out of the Scriptures that Christ died for vs the death of the body onely and not the death of the soule And this how could it be a true or tolerable assertion if the Scriptures did auouch or the church in his time had professed the death of Christs soule to be the chiefest part of our redemption for sinne and reconciliation to God Wherefore neuer dreame he had no necessarie cause to speake of your sense if your sense had beene a part
prepared which were requisite to offer the sacrifice for our sinnes behold the Priest with his sacrifice Christ with his body the body I say of him that was God who through voluntary obedience to his Father and most ardent loue to vs offered himselfe to God for a most sweet smell And where did he offer himselfe on the altar of the Crosse he suffered and died and that on the crosse k Ibidem Patitur in anima summam tristitiam timorem ignominiam in corpore summos dolores in singulis membris atrocissima flagella l Ibidem In ligno moritur vt mors per lignum ingressa in mundum per lignum tolleretur è mundo He suffered in soule most exceeding heauinesse feare and shame In his bodie most bitter paines in euerie member most grieuous scourges On the tree he died that as death came into the world by a tree so it might be taken out of the world by a tree m Idem in ca. 1. ad Ephes. v. 7. To that point how we are redeemed the Apostle saith by his bloud that is by 〈◊〉 sacrifice which consisted of the offering of his body deliuered to death and his bloud shed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fuit proprius modus this was the proper manner or onely way how we must be redeemed from the captiuitie of sinne and death This n Ibidem sacrifice which is often signified by the name of Christeâ—… bloud alone is that price of which the Prophets before and after the Apostles say we were redeemed by it For o Ibidem we are redeemed and haue remission of sinnes in Christ by his onely bloud p Idem de tribus 〈◊〉 1. cap. 5. test 9. This is euen he who by the onely sacrifice of his bodie should effectually clense the sinnes of the world And so againe The Apostle q Idem in ca. 1. ep ad Coloss. vers 22. expresseth the materiall cause of our reconciliation or the thing wherewith the Father reconciled vs to himselfe to 〈◊〉 by the oblation of the true and humane body of Christ deliuered to death for our sinnes This he meaneth when he saith in the body of his flesh through death For this body which was truely flesh and an humane body not simply but as it died is the matter of our reconciliation by that was reconciliation made He r Ibidem ioineth the body with bloud because both are the price of our reconciliation and by both were our sinnes clensed The Apostle then s Ibidem signifieth reconciliation was by the oblation of the body of Christ as by the true sacrifice sor sinne Zanchius speaketh not precisely you will say against the death of Christes soule In plainely and fully deliuering the matter and meane of our redemption to be the ONELY SACRIFICE of the body and bloud of Christ offered on the crosse to death he excludeth all other ransomes for our sins so maketh the death of Christs soule not onely to be superfluous to mans saluation but no meane of our redemption For in his iudgement t Zanchius de tribus Elohim part 1. li. 5. ca. 1 〈◊〉 10. Christ is the propitiatorie sacrifice for sinne not simply but as he died for vs with the shedding of his bloud and u Ibidem this ONELY SACRIFICE the shedding of Christes bloud vnto death God chose from euerlasting for the expiation of our sinnes and promised the same from the creation of the world and shadowed it with resemblances And touching the death of the soule if you teach as Zanchius doth you will presently finde it is open blasphemie to ascribe to Christ any death of the soule x Zanchâ—… tractat theologicâ—… de peccato originali ca. 4. thes 3 A triple death saith he God threatned to Adam for disobedience a spirituall death which was the separation of grace of the holy Ghost and of originall righteousnesse from the soule and body of Adam of which death in the Scriptures there is often mention made This death Adam died as soone as he did eate The second was a corporall death whereby the soule is seuered from the bodie To this Adam was presently vpon his eating made subiect though he did not straightwayes actually die The third is euerlasting death which is knowen to all of this death Adam was forthwith made guiltie This triple death was the punishment of his disobedience And vpon like occasion comparing the death of the soule and of the bodie he saith y Ibidem in ca. 2. epist. ad ephes vers 5. There is a triple death spirituall of the spirit or soule corporall knowen to all men and the third is that eternall death pertaining to bodie and soule wherewith all the wicked shall be punished in hell These all God threatned to Adam when he said what hower soeuer thou shalt eate c. thou shalt die the death For he straightway died in spirit or soule he incurred also the death of the bodie because he became mortall and was made guiltie of eternall death z Ibid. We haue rightly said death to bee the priuation of life and so of all the actions of life consisting in the separation of bodie and soule The like we must say of the spirituall life and death The spirituall life is a certaine spirituall and diuine force whereby we are mooued to spirituall and diuine actions by the presence of the holy Ghost dwelling in vs. The holy Ghost regenerating vs in this spirituall life is as it were the soule thereof And holy and spirituall thoughts holy desires holy actions both inward and outward are the operations of this spirituall life What then is the death of the spirit euen the priuation of the spirituall life and consequently of all spirituall and good actions in a man destitute of the presence of the holy Ghost which should quicken him comming from sinne and for sinne a Ibidem What strength hath a man dead in bodie to the actions of this life so neither can he that is dead in spirit or soule do any workes of the spirituall life Heere is a full and true description of the death of the spirit or soule of man which if you and your friends dare attribute to Christ then doth Zanchius fauour the death of Christs soule but if euery peece hereof applied to Christ be euident heresie and infidelitie then did Zanchius no way defend the death of Christes soule to be any part of our redemption and as for the second death he acknowledgeth none but that which is eternall and inflicted in hell on all the wicked Much more might be brought to like effect shewing the true and onely meane and matter of our redemption and reconciliation to be the only body and bloud of Christ yeelded vnto death for the ransome of our sinnes but I should make a new volume if I should stand thereon It may suffice in the iudgement of any reasonable man to refute the slaunderous
to the enemie The diuell therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thinking to kill one lost all and hoping to carie one to Hades hell was himselfe cast out of hades hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades hell is abrogated death no more preuailing but all being raised to life neither can the diuell stand vp any more against vs but is fallen and indeed creepeth on his brest and bellie And therefore of the Saints he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in fine they saw Hades hell spoiled Epiphanius in sundrie places expresseth the parts and purpose of Christs descending to hell or hades He was crucified buried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee descended to the places vnder earth in his diuinitie and in his soule he tooke captiuitie captiue and rose againe the third day What here he calleth places vnder the earth whither Christes soule went after his death that elswhere he calleth Hades The Godhead of Christ would performe all things that perteined to the mysterie of his passion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and would descend together with his soule to the infernall places to worke the saluation there of such as were before dead I meane the holy Patriarcks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that he might performe the things he would against hades in the forme of a man euen in hades that the chiefe Ruler HADES and death thinking to lay hands on a man and not knowing his Deitie vnited to his sacred soule Hades himselfe might rather be surprised and death dissolued and that fulfilled which was spoken Thou wilt not leaue my soule in Hades Basil Death is not altogether euill except you speake of the death of a sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because their departure hence is the beginning of their punishments in hades againe the euâ—…s that are in hades haue not God for their cause but our selues the head and root of sinne is in vs and in our willes And againe Dathan and Abiram were swallowed vp of earth the gulfes and clefts thereof opening vnder them Heere were not they the better for this kinde of punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for how should they be so that went to hades to hell but they made the rest the wiser by their example And writing on the 48 Psalme Because man turned himselfe from the word of God and became a beast the enemie caught him as a sheepe without a shepheard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and put him in hades hell but when he sayth God will redeeme my soule from the power of hades he doth plainly prophesie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the descent of the Lord to hades who would redeeme the Prophets soule with others not to abide there Nazianzene in his second Oration against Iulian the Renâ—…gate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stop thou thy secrets and wayes that leade to hell hades I will declare the plaine wayes which leade to heauen And of Christ he sayth Christ died but he restored to life and with his death abolished death He was buried but he rose againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He descended to hell hades but he brought backe soules and ascended to heauen Macarius When thou hearest that Christ deliuered soules 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of hell hades and darkeneâ—…se and that the Lord descended to hades and did an admirable worke thinke not these thinâ—… to be farre from thine owne soule And thus he maketh Christ to speake to death and to the diuell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I command thee hades and darkenesse and death restore the soules inclosed And so the wickâ—… powers trembling refund man that was inclosed Cyrill of Alexandria In olde times before Christ the soules of men departing from their bodies were sent to fill the receptacles of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in dennes vnder the earth But after Christ commended his oâ—…ne soule to his Father he renewed the same way for vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And now we goe not to bades from any place but we follow him rather in this and committing our soules to a faithfull Creatour we rest in excellent hope Yet of Christ he aâ—…firmeth The soule which was coupled and vnited to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 descended into hades and vsing the power and force of the Godhead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shewed it selâ—…e to the spirits or soules there For we must not say that the Godhead of the onely begotten which is a nature vncapable of death and no waâ—… conquerable by it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was brought backe from the dâ—…es vnder the earth Cyrill of Ierusalem like wise in his Catechismes vpon those words of the Psalme If ascend to heauen thou art there if I goe downe to hades tâ—…u art preâ—…ent sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If tâ—…ere â—…e â—…ing higher than the heauens and hades be lower than the earth he that compreâ—…â—…eth the â—…owest doth also touch the earth And to those that were baptized he sayth When thou renouncest Satan thou hast vtterly abrogated the couenant had with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. euen the olde couenant â—…ith hades hell and the Paradise of God is opened to thee In the Homilies which Leo the Emperour made for the exercise of his stâ—…le and confession of his faith it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is risen bringing Hades prisoner with him and proclaiming lilibertie to the capitues He that held others bound is now in bonds himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is come from hades with the ensigne of his triumph the sowre and heauie lookes of those that are vtterly ouerthrowen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as of Hades death and the hatefull diuels Damascene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The soule deisied descended to Hades that as to those on earth the Sonne of righteousnesse was risen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so to those that sate vnder the earth in darkenesse and in the shadow light might shine The brazen gates were torne the iron barres were broken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the keeper of Hades hell did shake for feare and the foundations of the world were laid open Cydonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there is in hades hell vengeance for all sinnes heere committed not onely the consent of all wise men but also the equalitie of the Diuine iustice confirmeth and strengthmeth this opinion Aeneas Gazeus He that in a priuate life committeth small sinnes and lamenteth them escapeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the punishments that are in Hades hell Gregentius Christ tooke a rodde out of the earth which was his pretious crosse stretching his right hand strake all his enemies conquered them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Hades death sin and that wilâ—…e serpent Theophylact. The rich man dying is not caried by the angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but
priuatiâ—…e condition of death they wâ—…l â—…ile at your presumptuous folly If it be a matter of faith it â—… no phrase if we must beleeue as they teach that Christ after his death and buâ—…all deâ—…cended to hell you must shew vs some other hell to which Christ descended after death or els I conclude that the Lawes of this Land bind all men to beleeue and professe that Christ descended to that hell which the Scriptures acknowledge and not â—…hich your roling concâ—…its and totterâ—…ng tonguâ—… would establish against the warrant and word of God whose only will should be the line whose only trueth should be the guide whose only praise should be the end of all our professions and actions THE TABLE SERVING for their vse that are desirous with more ease to finde out the speciall contents of this booke as they are handled in their seuerall places A A Brahams bosom pag. 552 the place therof vnknowen 656 Aâ—…yssus in the Newe Testamenâ—… is hell 6â—…9 Aâ—…sed iâ—…nocents and penitâ—…nts â—…re not though hanged on a tree 238 Châ—…t was noâ—… Aâ—…sed how great soeuer his paines weâ—… 164. 165 S. Auâ—…s iâ—…dgement how Châ—…ist was accursed 241 Men câ—…n not be truly blâ—…ssed and accursâ—…d 253 Thâ—…t is â—…ccâ—…ed whâ—…ch God hateth 257 A sacâ—…ifice for sinne is not acâ—…ursed but accepted of God 258 Adam sinned aswell by bodie as by soule 183. 184 Was punished for his sinne after Christ was promised 147 What God threatened to Adam if he sinned 177. 178 Aeternall death fâ—…r whom Christ might feare 484 Against aeâ—…rnall death as due to him Christ could not pâ—…ay 378. 379 Aeternally God doth not punish one for anothers â—…ault 336 Affections are pâ—…infull to the soule 4â—…9 make sensible alterations in the heart 193. 194 Good affections of loue and zeale are not painfull 26 Euill affections are punishments of sinne 31 Inward affections make outward impressions in the heart 193 The heart is the seat of mans affections and actions  Christ couâ—…d represse and encrease his affections as he saw cause 400 The Aâ—…xe cleaueth to the Verbe and not to the Noune 216 Afflâ—…ctions of the godly are moderated punishmeÌ„ts 9. 10. 11. 17. manifest Gods displeasure against sinne 14â—… Agony what it is 339 Tâ—…e paines of hell were not the cause of Christs agony 58. 59 The causes that might be of Christs agony in the â—…ardeÌ„ 9â—… they crossâ—… not one another 97 I diâ—… not resolue what was the cause of Christs agony  The precise cause of Christs agony is not reuealed in the Scriptures 338. 346. though the general occasions may be coniectured 346 The parts of Christs agony 339 An agony proueth rather zeale then feare 339 Feare and sorrow the Scriptures witnesse in Christs agony 342 Submission to God and compassion on men the generall causes of Christs agony 347 The first cause coÌ„curring to Christs agony 347 The second 354 The third 370 The fourth 371 The fiâ—…th 375 The sixt 399 The Fathers determâ—…ne not the exact cause of Chrâ—…sts agony 371 How some vse the word agony 403 The different affâ—…ctions in Christs agony had different causes 558 Amazâ—…d neither Moses nor Paul were in their praâ—…ers 368 Christ was not amazed in his praier 369. 479 Christs praier prooueth hee was not then amazed 469 Christs â—…raier was no amaze 467 The Defender yeeldâ—…th perfect knowledge to Christ in his amazednes 481 Angry God was with our sinnes but not with Christs person 463 God is truely angry with his childrens sinnes 14 Angels sinned in their whole nature as men doe 197 Angels and good men receaued the bowing of the body 662 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth For as well as From. 501 The Apostle 1. Cor. 15. speaketh onely of the resurrection to glory 640. What his wordes Hâ—…b 5. inferre 498. 499. 500 Beleeuers may not iudge of the apostles words 89 More Apostles then twelue 651 The diuers reading and translating of the apostles words 1. Cor. 15. 55. 639 Astonishment what it is 441 What astonishment with feare is 468 Christ did not pray in astonishment 441 Why Christ might be somewhat astonished 468 Athanasius lewdly falsified by the Defender 275 taketh Hades for hell 569. 600. 601 What Athanasius speaketh of Adam the Defender referreth to Christ. 275 Augustine not ignorant of the Greeke tongue 608 his iudgement how Christ was accursed 241 keepeth the sense of Peters word Act. 2. 626 is grossely mistaken by the Defender 627  Christ tooke our naturall but not sinfull affections 330 Christ might beholde the power of Gods wrath and yet not feare the vengeance due to the wicked 348 Christ prayed for vs and against Satan 352 Christ knew the burden of our sinnes must lie on his shoulders 353 Christ and his members must drinke of one and the same cup. 353 Christ wept for the desolation of Ierusalem and sorowed for the reiection of the Iewes 354 Christ wept and sorrowed when he would 355 Christ grieued at the wilfulnesse of the Iewes 357 Christ sorowed that his death should be the ruine of the Iewes ibid. Christ chose the time and place to shew his vehement affections 358 Christ could not be content to be separated from God for vs. 367 Christ suffered the likenesse of our punishment not of our sinne 273 Christ was not ordained to be damned for vs. 364 Christ feared not death but his Fathers power 370 Christ might pray to haue the deepnes of his sorrowes comforted paines asswaged 374. 375 Christ might pray against the sting of death which he was to feele before he died 381 Christ could not pray against eternall death as due to him but vnto vs. 378. 379 Christ was most earnestly to aske what God had faithfully promised to graunt 384 Christ felt all our affections not of necessitie but according to his owne power and will 386 Christ shewed in the garden how mans soule strugleth with the panges of death 388 Christ was weake to comfort the weak but stronger then the strongest on the crosse 388. 390 Christ saw the whole danger from which hee should redeeme vs. 392. 393 Christ teacheth all his to feare Gods power as himselfe did in the garden 393. 394 Christ presented and dedicated his body in the garden which he sufâ—…ered on the crosse to be done to death 399 Christ died not in the garden 400 Christ could represse and increase his affections as he saw cause 400 Christ found no ioy in his paines but comfort in his hope 411 Christ emptied himselfe of glory not of grace 412 Christ citing the 1. vers of the 21. Psalme noteth the whole to appertaine to his passion 434 Christ was mortified in flesh but not in soule 507 Christ might passe from hell to heauen 550 Christ needed no long time to deâ—…cend to hel 551 Christ presented himselfe in euery place 564 Christ was to rise full conquerer of hell and death 668 How Christs death was like the godlies 7 How Christ laid downe his soule for
ordained to be damned for vs. 364 Dauid neuer felt the true paines of hell 453 Dauids feare vnlike to Christs 442 What Death Christ died 19 A threefold death the wages of sinne 13â—… Corporall death in all men is the punishment of sinne 149. 150. 151. 176 Death in Christ was the satisfaction for sinne 176 Euerlasting death the wages of sinne which Christ could not suffer 226 The death of the body is euill in it selfe though God to his make it a passage to life 244. 245 The consequenâ—…s after death doe not proue death to be good 246 The nature of death not changed in the godly 252 God so hâ—…teth death that he will destroy it as an enemie 254 Naturall death came not by the sentence of Mosâ—… Law 261 Thâ—…e is no death of the Soule without sinne 366 All feele the sting of death which Christ expressed before he died 389 The death and life of the soule here on earth mistaken by the Defender 430 What the second death is in the Scriptures 492 Eight pâ—…es of Scripture abused for the death of Christs Soule 493 By one lande of death Christ freed vs from all kinds of death 504 To be vtterly forsaken of God is the death of the Soule 517. 518 The extreamest degree of pains where grace doth not faile is no death of the Soule 524 What things the death of the body doth import 649 The Defender grosly peruerteth my words 44. 45 The Defender contâ—…adicteth himselfe 56. 57 The Defender contemneth the Fathers and their iudgements 82 The Defender deuiseth shifts to decline Scriptures and Fathers against him 94 The Defender would make the maner of Christes dying onely vnusuall 95 The Dâ—…fender doth grossely mistake the reiection of the Iewes to be the meaning of Christes complaint on the crosse 98 The Dâ—…fender not able to support his errors doth quarrell with the question 99 The Defender eludeth the Scriptures with his termes of single and meere 125. 126. 127 The Defender clouteth one conclusion out of diuers places 146 The Defender maketh the sufferings of Christs flesh needlesse to our redemption 168. 169 The Defender peruerteth the doctrine of the Homilies 224. 225 The Defender maketh Christ sinfull accursed and defiled 265 The Defender would not faile to cite Fathers if he had them 273 The Defender compareth Christ in want of comfort with the damned 291 The Defender vainly presumeth all places of his vnanswered to be granted 319 The Defender hath deuised torments for Christs soule 323 The Defender controleth the words of the holy Ghost by his new phrases 413 The Defender in steed of proouing falleth to granting his owne positions 5â—…3 The Defender misciteth S. Iohns words and on that error groundeth all his reasons 644 The Defender giuing a reason of nâ—…thing asketh a reason of all things 415 The Defender claimeth like reuerence to his words as to the Scripture 325 The Defender saith the Scriptures are ordinarilie true that is sometimes false 367 The Defender doth euery where mistake and misapply what is said 384 The Defender forgeth a pace new parts of the Christian faith 393 The Defender taketh the parts of Christs agonie for the causes thereof 401 The Defender is somewhat pleasureable 528 The Defender corrupteth S. Luke 402. 403 The Defender ascribeth a liuely affection to Christs dead flesh 422 The Defender vttereth a flat contradiction to his owne doctrine 422. 423 The Defender confesseth the Fathers prooue my meaning 425 The Defender is driuen to contrarieties 431 The Defender taketh from Christ inward sense and memory in his sufferings 440 The Defender yeeldeth perfect knowledge to Christ in his amazednesse 481 The Defender foolishly prooueth the death of Christs soule 495. 496 The Defender abuseth the Scriptures 534. 535 The Defender cannot discerne a conclusion from a quotation 568 The Defendours foure restraints of hell paines 4 The Defendours disdaine of the fathers 98 The Defendours vaine shifts 114. 115 The Defendours skill in framing arguments 327 The Defendours absurd deuises 490 The Defendours manner of reasoning as illogicall as his matter is false 336 Dereliction in the Scriptures neuer implieth the paines of the damned 415 Deepe what it signifieth 566 To what Deepe Christ descended after death 565 567 The true sense of Paul and Moses words Rom. 10. concerning the Deepe 568 The whoâ—…e church taught that Christ after death descended to hell 544. 545 New Writers teach Christs descent to hell 546. 547 Christ needed no long time to descend to hell 551 Of Christs descending and ascending 553 Christ aescended and ascended to be Lord ouer all 563 To what deepe Christ descended after death 565 567 Descending is to places below 569 How long this clause of Christs descent to hell hath been in the Creed 653. 654 What Ruffinus meaneth by Christs descent to hell 655 Descending to hades was not the buriall of Christs body 556. 557. 558 The causes of Christs descent to hell 666 Desâ—…ending to hell was a part of Christs exaltation 671 The descent of Christ to hell confessed by the Catechisme 677 The Lawes of this land doe binde all to beleeue Christs descent to hell 678 Desperation in hell is no sinne 71 Desperation is the sorest torment in this life 238 A small Difference of wordes may quite alter the sense 199 Difference of Christs offering and suffering 276 Difference of outward and inward temptatioÌ„s 314 Difference betwixt Gods threats iudgements 472 How the Diuell may discerne and incense our affections 192 The Diuell tormented not Christes soule on the Crosse. 295 Christ suffered as deepe paines but not as deepe Doubts as we may 321 E. ELect Who is enemie to Gods Elect. 233 The Elect are neuer truely accursed 252 The Elect cannot perish 364 Erasmus fouly mistaken by the defendor 653 Foure notable Errors grounded by the defendor vpon the facts of Moses and Paul 363 The first 363 The second 365 The third 367 The fourth 368 What impressions Euill maketh in the soule of man 341 Euill past present or to come worketh sorrow paine and feare in the soule of man 341 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it importeth 485 Is contrarie to feare 501 Esay doth not touch the death of Christes soule 526. 527 Esay 14. Shcol for hell 559. 560 Eusebius report of Thaddeus allowed by the best historiographers 660 F FAthers their iudgements may be called Authorities 83 The Fathers may be left in some priuate opinions 84 I leaue not the Fathers in the grounds of faith 85 The Fathers doc not teach that Christ suffered all which we should haue suffered 138. 139 The Fathers disclaime all necessitie in the death of Christ. 285 The Fathers determine not the exact cause of Christs Agonie 371 Wherein we should follow the Fathers 415 Some Fathers expound me in Christs wordes for my members 416 No Father auoucheth the death of Christs Soule 142. 143 Diuerse Fathers euidently corrupted for the death of Christs Soule 428. 429 By the iudgement of the Fathers Christ died
damned doe though in circumstances of time and place his sufferings somewhat differed from theirs Your quintessencing and new framing of another hell which the Scriptures neuer speake of your quenching hell-fire with a fansie your appointing God to be the tormentor in hell with his immediate hand your nice diuiding betweene the substance and circumstance of Gods eternall iudgements your placing the substance thereof in the apprehension of the soule and that as well in this life as in the next with a number of like audacious and desperate deuises to vphold the name or the shade of hell-paines in the sufferings of Christ wee shall anon discusse when we come to your opening of the question in the meane while the Reader must marke The question is not whether Christ bare the burden of all our sinnes on the tree or whether he were touched and tempted in all things like to his brethren yet still without sinne but whether it can be prooued by the Scriptures that Christ must beare all and the selfe same burdens of our sinnes which wee should haue borne in this life and the next and which the damned doe and shall beare Your distinction of the substance and circumstance of Gods endlesse and mercilesse vengeance of sinne in hell we shall quickly let the Reader see how vainely you presume it without all warrant of holy Scripture and how falsely you applie it to the person of Christ against the manifest Scripture if first we obserue how handsomely you set downe the doctrine which I defend in the next words to your owne hieroglyphicall question of purpose that if you cannot by trueth ouerbeare it you may at least by falshood disgrace it His contrary opinion say you we conceaue thus that Christ suffered for our sinnes nothing else but simply and meerely a bodily death altogether like as the godly doe often suffer at the hands of persecutors sauing onely that God accepted the death of his sonne as a ransome for sin but the death of his seruants he doth not Had you not seene and read my sermons printed before you made this late defence you might haue excused your selfe Sir defender by forgetting or mistaking my wordes but after so often and open repeating them in Print what cause can be imagined why you should thus apparently peruert my words and purposely forsake the points which I proposed saue onely that finding the foile and doubting a fall you would gladly slippe your necke out of the collar and seeing no better meanes you thinke it more skâ—…ll to stand wrangling about the Question then to be taken tardie with saying iust nothing in a matter of the greatest weight and chiefest regard in Christian religion My words are euery where plaine enough as well in deliuering as debating the question that Christ suffered no death saue onâ—…ly the death of the bodie by the verdit of holy Scripture and therefore whatsoeuer the Scripture speaketh of Christs death it is intended and referred to the death of Christs bodie on the Crosse and by no meanes to the death of his soule The words of my preface are these Where the Scriptures are plaine and pregnant that Christ died for our sinnes and by his death destroyed him that had power ouer death euen the Deuill and reconciled vs when we were strangers and enemies in the body of his flesh besides that the holy Ghost in these places by expresse words nameth the bodily death of Christ as the meane of our redemption and reconciliation to God no considerate Diuine may affirme or imagine Christ suffered the death of the soule When I come in my Sermons to handle that point I thus beginne it That Christ did or could suffer the death of the soule is a position farre from the words but farther from the groundes of sacred Scriptures When I shew the Fathers doe ioyne in the same resolution with the Scriptures I say Rightly therefore doe the Ancient Fatâ—…ers teach that Christ dying for our sinnes suffered ONELY THE DEATH OF THE BODIE BVT NOT OF THE SOVLâ—… Concluding their testimonies I capitulate in this wise I hope to all men learned or well aduised it will seeme no Iesuiticall phrenzie but rather Christian and Catholike doctrine that the Sonne of God dying for our sinnes suffered NOT THE DEATH OF THE SOVLE BVT ONELY OF THE BODIE If you vnderstand not these words Sir Defender your Reader will iudge you fitter to learne your abc then to dispute questions in Diuinitie if you doe conceaue them and will peruert them let him likewise pronounce whether it be sinceritie or impudencie in you thus to outface the matter against my plaine speach and to make Proclamation that I defend Christ suffeâ—…ed nothing else for our sinnes but simply and meerely a bodyly death altogether like as the godly often doe at the hands of persecutors Had you said I maintaine Christ suffered no death but onely a bodily death I would haue asked you by what Scriptures you or all your adherents can disproue it but charging me as you doe with this opinion that Christ suffered nothing else but simply and meerely a bodily death altogether like the godly I must tell you this is one of your trueths which many men will call a malitious leasing since my wordes are publikely extant to the contrarie My first resolution was Christ saw before hand that going to his Crosse he should tast all kindes of calamities and so it came to passe For betweene his last Supper and his death he was betrayed of Iudas abiured of Peter forsaken of all his followers he was wrongfully imprisoned falsly accused uniustly condemned he was buffeâ—…ed whipped skorned reuiled he endured cold nakednesse thirst wounding hanging shame reproach and all sorts of deadly paines besides heauinesse of hart and agonie of mind which oppressed him in the Garden All this I affirme Christ suffered before his death and therefore all this besides his meere bodily death to which I added all those afflictions and passions of the Soule which naturally and necessarily follow paine and accompany death You perchance would annex the paines of hell and the death of the Soule but those are the very points in question which I then did and yet doe vtterly exclude from the sufferings of Christ. Where you say I hold Christs death was altogether like as the godly doe suffer at the hands of Persecutors I know not what you meane by your altogether in some things his death was like theirs in many things vnlike A wrongfull and painefull death of the body he suffered at the hands of the Iewes as the godly doe often at the hands of their persecutors and a full perswasion he alwaies had of Gods exceeding and assured loue and fauour towards him in the middest of all his anguishes as the godly haue in theirs though in farre lesse perfection then his was but as touching the cause the manner the force of his death I make it altogether vnlike theirs
So that in all his Infirmities affections Temptations and afflictions he was still free from sinne which may be the Apostles mâ—…aning in the laâ—…r place to note that how diuâ—…rs soeuer Christs Temptations were yet he was tempâ—…d in all things without sinne Then all such feares and sorrowes as hâ—…ue in them any doubt or distrust of Gods fauour aud Christs Saluation are vtterly excluded from him by the Apostles owne limitations and therefore you loose but your labour by pretence of these words to bring Christ within the compasse of your 〈◊〉 feares and sorrowes a Defenc pag. 86. 〈◊〉 2â—… Hereto â—…erueth our publike Doctrine Diram execrationem in se suscepit You handle the 〈◊〉 as you doe the Scriptures and Fathers turning them from their right What Christ 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 sense to serue your priuate Doctrines Christ vndertook our curse saith the Caâ—…isme what then Christ vndertooke all our sinnes and all the punishment due vnto them not to 〈◊〉 it in the same kinde but to dissolue it in his Person and to discharge vs of it Yea he vndertooke our reiection confusion and damnation to satisfie them not to beare them to clâ—… them not to beare them So that hence you may conclude a Satisfaction and dissolution made by Christ of all these things that were due to vs but you may not inferre that he was vtterly reiected inwardly confounded or eternally condemned as we should haue beene and the damned are Againe he tooke vpon him the Satisfaction and recompence of all our sinnes and paines But where Saint Peterâ—…aith Christ bare our sinnes in his Body on the Tree and Saint Paul saith b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Christ 〈◊〉 things in 〈◊〉 and things in heauen by the bloud of his Crâ—… and reconâ—… c 〈◊〉 2. vs in the Body of his flesh Christ vndertooke then to abolish our curse and condâ—…tion but in the Body of his flesh where he reconciled vs vnto God So that you must bring 〈◊〉 words out of the Catechisme before your Doctrine will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drawen And by your leaue I take the Catechisme permitted to be taught in Schooles but not Authorized for the publike Doctrine of this Realme Neither are you the Man that so much respect authoritie farre more publike then this where it sorteth not with your fansies But here you haue caught a word or two that may be misused and that is the cause the Catechisme is so much magnified by your priuate Authoritie as to be the publike Doctrine of this Realme Which I speake not to disgrace the Booke but to make difference betwixt your verdict and the Iudgement of the whole Realme d Defenc. pag. 87. li. 7. You might haue giuen a good sense of my words if you had any mind 〈◊〉 as of those generall and large words of the Scripture whereupon I grounded my selfe It is more then time we should yeelde such a ghest as you are the same submission and reuerence that we giue to the Sacred Scriptures specially when you abuse the words of the holy Ghost to your priuate vnsound conceits In the word of God I am bound to looke to the meaning of the Writer who could not erre and therefore howsoeuer the words if they were another mans might be reiected yet in the Scriptures they are to be receaued with all Religion because he endited them that is â—…e Spirit of truth and he hath a found and euident Doctrine in them though we vnderstand it not And therefore we must seeke to other places of like sense or more light that we may learne the meaning of the holy Ghost Expect you the like dâ—…tie when you deâ—…iue your sullaine and vnsauorie fansies by false and loose consequents from the words of holy write as if you were not bound to beware how you abuse the Scriptures but we must looke on and hold our peaces whiles you peruert the words of the Prophets and Apostles at your pleasure You made a number of false Propositions and Conclusions without all waâ—…ant of the word of God as e Trea pa. 46. li. 10. Thus doe the members of Christ suffer therefore of nâ—… 〈◊〉 Christ our head suffered the like yea farre greater terrors of God and assaults of the diuell And so you Reason f Ibid 〈◊〉 32. pag. 47. li. 1. which can not be refuted by the witte of Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vs not but wherein he had experience of our Temptations but he succoureth 〈◊〉 in these 〈◊〉 Temptations of feeling the sorrowes of hell Therefore he himselfe haâ—… experience of the sâ—…me Where to shew your witte you ioyne an affirmatiue conclusion â—…o a negatiue maior and in defiance of all truth and reason you make this childish and ignorant manner of reasoning to be irrefutable And so your pleasant Electuaâ—… that g Trea pag. 45 li. 33. of all absurditiâ—…s this is the greatest that meere men should suffer more deepely and more bitterly the sorrowes and paines of hell then Christ did All these you build vpon this foundation Christ was h Heb. 4. Tempted in all things after alikenâ—…sse but without sinne noâ—… that â—…he â—…is any such intention or direction in the Apostles words but that you will makâ—… such a Construction of them and no man must say nay To let you see your folly and 〈◊〉 iu this point I i Coâ—…lus pa. 283. shewed you many corporall paines and sorrowes and likewise many spirituall which Christ neuer felt as touching the causes and obiects of those afflictions though I did not exempt him from the generall sense of those affections In the Body of Man I named blindnesse dumbnesse lamenesse sicknesse breaking of bones burning of fire and such like which Christ neuer suffered and yâ—…t in all these he can and doth succour others In the Soule I reckned blindnesse and hardnesse of hart vnbeliefe desperation frensie and vexation with diuels all which Christ hath often cured and healed and readily can though he were neuer plunged into these as men are Wherefore your maine and immooueable Collection out of the Apostle as you dreame that Christ succoureth vs not but wherein he had experience of the same was a blind and false inâ—…sion of yours vtterly mistaking the Apostles words and meaning To this what reply you k Defenc. pag. 87. li. 18. The Apostle and 〈◊〉 both doe speake of the sufferings of mankind in generall and of each part of nature apt to suffer but not of euery particular in each of them or which each meeteth withall You are where you would be when you and the Apostle goe hand in hand as you make your selfe beleeue though you come nothing neere the Apostles speech oâ—… sense Then since it sufficeth for the truth of the Apostles words that Christ felt feare sorrow shame paine and death which are common to all men and there was no neede that Christ should haue all the same causes of feare sorrow shâ—…me and paine which euery man hath or may
haue what reason had you out of the Apostle to conclude so confidently that Christ must suffer the very same sorowes and paines of hell which sometimes in this life befall some men through vehement remorse of sinne and faintnesse of faith For they are not generall to all Ages and Persons and if they were yet proceede they from the guiltinesse of our owne consciences and the not feeling of Gods grace for the time that we may see our owne vnworthinesse neither of which could haue place in Christ. Generall termes you say should be vnderstood according to the possibilitie and probabilitie of the matter Be those the raines of your Reasons that you will vtter matters neither probable nor possible and then require to haue your speech recalled to possibilitie and probabilitie Doe other men vse so to speake or write that when they haue ouer lashed themselues they flie to probabilities and possibilities such as they best like You must looke good Sir to your Propositions and Conclusions that they be sound and good concording with the grounds of Faith and Rules of holy Scripture and then you shall not neede to make such idle reseruations Now in your Conceits which I repeated and refuted what probabilitie or possibilitie doe you dreame of that Christ was touched and plunged deeper then any other man into feares Passions and Agonies of reiection confusion desperation and damnation though at last with much a doe he wrastled from them all Such Probabilities keepe to your selfe no wise Christian will admit them except he see them prooued with stronger Reasons and cleerer Testimonies then such loose possibilities and probabilities as you bring Your waterish stuffe in the rest of this page is not woorth the speaking to You wander about to salue the smallest and cleane skip ouer the greatest points that are obiected against you That l Defenc. pag. 87. Christ had not his eies put out as Sampson had nor was swallowed vp by a Whale as Ionas was nor was cast into a burning fornace as Sydrac and his fellowes were nor was stoned to death as Naboth and Steuen were These I say were iust and full reproofes of your licencious inference that Christ of necessitie must suffer whatsoeuer his members suffered I opposed other instances besides these touching the soule of man from which Christ hath holpen many though he neuer had experience of thâ—… same as from caecitie and obstinacie of heart from infideliâ—…ie and all manner of Iniquitie from frensie furie follie and such like vexations and afflictions of diuels Wherein if you giue Christ no power nor abilitie to heare and helpe at his good pleasure you take both his honor and office from him If you confesse which the Scriptures auouch that he hath healed many which were possessed and oppressed by the diuell then you must either recall your inuincible Reason as a palpable follie or else you must subiect the Body and Soule os Christ not only to diuels which you dare doe but to all manner of Impâ—…etie and iniquitie since there is no sinne so great which Christ will not forgiue vpon true repentance saue wilfull Blasphemie against his Spirit You speake of Paines not of sinnes And is it no paine to be possessed with the diuell in body or mind as we read of many in the Gospell diseases burning 〈◊〉 and such like which Christ neuer suffered are they no paines frensie furie lunacie are they not rather painfull and greeuous punishments of sinne then sinne your Proposition which could not be refuted by the witte of Man was this Christ succoureth vs not but wherein he had experience of our Temptations and Infirmities This speaketh of Temptations and Infirmities now how farre these words doe stâ—…etch can you not tell but you will amend the matter and cleere both the Apostle and your owne Conclusion m Defenc. pag 87 〈◊〉 37 pag â—…8 1. 1. Thus this Scripture is cleered and my Reason iustified Christ succoureth vs not in any extreamer kind of paine then he himselfe had experience of But he succoureth vs in the feeling of the terrors of God he releaseth vs of the paines sorrowes vnâ—…easurable that rise thereof Therefore him selfe had experience of them You should doe well to tell vs how this Scripture is cleered the place prooueth that Christ had a Similitude with hiâ—… Bretheren in generall that is as well in flesh and bloud subiect to death as other sufâ—… and temptations These three the Apostle reckneth and calleth katapanta all the parts of Resemblance which Christ had with the weaknesse and wretchednesse of our condition and Nature Your selfe confesse those three to wit n Defenc. pag. 8â—… li. 6. Infirmities Temptations and afflictions to be all the things wherein Christ was like vs for his manhood in substance was the same that ours is and so more then like As for en 〈◊〉 by which you would haue to be signified o Ibid. li. 28. All the matter and euery kinde of paine Wherein Christ succoureth vs besides the manifest falsenesse of that construction which I haue sufficiently reprooued you depart as your manner is from all Interpreters new and old to a singular sense that no man liketh but your selfe The Gâ—…ke Schoâ—…s collected by Occumenius thus expound it p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 2. cap. ad Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that he suffered signifieth For as mvch as he 〈◊〉 And Theodorct The Apostle saith q Theodoret. â—…n 2. ca. ad Heb. Whereas by experience Christ learned the weakenesse of Mans Nature he hâ—…lpeth those that are impugned And Theophylact. r Theophylact. in 2. cap. ad Hebreâ—…s That which the Apostle saith is this Because as a Man Christ vnderstandeth all by experience and knoweth what affliction and 〈◊〉 is therefore he can helpe that is he is the readier to streteh forth his hand and with mercie to aide the oppressed From these perhaps you will derogate the knowledge of the Greeke tongue though they were all naturall Grecians as you do from Saint Austen but that will doe you little good and lesse honestie For the skilfullest interpreters that are of our Age and Religion and wâ—…l learned in the Greeke tongue do exactly agrâ—… with them against you 〈◊〉 in his obseruations vpon the new Testaâ—…ent saiâ—…h s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 2. ca. ad Hebreâ—…s 〈◊〉 id est 〈◊〉 THEREFORE 〈◊〉 Christ suffered and was tempted he is able to 〈◊〉 them that are tempted t In 2. caâ—… ad Hebrees Caluine t In 2. caâ—… ad Hebrees Beza t In 2. ca. ad Hebrees Piscator t In 2. ca. ad Hebrees Marlorate t In 2. ca. ad Hebrees 〈◊〉 in his Translation and others with one consent expresse en ho not by WHEREIN as you doe but by ex eo quod 〈◊〉 hoc quod ex quô by that which Christ suffered or becausâ—… he sufâ—…ered and was tempted he is able or ready to succour the tempted The 〈◊〉