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
terrible cracks of that flaming fire to haue their eyes blinded with the bitter smoke of that fuming gulfe to be drowned in the deepe lake of Gehenna and to be torne eternally with most greedie wormes to thinke on these things and many such like is a sure way to renounce all vice and refraine all allurements of the flesh Apparently then the fire of hell by the confession of all these ancient aud Christian writers is locall as kept vnder the earth externall as inclosing the damned both men and diuels and sensible to the eyes with obscure flames tormenting all the parts of the body with an horrible paine of burning but not consuming them And that the fire of hell shal be an externall and true fire what proofe can be fairer or fuller than that Scriptures and Fathers with one voice professe that Christ shall come to iudge the world in flaming fire which shall melt the elements with heat and dissolue the heauens and threfore without question must needs be a true substantiall externall fire and that the same fire with which he shall come to iudge shall deuoure his aduersaries Behold sayth Esay the Lord will come with fire that he may render his indignation with the flame of fire for the Lord will iudge with fire There shall goe a fire before him when he commeth to iudge sayth Dauid and burne vp his enemies roâ—…nd about The Lord Iesus sayth Paul shall shew himselfe from heauen in flaming fire rendring vengeance to them that know not God and obey not the Gospel For to such remaineth no sacrifice for sin but a fearefull expectation of iudgement and a violence of fire which shall deuoure the aduersaries Fire sayth Arnobius shall go before Christ comming to iudgement euen fire which shall performe two offices with one and the same aspect it shall lighten the friends and inflame the enemies of God for the fire which shall burne the sinfull shal be made brightnesse to the iust The end of this present world saith Iustine Martyr is the iudgement of the wicked by fire as the scriptures of the Prophets Apostlesdeclare and likewise thâ—… writings of Sibylle so blessed Clemens that liued with the Apostles in his Epistle to the Corinths affirmeth Christ shall come sayth Ambrose with his heauenly army and with fire as his minister to giue vengeance â—…or the sire of iudgement shall serue him to reuenge the reprobate sayth Gregorie Paul sheweth sayth Theodoret that iudgement shal be full of terror noting first the Iudge comming from heauen then their power which minister vnto him who are the angels lastly thâ—… kinde of punishment for the wicked shall be deliuered to the flame of fire There are two properties in fire to burne and to shine the shining propertie the assembly of Saints shall enioy by the other shall wicked men be punished So Basil There are two forces in fire one to burne the other to shine the sharpnesse of â—…ire which punisheth is layed vp for those that deserue burning the light and shining thereof is allotted to the ioy of the blessed And Athanasius Fire hath two forces the one of shining which shall be giuen to the iust the other of burning which shall be diuided to sinners Ierom likewise Fire shal be light to the faithfull and punish the vnbeleeuers And Theophylact Christs comming shall be in flaming fire as Dauid professeth of him A fire shall goe before him and shall burne his enemies round about For this fire shall offer burning to sinners and no shining but to the iust it shall giue light and shining and no heat or burning The fire I trust which hath these two properties to lighten the iust and torment the wicked is an externall and sensible fire and with that fire Christ shall come to dissolue the heauens melt the elements and punish the wicked neither shall the spirituall and internall paine of the soule which the Discourser maketh his hell fire come neere the Saints or be ioyous and comfortable to any as the fire of iudgement shal be to the saints of God Then all sorts of writers Prophets Euangelists Apostles and Diuines of all ages Yea Philosophers Poets and Sibyls haue taught the wicked shall â—…e punished with true fire and not with metaphores and the Sonne of God in person hath confirmed the same and all sectes Iewes Pagans and Christians haue beleeued it God taking speciall care as well by deeds as words that the truth and terror of his vengeance vpon sinne should not be vnknowen to all the world For which cause he hath not only made the earth in many places as Aetna Vesuuis and else where to burne with perpetuall fire but hath often destroyed sinfull persons and places with fire from heauen to let all men see and know that the vengeance decreed threatned and executed on the wicked is sensible and true fire from God which he hath made of all senseles creatures the most violent potent and fearefull meanes to punish Therefore did he raine fire and brimstone vpon Sodome and Gomorre when their sinnes were at full punished the people that murmured at him with fire calling the name of the place THABHERAH because the fire of the Lord burnt amongst them as likewise he sent Firie serpents to bite them when they spake against him So Fire came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fiftie men of Corahs company that presumed to offer incence vnto the Lord as before it had destroyed Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire before the Lord. And at Eliahs word Fire came downe from heauen twice and deuoured two Captaines with their two bands of an hundred men Insomuch that when Satan would haue Iob beleeue he was punished by Gods owne hand he gate fire to fall from heauen vpon Iobs sheepe and seruants the messenger making this report The fire of God is fallen from heauen and hath burnt vp thy sheepe and seruants and deuoured them Which kind of vengeance Iames and Iohn the Disciples of Christ desired when their master was repelled by the Samaritans and denyed lodging as willing to haue that inhumanitie punished to the example of all others but that they were repressed by him who came to saue and not to destroy Thus hath God often by true and sensible fire from heauen declared and verified the certaintie of his generall and finall iudgement when his Sonne shall appeare in flaming fire to render vengeance to all that know not God and obey not the Gospell and that fire of Iudgement which shall burne heauen and earth shall shine to the Saints with ioy and comfort and punish the wicked by tormenting them for euer This you thinke is not against you for you deny that Now there is corporall fire in hell whatsoeuer there shall be hereafter when bodies also shal be there vnited and tormented with the soules and this
such witlesse and senselesse fansies He proceedeth to shew my disdaine to the Fathers for insolent reiecting all their opinions touching the causes of Christs Agonie in the Garden and of his complaint on the Crosse. For answere first I desire to know whether you allow of all these causes or no you seeme to refuse theÌ„ here for herein you shewed not your own opinion but the Iudgement of the Fathers Elsewhere your selfe are resolute for some of those causes and against other some And yet before all these interpretations you say are sound stand well with the rules of Christian pietie thus variable you are in that wherin you seeme most resolute When you know what it is to be constant you shall doe well to talke of inconstancie till that time your owne doctrine will most disgrace your owne doings You catch oft at contrarieties in my writings make good but one and then prate at your pleasure Otherwise men will thinke it to be the weaknesse of your witte or stifnesse of your stomacke that can not or will not rightly conceiue that which is truely spoken Touching the cause of Christs Agonie in the Garden since the Scriptures doe not expresse it I said it was curiositie to search it presumption to determine it impossible certainely to conclude it yet for that you made this your chiefe aduantage that there could be coniectured none other cause of Christes exceeding sorrow in the Garden besides the present suffering of Hâ—…ll paines in his soule I gaue the Reader to vnderstand how many there might be besides your deâ—…ce which of all others was least tollerable or probable Now you would know whether I ALLOVV of ALL these causes or no. I haue answered you that already if you had but eares to heare it I did not acknowledge any of these to be precisely or particulaâ—…ly mentioned in the Scriptures as the right cause of that Agonie but if you would needes goe to coniecturing I said there might be conceiued so many and euery one of them more LIKLIE and godly then your supposing of Hell paines at that instant in Christs soule I persist still in the same minde what change finde you in me Else where I am resolute you say for some of these causes and against other some And yet before I said all thâ—…se interpretations are sound and stand well with the rules of Christian pictie It is more then a penance to be troubled with a trifler that hath neither eyes to see nor head to apprehend what is said When I came to consider of the generall respects in Christ whence that Agonie might arise as the persons were two God with whom and Man for whom Christ delt in that worke of our redemption so I resolued the cause of Christes Agonie could not proceede but either from his submission to God to whose will and hand he must subiect himselfe if he would ransome man or from compâ—…ssion of mans miserie for whom he was willing to lay downe his life A thiâ—…d ground of Christs feare I grant I see none For that Diuels should torment Christes soule I leaue that inuention to your deuotion But doe I determine any particular cause contrarie to my first profession when I stand resolute that from one or both of these fountaines the cause of Christs feare and sorrow must be deriued If I doe not then piper-like doe you play with â—…y variablenesse when you doe not so much as attend that I am resolute in the generall dueties of pietie and charitie which I ascribe to our Sauiour though I bee not resolute in any particular cause of his feare at that present as I at first professed I neither could nor would be by reason the Scriptures do not expressely mention any Againe what dulnesse is this to say I am resolute against sâ—…me of these causes for that I make two principall heads whereon the rest depend Can not your wisedome see that Christes SVBMISSION to the Maiestie of God sitting in iudgement and his DEPRICATION of Gods wrath proceede from his religious and humble subiection to the will and hand of God As also that his sorrow for the REIECTION of the Iewes and DISPERSION of his Church and his LAMENTATION of mans sinne grow from his compassion on mans miserie And lastly that the VOLVNTARIF DEDICATION of his blood to bee shed for the sinnes of the world and the SANCTIFICATION OF HIS PERSON to offer the true and eternall sacrifice partake with both the former respects Is it a contradiction with you to see many branches on one stemme many Springs in one well many members in one bodie And so childish you are that you takeâ—…-meale for egges and interpretations for â—…ses and then you crake of my contrarieties how much I ouer shot my selfe For where I bring diuers Expositions of Christs words on the Crosse My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee and say in the end All these interpretations are soâ—…d anâ—… stand with the rules of Christian pietie you in a dreame or drow sinesse choose which you will imagine I say ALL THESE CAVSES of Christes Agonie are sound anâ—… stand well with the rules of Christian pietie and so contradict my former resolution as if onely two were sound and not the rest where in trueth I neither auoâ—…ch the one nor the other such conflicts you make with your owne follies and get the conquest not on my Assertions but on your owne most foolish ouer-sights Yet these agree not with any circumstance of the Passion and onâ—… of them crosseth and ouerthroweth an other Take first the paines to prooue somewhat and then challenge your priuiledge to prate at your pleasure otherwise your word iâ—… no warrant for any wise man to depend on The Scriptures testifie first Christs sorow in the Garden and then his sweat like blood His sorow where he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my sâ—…le is euery way grieued or afflicted with sorrow euen vnto death His sweate after he was comforted by an Angel from heauen and fell to feruent prayer So saith Saint Luke An Angel appeared to him from heauen comforting him And being in an Agonie he prayed more earnestly and his sweate fell on the earth like drops of blood Now an Agonie doth not properly or necessarily inferre either fainting feare or deadly paine as you misconceiue but noteth a contention or intention of bodie or minde whereby wee labour to performe our desire and striue against the danger which may defeate vs as in place conuenient shall more fully appeare Where also you shall see that not feare but feruencie in all likelihood was the cause of that bloodie sweate In the meane time it is plaine that Christ professed he had sundrie causes of his sorrow in the Garden for hee sayth my soule is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on euery side oppressed with sorow And what vrged him to that agonie or vehemencie of prayer which S. Luke speaketh of after he was comforted
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
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 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
admit the ransom which his own Sonne most willingly offered for vs when we were his Enemies or will conclude that Christ must iustly desâ—…e death because he did willingly die for vs You see now what I say to Christes death he died most iustly to God because most willingly for vs and yet most vndeseruedly because most innocently If Christ died not by Gods iustice then woe and thrice woe to vs for it can not be but Gods iustice must be executed If Gods iustice against vs were not satisfied by his Sonne and so appeased wo were it with vs but if any man be so madde headed that either the Sonne of God or himselfe must be euerlastingly damned for the full execution of Gods iustice against sinne then woe indeed to that hellish infidelitie and blessed for euer be Gods loue and mercie towards vs that accepted the death of his Sonne for our sinnes which Christ willingly offâ—…red as the price of our redemption when he could by no sentence of the law be thereto bound Therefore my Father loueth me sayth Christ because I lay downe my life for my sheepe None taketh it from me but I lay it downe of mine owne selfe And so the Prophet foretold of him If he will or shall lay downe his soule or life for sinne he shall see his seed prolong his dayes and the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hands What if hanging on a tree were no necessarie part of the gâ—…erall curse it was neuerthelesse iust from God vpon him as well as his death Neither â—…th nor hanging nor any part of Christes punishment was iust from God as deserued by Christ either in respect of his nature or of his office but all was most iust with God euen on Christ in respect of Christs owne free willingnesse to reconcile vs to God with his death rather then we should perish And if both these were iust in Gods secret Counsell by reason of Christs good liking so to ransome man what is that to the sentence of the Law which Iudgeth euery man according to his works and punisheth only the transgressour out of which number Christ is excepted by the continuall Caueats of the holy Scriptures Still I meane iustly in respect of God alone And still I say iustly in respect of Christs willingnesse only which is nothing to the sentence of the Law For the law respecteth the euill desert of the Transgressour and not the good will of the Redeemer or Suretie You mislike that Christ should suffer iustly because he suffered willingly for vs which hindreth not at all Since that was most iust with God in his secret counsell whereto his Sonne was most willing I vtterlie misliked as the whole Church of Christ before me did that the Sonne of God should be thought to be bound to death who must be most free or deseruing death by the sentence of the Law punishing sinners because he was willing to beare our burden And if you looke well about you you shall find the second person in Trinitie vndertooke to ransome vs from our sinnes long before his manhood was borne euen from the foundation of the world and to lay any band vpon the Sonne of God besides his owne good will and pleasure aduise you whether it tendeth And since God would not haue the death of Christes manhood but as a sacrifice most freely willingly offered vnto him for sinne least there should appeare any constraint or necessitie layd on the person of Christ let the Reader iudge with what trueth you not onely bind the second person in Trinitie to be subiect to the sentence of the Law but taint the soule of Christ with the vncleannesse of our sinne because he suffered the punishment thereof in our steedes The voluntarie suertie beareth his penaltie iustly when he sustaineth that which the Debtour by Law should sustaine It is a penaltie to patience to heare you talke so vnwisely and vniustly of Iustice. Shall mercie and charitie in Christians that ease other mens shoulders or pay other mens debts be taken now with you for the iust desert of a penaltie How much lesse then may the loue and fauour of God redeeming vs with his owne blood and â—…aling vs with his owne stripâ—…s be called a â—…ust and well deserued punishment Mans law may exact the debt where the Suertie standeth bound to the â—…aw to see it satisfied From one freely offering to pay another mans debts the Law may iustly receiue it because he is willing but the Law cannot exact it because he is at libertie which is the true difference betwixt a Suertie bound and a free Ransommer and yet neither is guiltie of the prisoners offences You say no Law you are sure not Gods law alloweth a murderer or like offender to be shared and another that is willing to be hanged in his steede You haue all this while dallied with Gods iustice you now begin to play with Gods Law that where trueth faâ—…th you you may yet at least make some shew with wordes as all wranglers doe when they be driuen to the wall whereof the discreet Reader may take a sensible obseruation in this place You haue bene spuddling here and spending more then two leaues to prooâ—…e that Christ bare the true curse of the Law which was due to vs for sinne and that the Apostle speaking thereof Galat. 3. could haue none other meaning and therefore you resolued that Christ was hanged by the iust sentence of the Law which otherwise must light on vs if it were not laid on him What Law ment you all this while or what Law doth Paul dispute of in that place Not of that Law which accurieth and punisheth sinne That Law I said admitted no Suerties but reuenged the malefactours themselues and therefore by the sentence of that Law Christ could not be iustly accursed or hanged in our steedes Against this when you can say nothing you get you to the Gospell of Christ which proposeth glad tydings of our Redemption from the burden of our sinnes and from the curse of the Law by the most willing and innocent death of the Sonne of God for our sakes and by that Lawe you say Christ might and did die for vs as our Suertie I aske the indifferent Reader whether this be not a plaine running from the question and a resigning of all that you haue said before touching tâ—…e â—…es accursing of Christ as our Suertiâ—… For the Gospell I trust doth not pronounce Christ to be either accursed for our sinnes or defiled with our sinnes but shewed him to be the blessed Seede that bruized the Sâ—…pents head and the vndefiled and vnspotted Lambe that tooke away the sinne of the world with his most innocent and precious blood This shifting therefore which is so vsuall with you that as long as you can wrench a word you will not yeeld to the trueth will breake the necke of your cause in the end with all
and was infinitely more grecuous and dolefull as touching the present sense then otherwise the meere outward stripes and wounds of men were or could be Sir you haue cast out your nets all night and caught iust nothing We know the diuell can not touch any haire of our heads till he receaue power from God so to doe This our discerning and acknowledging the hand of God in setting the wicked on worke as you call it in giuing them leaue to sift his Saints as I say and to exercise his graces in them doth breede no such feare nor torment of conscience as you talke of in Christ so long as we are perswaded that God loueth vs and doth all things for the best and that the sharpest triall in this life is the speediest way to his kingdome If we that be sinfull and fraile subiected indeede to the iust remorse of our consciences can yet apprehend and discerne the rage of Satan and of the wicked armed with power from aboue to make triall of our Faith and Patience and not be dismayed nor tormented in mind in any such sort as you speake of what shall we thinke the Soule of Christ full of grace and of the holy Ghost inseparably ioyned with his Godhead in one and the same person could conceaue of these his sufferings or Satans incensing the Iewes against him but as the truth was that he well liked and God approoued and annointed him to be the Sauiour of the world and the destroyer of Satans kingdome for this obedience and patience which he should shew in admitting the Iewes to execute Satans furious rage against his Body You would haue Christ to conceaue that he was sinfull defiled hatefull and accursed of God and in that respect God was become an Enemie to him and had forsaken him but these mysteries of iniquitie and Infidelitie were farre from that holy vndefiled and acceptable Sacrifice which the vnspotted I amb of God did offer for the sinnes of the world But why shrinke you and shift you thus from pillar to post and make sometimes the immediate hand of God to be cause of Christs suffering in Soule sometimes the working or conflicting of Satan with him and sometimes Christs owne apprehension that the Iewes and the diuell were set on worke by the secret wrath of God and all this while you doe not once endeuour you say to expresse the manner of it where in deede you doe nothing but waue to fro not knowing where to stand or what to hold but only to requoile to your accustomed couerts of Gods proper wrath and indignation against sinne from which you thinke you may frame what fansies you will q Defenc. pag. 81. li. 33. In your Booke you speake directly against the maine ground of it affirming that God himselfe did nothing to Christ that is he did not PROPERLY punish him Indeede I doe defend that God with his immediate hand or power did not torment the Soule of Christ otherwise that God gaue power to the Prince of darkenesse to come against him and r Matth. 27. deliuered him into the hands of sinners to doe vnto him s Acts. 4. whatsoeuer the counsell of God had determined before to be done that I euery where confesse and anouch Himselfe saith his t Iohn 18. Father gaue him the Cup which he did drinke to shew as well the Fatherly moderation as the righteous permission of his sufferings more then which no Scripture doth enforce though it call that Gods hand or deede which God by his loue did approoue and ordaine and by his wisdome and power direct and order for the performance of our Saluation u Defenc. pag. 82. 〈◊〉 2. The very truth and Gods nord it selfe is flat contrarie to you Your fansies perhaps be very strong against me but as for the Scriptures you vse to crake a great deale more of them then you haue cause He that can tell the meaning of Iobs words when he said x Iob. 〈◊〉 the Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken though the Sabeans and Chaldeans tooke his Oxen and Camels from him and y Iob. 19. the hand of God hath touched me when yet Satan z Iob 2 smote him with sore Boyles from the sole of his foote vnto his Crowne shall soone disperse the mists that you would make out of the word of God 〈◊〉 is written God made him sinne for vs Yea he made his Soule sinne Which is nothing Defenc. pag. 82. 〈◊〉 else but the Lord laid vpon him the iniquitie of vs all You shew your skill and vnderstanding in the Scriptures To prooue that God with his immediate hand did afflict and torment the Soule of Christ you note that God did appoint him to be the Sacrifice for sinne and that Christ accordingly did offer vp his Soule or life to be disposed at Gods pleasure What is ment by sinne in those words of the Apostle God made him sinns for vs I haue largely shewed before whence you may conclude that God did appoint and approoue Christ to be the Lamb that should take away the sinnes of the world because he was vndefiled and accepted of God as a most sufficient exchange or recompence for the sinnes of men but torment from the immediate hand of God these words doe not touch and therefore you might haue as well saued your Paper as lost your paines The next words that Christ made his owne Soule or life an offering for sinne to what purpose you bring it I can not ghesse except it be to let your Reader see that you doe not vnderstand whereabout you goe For how doth Christs giuing of his life for many proue that his Soule was afflicted by the very hand of God Had Gods immediate hand tormented his Soule when he commended his Spirit into his Fathers hands by your Doctrine he commended it not to rest but to Torment This is nothing else you say but the Lord laid vpon him the iniquitie of vt all Then none of these three Texts come any thing neere your intention that God with his owne hand laid the punishment of our sinnes on Christ since the last word by which you expound the rest inferreth no more but that God caused or made our sinnes to come against him In which words as in all the rest implying any such thing the Prophet meaneth God was the Supreme Cause and Author of all Christs sufferings which I no way deny but not the immediate executioner with his owne hand as you haue lately deuised and now would prooue if you could tell how This Phrase in the Scriptures that God DID these or these things concludeth not that he did them with his immediate hand but that he was the Decreer director and disposer of those things by his iust Iudgement to punish sinne or by his wisdome to make triall of his Saints God vsing for his Ministers and executioners Men or Angels good or bad as seemed best to his heauenly
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
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
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
Catechisme and the notes in the great Bible here to shew the cause of Christs agonie to be these horrible sorrowes and torments as the Catechisme sayth of future and euerlasting death Why then are you so nice when you fully intend it in shew to denie it why did you not refuse that in the beginning The causes that might concurre in Christs agonie I shewed in my sermons out of the auncient Fathers agreeing with the Scriptures why should I repeate it againe in my conclusion you bringing nothing against it but a few voluntarie and emptie words which I know no man so vnwise as to regard without better proofe f pa 118. li. 32 There is no other sorrow in the world to be found which can be imagined to be the cause possibly You erre as well in aggrauating Christs agonie aboue that the text auoucheth as in assigning a false cause thereof out of your owne fansie Feare and sorrow the Scripture affirmeth in Christ if we so interprete the words as you doe but such feare and such sorow as cannot be found in the world except the feares sorowes of the second death this is your bold assertion no way mentioned nor purposed in the Scriptures nor grounded on any sound reason or experience For where the paines of some kinds of bodily deaths be often greater then mans nature can endure and therefore violently part the soule from the body what did hinder the paines of Christs body on the crosse to be such that they pressed his patience to the highest degree since he would not strengthen his flesh to sustaine the paines of hell as you pretend but layd downe all power that he might feele the smart and anguish of his bodily torments as tenderly as any man could Now what paines in others ouerwhelme the senses and hasten death as passing the strength of mans nature why might not euen the same bodily paines in Christ so presse his humane weakenesse that he felt himselfe able with patience to support no more and so prayed on the crosse for an end thereof and foresaw so much in the Garden which made him earnest if it were possible to decline it What can be sayd against this sharpenesse and bitternesse of bodily paine since in all Martyrs and malefactours their deaths declare that paine in the end doth so preuaile that the rage thereof is vtterly intolerable to mans nature and therefore sundereth the soule from the body with extreme violence as exceeding all humanâ—… patience and strength g Defenc. pag. 118. li. 34. My other words also which here you cruelly condemne shall stand well enough that Christ as touching the vehemencie of paine was as sharpely touched as the reprobates themselues yea if it may be more extraordinarily though you labour with might and maine to make them amount to heresie and open blasphemie My words were more moderate then your dangerous comparisons deserued h Conclus pa. 290. li 35. I prayed you in so waightie matters as might amount to heresie and open blasphemie not to play with generall termes such as you neither vnderstood your selfe nor any man else could conceiue your meaning You would needs tell vs that Christ in soule was as sharpely touched and with as great vehemencie of paine euen as the reprobates themselues and more if it might be I asked you not where you found this written in the word of God which is the rule of our faith an vnwritten creâ—…de must needs haue vnwritten conclusions nor how you prooued it for your owne will is your best warrant for your new faith but what you ment thereby The terrors of the reprobates in this life which we might collect by the Scriptures were i Ibid. pa. 291. remorse of sinne reiection from Gods fauour desperation of mercie here and of all ioy and blisle in the world to come and a dreadfull expectation of horrible confusion and euerlasting fire k Ibidem I thought you durst not I hoped you would not offer so much as the mention of the least of these to be found in the sonne of God What wrong did I here vnto you were it not with too much sparing you and how plainly did I prouoke you to expresse your selfe but that your cunning is such that then you did and yet you doe forbeare to vnfold your generall and ambiguous speaches You persist still in your old song and say that touching the vehemencie of paine this is true As though remorse reiection desperation and expectation of euerlasting confusion and fire were NO PAINES to the soules of the reprobates Why play you with the name of paine to and fro after this sort Why role you sometimes to feares sometime to sorrowes sometime to paines as the causes of Christs agonie and those sometime apprehended by the mind of Christ sometime really inflicted by Gods immediate hand what Christ did or might apprehend you neuer declare you thinke it enough to tell vs his l Defenc. pag. 52. li. 35. vnderstanding chiefly conceiued the furie of that hand which principally strooke those blowes vpon his humane nature and thus with Metaphors you delude vs when you should distinctly deliuer what Christ conceiued of those afflictions which he suffered from the counsell and power of God determining them for mans redemption Yea besides apprehension and conception of mind you bring in your hell paines at your pleasure as an inherent and absolute torment really inflicted on the soule of Christ by Gods immediate hand as it is on all the damned after this life for the vengeance of their sinnes and when you are asked the proofe of these things you affourd vs figures and phrases to stuffe out your wallet m Defenc. pag. 119. li. 1. Why doe you not bend your odious outcries and accusations against the authoritie before truely cited which maintaineth the same so fully and amply as I deliuer it The Catechisme hath some generall words that Christ conflicted with all the powers of hell not as suffering them but as resisting them and that he endured horrible feares and griefes of mind to satisfie the iudgement of God and to pacifie his wrath These words if you will stretch to what please you they may seeme to haue some seedes of your error though not the buds and branches thereof but as they be generall so if we reuoke them to the grounds of the sacred Scriptures which was no doubt the writers and the allowers meaning then may we extend them no farder then we haue warrant in the word of God to iustifie them The feares and horrors which you would conuert to the reall suffering of the temporall hell the Catechisme referreth to the feare and horror of euerlasting death which you confesse Christ n Defenc pag. 99. most perfectly knew concerned him not at all and by no meanes could euer possibly come neere him How then doe you concurre with the authoritie which you cite saue that you peruert some generall words there
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
THE SVRVEY OF CHRISTS SVFFERINGS FOR MANS redemption AND OF HIS DESCENT TO HADES OR HEL for our deliuerance By THOMAS BILSON Bishop of Winchester The Contents whereof may be seene in certaine Resolutions before the Booke in the Titles ouer the Pages and in a Table made to that end ROM 6. v. 10. In that Christ died he died to sinne ONCE ROM 10. v. 6. 7. Say not in thine heart Who shall descend to the bottomlesse deepe That is to bring Christ backe from the dead AVGVST Epist. 99. Quod fuerit anima mortificatus Iesus quis audeat dicere That Iesus was dead in soule who dare auouch Quis nisi Infidelis negauerit fuisse apud Inferos Christum Who but an Infidell will denie Christ was in Hell Perused and allowed by publike Authoritie LONDON Printed by Melchisedech Bradwood for Iohn Bill M. DC IIII. TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY VVISE AND RELIGIOVS PRINCE IAMES by the grace of God King of Great Brittaine France and Ireland Defender of the true and Christian Faith c. MOst religious and renowned Prince if the Heathen reaching no farther than the light of Nature could leade them sawe those Common-weales would soone flourish whose Gouernors were giuen to the study of Philosophy how much rather must Christians ascribe that to heauenlie Wisdome which they did to earthly and confesse those Realms to be blessed indeed where the chiefe Rulers are carefull to seeke first the Kingdome of God to prefer the loue of true pietie before all respect of humane policie For since Gods purpose and promise is to honour them that honour him and no good thing can be wanting to those that rightly worship him according to his will how liberall benedictions mercifull protections may those Princes hope for at Gods hands who set their hearts wholly to seeke him and make all their wayes straight in his sight This fauour from heauen to be guided by good and godly Princes the Realme of England hath tasted a long time to their no small comfort whiles for these 45 yeeres by the Christian care of a most milde and gratious Queene now with God they haue beene directed to the trueth of the Gospell of Christ and defended in peace from the violence of all impeachers and impugners of either And after her decease though our vnthankfulnesse had prouoked the wrath of God and our vnfruitfulnesse well deserued the Kingdome of God should be taken from vs yet he that is rich in mercie towards all that call on him respecting more the glory of his name lest his enemies should blaspheme than any worthinesse of ours not onely continued but increased his accustomed goodnesse to vs and gaue your Maiestie being the lineall and rightfull heire to the Crowne of this Realme a present and peaceable entrance with the greatest applause of all states sorts and sides that hath beene seene these many ages and specially of the godlie who saw the happinesse of the former gouernment would be doubled by the manifolde gifts and graces of your Christian and Princely integrity clemency bounty wisdome and piety And surely their hope hath not deceiued them for who so hath rightly discerned and duely considered your beâ—…ignesse of nature your ripenesse of iudgement your deepnesse of wisdome your vprightnesse of iustice your readinesse to mercie your bounteousnesse to the best your euennesse to all your desire of peace your care of your people your fauour to your Cleargie and respect to your Church your promptnesse in professing and stedfastnesse in establishing the true seruice of God amongst vs which your Highnesse hath constantly shewed since you came to the Crowne can not but acknowledge that to be iustly applied to your Maiestie which was first sayd of Salomon Blessed be the Lord your God which loued you to set you on the Throne of all Britaine because the Lord loued this land made you King to doe equitie and iustice happie are those your seruants which stand euer before you and heare your wisdome Whereof because it pleased God and your Maiestie I should attend you aswell at your Table in your first Progresse into these Countries of Surrey and Hampshire as at your conference for matters of Religion and assemblie of States for the welfare of this Realme I can beare certaine and assured witnesse as likewise can the rest of your Nobles and Bishops then present who all with no lesse admiration than contentation heard with what sharpnesse of vnderstanding maturenesse of knowledge soundnesse of reason firmnesse of memorie and aptnesse of speech your Highnesse entred debated and resolued the greatest and hardest points of diuine and humane wisdome shewing in euery of them such dexteritie perspicuitie and sufficiencie as I professe before God without flattery I haue not obserued the like in any man liuing As therefore I iudge the whole Realme blessed and beloued of God for giuing them a Prince of such rare prudence intelligence and experience so doe I after the example of the Apostle thinke my selfe happy that I shall this day bring these matters in question before so learned religious and iudicious a King no lesse skilfull in the sacred Scriptures than carefull to continue the true Christian faith thorowout his Dominions without dissenting from the will of God reuealed in his Word or departing from the primitiue Church of Christ in her best and purest times May it then please your excellent Maiestie to be enformed that vpon some mens too much forwardnesse to innouate as well the doctrine as the discipline of the Church of England they thinking those deuices alwayes best which are newest it was rife in Pulpits and vsuall in Catechismes that the death of Christ Iesus on the Crosse and his bloudshed for the remission of our sinnes were the least cause and meane of our redemption but he did and must suffer the death of the soule and the very same paines which the damned doe in hell before we could be ransomed from the wrath of God and this was that descent of Christ to hell which we are taught by the Creed to beleeue This opinion began to preuaile so fast that children were trained to it and the people led to controle the Scriptures as not rightly deliuering the true cause of our redemption by Christ in that they mention no meane to ransome vs from death and hell but the bloud of his crosse and death admitted in the bodie of his flesh and therefore in all such places we must as they say by a kinde of Synecdoche conceiue the death of the damned to haue beene suffered for a season in the soule of Christ and that to be the full and perfect price of our redemption I was much grieued I confesse to your sacred Maiestie to finde this so often in Catechismes and frequent in Pulpits and without iust ground in the Word of God to be so confidently blazed whiles the doctrine of this Realme proposed by publike authoritie to the people in the Booke of Homilies
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
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
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
scourgeth euerie sonne whom he receiueth and yet he vseth him not like a beast All that will liue godlie in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution not common to them with beasts Count it an exceeding ioy saith Iames when you fall into diuers tentations knowing that the triall of your faith bringeth foorth patience Now to impart any of these things to beasts were very strange Diuinity Blessed are they saith our Sauiour that suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake for theirs is the kingdome of heauen Shall men be blessed and enioy Gods kingdome for suffering as the beasts doe If any suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed He that putteth no difference betwixt the sufferings of beasts and Christians is vnwoorthie to be a Christian. The same afflictions saith Peter are accomplished in your brethren which are in the world If you list Sir Discourser to take beasts for your brethren you may make your sufferings like to theirs or common to them otherwise they that are men and speciallie Christian men must acknowledge that this kinde of paining the soule by the bodie is proper to men and common neither to beasts nor to diuels There hath no tentation taken you saith Paul but such as is humane What is humane but common to all men and onely to men and so common neither to beasts nor to any other creature but proper to men Take backe therefore your vaine imagination and more foolish collection that the suffering of the soule by her bodie is not properly humane because it is common to men with beasts and learne hereafter that beasts hauing no soule much lesse anie graces or promises of God in this life or the next can not communicate with men in that kinde of suffering which the soule feeleth from her bodie and whereby she is chastised prooued perfected in this life and prepared for the glorie of the life to come At least yet you thinke the soules immediate suffering from the hand of God alone is the proper and principall humane suffering If there be any such suffering of paine as you imagine from the immediate hand of God alone it is the proper and principall suffering of deuils and not of men For humane properly it can not be vnlesse it touch the whole man that is as well bodie as soule whereof man consisteth And therefore the râ—…ll punishment of mans sinne in earth and in hell conteineth the torments of both parts without either of which there is no proper nor principall humane suffering though the soule after death be affâ—…icted for a season till the bodie be raysed and punished with heâ—… which is the true humane suffering for sinne after this life because it is euerlastingly allotted to the wicked for sinne by the most righteous iudgement of God But how prooâ—…e you Sir Discourser that the soule of man suffereth sensible and absolute paine I meane not depending on her owne cogitations or actions from the immediate hand of God what Scripture what example haue you for it It is the maine morter of your new erected hell but tempered onely with the water of your owne wit nor Scriptures nor Fathers doe acknowledge any such kind of suffering in hell from the immediat hand of God as you affirme yea they expressely auouch the contrary From the hand of God without question is all power and so all punishment whether it be here or in hell he alone giueth force to each creature to pierce and punish and he alone made the soule capable of paine from her bodie from her selfe and from whatsoeuer creature should please him to vse for the punishment of the soule Of this I make no doubt the hand of God which is the power of God ordereth strengtheneth sharpeneth continueth and worketh all paine and punishment both here and elsewhere for the time and for euer but whether he doeth this by meanes likewise ordeined and appointed by the same power either within or without the soule or by his immediate hand without all meanes this is the question and reading the Scriptures for this with as good attention as I could I find no such thing affirmed in them or prooued by you in all your Discourse Touching hell I sinde the contrarie confiâ—…med and auouched by the manifest and expresse words of the holy Ghost and in the greatest plagues and punishments of this life the meanes that God vseth are likewise mentioned in the Scriptures the immediate hand of God inflicting paine on the soule no where that I read or that you prooue which in so weightie a cause euery wise man will expect at your hands before he admit your metaphoricall flames of a new found fire deuised by you for the Soule of Christ to make it subiect to the paines of hell That God is the onely giuer of all grace by the working of his holy Spirit in our hearts without the assistance of any creature to further that action may not be doubted of any Christian. A man can receiue nothing except it be giuen him from heauen euen from the Father of lights whence commeth euery good and perfect gift For which cause the Scriptures call him the God of all grace working all in all and his Spirit the Spirit of grace distributing to euery man as pleaseth him and yet this diuision and operation of grace which proceedeth most powerfully from God alone is not alwaies immediate but dependeth on the hearing of the word partaking of the Sacraments and imposing of hands which God vseth as meanes not to helpe his power but to direct and guide our weakenesse Otherwise neither man nor Angel hath or can haue any power to touch and turne the heart or to inspire it with grace but onely God who made it and can alter and change it at his pleasure As the giuing so the taking away of all good gifts pertaining either to the vse of this life as prudence courage magnanimitie and such like or to the furtherance of the liâ—…e to come as faith hope loue and other fruits of Gods Spirit depend wholely on Gods will and worke and yet that is no let but when God hath most iustly depriued men of his grace which should preserue them from euill he may and doeth leaue the neglecters and abusers of his grace to be possessed and ruled by the spirit of errour vncleannesse and giddinesse that worketh in the children of disobedience and carieth them headlong into all kind of mischiefe Not that God performeth any of these things with his immediate hand which are wicked and impious but that by his iust iudgement he giueth them ouer which despise and forsake him to be a pray to the roaring Lion that deuoureth them Neither is Satan to seeke howe to leade men destitute of grace to all villanie both against themselues and others since he can blind the mindes of vnbeleeuers distract their wits and inflame their hearts with all sorts of
against them Doe I set my selfe to prooue that in hell there is materiall fire and yet am I now almost afraid so to call it It is your wont Sir Discourser not mine to take vp termes that may be turned euery way and to plant your chiefe strength vpon the doubtfulnesse of their Signification Doe I any where apply the word materiall to hell fire or doe any of the places which I cite so call it If they doe name them if not how set I my selfe to prooue materiall fire in hell without any words or proofes sounding that way Know you my meaning without my words or doe you boldly presume of my meaning against my words If by materiall fire you meane that which is maintained by wood or by such like matter as nourisheth fire and without the which fire will quench for that is one of your chiefest obiections which you say is vnanswered then doe the places which I bring plainely prooue that hell fire is not materiall For Lactantius sayth of it It burneth of it selfe without any nourishment And Gregorie It is neither kindled with mans industrie nor nourished with wood but contrary to the nature of our fire it consumeth not what it burneth but rather repaireth what it eateth as Tertullian sayth of it So that neither my positions nor probations gaue you any cause to coniecture I meant your materiall fire The places produced by me expresse the contrary and mine owne words are S. Austen long since hath plainly resolued the fire of hell is not only a true fire which were my words but a corporall fire that shall punish both men and diuels And closing I make it a point of Christian doctrine deliuered by the Prophets and Apostles and receiued by the Fathers of all ages in Christs church that the fire of hell shall be visible and sensible to the bodies of the wicked and shall eternally and corporally punish the damned according to their deserts It was therefore your foolish obiection that hell fire must be materiall if it be not allegoricall according as you dreame it was no resolution of mine nor so much as mentioned by me I saw the ambiguity of the word well enough and for that cause did refraine it from the beginning For though materiall may be that which consisteth of matter and forme and so all things that are corporall as the wind the aire the heauens are likewise materiall yet in our vulgar speech and vnderstanding to which I framed my selfe that is materiall fire which is nourished with some MATTER apt to burne and consume and in that sense hell fire is no materiall fire The end of your answer in this place is farre woorse than your entrance for there you wittingly and wilfully peruert my words by adding ONLY and ALL vnto them directly against my meaning yea when I openly admonish the Reader to the contrary I inferred by occasion of former proofs therefore the iustice of God both temporally and eternally punisheth the soule by the bodie which words are most euidentlie true since in this life without all question the soule is punished by the bodie and after iudgement the bodie being cast into hell fire shall eternally afflict the soule My words then bearing in them a manifest trueth you take the paines by interlacing them to wrest them to an open falsehood for you make me say Therefore the iustice of God both temporally and eternally punisheth the soule ONLY by the bodie Now this is as false as the former was true for God in this life doth often punish the soule by her selfe and vntill the last day it is as certeine the soules of the wicked departed hence are punished without their bodies which so long lie dead in the dust of the earth What conscience this is for nothing in you must be impudence though it be neuer so shamelesse of an euident trueth to make a palpable errour by adding ONLY to my wordes which I carefully and purposely did auoide let the Reader iudge But the proposition inducing this conclusion you will say is generall to wit all prouocations and pleasures of sinne the soule taketh from her bodie all acts of sinne she committeth by her bodie the conclusion thereof you thinke should be likewise generall therefore ALL the soules paines for sinne both temporally and eternally is by the bodie Your thoughts Sir Discourser bewray your owne follie they must not marshall my reasons I can expresse mine intent without your helpe Out of a generall assumption what Art hindreth me to auouch an indefinite and particular conclusion especially when I meddle with Gods matters whose power and will in iudgement no rules of reason can binde or limit And if I would needs expresse the forme of a syllogisme as you vainly imagine I meant to doe in these words I neuer learned out of a negatiue for the maior to draw an affirmatiue for the conclusion but had not your eyes stood in your light it was easie for you to haue seene both what the conclusion must be by force of the premisses and how in respect of him that is all-iust and yet allmighty I thought not good to restraine him to my conclusions but to inferre in sted thereof that which sufficiently depended on the conclusion and could haue no question either in holy writ or dayly vse Both the premisses are orderly and plainly set downe in my writing and not loosely and ignorantly misplaced as yours are by putting the cart before the horse and taking that for the maior which with me is a part or appendix of the conclusion My words stand thus Nothing is more proportionable to Gods iustice than to ioyne them in paine that were ioyned in sinne and to retaine the same order in punishing which they kept in offending But all prouocations and pleasures of sinne the soule taketh from the bodie all acts of sinne shee committeth by the bodie What boy now knowing the first principles of Logicke doth not presently perceiue the conclusion must be therefore nothing is more proportionable to Gods iustice than both temporally and eternally to ioyne bodie and soule in paine which were ioyned in sinne and to make the bodie the instrument of her paine as it hath beene of her pleasure This conclusion is an vniuersall negatiue and yet doth not exclude all paine of the soule without the bodie to be vnagreeable to Gods iustice as you pretend I meane but auoucheth no paine to be more agreeable than where bodie and soule are both ioyned in suffering as they were in offending And because no punishment is more agreeable to Gods iustice than where both soule and bodie are coupled in paine as they were in sinne though it be no way against Gods iustice to punish the soule for a season without the bodie Therefore which is the inference that I vse the iustice of God both temporally and eternally punisheth the soule by the bodie that as it hath beene the instrument of her
pleasure so it shal be of her paine You affirme not only my meaning but my reason to be this that God temporally and eternally punisheth the soule ONLY by the bodie I vtterly denie that I haue any such reason words or sense but that you purposely haue inserted the word ONLY of your owne to make my reason seeme false and foolish which otherwise is sound and sure You mistooke you will say my meaning you did it not of malice Your mistakings Sir Discourser are indeed very grosse as shall well appeare when we come to your fairest forts but in this by your leaue you could not mistake me except you were bereaued of your wits and senses I not onely prouided that my words should import no such thing as you dreame of but to cleere all cauils when I had made some proofe out of Cyprian Ierom and Tertullian for the second proposition of my reason I moued the question my selfe and answered it with as plaine and precise a deniall as I could deuise to vtter These are my words Do I then denie that the soule hath any sufferings in this life the next which come not by the body BY NO MEANES For though those conioyned sufferings be most answerable to sinnes committed yet the soule hath some proper punishments in this life as sorrow and feare when the bodie hath no hurt from which Christ was not free as appeareth by his agonie and so in the next the soules of the wicked haue griefe and remorse besides the paine of fire These punishments in this world and the next the soule suffereth not by her body nor from her body how then should I meane that God temporally and eternally punisheth the soule ONLY by the bodie or that ALL the soules paine for sinne is from the bodie as you make me to speake both without and against mine owne words Whether this dealing sauour of vnshamefastnesse or no iudge thou Christian Reader as thou seest cause The maner of the Discoursers carriage in the entring and ending of his answer I might not omit Now to his matter The midst of his answer is a medley meet for a man of his learning and iudgement the summe of it is this All my proofs out of the Fathers runne to prooue corporall and materiall fire except the Scriptures by me alleaged which vtterly prooue nothing at all For his part he seeth no reason to beleeue that now there is corporall fire in hell which is only our question or els nothing whatsoeuer shal be heereafter when the bodies shal be tormented with their soules Lastly Austen here doth not proue there shal be such sire after the resurrection be only sheweth the maner how it may be so heereafter if God will Now if the power of God only be all our reason we may as well proue the skie is fallen All the rest of the Fathers say nothing further nor indeed so farre as Austen Whether ten ancient writers all Christian and Catholike fathers relying themselues on the manifest words of holy Scripture and ioyning in one confession of the trueth be not more to be trusted and better beleeued than H. I. of Paules Chaine let the poorest prentise in London iudge As for the Scriptures if you Sir Deuiser and such other busie heads may allegorize them when they contradict your humors from Genesis to the Apocalypsis they shall vtterly proue nothing at all against you for what is there in them which you may not peruert with your fansies and figures if nothing shall be plaine and proper that any way seemeth vnsauourie to your reason The Fathers haue for that which they affirme the exact and euident words of holy Scripture and not so few as Twenty Places of the New Testament witnessing without any parables or allegories fire to be threatened and performed to the wicked in the world to come Whereupon with one consent they haue all resolued and professed it as a setled ground of Christian religion that hell fire to which Christ shall adiudge the wicked at the last day shal be a true externall and sensible fire I meane seene and felt of all the reprobate in their soules and bodies To this our new Patriarck of Pater-noster Rew answereth Austen doth not proue there shal be such a fire he only sheweth the maner how it may be so heereafter if God will Now if Gods power onely be all our reason we may prooue aswell the skie is fallen Gentle Sir if so many vouchers from Christes owne mouth and from his Apostles following their masters steps be no proofe with you nor sufficient witnesse of Gods will you haue some aduantage against S. Austen and all the rest of the Fathers for presuming vpon Gods power without the knowledge of his will but if those proofs be more then pregnant then looke to your allegories lest they prooue you to be a proud presumer against the Scriptures and an arrogant despiser of the Fathers where they accord with the word and will of God It is not enough for you Sir Deuiser to rowze your selfe and say YOV SEE NO REASON you must take the paines to yeeld good reason why you depart from the literall and proper signification of the words vttered by the sonne of God And since you can pretend none but want of power in God to performe the words which he hath spoken in their proper sense all the godly will see great reason to refuse your fansies and figures as idle shifts to decline the cleerenesse of the sacred Scriptures The Scriptures you say shew no more any corporall or materiall or true fire to be now in hell than a corporall worme materiall brimstone much wood and true chaines which I called a sleeuelesse obiection but neither I nor Austen whom I cite against it doth any where answere it Of the worme mentioned in Christes words their worme neuer dieth I shewed you S. Austens iudgement which might content a farre greater Clerke than you Neither is he alone in that opinion Gregorie Nyssene sayth I heare the Scripture affirme that the damned shal be punished with a fire darknesse and worme quae omnia compositorum ac materialium corporum poenae cruciatúsque sunt all which are the punishments and torments of materiall and compounded bodies Basil deliuering what terrours shall be presented to the eyes of the damned in the day of iudgement amongst other things nameth a darkish fire that hath lost his brightnesse but kept his burning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a venimous kinde of worme feeding on flesh and raising intolerable torments with his biting Iosephus a Iew liuing in the Apostles times and no stranger to the Christian faith in his oration to the Greeks which Damascene doth mention and Zonaras doth cite speaking of the finall iudgement of God to be executed by the person of the Messias sayth There remaineth for the louers of wickednesse an vnquenchable and neuer ending fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a
ourselues vnrâ—…ghteous and odious vnto him And yet in mercy towaâ—…ds â—…s and honor â—…wards his Sonne God would make him the Redeemer and Sauiour of the world not neglecting his Iustice nor forgetting his loue but so mixing them both together that his dislike of our sinnes might appeare in the punishment of them and his relenting from the rigor of his Iustice in fauour of his onely Sonne might magnifiâ—… his mercy satisfie his wrath and enlarge his glory and declare in most ample manner the submission compassion and peâ—…fection of his Sonne as only worthy to performe that worke which procured and receaue that honor which followed mans Redemption Christ then suffered from the hand of God but mediate that is GOD DELIVERED him into the hands of sinners who were Satans instruments with all eproach and wrâ—…nge to put him to a contumelious and grieuous death God by his â—…ecret wisdome and iustice decâ—…eeing appointing and ordering what he should suffer at theiâ—… hands Our sinnes â—…e bare in his body on the tree not that his soule was free from feare sorrow 〈◊〉 derision and temptation but that the wicked and malitious â—…ewes practised all kind of shamefull violence and cruell tortuâ—…es on him by Whipping Racking pricâ—…ing and wounding the tenderest parts of his body whereby his soule â—…elt extreame and intoleâ—…able paines In all which he saw the determinate counsell of God and receaued in the garden from his father this Iudgement for our sinnes that he should be 〈◊〉 dâ—…liuered into the hands of sinners For had he not humbly submitted himselfe to obey his fatheâ—…s will no power in earth could haue preuailed against him but as he had often fortold his Disciples what the Priestes Scribes and Gentils should doe vnto him so when the hower was come which was foreappointed of God to obey his fathers will he yeelded himselfe into their hands they persuing him to death of enuie and malice but God thus perfourming euen by their wicked hands what he had â—…oreshewed by his Prophets that Christ should suffer For they not knowing him â—…or the wordâ—… of the Prophets fulfilled them in condemning him yea they fulfilled all things which were written of him So that no man shall need to runne to the immediate hand of God nor to the paines of hell for the punishment of our sinnes in the person of Christ the Iewes FVLFILLED ALL THINGS that were written of him touching his sufferings and therewith Gods anger against our sinnes was appeased and God himselfe reconciled vnto vs. Esay speaking of the violence done by the Iewes to Christ sayeth he was wounded for our transgressions and broken for our iniquities and with his stripes we are healed Thus the Lord layed vpon him the iniquitie of all vs and he bare our sinnes in his body on the tree by those sufferings before and on the Crosse which the Scriptures expresly declare and describe And as for the immediate hand of God tormenting the soule of Christ with the selfe same paines which the damned now suffer in hell which is this deuisers maine drift when he maketh or offereth any proofe thereof out of the word of God I shall be ready to receiue it if I can not refute it till then I see no cause why euery wandring witte should imagine what monsters please him in mans redemption and obtrude them to the faithfull without any sentence or syllable of holy Scripture I haue no doubt but all the godly will be so wise as to suffer no man to raigne so much ouer their faith with fancies and figures vnwarranted by the Scriptures vnknowen to all the learned and ancient councels and Fathers vnheard of in the Church of Christ till our age wherein some men applaude more their owne inuentions then all humane or diuine instructions The feare of bodily sufferings you thinke could not be the cause that there strained out from Christ much sweat of clotted blood You straine the text of the Euangelist to draw it to your bent Saint Luke hath no such words that there strained out from Christ much sweat of clotted blood he sayth Christes sweat was like drops of blood trickling downe to the ground Theophylact a Greeke borne and no way ignorant of his mother tongue expresseth Christes sweat in the garden by these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christes body or face DISTILLED with plentifull drops of sweat And albeit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifie the congealed parts of that which is otherwise liquid and compacted pieces of that which els is poudered yet often it noteth that which is thickâ—… in comparison with thinner or eminent in respect of plainer Now Christes sweat might be thicke by reason it issued from the inmost parts of his bodie and was permixed with blood or els it might breake out with great and eminent drops as comming from him violently and abundantly and being coloured with blood and congealed with colde might trickle downe like DROPS or strings of blood vpon the ground Howsoeuer the Scripture saith not his sweate was clotted blood but like to congealed or cooled blood neither that such clots were strained out from him but that his sweate being thicked and cooled on his face fell from him like strings of blood But grant there could be no reason giuen of Christs bloodie sweat in the garden no more then there can be of the issuing first of blood and then of water out of his side when he was dead which S. Iohn doth exactly note as strange but yet true will you conclude what please you because many things in Christ both liuing and dying weâ—…e miraculous I bind no mans conscience to any probabilities for the cause of this sweate but onely to the expresse wordes and necessarie consequents of holy Scripture and yet I wish all men either to be sober and leaue that to God which he hath concealed from vs or if they will needes be gessing at the reason thereof for certaine knowledge they can haue none by no meanes to relinquish the plaine words or knowen groundes of holy Scripture to embrace a fansie of their owne begetting The learned and ancient Fathers haue deliuered diuers opinions of this sweate which thou mayest see Christian Reader in my Sermons and which we shall haue occasion anon to reexamine euery one of them being as I thinke more probable and more agreeable to Christian pietie then this Discoursers dreame of hell paines or Gods immediate hand at that present tormenting of the soule of Christ. And if we looke to the order and sequence of the Gospell we shall finde that feruent zeale extreamely heating the whole bodie melting the spirits thinning the blood opening the pores and so colouring and thicking the sweate of Christ might in most likelihood be the cause of that bloodie sweate Which S. Luke seemeth to insinuate when he saith that after Christ was comforted by an Angell from heauen and so recouered from his
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
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
that you should professe your selfe a Method-master to this Realme When I tooke occasion from my text to lay downe first the contents then the effects of Christs crosse as the Scriptures did deliuer them that is what Christ suffered on his crosse for vs and what he performed by his crosse to vs say good Sir out of your new found art what fault you finde either with the matter or with the method Christes crosse you say signifieth here no such thing but the afflictions of Christ and his members That is the vanitie of your errour that is not the trueth of my text Christ crucified in his owne person for mans redemption is the full purport of Christs crosse in my text as in my Sermons I shortly declared in my conclusion I more amplie proued and now I trust I haue therein fully satisfied the Reader That standing good I note what Christ suffered which I call the contents of his crosse and to what end he suffered which are the effects of his crosse both these are aptly and fairely closed in my text and by other places of Scripture iustly proued to be comprised in my text This forsooth your mastership liketh not but I must make syllogismes out of euery word conteined in my text or els I make the Scriptures such an instrument as they ought not to be Silly Sir you vnderstand not what you say first learne and after teach lest you teach that you neuer learned When it is sayd Giue vnto God the things which are Gods can you out of these words without the aid of other Scriptures firmely conclude what things are Gods and how they must be giuen vnto him or must you proue that by other places of holy Scripture Euen so when I had shewed what was iustly inclosed within the words of my theme I made direct ful proofe thereof by other places of holy writ which I take to be a sound and sure way of well vsing the Scriptures to that very purpose they should be applied notwithstanding your palterie prouisoes that no man must after speake any thing that can not firmely be concluded by the sole and single words of his text which is a rule fit for such a Rouer as you are that neuer soundly proue any thing but not for him that will fully diuide and rightly deliuer as well the sense as the sound of any sentence of holy Scripture which he taketh in hand to vnfold To shew your selfe a firme and fine concluder vpon texts you exemplifie your skill and inferre that in three speciall points I my selfe by my very text ouerthrow my selfe in the first entrance as all men may see First in that I expresly grant the proper sufferings of Christes minde may rightly be in the contents of his crosse contrary to my maine opinion that Christs bodily sufferings ALONE were the full price of our redemption Secondly that Christs soule in a large sense may be sayd to be crucified if I suppose my text to signifie the whole contents of Christs crosse which I reproued in you with great contempt Thirdly in that I quite ouerthrow my second question for if it be a detestable thing to reioyce but in the crosse of Christ then Christes descent to hell after death must either be a part of the contents of his crosse and so he must suffer among the diuels and damned spirits or els he did vs no good there if we may not reioyce in his descending thither These iarres in my selfe you say I must reconcile els men will thinke I haue not handled my text indeed very rightly These iarres good Sir for so much as concerneth me are soone reconciled Your first obiection is a plaine falsitie your second an open follie your third a meere mockerie The contents of Christs crosse I extended to those griefs wrongs and paines which Christ suffered in his passage to his crosse as namely his submission in the garden his apprehension accusation illusion flagellation condemnation and such like all which he felt before he was fastened to the tree and though indeed they were precedents to his crosse yet because the griefe and smart of them continued and increased with his hanging on the tree the Scripture doth not exclude them from the crosse of Christ which often meaneth by that word the whole course and maner of Christes death and passion as well in comming to his crosse as in hanging on his crosse As for the proper sufferings of the minde those be none of my words yet if you thereby meane care and feare shame and sorrow not repugnant to the condition and perfection of Christes person let them in Gods name come within the contents of Christes crosse as antecedents or consequents to the paines which he suffered But if vnder the proper sufferings of the soule you conuey the suffering of hell paines or the death of the soule from the immediate hand of God which is your dreame keepe your errours for your owne accounts my words haue no such matter nor meaning How then can my maine opinion be true that Christs bodily sufferings ALONE were the full price of our Redemption which I would also ground on all the Fathers though very vntruely How can your obiections be waightie that speake neuer a true word By Christs bodily sufferings I no where exclude either the sense consideration or affection of the Soule discerning the paines which and the cause why the body suffered as you falsely imagine I only except the death of the Soule and paines of hell in Christs sufferings and to barre that I shew by many sufficient testimonies of the auncient Fathers which you shall neuer ouerbeare for all your bragges that Christ dyed for vs the death of the bodie onely and not the death of the soule In this case I vse the word ONLY as hath beene often told you otherwise to exclude the vnion operation or passion of the soule from Christs sufferings I neuer vse it And where I so often and instantly vrge that Christs death and blood-shedding are specified in the Scriptures as the full price of our Redemption and true meanes of our reconciliation to God You foolishly by their fulnesse would turne out all the rest of Christs sufferings as superfluous but my words throughout my sermons are expresse to the contrarie The crosse blood and death of Christ are euery where mentioned in the Scriptures as the very ground-worke and pillars of our Redemption And the things which are named in the Scriptures as they were the last so are they the chiefest parts of Christs sufferings the rest being vnderstood as antecedent to them and not eminent aboue them So that by the death and blood of Christ I neither did nor doe exclude the rest of his sufferings before he came to his crosse only I make them Antecedent to that not eminent aboue that which he suffered on the crosse For as the end of euery thing presupposeth a beginning and a middle and the
you once denie it For where you affirme that certaine Sacrifices of the Iewes set foorth those sufferings of Christs soule which you meane and I vtterly denied that any sacrifices of the Iewes did shew the suffering of hell paines in Christs soule or any other kind of death besides the death of the body only you take not the paines to make any proofe of that you aâ—…rme but stand in your state and say you deny my assumption As if the negatiue being mine and the affirmatiue yours you were not by all rules of Râ—…ason to prooue your aâ—…atiue and it sufficed me to stand on the negatiue till you made iust proofe of the contrary Here you will say you doe bring proofe for your assertion Here indeed you spend three leaues in talking of it as your manner is howbeit your word is here as throughout your writings the best warrant you offer vs for this cause But let vs heare your examples and proofes First that sacrifice consisting of two goats a slaine and a scape-goat You obiect heere against first that I abuse the Text. That were a great fault but let vs view the Text. Against your instance of the Scape-goat figuring as you would haue it the suffeâ—…ings of Christs soule I made three exceptions First that the Scripture did not call the Scape-goat a Sacrifice for sinne Secondly that no proofe was or could be made that the Scapegoat signified the soule of Christ Thirdly that if both those were granted which were no way proued the Scape-goat suffering nothing but being let loose into the wildernesse did rather inferre that Christes soule was freed from all such sufferings as you would force vpon it To the last which is the chiefest you take the paines to say little and so giue the Reader to vnderstand that your bolde assertion is the best foundation of your proofe for if you can not shew as you neither doe nor can that the Scape-goat by the Scriptures suffered any thing how will you bring it about that the Scape-goat figured the sufferings of Christes soule shall no suffering be a figure of suffering such may your figures be but the wisdome of God maketh figures for similitude and resemblance to the trueth and not for contrarietie to it as you do The chiefest point then you cleane slide from and take holde on some words in Moses text about which you thinke you may wrangle with some more likelihood The verie expresse wâ—…rds of the text you say are these Aaron shall take of the people two goats for a sinne offering And verie good reason must I bring to frustrate so plâ—… a speech I am farre from bringing any thing to frustrate the Scriptures but if the Scripture expresse it selfe I preferre that before your misapplying the words to your will Aaron shal take of the congregation of the children of Israel two goats for sinne So stand the words if you will needs appeale precisely to the text Here is a taking of two goats and an intent for sinne declared in generall but the particular maner of vsing and ordering either of them according to Gods appointment followeth in distinct and direct wâ—…ds Aaron shall take the two goats and make them stand before the Lord at the doore of the Tabernacle And Aaron shall giue lots vpon both goats one lot for the Lord and another for the Scape-goat And Aaron shall make the goat on which the lâ—… fell for the Lord to draw neere and shall make him reddie or sacrifice him for sinne For here is AASA'HV added which in the Scriptures vsually signifieth to make readie a Sacrifice And he shall kill the goat that is for sinne for the people and bring his bloud within the vaiâ—…e In as plaine words as the former be or any can be that goat on which the lot fell for the Lord must be made readie that is sacrificed for sinne of which he spake at first and that which was the peoples sinne-offering must be slaine and his blood brought within the vaile But neither of these agree to the Scape-goat therefore the Scape-goat was not the sinne offering for the people which the Scripture in that place mentioneth These words you say proue not that the Scape-goat was no sinne-offering at all These particular circumstances doe plainly proue which of the two goats was made the peoples sinne-offering and so conuince that you inlargc the words of Moses without any iust ground to serue your owne conceit Two sinne-offerings were not taken from the people but two goats were taken for sinne and one of them sacrificed for the people as was after prescribed and performed and Aaron commanded for him and his house to offer a bullocke for his sinne-offering So that where the Scripture mentioneth no moe sinne-offerings for the people but one neither vseth the word AASA but to one of them that one was prepared and slaine by Gods commandement as a sinne-offering for the people where the Scape-goat was preserued aliue and sent away into the wildernesse to shew the force of the former sacrifice by carying with it the sinnes of the people I take a sacrifice and offering in the largest sense as signifying any consecrated thing giuen to God to appease him for sinne And such vnbloudie sinne-offerings very manie we shall finde in Moses Law Wherefore the Scape-goat may be a sinne-offering though it were not slaine or bloudie That the word Sacrifice may be diuersly taken and applied to things vnbloudie and ghostly I haue no doubt but that one and the same word in one and the same place should import both a bloudie and vnbloudie sacrifice for sinne is a shift of yours without all sense it hath no shew in the sacred Scriptures Againe the sacrifices for sinne were they bloudie or vnbloudie which are mentioned in Moses law and namely in all those places which you quote in your margin they were all without exception OFFERED to God by FIRE the things liuing suffered first death by effusion of bloud the things without life as flowre oyle wine and such like were cast into the fire where the bloudie sacrifices were burned and so without bloud or fire no sacrifice for sinne is appointed in Moses law Since then the Scape-goat was neither slaine nor touched with fire but sent forth aliue into the wildernesse what do those examples of things vnbloudie yet offered by fire helpe you to proue that the Scape-goat liuing was such a sinne offering as many are found in Moses law Can there be any thing in the world more full and strong to prooue that the Scape-goat also was a true sinne-offering or rather a true part of this whole and entire sinne-offering consisting and being compleat in both these goats the slaine and the Scape-goat For as the slaine so the Scape-goat we see was CONSECRATED to the Lord and here OFFERED to make reconciliation by him and separated from men and barâ—… vpon him all the sinnes of the
neerer in soules to the right signification of bruizing than the mangling tearing and contusing of Christs body which he suffered from the violent rage of the Iewes Your other word of the very same nature keepe to your selfe When your proofs faile you in this you may not be suffered to roue at your pleasure and to reach after other words out of your own vnlearned skill to vouch they are of the very same nature Wherefore there is no cause why the coherence of Esaies wordes should be cut in sunder by your vnhandsome deuice of the peeces and powder of soules but as the first words in that sentence he was wounded for our transgressions and the last with his stripes we are healed are plainly referred to the punishments of Christes bodie so the middest he was bruized for our iniquities should haue the same relation and intention especially the Prophet foretelling the people what they should see in their Messias and how they should misiudge of him We sayth Esay did iudge him as plagued and smittâ—…n of God but he was wounded for our transgressions and bruized for our iniquities and with his stripes are we healed Neither is it any strange thing in the Scriptures to ioyne this very word which you talke so much of with wounding as with a word of the same nature and force For besides that Moses sayth None wounded with any bruizing or â—…utting of his secret parts shall enter into the Lords congregation Dauid saith to God Thou hast bruized Rahab as one that is wounded Where wounding bruizing are more properly lincked together as words of like force and effect than your breaking of soules into pieces or beating them to powder The verie same word is also vsed in the Scriptures to note the bruizing of mans bodie by sicknesse or of his estate by wrong and oppression Dauid in a grieuous sicknesse complaining that he felt nothing sound in his flesh nor any rest in his bones addeth I am weakned and bruized very much Bruize not the poore in the gate sayth Salomon that is oppresse not the poore in iudgement The children of the foolish shall be bruized that is oppressed in the gate and none shall deliuer them And when it is applied to the soule it may note that to be either wounded with sorrow oppressed with wrong or humbled with obedience but as for powder and pieces from which you would pull a iust proportion which nothing can answere but the paines of hell it is a sicke conceit of your owne braine it hath no deriuation either from the Prophets or Apostles words You did not meane that the soule might be properly broken in pieces but that thus it is neerer and better applied to the soule than to the bodie which was only pierced and boared thorow Then was your former opposition out of the Scripture very licentious and your conclusion as friuolous In that a bone of Christes was not broken you inferred that Esaies words He was broken for our sinnes could not be properly meant of Christes bodie flesh and bones as if there were no breaking of ioynts veines sinewes flesh or skinne but only of bones And yet as if the soule of Christ which is by nature altogether indiuisible might properly be broken in pieces you conclude the breaking of the bread can not properly belong to the bodie of Christ BVT TO THE SOVLE Had you denied the breaking of the bread properly to belong to either your words must haue beene It can belong properly neither to the bodie nor to the soule but you denie the one and auouch the other It can not belong properly to the body but to the soule Whether those words of yours doe not expresly import that the breaking of bread doth properly belong to the soule of Christ as to the trueth wherein they must be verified I leaue it to the iudgement of the discreet Reader Howbeit you denie not but broken applied to the soule of Christ is figuratiue And so you grant there was no cause you should take such exceptions as you did to the Apostles wordes This is my bodie which is broken for you For since it can not be verified of the soule but figuratiuely as you now confesse it may so be most iustly verified of Christes bodie without any sense of hell paines suffered in the soule of Christ. And if the consent of the English Latine and Greeke tongues may be trusted for the vse of a word breaking may properly be affirmed of Christes bodie which can not be of his soule for so much as his ioynts veines sinewes flesh and skinne were broken and torne in sunder though his bones were not And but that your fashion is to follow no man farder than your fansie leadeth you you might haue seene with what reuerence and conscience Master Beza that otherwise vpholdeth the sufferings of Christes soule referreth this word KLOMENON to the tearings and torments of Christes bodie being hereto led by the Apostles assertion By the word broken in Pauls wordes is designed the kindâ—… of Christes death because besides that the Lords bodie was torne bruized and euen broken with most bitter torments though his legges were not broken as the theeues were Christ breathing out his soule with a most violent death was as it were rent in two parts according to his humane Nature This word then hath a MARVELLOVS EXPRESSE SIGNIFICATION that the figure should fullie agree with the thing it selfe to wit that the breaking of the bread should represent to our minds the verie death of Christ. Peter Martyr hauing made your obiection that a bone of Christ was not broken resolueth But heereof I will not greatly contend for somuch as this breaking is by many Fathers referred to the body of Christ. With whom the wordes following doe make broken for you which indeed leadeth me to consent vnto them and to acknowledge a double breaking one in the bread another in the bodie of Christ. Bullinger sayth The bread is properlie sayd to be broken the bodie of man to be slaine howbeit in the Hebrue tongue to breake is to waste to kill and destroy And so the visible bread which in our sight is broken with our hands doth certeinly set before our eyes that bodie of Christ which was broken or done to death by vs or for vs. So Haymo q Christ himselfe brake the bread which he deliuered to his Disciples to shew that the breaking and suffering of his bodie came not but of his owne accord Which wordes he tooke out of Beda vpon the Gospels of Marke and Luke Before whom Prosper When the host is broken and the bloud is powred out into the mouthes of the faithfull what other thing is designed than the doing to death of the Lords bodie on the crosse and the shedding of the bloud out of his side And likewise Austen The table of thy spouse sayth he to the Church hath bread
and necessarie actions passions and proprieties the whole receiueth his attribute from a part And so my words rest sound and true both in humane reason and in holie Scripture notwithstanding your vaine proclamation of so cleere and expresse an absurditie in them But you must be borne with your humor is so sharpe and your head so shallow that your left hand knoweth not what your right sâ—…ibleth Your despising the Ecclesiasticall historie as a fable is a sparke of your pride from which few ancient writers are free howbeit the Scriptures are plaine enough for my purpose to proue that Christs body was truely broken They witnesse that the Iewes buffeted him with their sistes and smote him with their Sâ—…rieants staues thar Pilate scourged him that the souldiers platted a crowne of thornes on his head and then did beate him on the head with reedes and roddes that his crucifiers digged his hands and seete and pulled all his bones out of ioynt and that in this plight the waight of his body hung on the crosse three houres by the wounds of his hands feete and when he was dead his side was pearced with a speare besides the mockes wrongs and taunts that were offered him on euery side and yet all this you say is not in any sense proportionable to the proprietie of the word KLO'MENON and MEDVCCA You prate of PROPRIETIES and proportions to no end but to colour your absurdities and presumptions What Christian Reader will endure you to say that the Apostle in applying the word KLO'MENON to the body of Christ had neither proprietie nor proportion to the right sense of the word If he did not speake properly in those words which is broken for you as I thinke he did yet at least he must speake metaphorically and figuratiuely and so keepe a resemblance and proportion to the originall sense of the word except your wisedome will auouch that the holy Ghost ignorantly and vnaduisedly abuseth the word Which if you confesse of your selfe I will easily beleeue because you neither know what you affirme nor what you deny For where afore you said in plaine words the breaking of the bread CAN NOT PROPERLY BELONG BVT TO THE SOVLE of Christ Now you graunt it properly belongeth neither to body nor to soule onely from powder and peeces you take a iust and full proportion in the soule to the proper sense of those words You haue me in iealousie that I thinke you to be a senslesse foole indeed I thinke you to be more conceited then learned and a great deale more shifting then sound though in this booke you haue sought the helpe of all your friends to maintaine the most of your matters with as it were but if you reiect the Apostles words as wanting both proprietie and proportion except your hell paines be admitted and make out iust and full proportions from powder and peeces vnto the soule of Christ I doubt your Reader will thinke these be senslesse and foolish Toyes If I would play with proportions as you doe I neede not depart from the words of the holy Ghost to find a fairer resemblance to the proper sense of those words in the body of Christ crucified then you make any All my bones are sundered saith Dauid in the person of Christ and thou hast brought me into the dust of death Of which and all that went before Eusebius saith what else doe all these signifie but the condition of Christs dead body Wherefore he presently addeth and into the dust of death thou hast brought me Here in expresse words is the dust of death to which Christs body was brought and besides all his bones were sundered Now to be sundered is euidently to be diuided and that must be with parts or peeces the naturall coherence wherewith the bones were formerly ioyned being losed and dissolued though one part be not seuered from the other Whether therefore the word broken be properly or figuratiuely taken I see no cause why the Apostles words may not in either sense be fully true For if the Ioynts vaines sinewes flesh and skinne of Christs body from head to foote were properly straeined rent and torne besides the seuering of his soule from his body then was his body truely broken If by breaking we figuratiuely meane as others doe the affliction and anguish of Christs body then as no part was free from it so no increase of bodily paine in this life could be added to his sufferings and so in either respect your hell paines haue their pasport till you find some fitter place and better proofe for them then either KLO'MENON or MEDVCCA The next point you vndertake is whether the blood of Christ be the full Redemption as well of our bodies as of our Soules in this life Wherein because the word Redemption is diuersly taken in the Scriptures as for deliuerance sometimes from sinne sometimes from death sometimes from the power and feare of either and all the promises of God we haue now in hope though not some of them indeed till the generall resurrection you shew your selfe cunning in carping at words which you labour to turne and wind euery way But before you come to it you make a short and swift answere to all the places of Scripture which I produce touching the force and effects of Christs blood least you should haue any neede to trouble your selfe hereafter about any of them Where as your manner is throughout your booke you first chaunge the question with adding your witlesse and senslesse termes of meere single and simple to my words and then without any more adoe Your aduised and resolute answere to all is this there is not one text any where that hath any meaning of my strange conceite It were reason a man would thinke you tooke the paines to impugne my words and not to presume you know my meaning against my words and so to frame it after your fashion with your new found phrases which I abhor as much as I doe your new found faith You will prooue the blood of our Sauiour is the true price of our Redemption and that as well of our soules as of our bodies Who denieth this as your words runne It is happie yet that my words runne well whatsoeuer my conceite be Now if I meane no more then I speake and the sacred Scriptures fully concurre with that which I speake then haue I both the word of God to warrant that I teach and besides your owne confession that as I speake it it is truth But you know I meane that no more but the shedding of Christs blood ONLY AND MEERELY is the iust and full satisfaction of all our sinnes What my meaning is you cannot be ignorant I haue often declared it not here only but in my Sermons and conclusion also as I haue formerly shewed and you haue plainely confessed I will once more repeate your
deuice to the doctrine of our saluation than what is euidently reuealed and directly witnessed in the Scriptures Whether it be of Christ sayth Austen or of any other thing what soeuer touching the faith I say not if we who are no way comparable to him that so spake but that which followeth if an Angell from heauen teach you BESIDES that which you haue receiued in the Scriptures of the Law and the Gospell holde him accursed It is a manifest fall from the faith sayth Basil either to abrogate any thing that is written or to bring in any thing that is not written For when once we beleeue the Gospel sayth Tertullian this we first beleeue that there is nothing besides which we ought to beleeue So that the meere bloud and single bodie of Christ are but sleights of yours with vnknowen phrases to draw your Reader from asking or eying your proofes for the death of Christes soule and the paines of the damned to be suffered by him before wee could be redeemed The Scriptures are maine and manifest for that which I beleeue and teach and which the whole Church of Christ before mee taught and beleeued these fifteene hundred yeeres afore your conceit of hell paines in the soule of Christ was either hatcht or heard of The sufferings of the soule and the wrath of God which things you now catch holde on to make some introduction to your secret and priuate fansies are too generall to inferre either the death of the soule or the paines of the damned except to the rest of your absurdities you will adde these that the soule neuer suffereth but it dieth the death of spirits and that Gods anger in this life hath none other effects but damnation Here you vrge a reason against vs if then our soules be not redeemed by the blood of Christ our bodies haue no benefite of Redemption from death You hunt so headily after aduantages of words by some ambiguitie in them that you neither remember what the Scriptures teach nor what your selfe defend nor when I vse a word in the same sense that the Apostle doth It is not my deuise but the Apostles doing to take REDEMPTION of the body for the incorruption of the same We sigh in our selues saith Paul wayting for the Redemption of our body And againe you are sealed by the holy spirit of God vnto the day of Redemption When that day shall be our Sauiour telleth vs in these words When the powers of heauen shall be shaken and you see the sonne of man come in a cloud with power and great glory then lift vp your heads for your Redemption draweth neere In all which places Redemption is taken for none of those mercies or graces which are bestowed on Gods children in this life but for that glorie and immortalitie which shall be reueiled on them when Christ shall come to iudge the world and namely the Redemption of the body for that incorruption wherewith our vile bodies shall bee changed and made like to his glorious body Take then the Redemption of the body for the incorruption of the same as the Apostle plainely doth and I did and see what absurditie or obscuritie there is in my reason which you so much wrangle with and wonder at as though it passed all vnderstanding The Redemption which we haue in this life by the bloud of Christ must needes bee either of body or of soule we haue no more parts to be redeemed by Christ. But the Redemption of our bodies we haue not in this world we must waite for it till this corruptible put on incorruption The Redemption therefore which we haue in this life or shal haue before the last day is the Redemption of our soules And so the words of Peter You were Redeemed with the precious bloud of Christ and of the Saints in heauen saying to the Lambe Thou hast redeemed vs to God by thy bloud pertaine expresly to the Redemption of their soules because their bodies then did and yet do lie in corruption What so strange monsters or marueiles doeth your Logicall head finde in this reason that you should make such wonderizations at it and protestations against it Is it not open and easie to all that be meanely witted or soberly minded But you haue three things to note in my words which you alleage 1. The Proposition is vaine and Illogicall hauing no consequence in it at all It is a speciall point of Art memoratiue in you to note three things and vtterly to forget two of them For in this whole Section you doe not so much as mention any second or third thing to bee noted in those words which you cite The first and al which you note is that my proposition is vaine Illogicall and vncoherent Your idle and vntheologicall head hath ouer busied it selfe with many mad multiplications and what ifs vpon this proposition and yet you come nothing neere the sense or coherence of it The Proposition hath two parts whereof the second is either an illation out of the Apostles words vpon the first being a supposition of yours if we limit it to the time of this life or if wee speake without restraint of time as you doe it is a necessarie consequent to the former being the condition and cause of the latter That our soules are not redeemed by the bloud of Christ but by his soule is a resolution of yours wherewith you giue a fresh on-set in the next Section as the Reader shall there perceiue though here in shew you somwhat relent after your inconstant maner That being a position of yours I added by the Apostles warrant that our bodies haue not their Redemption in this life but must stay for it till the day of Redemption or generall resurrection And so the reason standeth If our soules be not here redeemed by the bloud of Christ which is your Assertion our bodies by the Apostles doctrine haue no Redemption in this life But this That wee should presently haue no Redemption in body or soule by the bloud of Christ is quite m contrarie to the words of Peter who sayth Yee are redeemed by the bloud of Christ not yee shall be and of the soules in heauen that say to Christ thou hast redeemed vs by thy bloud when their bodies were rotten in the earth Since therefore either body or soule must haue Redemption in this life and the body as Paul assureth vs hath not Redemption in this life Ergo the Redemption which we haue in this life by the bloud of Christ must bee referred to our soules and our bodies must expect the generall day of Redemption in the end of the world before they shall haue it If the sober and wise Reader vnderstand not this reason or can dislike the sequence of it I am content he shall condemne it as darke and obscure but if it be open to all mens eyes saue yours then is your
but thereby it plainly appeareth you take not the paines to reade the Fathers words in the places where they are written but rashly catch at them to serue your turne without all respect to the antecedents or consequents which would declare the writers meaning In that Chapter whence these words are taken Cyrill treateth not of the punishments which Christ suffered for our sinnes but of the passions and infirmities of our nature ALL VVHICH Christ receaued and suffered to rise in himselfe that they might be repressed by him and our nature reformed And therefore in those words Christ suffered all to free vs from all Cyrill euidently meaneth all the naturall infirmities and passions of our flesh And those are his expresse words twice or thrice in that Chapter When thou hearest saith he that Christ wept feared and sorrowed acknowledge him to be a true man and ascribe these things to the nature of man For Christ tooke a mortall bodie subiect to all the passions of our nature sinne alwaies excepted And againe How commeth it to passe that these men know not that all these things must be applied to mans nature in Christ which he truely tooke vnto him with all the passions thereof but still without sinne And the very recollection of the words which you stand on conuinceth Cyrill spake of the naturall passions and infirmities of our flesh For when he had exemplified his generall wordes Christ suffered all to free vs from all by death feare and sorrow which are naturall to our corrupt condition he concludeth it a singulas passiones carnis fuisse in Christo absque peccato commotas inuenies vt commotae vincerentur natura nostra reformaretur ad melius AND LIKEVVISE ALL THE PASSIONS or affections of our flesh shalt thou finde mooued in Christ but without sinne that being mooued they might be repressed and our nature reformed to the better What is this to hell paines which I trow are no naturall infirmities or affections in man or to the proper sufferings of the soule which you would hence establish since heere is no mention but of the naturall infirmities and affections of the flesh which Cyrill calleth the passions therof as both Diuines and Philosophers doe ' Thus I take Bernards meaning to be when he saith Christ spared not himselfe who knoweth how to spare his Your taking may soone shew you to be a wilfull mistaker but it concludeth nothing for your cause Doth Bernard say that Christ suffered hell paines and therein spared not himselfe you would faine haue him say so but he is as farre from it as you are neere it Bernard in that Chapter which you cite but neuer saw for you went no farder for all your authorities then my sermons speaketh of the sixt and seuenth time Christ shedde his blood for vs and when he commeth to the piercing of Christs hands and his feete with spikes of iron to fasten him to the crosse wondering at Christes patience and loue towards vs that endured such things for vs he saith God which either shortneth lightneth or taketh from his seruants the force of their torments did in nothing ease vnto himselfe the wine-presse of his passion he spared not himselfe that knoweth how to spare his Doth this conclude that Christ suffered the paines of hell or that he shedde his blood vnto death for vs not sparing himselfe from that or in that which he suffered though it were painfull and greeuous to him But I my selfe confesse that Christ suffered and endured all to the vttermost with exact obedience and patience Euen as Bernard fauoured your vntoward fansies and said nothing for them so doe I but doe either Bernards words or mine import that Christ suffered all which else we should haue suffered as you enterlace Cyrils words to make them sound somewhat to your purpose are you so seely that you can not or so slie that you will not see the plaine seames of humane speech If a man should saie you affirme all things boldly you prooue all things weakely you translate al thinges corruptly Doe his words imply that you translate Euclide and Aristotle that you prooue the roundnesse of the earth and the bignesse of the Sunne or that you affirme the sea burneth and the Moone melteth Is it not the vsuall course of al speech and speakers when they expresse how things are done to restraine the word all with a relation to the same person and action whereof they spake as you affirme all things which you affirme boldly you prooue all that you prooue weakely and you translate all whatsoeuer you translate corruptly Doth not the Scripture obserue the like The people said of Christ he hath done all things well Will you inferre that Christ made ships built Towers cast Lead and did whatsoeuer because he did all things well or did they intend that whatsoeuer he did he did it well The true light saith Saint Iohn lightneth euerie man that commeth into the world Where if you take all men without exception you plant a palpable error vpon Saint Iohns words if you restraine them to all that are lightned his speech is a manifest trueth in Christ and an excellent honour to Christ. So said I of Christ that he suffered all that he suffered with exact obedience and patience not expressing there what he suffered but how he suffered to wit obediently and patiently Which wordes of mine giue you no great cause of aduantage if you looke well vnto them and abuse them not after your idle maner But such poore shifts you are forced to seeke to set some colour on your cause which otherwise would bewray it selfe to want all good groundes and proofes As you deale with me so you doe with Tertullian Ambrose Ierom Cyprian and Cyrill whose words partly you mistranslate partly you misconster and build vpon them what best pleaseth your selfe without any precedence or sequence of their text Tertullian saith sic reliquit dum non parcit So God left his Sonne whiles he spared him not If this make for you why quote you not the Apostle Paul as one of your partners who spake the word before Tertullian and whom Tertullian citeth by name for that word God spared not his owne Sonne saith Paul but deliuered him for vs all This place you baulked because it expoundeth Gods not sparing his Sonne by deliuering him for God spared not his Sonne but deliuered him that is God did not spare him from deliuering and also for that it excludeth your imagination of Gods immediate hand tormenting the soule of his Sonne with the substance of hell paines For if God deliuered his Sonne for vs all he deliuered him to others and not to himselfe and consequently your dreame of Gods immediate hand inflicting hell paines on the soule of his Sonne is against the Apostles words God deliuered his Sonne Which Christ himselfe expoundeth very often in the Gospel saying The Sonne of man shal
be deliuered into the hands of men and they shall kill him And againe The Sonne of man shall be deliuered to be crucified and immediately before his apprehension Behold the houre is come the Sonne of man is deliuered into the hands of sinners This deliuering of Christ into the hands of men to be crucified was the not sparing him which the Apostle meant and was that for saking which Christ testified on the Crosse as Tertullian thinketh Filium dereliquit dum hominem eius tradit in mortem Hoc Apostolus sensit scribens si pater Filio non pepercit Sic reliquit dum non parcit sic reliquit dum tradit Ceterum non reliquit pater filium in cuius manibus Filius spiritum suum posuit Denique posuit statim obijt Spiritu enim manente in carne caro omnino mori non potest Ita relinqui á patre mori fuit filio God left or forsooke his Sonne as Christ complained on the Crosse whiles he deliuered his humane nature vnto death This the Apostle meant when he wrote if God spared not his Sonne So God left him whiles he spared him not so God left him whiles he deliuered him Otherwise the Father forsooke not the Sonne into whose hands the Sonne commended his spirit He laide it downe and presently died For while the spirit abideth in the flesh the flesh can not die at all Then to bee left of the Father was as much in the Sonne as to die Here are Tertullians words in order as they stand Where first he maketh the Sonne to die when hee laide downe his soule into his Fathers hands This death by which the soule of Christ departed from his body was that deliuering that not sparing which Paul meant and that forsaking which Christ spake of on the crosse What finde you here for the paines of Hell or for the proper sufferings of the soule You may peruert any mans words if you will but of them selues these are very coherent and euident In Ambrose you finde more hold He saith Minus contulerat mihi nisimeum suscepisset affectum Christ had done lesse for me if hee had not beene altogether affected as I should haue beene Though you be no good concluder yet are you a notable translatour For you can turne the English not onely cleane from but quite against the Latine Where Ambrose saith Christ had done lesse for mee if taking my nature vnto him hee had not also taken my naturall affection vnto him as feare sorrow and such like you misconster affection for punishment and mine that is naturally mine for that which I should haue suffered in hell and adding the word altogether of your owne you make Ambrose say that Christ was altogether affected that is punished in soule as I should haue beene in hell if I had not bene redeemed But by what Grammar doth affectus signifie hell paines Feare griefe and sorrow are naturall affections in all men and passions of the soule they signifie not in their owne nature the torments of the damned How shall we know this to bee Ambrose meaning Hee that hath but halfe an eye may see by that whole Chapter the roote of this sorrow to bee the infirmitie of our nature in Christ and the cause thereof to be his compassion and pitie had of vs and for vs. The next words to those which you bring are Ergo pro me doluit qui pro se nihil habuit quod doleret And presently taedio meae infirmitatis afficitur Christ therefore sorrowed for me who had nothing in him selfe for which he should sorrow he is affected with the tediousnesse of my infirmitie The tediousnesse of our infirmitie affected him not the torments of hell suffered in his owne soule Neque speciem incarnationis suscepit sed veritatem Debuit ergo dolorem suscipere vt vinceret tristitiam non excluderet Christ tooke vpon him not the shew but the trueth of our flesh Hee was therefore to feele griefe as a consequent to our nature that he might ouercome sorrow and not exclude it Tristis est non ipse sed anima Suscepit enim animam meam suscepit corpus meum Anima obnoxia passionibus Christ was sorrowfull not in person but in soule For he tooke vnto him my soule and my body Now the soule it is that is subiect to passions Is hell with you of late become a naturall infirmitie and affection that wheresoeuer you reade either of these words you streight inferre the paines of hell The causes of Christes sorrow will put all out of doubt and are plainely recited by Ambrose in the ende of this Chapter though stifly reiected by you because they sort not with your conceits Tristis videbatur tristis erat non pro sua passione sed pro nostra dispersione Christ seemed sorrowfull and indeede was sorrowfull not for his owne suffering but for our dispersing You say Christs sorrow was for the suffering of hell paines in his soule Ambrose saith in expresse words Christ sorrowed not for his owne suffering which of you twaine shall wee thinke best vnderstoode Ambrose meaning him selfe or you Christ sorowed saith Ambrose for our dispersion he sorrowed because he left vs orphanes he sorrowed for his persecutors All these occasions of sorrow in Christ at the time of his passion mentioned by Ambrose you vtterly disauerre and in spite of Ambrose teeth you will haue the infirmitie and affection of mans nature in Christ to signifie hell Yet Ierom shall helpe at a neede who saith That which we should haue borne for our sinnes the same Christ suffered for vs. You might haue done well to haue put quicquid for quod as one of your fellowes hath done alleaging this place that where Ierom would not say Christ suffered for vs whatsoeuer we should haue suffered your selues may speake it in his name Neither is it so strange a thing with you to translate all for some In the very next Page before citing Ambrose words hoc in se obtulit Christus quod induit Christ offered that in him selfe which he tooke of vs you render it Christ offered in sacrifice ALL that which he assumed which translation is euidently false whatsoeuer the illation be This place of Ierom I haue already answered in the conclusion of my Sermons and but that the booke happely will not alwaies be at hand I would spend no moe words therein The particular can not hurt me if it be simply graunted and the generall is not affirmed by Ierom. Howbeit Ierom in plaine speech presently expresseth what he ment Christ suffered for vs. By this saith he it is manifest that as Christs body whipt and torne bare the printes of the stripes and wrongs so his soule truely sorrowed for vs. What neede we any other exposition then his owne that Christ suffered for vs smart of body and griefe of minde which were due to vs in this world
the exceeding loue and admirable honor wherewith God accepted and aduanced the death of his Sonne for mans saluation seeme to any sober man verie wrath true vengeance or the proper punishment of sinne prouided and reserued for reprobate men and angels It was not for correction you say What then ergo for vengeance Who being in his right wits would so reason God afflicteth his Saints often times for probation for perfection for coronation as the Scriptures auouch and not for correction May a man thence conclude by your Logick that these afflictions of the Godly are true punishment and proper vengeance Your selfe most withstand it Why then since Christes afflictions had in them a cleere illustration of Gods wisdome power and loue towards man somewhat blemished and obscured in mans fall by Satans craft and a full recompence to his holinesse and iustice neglected and irritated by mans vnrighteousnesse besides the obedience sufficience and preualence of his Sonne thereby declared why should I say those afflictions of Christ great and small during his life and at his death seeme to any man that is well aduised the true wrath proper vengeance and right punishment that was prepared for sinners Yea since the proper vengeance and right punishment of sinne must be common to sinfull men with the sinfull Angels in as much as they both sinned and shall both receaue the due wages of sinne how can the corporall afflictions of this life wherein the diuels can not partake with men be called the proper vengeance and right punishment of sinne And who but you hearing our Sauiour pronounce that euerlasting fire is the full payment and proper punishment of wicked and accursed men and Angels would labour with such loose and lewd collections to bring Christ Iesus within the compasse of the full punishment and proper vengeance due to sinne Wherefore take backe your riotous and irreligious termes As they are not prooued by any Scripture so are they not to be suffered in Christian Religion because they are but cloudes to cloke the fantasticall frame of your new hell In the sharpnesse of the punishment exacted by God on the manhood of his owne Sonne for our sinnes though farre different from that which the wicked doe and shall feele and which the Scriptures call the wrath to come wherein the diuels shall haue their portion euen in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone God would haue vs learne how much he detesteth our sinnes how easie all the plagues which we suffer in this life are in respect of that we deserue how infinite the loue and mercy of God was towards vs to lay the burden which we could not haue borne on the shoulders of his onely Sonne who for his dignitie innocencie and euery way sufficiencie was able to quench that wrath that euerlastingly and intolerably would haue burnt against vs to our finall and perpetuall destruction of body and soule For if Gods owne Sonne though he did recompence our sinnes with his infinite humilitie obedience and sanctitie was yet pursued vnto death in most painefull and reprochfull manner for our sakes before we could be quited from the guilt and load of our sinnes had we appeared in the iust iudgement of God to receaue the reward of our manifold iniquities what could haue beene the end thereof but a most dreadfull damnation of body and soule to hell fire for euer with the desperate and damned spirits This God would haue vs obserue in the death of his Sonne though there be many other points of Gods wisedome power and loue towards Christ himselfe which the Scriptures inclose in the Crosse of Christ. That then Gods wrath and displeasure against our sinnes appeared in the Crosse of Christ I doe not deny speaking of wrath after the manner of the Sacred Scriptures But that any wrath or vengeance proper to the wicked was therein offered or executed on Christ or that he suffered the iust and full punishment allotted to others for sinne Saue that his sufferings were in his person the full price of our Redemption I meane a most sufficient satisfaction and recompence for all the sinnes of the world I find no mention made thereof in all the Scriptures nor see any iust cause or proofe thereof alleaged by you in all your writings For since you will not endure that any thing executed on the godly shall be truely called wrath it is euident that the wrath which you imagine Christ suffered must be proper to the wicked before it can be rightly called wrath because the godly feele no part of Gods wrath litle nor great as you suppose Now that Christ suffered the wrath of God prouided for the sinnes of the wicked only and no way common to the godly this is both a false and a wicked proposition of yours though you euery where vrge it you no where prooue it but boldly as your fashion is affirming it you thinke the world bound to embrace it I find by the Scriptures that the wrath which Christ suffered in Soule and Body differed from that which is proper to the wicked as well in the Nature and measure of the paines as in the purpose of the punisher and inward peace of the sufferer and in all the consequents of the paines themselues In this world the wicked find subtraction of all grace and fauour confusion and desperation in the world to come exclusion from glorie Malediction and damnation wholy and euerlastingly light on them none of which may be transferred to Christ without intolerable blasphemie Yet paine you thinke Christ suffered and more then paine the wicked and damned doe not suffer Were that true which is most false that the damned suffer no more then pain though indeed in hell cuery thing doth paine them yet all paines are not of the same nature and kind and no paines felt in this life come neere the paines of hell whereof this mortall life and flesh is not capable The paine of fire we see doth presently cut of this life and some diseases so much heate the body that they doe the like and yet the paine and force of this naturall fire or of any sicknesse is nothing comparable to the fury of hell fire for which the bodies of the wicked must be made immortall before they can endure it All aches and agues doe paine the body all feares and sorrowes afflict the soule and spirit of man Shall we thence conclude that all men at all times when they are pained or grieued suffer the paines of hell because it is paine which the damned doe suffer It is more then prophane abusing and deluding the terrible iudgements of God against sinne to suppose that all paines of body and soule are hell paines in nature and kind which you wrap vnder the fold of proper wrath and right punishment of sinne because they are paines Wherefore they must either be the selfe same paines that God in his iust and fierce wrath inflicted on the damned or you
doth directly inferre that either we were not begotten and conceiued in sinne which is an euident heresie repugnant to Dauids wordes or els the vntimely fruites and scapes of women haue reasonable soules at the very instant of their conception when sinne is found in them by Dauids words which is this grosse absurd and false conceite that now you would shunne If you flie for helpe to actuall sinne haue children actuall sinne in their mothers wombes or as soone as they haue reasonable soules Or is actuall sinne traduced and inherited from Adam or spake I of actuall sinne when I said we inherite pollution from Adams flesh before the soule commeth Will you sticke to it and say originall pollution is no sinne Dauid conuinceth you who saith he was begotten in sinnes and conceaued in iniquitie and Paul affirmeth that death went ouer all men infants not excepted for so much as all men haue sinned and euen ouer them also who sinned not after the likenesse of Adams transgression that is who did not commit sinne as Adam did actually and voluntarily but naturally inherited sinne from Adam which dwelleth in them from the houre of their conception to the time of their dissolution and worketh the euill in them that they would not leading them captiue to the law of sinne which is in their members But how could Dauid say he was conceiued in sinne when at the time of his conception he had neither bodie nor soule Howsoeuer mans reason iudge thereof which yet often giueth the name of the whole to a part and the titles of things represented to their images with God nothing is more frequent than to call those things which are not as though they were because he not only made all things of nothing but quickeneth the dead and hath things past and to come present before him Leui is sayd by the Scripture to haue payed tithes to Melchisedech by Abraham as being then in Abrahams loines when Leuies grandfather was not yet borne So God by his Prophet spake to Cyrus many yeeres before Cyrus was borne calling him his anointed and saying to him by name thou art my shepheard So certaine is the counsell of God and his purpose so immutable that he speaketh in the Scriptures of things to come as if they were past or present Out of this infallible decree of God Dauid and Iob call that seed which was prepared to be the matter of their bodies by the names of themselues because it could not be altered what God had appointed But the void conceptions of women which miscarie before the bodie be framed neuer had either life or soule and so neither name nor kinde but perish as other superfluous burdens and repletions of the bodie which God hath appointed to no vse saue to ease the bodie In satisfaction for sinne you runne the same course that you do in the rest for neither vnderstanding my words nor almost any mans els rightly you fight with your owne fansies as if they were parts of my faith I sayd the Scripture acknowledgeth no satisfaction for sinne but by death I did and do so say what then Still we must note that by death you meane onlie the bodilie death In Christes person I alwayes meane by the death which he suffered the death of the bodie though you would include the death of the soule which I do not In the wicked I take death for all kinds of death corporall spirituall and eternall What can you hence distill Then surely the wicked should satisfie easily for their sinnes Farre be it from me to vtter such a sentence Doe the wicked with any kinde of death satisfie for their sinnes or is their condemnation to hell paines therefore eternall because by no death they can satisfie for their sinnes Were the iustice of God once satisfied by any thing the wicked could suffer their torments should cease but their punishments euerlastingly continue for that no satisfaction can be made to God by them suffer they neuer so much or neuer so long Whose follie then is it to pronounce that the wicked may satisfie for their sinnes mine or yours I sayd no such word I directly auouched the contrary The paines of hell haue neither worth nor weight sufficient in themselues to satisfie the anger or to procure the fauor of God Satisfaction for sinne I ascribe to none but onlie to Christ and in him to no death but onlie to that of his body Will it thence follow the Scripture acknowledgeth no satisfaction but by some kind of death ergo the wicked may satisfie for their sinnes by the deaths which they suffer Be it farre from all wise men to make such consequents and from all Christian men to make such conclusions The antecedent in effect is confessed by your selfe The Scriptures you say do shew indeed that Christ should not satisfie without death I sayd the same By satisfaction I meant full satisfaction when no more could be exacted as the word importeth and not the concurrents or precedents to satisfaction when the chiefest is vnpayed Why then doth your absurd and leud conclusion folow more vpon my words than vpon your owne My proofs are not good with those you finde fault If yours were no worse they would go more currantly The Apostle sayth Christ is the Mediator of the new Testament that through death which was for the redemption of transgressions we might receiue the promise Heere death is auouched to be the redemption which is all one with satisfaction for sinne for wherewith we are redeemed therewith God is satisfied Christes bodily death meerely and alone you say without any thing else together therewith which is my intent is not heere mentioned You will not tell where your shoo wringeth Death was for the redemption or satisfaction for sin sayth the Scripture Now the death of Christes bodie or of his soule or of both must here be contained The death of Christes soule you dare not openly professe and therefore all this while you carrie it couertly vnder the sufferings of Christes soule But you must come plainly to it for these assertions of the Apostle Death was the redemption of our transgressions and we are reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne will make this to be the question as I first set it whether the death of Christes soule or the death of the damned which is the true paines of hell be a necessary part of Christs satisfaction and our Redemption Other sufferings of the Soule are meere shifts to harbor your folly if you striue in words or your impietie if you striue indeede for the death of Christs Soule as requisite by the Scriptures to our Saluation That Christ did not die the death of the Soule I doe not prooue there is no cause I should it is your assertion that he did and must be prooued by you which you be so farre from comming neere that you purposely
destruction of body and soule Wee must therefore know that God truely and iustly threatned Adam and in him all mankind to be guiltie of all soâ—…ts of death and to bee thereto subiected as to their due if they transgressed against him but this commination neither included execution of all sorts of death on all mankind nor excluded pardon where pleased God onely thence may rightly bee gathered fiâ—…st that all Adaâ—… of spring should bee condemned and subiected to the guilt of all as deseruing all the one no lesse then the other Secondly that some of Adams issue should effectuall feele the sting of all which God allotted to the reprobate Thirdly that euen the elect as well as the reprobate should beare in themselues the monuments of this transgression by the corruption dissolution of their nature though the one should in this life bee reformed by the working of Gods spirit in them and the other bee restored after this life by the Resurrection from the dead All these wee finde performed by God in the trueth of his iudgements and therefore we may be sure they were intended at the time of his threatning And consequently this collection is very true that God threating Adam with these words Thou shalt die the death purposed if Adam transgressed that none of his posteritie should escape the death of their bodies to which God foorthwith punishing sinne irreuocably subiected Adam and all his children as Gods owne words declare when he said to Adam and in him to all men Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou returne The iudges reuenge then for sinne which we deserued and to which we were iustly condemned was temporall eternall death of the body and soule heere and in hell But this was not executed on all because some were freed by the fauour of God in Iesus Christ though none excused from a corporall death which prooueth my position the truer that God neuer released sinne to any no not to his owne Sonne without some kind of death It must not be forgotten that here you renounce all satisfaction for sinne in respect of merite as from Christes soule vtterly If you meane I vtterly renounce all satisfaction for sinne as from the death of Christs soule I easily graunt it and would gladly heare what you can say against it because the soule of Christ as I beleeue could not die the death of spirits But if you conceiue that Christes soule had neither part sense nor merit in the death of his body by which satisfaction for sinne was fully made it is the weamishnesse of your wit to mistake so much and vnderstand so little I attributed all sense of paine as well in death as other wise to the soule of Christ and the death of his body I communicated to his soule by reason it is a separation of the soule from the body not thereby to bee depriued of sense or grace which Christes soule could not be but therein to feele the paine and sting which the death of the body brought with it I tolde you but the leafe before out of Austen that the paine which is called bodily belongeth rather to the soule and that the paine of the flesh is only the offending or afflicting the soule by the flesh Wherefore I made the soule of Christ to be the principall agent in all his meriting and patient in all his suffering and though the soule of Christ could not pay the satisfaction for our sinnes by her death because shee could not die yet that is no impediment but the soule of Christ might haue and had the chiefest paine sense and merit in the death of Christes bodie by which the whole person made full satisfaction for the sinnes of the world And this is so farre from renouncing all merit of satisfaction from the soule of Christ as you conceiue that it ascribeth the whole power and force thereof to the obedience and patience of Christes soule and maketh the bodie the instrument ordeined of God to conuey paine vnto the soule and to lie dead when the soule is departed from it As for Bernards words which I alledge if you did or could tell how they crosse mine I would take the paines to reconcile them now you say they sute not with mine but awake out of your wonted maze and you shall see that I giue the chiefe place and part in the meritorious sacrifice vnto the soule of Christ which you dreame I doe not as also that you neither like nor allow of Bernards words For he declaring the cause and maner why and how Christes minde was afflicted in his passion sayth it was with a double affection of most humane compassion on the one side for the vncomfortable griefe of the holy women on the other for the desperation and dispersion of his disciples These causes you reiect as fond and absurd and now you would seeme to ioyne with Bernards words But you must say of him as you doe of Ambrose and pray that mens authorities may be omitted in this case for all the Fathers of Christes church are vtter strangers or enemies to your new doctrine That nothing may satisfie for sinne but death is not sound the Scriptures doe shewe indeede that Christ should not satisfie without death but they denie not that there are other parts of Christs satisfaction which differ from his death as his bloodshedding his shame his reproches his apprehension his buffeting and besides that pouertie hunger and wearines These doubtlesse yea all other sufferings of Christ what soeuer small or great are satisfactorie and meritorious That all Christes actions and passions were meritorious with God I haue no doubt but that all his sufferings as well naturall as voluntarie did euery one small or great satisfie for sinne This is a speech of yours which except it be well qualified hath in it an whole heape of absurdities and contrarieties For if the least and the first thing that Christ suffered either naturally or voluntarily did satisfie for sinne superfluous were all the rest to our redemption when God was once satisfied And so by his birth or circumcision you graunt a Supersedeas to all his life and death as needelesse to our redemption Then the which what can be more repugnant to the word of God and faith of Christ and euen to your selfe who by this meanes make your hell paines of no importance to our saluation By satisfaction you meane not full satisfaction but that which any way tendeth to satisfaction or is requisite before satisfaction can be made It is easie and often with you to abuse words though you talke much of their proprietie What is Satis in Latine whence to satisfie commeth but enough and what is enough for sinne but after which more is not requisite If then Christ satisfied that is did or paide enough for sinne by the first of his sufferings then all that followed as I inferred were more then enough and consequently
superfluous That you will say is the proper and strict signification of the word satisfie but you take it more largely For the abuse of words I will not greatly striue so you build thereon no impieties howbeit when I say that nothing might satisfie for sinne but death I take satisfaction properly for the last and full payment after which no more was due for sinne and that apparantly by the Scriptures was the death of Christ before which the rest was not sufficient and after which no more was required by the righteous will and counsell of God So that although the obedience and patience of Christ all his life long did tend to satisfaction and made way for satisfaction as his hunger wearinesse pouertie and such like yet none of these did satisfie for sinne or acquite vs from sinne by the verdict of the holy Scripture but Christ after all these must yeeld himselfe to suffer that kind of death which the iustice of God should appoint and ordaine before we could be freed from our sinnes His blood you thinke did wash vs from all our sinnes Because his blood was shed for vs euen vnto death therefore his bloodshed expresseth the manner of his death as likewise his apprehension buffeting reproches and shame which the Scripture describeth in the order of his death and therefore compriseth vnder the name of his death For by Christes death as I haue often said the Scripture meaneth that kind of death in all respects and circumstances which the Euangelists in their writings report Who will grant in proper speech that those are his death The name of Christs death in the Scriptures containeth all those things which were coincident and concurrent to that death which Christ died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures Neither shall we neede your figure Synecdoche by a part of Christs sufferings to vnderstand all that he felt or suffered from his mothers wombe that is a loose deuise of yours to make any thing of euery thing and so to confound the Scriptures that no man shall knowe either what to beleeue or what to beware For where S. Iohn saith the blood of Christ doth clense vs from all our sinnes by your Synecdoche you imagine that the wine which he dranke at his last Supper the water wherewith he washed his disciples feete the teares which he shed for Lazarus death the iourney which he tooke to Galilee the sleepe which he fetched in the ship the hunger which he sustained in the wildernesse and what not should doe the like since euery thing that befell our Sauiour small or great did satisfie for sinnes as well as his death and passion What els is this but to mayme and mangle the Scriptures which name the blood of Christ to be the price of our redemption and his death the meane of our reconciliation if euerie thing that Christ did or endured shall be of the same force and weight to satisfie for sinne that his bloud and death were His bloud you will say is not his death The shedding of his bloud vnto death which the Scripture intendeth by his bloud is a plaine description of his death This is my bloud sayd he which is shed for many for the remission of sinnes And the rest which were appendants to his death expresse the maner of his death which the wisdome and iustice of God would haue to be full of violence iniurie reproch contempt shame and paine All which as they note the maner of his death so are they inclosed by the Scriptures in the name of his death and that I trust more properly being parts thereof than the naturall infirmities of his bodie as sleepe hunger and wearinesse or the voluntarie euents of his life as the rest of his actions and passions long before the houre came that he should be deliuered into the hands of sinfull men Why may not the proper sufferings of Christs Soule be as well admitted into the worke of Christs satisfaction although his SOVLE COVLD NOT PROPERLY DIE The sufferings of Christs Soule at the time of his death which the Scriptures mention we easily admit into the worke of his satisfaction for sinne but your satis-fiction of hell paines and of the death of Christs Soule we doe not admit because the holy Ghost so diligently describing the whole order and manner of Christs sufferings when he went to his death teacheth no such thing as you falsely collect from certaine words of his and chiefly from his bloody sweate whereof not knowing precisely the cause you surmise what best pleaseth your humor without all warrant of the word of God Prooue therefore by the Scriptures and not by your owne ghesses that Christs Soule suffered these things from the immediate hand of God which you suppose and we shall soone find a place for them in the worke of Christs satisfaction for sinne Till then giue me leaue to expound the Scriptures by themselues and not by your vnioynted and vntidie Commentaries confounding Christs life and death nature and will affections and punishments satisfaction and merits as if they were not different parts of our saluation to take our nature vpon him to worke all righteousnes in our names to suffer a shamefull and painfull death for our sinnes and to obtaine all spirituall and celestiall graces and comforts here and in heauen for vs. The first sinne committed by Adam and our continuall treading in his steps rest yet vndiscussed wherein we should not neede many words if you could or at least would rightly conceaue what is said and not ignorantly or purposely mistake and measure all things by your hastie humor To prooue that Christ must satisfie for sinne by the proper sufferings of his Soule and not with or by his body you brought this reason in your Treatise Whereby Adam first did and we euer since doe most properly commit sinne by the same the second Adam Christ hath made satisfaction for our sinnes But Adam first did and we euer since doe most properly commit sinne in our Soules our bodies being but the Instrument of the Soule and following the Soules direction and will Therefore Christ in his Soule most properly made satisfaction for vs In my Conclusion to your obiections I first denyed your Maior or former proposition For though the Soule of Adam as also our Soules quickly might and worthily did die for sinne and by sinne wherein they were the principall agents yet the Soule of Christ by no warrant of holy Scripture did or could die the death of Spirits and so could make no satisction for sin by her death Now by the Scriptures without death there was no satisfaction for sin and therefore the soule of Christ must satisfie for sinne by the death of her body not by any death proper to her selfe And so much the Scriptures auouch teaching vs that we haue redemption euen the remission of sinnes through his blood are reconciled to God
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
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
of Christ on the Crosse. Now the relatiue following QVOD enim must either be referred to all that went before and so not to malediction apart from the rest or to that which went next before which is the chasticement of our peace And so either way you were ouer bold with your Author to referre his words whether pleased you And farder answere to Ierom there needed none For to no proofe needed no answere And yet what better answere could you haue then for Ieroms meaning since his words are not generall to haue Ieroms conclusion in that very place brought you which best serueth to shew Ieroms intent Of Christs hanging on the Crosse Ierom speaketh noting that to be a cursed kinde of death out of the Apostle which I am farre from denying So doth he of digging Christs hands and feete out of the Psalme and of the rest of Christs wounds and stripes by which we were healed out of the Prophet whom hee expoundeth All which Christ suffered for vs being in deed due to vs for our sinnes Leaue out your falsifying of Ieroms words and sense that whatsoeuer curse was due to vs for our sinnes Christ suffered for vs and I see no cause why Ieroms words should neede any answere That this place of Esaie and the whole Doctrine which I auouch touching these fufferings of Christ may be the better receaued let vs note that the publike Doctrine appointed by Authoritie to be taught throughout England expresseth the same Namely Nowels Catechisme Since the Scriptures which plentifully and plainly teach vs the true price and meanes of our saluation giue no warrant of your new found Doctrine and the whole Armie of Auncient and learned Fathers who could ill instruct the people committed to their charge if they themselues were ignorant of the true meaning of their Creed and Catechisme neuer heard nor thought of your late deuised Redemption by Christs suffering the very paines of hell and the same which the damned doe suffer without any dispensation or Qualification for so it liketh you to speake if you could produce moe new writers of your mind then you doe or can they must pardon me for not admitting any Doctrine touching our Redemption but what I see grounded on the plaine euidence of the Sacred Scriptures and so receaued in the Church of Christ before our Age. I list not to deuise or approue a new Saluation vnknowen till our time and if any man be otherwise minded he shall goe alone for me God grant me to be a member of that Church which hath reuerently receaued and faithfully beleeued the simplicitie of the Scriptures touching our Redemption by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus Howbeit I see many men speake diuersly that meane nothing lesse then your late found hell inflicted by the immediat hand of God on the Soule of Christ. Where then you dreampt in your Treatise as you still doe in your Defence that whosoeuer named the wrath of God in Christs sufferings or called his Crosse a cursed kinde of death was wholy of your side I did in few lines reprooue that folly of yours and since you quoted no speciall words neither out of Master Nowels Catechisme nor out of the Bible appointed publikely to be read in the Churches of this Realme nor out of the Booke of Homilies that were worth the standing on there was no cause why I should wast time to hunt after your meaning If you would haue an answere it was meete you made your Arguments and pressed your Authorities as well as you could and then you should soone see what I said vnto them But as I then foretold so you now performe Your buzzing head no where findeth the wrath of God or horror of Iudgement against our sinne to be apprehended by Christ but you straightway conclude all your conceits from the first to the last These words when I reade them in any man offend not me as they helpe not you except you wrest them after your manner to hide vnder them your new found hell and the rest of your presumptuous and irreligious humours Begin with the Catechisme and see what choise you haue made thence There it is thus taught He payd and suffered the paine due to vs and by this meanes deliuerd vs from the same With Christ as our suretie God dealt as it were with extremitie of law Christ therefore suffered and in suffering ouercame death the paine appointed by the euerliuing God for mans offence What of all this What one worde is here sounding towards the death of the soule or the death of the damned after this life The Catechisme in the very same sentence expressely speaketh of the painefull and reprochfull death which the Iewes inflicted on Christ the manner whereof is orderly described in the next answere before These things sayth the Catechisme the Iewes did vnto him cruelly maliciously and wickedly but Christ willingly of his owne accord suffered ALL THOSE THINGS from the Iewes to appease with this most sweete sacrifice his father offended with mankinde vtque paenas nobis debitas dependeret persolueret atque nos ex illis hoc modo eximeret and to pay and satisfie the punishments due to vs thereby to exempt vs from them Cum Christo quasi sponsore pro nobis sic passo Deus summo quasiiure egit God dealt after a sort seuerely with Christ as with a surety suffering thus for vs but to vs whose sinnes deserued punishments and due paines transtulit in Christum hee transferred on Christ God shewed singular mercie and clemencie All this is plainely referred to the punishments and paines which Christ suffered at the hands of the Iewes by the secret counsell and appointment of God that thereby he might pacifie the wrath of his Father and deliuer vs from the shame paine and death due to our sinnes which God transferred and remoued from vs to Christ that he might suffer them and we be freed both here and hereafter for them Wherein great fauour and mercie were shewed to vs and Christ as it were a Suretie subiected for vs after a sort to the rigour of the Lawe What hurt is there in these wordes if you leaue haling and pulling them from their right sense The Authour of the Catechisme warily forbeareth the generall which you seeke after so greedily and when hee commeth to the places that might seeme harsh he qualifieth them with quasi as it were not meaning to presse those phrases as you doe to the vttermost Wherefore he saith that Christ was quasi sponsor a kinde of suretie suffering for vs and that God dealt with him Quasi summo iure as it were with riger in respect of the lenitie shewed to vs. Which speeches if you poyson them not with your bitter conceits I mislike not so long as they be stretched no further then to SIC passo pro nobis Christ THVS suffering for vs at the hands of the Iewes to which the writer of the Catechisme wisely
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
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
the bodies euen of the elect and therefore might iustly be so called in vs and much more in Christ though the force of that curse were quenched in Christ and the coherence thereof interrupted In floting to and fro you fell to the curse of the Law and the curse of God and there as your fashion is you auouched what you listed without any proofe or witnesse besides your selfe telling vs that Paul mentioned Christs hanging on the tree as a part of the curse of the Law thereby impolying the whole to be executed on Christ. The whole curse of the Law in my conclusion I shewed to be externall corporall internall and eternall plagues and punishments and asked you which of these you affirmed of Christ. Externall and corporall curses in Christ I did grant internall and eternall curses of the Law which are want of grace and losse of blisse with perpetuall damnation of bodie and soule I said could not be ascribed to Christ without enormous and haynous blasphemie To this when you should answere you turne with a trice to your world of wordes and say your question was Whether death to the godly were a curse properly or no. But sir remember the reason was yours which if you doe not fully prooâ—…e you must wholly loose You should therefore first define what a proper curse is and then applie the parts thereof as well to Christ as to the godly and in so doing we should soone haue seene both the sense and trueth of your speach Now you hold fast to the ambiguitie and vncertainetie of the word proper as though it were enough for you to deliuer Oracles with the breath of your mouth you say the worde and then the field is wonne Our question is not what death is in it selfe but what death is to the godly You are so wedded to your owne wordes that you vnderstand no man els and scant your selfe When I reason what the death of the godly is in it selfe I speake not of the death which they do no not suffer that is not their death at all which they no way feele but since they die the death of the bodie that death which they suffer is to them one thing in his owne force which they taste and endure and the consequents after death by Gods mercie prouided for his seruants are most euidently other things and he that cannot distinguish this is no way worthy to beare the name of a Diuine For the ioyes of Gods heauenly kingdome are after death prepared for the godly Shall we therefore say the ioyes of heauen are death Besides the smart and anguish which afflicteth the soule when she is driuen from her bodie death in it selfe is the separation of the soule from the bodie with priuation of sense and life in the bodie and resolution of the same into dust The ioyning of the soule with the bodie was a most wonderfull worke of God in his creation and consequently verie good by the plaine words of Moses Then is the dissolution of the soule from the bodie repugnant to that which is verie good and of force euill as being contrarie to good The making of mans bodie from the dust of the ground was likewise verie good by the same witnesse of Moses Then the returning of the bodie to dust againe must be an euill vnto man destroying that excellent worke of God And if sense motion and action be blessings of God on mans bodie then the bereauing of these must needs be curses in their kinde Yea since life was no small fauour of God bestowed on man when he made him a liuing soule as all the rest in their degrees was verie good then death which is the priuation of life is the taking of Gods good blessing from mans bodie which cannot chuse but be a curse It is recompensed you will say with a better blessing euen with the blisse of heauen The soule is but not the bodie so long as death preuaileth on it And this blessing consquent is no way pertinent to the nature of death no not as the godly do suffer it but it is a fruit of Gods fauour reserued for the faithfull in Christ Iesus who remoueth death from their soules and will doe the like from their bodies when the time commeth Without death you thinke we can not come to Gods presence And why is that but because the corruption of sinne dwelleth in our bodies which is not meet for the kingdome of God Corruption cannot inherit incorruption And whence came this corruption but from sinne and consequently the displeasure of God against sinne both brought corruption to our bodies and for corruption keepeth our bodies vnder death excluded for the time from his heauenly kingdome Yet this is no proper curse to the bodies of the Saints Had you but once declared what you meant by proper and true curses sixe lines had long since leuelled this question but you according to the heigth of your skill that neuer troubled your selfe but with a few fond conceits and some vnsetled sentences trace to and fro sometimes with no curse in any sort sometimes with no true curse and sometimes with no curse properly and will not be drawen to steppe one foot farther And though I haue no cause to how your timber that you leaue ragged yet for their sakes that would see the trueth I am content to square your worke Of Gods curse I must say as I did of Gods wrath for the wrath and curse of God are all one in effect it noteth either Gods detestation of sinne or his commination to sinne or which is most to this case Gods indignation or pnnishment prouided for sinne or executed on sinners For as man is sayd to blesse with his minde mouth or hand when he meaneth prayeth or doth good to any so is he sayd to curse by thought word or deed when he desireth vttereth or worketh euill to any God is likewise sayd to curse in soule when he detesteth and hateth euill in voice when he pronounceth or threatneth euill in iudgement when he decreeth or inflicteth euill To shew how execrable sinne is to God the Scripture sayth these things God HATETH and his soule ABHORRETH them And so the way of the wicked is ABOMINABLE to the Lord. The threats of God against sinne and his plagues vpon sinne are euery where extant in the Law and chiefiy in the 27. and 28. of Deuteronomie where not onely the greatest sinnes are namely and all sinnes in the close generally accursed but the manifolde plagues of this life persuing the states the bodies and soules of sinners are numbred Maledictum est omne peccatum siue ipsum quodsit vt sequatur supplicium siue ipsum supplicium quod alâ—…o modo vocatur peccatum quia sit ex peccato Accursed is all sinne sayth Austen as well the deed which prouoketh punishment as the punishment it selfe which in another sense is called sinne because it commeth from sinne
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
which yet is no way prooued that Christ suffered some parts of the curse in his whole manhood will you thence inferre that he suffered the whole curse By what hold-fast hangeth this together but by your headynesse that will say any thing If a man should thus reason Paul with his whole manhood wrote part of the Scriptures Ergo hee wrote the whole Scriptures or Nymrod and his companie laboured with all their might and skill to build part of the Tower of Babel Ergo they built the whole tower of Babel notwithstanding God skattered them would you not deride these reasons Yours is as ridiculous In other respects this suffering of Christ may â—…ell be called the whole curse or punishment of sinne Your other respects since you thinke them not worth the repeating I thinke them lesse worth the refuting If you haue said ought before touching this matter I haue not left it vnsifted and as you send mee to prie after your proofes I send you to toote after my answeres Onely this is worth the noting that where you referre your selfe to your eleuenth page among others I finde nothing there to this purpose but that you say namely of Reiection malediction and dereliction o In Christ could vtterly be none of these and here you say the whole Malediction of sinne and of the Law was truly and properly suffered by Christ. Such graces you haue to declare your meaning by plaine Contradictions Marke if our publike Doctrine be not the same Diram execrationem suscepit I marke well enough how you wrest and wrong the Catechisme to force it to your error The Chatechisme saith that kind of death was aboue all others execrable and detestable which yet Christ chiefly would suffer for vs that he might receaue that grieuous Curse which our sinnes had deserued on him selfe and so quite vs from it That kinde of Death which all men iustly detested and abhorred Christ would chiefly chuse that thereby he might receaue on himselfe the grieuous Curse that was due to vs and so quench it The Catechisme then graunteth this was all the kinds of Death that Christ suffered for vs which because it was full of shame and paine he calleth a greeuous Curse or punishment What is this to the whole Curse of the Law in which the death of the Soule by want of grace and the death of the damned which is the second death are comprised You would faine haue all men of your mind and that maketh you thinke euery man speaketh in your sense otherwise the Catechisme if you peruert it not is cleere enough from your conceits of hell inflicted by Gods immediate hand on the Soule of Christ though it talke sometimes of things not altogether so fit for Childrens vnderstanding And had the Catechisme gone farder to mention other degrees of our Curse yet so long as in se suscepit is not precisely to suffer the same but to vndertake and to discharge all that is due to vs Christ might well and did take vpon him in his Body to pay the Price and amends of our whole Curse but not to suffer all the parts thereof which were spirituall and eternall death though he gaue Recompence and satisfaction euen for those when he quited vs from them After this you thinke it strange that I say Christ suffered and dyed iustly and was hanged on the Tree by the iust sentence of the Law and that so he was by imputation of our State and Condition vnto him sinnefull defiled hatefull and Accursed You coyne so many fresh and false presumptions and positions that I thinke nothing strang in you so you may flie to a Phrase or cast a countenance on the matter at the last Howbeit I take indeede these two positions of yours to be very contumelious and iniurious to the person and death of Christ and no way iustifiable by the sacred Scriptures And therefore you had neede looke to your proofes that they be sound a needlesse reproch to the Sonne of God is some sinne I can tell you All which I auouch because he vndertooke by Gods ordinance as our Surety to receaue our condemnation vpon him so far as his ownâ—… nature and condition could possibly admit If vouching were proouing this matter were at an end but it will cost more then hoate liquor before all this be rightly concluded out of the Scriptures You soake it out from a poore similitude of a Surety ioyntly bound with the Debtor to pay the whole and the vâ—…ry same in which the Debtor is condemned but the word of God will allow you no such Thraldome in Christs Suertiship much lesse our whole Condemnation to be any way possible in his person He discharged he whole from vs that is as well spirituall as eternall death and satisfied for both by a iust exchange but he suffered neither of them because the Sonne of God by no rule of Gods Iustice could be voide of grace nor condemned to euerlasting fire as we most iustly were You did well therefore to bind your owne Similitude to a Post least it should fall on the Rocks of open heresie and blasphemie but your restraining of it least it should be both false wicked sheweth the â—…tude to haue no iust ground in the word of God though some Resemblance thereof may be tolerated so long as iâ—… is not vrged to conclude any more then the Scriptures confesse For similitudes in Gods causes are so farre alâ—…owed as they are exprâ—… applied by the spirit of tâ—…h and no â—…arder otherwise by pretence of a Parable we may prooue what we list but you were best deuide your Assertions and so we shall the sooner dispatch them Agâ—…st my Assâ—…on yoâ—… say by no sentâ—…nce of the Law Christ hanged on a Tree I say so still For the sentence of the Law peâ—…mitting or prescribing men to â—…e hanged touched no man besides the offender and not him but vpon desert iustly prooued before them that had the exâ—…on of the Law in charge â—…hus Christ was not hanged but most iniuriously ouerwhelmed with the outâ—…ies and tumult of the people when the Iudge professed him innocent as indeede he was before God and Man I answere to dâ—…e for sinne was a necessarie part of the generall Cursâ—… vpon all sinners And I reply you know not what you answâ—…e The Law of Moses appointed death to no Man by the course of nature but by the violent hands of others that were Magistrates The Naturall death which followeth all men was inflicted by Gods owne voice on Adam in Paradiâ—…e as a punishment of sinne and is irreuocably inherited by all Adams Children not by the sentence of Moses Law which came more then two thousand yeeâ—…es after Adams fall but by the order of Gods Creation which deriued from the Parents to the Children the branches as well of obedience as disobedience The sentence of Moses Law Decreed not death against all offences though it pronounced the Curse
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
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
flagitiorum maculas morte voluntaria suo innocente sanguine luisse atque eluisse It is euident that Christ admitted receaued and suffered of his owne good will the paines due to mans wickednesse but not due to him and with a voluntarie death and his owne innocent bloud did wash and clense the spots of our filthinesse And againe It is euident the Iewes had not in their power these things or times sed sua ipsum voluntate nulla vâ—… coactum harc mortem pro nostra salute oppetijsse but of his owne accord without anie câ—…action Christ died this death for our saluation Where also this is set downe as a true position that eligendae mortis optio penes ipsum fiâ—…t the election and direction of his death was left to his owne power and choise which the whole Church of Christ hath hitherto ascribed to the power and will loue and mercie of the Sonne of God reiecting your bands and obligations lately deuised to barre the freedome and abridge the power of the Sauiour of the worlde because you would tie him to the paines of hell You see not you will say how these Fathers make against you None otherwise but that they directly denie that which you affirme Christ you say though of good will he was at first content so to doe yet after became bound to the Law to pay our debts Now he that is bound must needs obey and so you lay on Christ not onely a necessity but also a dutie These Fathers with one consent disclaime al necessitie in the death of Christ and consequently they confesâ—…e he was free from all bands and debts but in loue and mercie as a free Redeemer he would giue himselfe for vs which was a farre greater price then we were woorth or could owe. And these multitudes of men as you call them though they be not of equall strength with the word of God which is the touchstone of all trueth yet doe they plainely prooue that you innouate the faith of Christes Church which in their seuerall ages they all beleeued and professed and for their faith they haue the manifest wordes of our Sauiour that none tooke his soule from him but he laid it downe of himselfe and the witnesse of the Apostle that Christ for loue gaue himselfe for vs which argueth that he was vrged thereto with no violence necessitie nor dutie much lesse was thereto bound and you for your deuice haue the curiositie of creditours the discredite of debtours of whom men require Suerties with bands because they trust not their words and promises much lesle their willes and dispositions But this iealousie in the Sonne of God is hainous blasphemie therfore there could be no cause to bind him as there could be no distrust of him since our miserie and his mercie were motiues enough to incline and continue his loue though we leaue him at his full libertie without all seruitude or necessirie Gods decree and his owne good will was that he should satisfie and pay none otherwise for vs then so as he did There can be no question but in creating condemning and redeeming man the Father the Sonne and the holie Ghost had one and the same will and decree yet except with the Arian heretickes you make an inequallitie of the persons in the most blessed Trinitie you can impose no seruice nor suffering on the Sonne of God by any decree but what must come from his owne good pleasure offer and perfourmance And that the Scriptures euerie where imply when they say Christ loued vs and gaue himselfe for vs that is he FIRST of loue towards vs OFFERED to serue and suffer in our places and AFTER of the same loue submitted himselfe to performe his purpose and promise of our saluation So that Gods decree was no iniunction nor ordinance that his Sonne should doe it but an ACCEPTATION of his Sonnes loue and mercie towards vs and an APPROEATION that it was a most sufficient recompence for all the transgressions of men And the Father is said to giue his Sonne for vs not that he loued vs better then he did his Sonne whom he infinitely loueth as himselfe and for whose sake onely he accepteth vs not that he vsed any authoritie or power ouer his Sonne to appoint him to this seruice but that knowing the strength and sufficiencie of his Sonne to be as his owne and seeing his loue and mercie towards vs which was common to him with the rest of the persons in that most glorious Trinitie the Father out of the same loue towards vs thought it fitter to accept the offer of his Sonne then that we should perish And therefore though the Father loued his Sonne as himselfe yet he was content his Sonne should beare our burden which we could not without euerlasting destruction and his Sonne could with exceeding honour and admiration of his mercie humilitie obedience and patience If you slide from the Godhead of Christ to his manhood to binde that because it was a Creature and not the Creator by diuiding the person of Christ you runne into the heresie of Nestorius condemned in the generall Counsell of â—…phesus and yet releiue not your selfe For the person and not this or that part of his nature must be the Redeemer since neither man could saue vs vnlesse he were also God nor God could die for vs vnlesse he were also man and so did sufâ—…er death in his humane nature So that the Suertie as you call him that vndertooke our saluation not onely from the beginning but before the world was precisely the person of the Sonne of God and not the humane nature of Christ and therefore you must either binde the Godhead of Christ as our Suertie or free his manhood from all bands Neither could any of Christs sufferings be of infinite price and merite for vs except we asâ—…ibe them to the voluntarie obedience of the person since the death of a iust man could not be the redemption of the worlde but the death of that person which was more woorth then all the world If then Christs sufferings take their force and value from the person they must likewise haue their freedome and election from the person Those sentences of your Authors Gregorie Austen and Ambrose if they be spoken simply seeme very harsh where they say that Christ could haue saued vs otherwaies then by suffering and dying for vs. For herein they oppose Gods absolute omnipotencie against his expresse and reuealed will which how it may be liked in Diuinitie I know not Yours is more harsh that reprooue them before you vnderstand them and chalenge that as false which is most apparantly true by the maine grounds of Christian Religion For if you auouch Gods power to extend no farder then his works as if God could doe no more then he hath done or will doe is a manifest denying of Gods omnipotencie which is larger then either his will or his
works and though his works must alwaies be measured by his wil yet must his power be limited to neither because God is able to doe many things which he neuer did nor will doe And in his works if you bind him with any necessitie to do as he did and leaue him not at libertie to doe all things according to his owne wisdome and will you reuiue the accursed error of the Manichees against whom Saint Austen fully resolueth Nullam ergo necessitatem patitur Deus neque necessitate facit quae facit sed summa ineffabili voluntate ac potestate God then suffereth no necessitie neither doth he the things which he doth with any necessitte but with a supreame and vnspeakeable will and power So that the words of Gregorie Austen and Ambrose are most true that God had other meanes in his power to saue vs then by the death of his owne Sonne but a BETTER or more conuenient way to demonstrate his loue and mercy towards vs and to manifest his wisedome power and iustice against sinne death and Satan he had not for no Question God chose the best And why these words should offend any Christian man I see no cause since they be both sound and sober They oppose Gods power against his expresse and reuealed will You were told it is an error to restraine Gods power to his will as if he could not doe more or otherwise then he hath done but in this you conceiue them not For they doe not say God had meanes to change his will or to alter his promise once published but when he first decreed this way to saue man it was in his power to haue appointed an other way if it had pleased him So that God was not tied to determine this way by any necessitie as if the power of euill preuailed against him or choyse of other meanes failed him but this in the wisedome of God common to all three persons in that most holy Trinitie was allowed as the most honorable and acceptable way to God and most fauorable and comfortable to man And this confession which you so much controle hath beene vsed by Diuines of all ages howsoeuer you know not what to make of it in your new Diuinitie Cyprian before their time Et sine hoc holocausto poterat Deus tantum condonasse peccatum sed facilitas veniae laxaret habenas peccatis effrenibus quae etiam Christi vix cohibent passiones God was able to haue pardoned so great sinne without this Sacrifice but the facilitie of forgiuenesse would loose the raynes to vnbridled sinnes which euen the sufferings of Christ doe skant represse Nazianzene euen with the eldest of them It was possible for God to saue man without taking flesh by his only will as he did and doth worke all things without the helpe of a Body Damascene after them He was not vnable that can doe all things by his Almightie power and strength to take man from the Tyrant that possessed him Bernard likewise Was not the Creator able to restore his worke without this difficultie He was able but he chose rather to wrong himselfe then the most lewd and hatefull vice of vnthankefulnesse should haue any colour in man Zanchius resolueth the same Could not mankind be deliuered by any other meanes then by Christs death who can doubt it Solo nutu iussu ac voluntate diuina poterat It might haue beene deliuered by the onely becke Commandement and will of God Master Caluin whose warinesse you so much commend where he maketh any thing for you doubteth not in this Assertion to ioyne with Ambrose Austen and Gregorie against you Poterat nos Dominus verbo aut nutu redimere nisi aliter nostra causa visum esset The Lord might haue Redeemed vs with a word or a becke of his but that for our sakes he thought good otherwise to doe it The Booke of Homilies on which you would seeme so much to depend goeth farder then either Ambrose or Austen saith Was not this a sure pledge of Gods loue to giue vs his owne Sonne from heauen he might haue giuen vs an Angell if he would or some other Creature and yet should his loue haue beene farre aboue our deserts All these Similitudes of Mediator Redeemer and Suretie may stand very well together in the office of Christ though you would perswade vs the contrarie yea rather they confirme ech other The names of Mediator Redeemer are exactly affirmed of Christ and often authorised in the Scriptures the name of Suretie to God for vs is not he is called Gods Suretie to vs of a better Testament then the Law because God in him and by him hath assured vs of his mercie and grace in this life and of his heauenly kingdome in the life to come And if you will needs vrge the Similitude of Sureties from the course and custome of humane Lawes which appoint and admitte Sureties they vtterly exclude vs in the case that we were in from hauing any Sureties For neither in Capitall crimes nor in Corporall paines doth mans Law allow any Sureties Againe no Suretie standeth bound for a seruant much lesse for a condemned dead person Since then we were not only the seruants of sinne but for haynous offences condemned Soule and Body to euer lasting perdition and already dead in Soule by sinne no course of Law allowed vs Sureties Moreouer the Prince who is the Lord ouer the Law may be no Suretie because he is not chalengable by the Law how then will you bind the King of Kings to be our Suretie as if the most Soueraigne were most subiected to the Law besides Christ freed vs by giuing himselfe and his life for vs. What Sureties doe so Christ bought vs with a Price to be his seruants Doe Sureties buy their debtors to serue them Christ gaue infinitely more then we were worth Is that possible for Sureties Christ did change our punishment in his person from eternall death to the death of the Crosse. Haue Sureties that libertie or authoritie We rested on Gods promise for our Redemption before it was performed Know you not that a bare promise by mans Law doth not bind though God be faâ—…thfull in all his words Albeit then Christ recompenced our debt and voluntarily by his owne death discharged our danger being no way thereto bound yet since he obserued none other conditions of a Suretie and no right or Law did allow vs Sureties I see no cause why you should change the honor of a free Redeemer so much mentioned in the Scriptures into the Thraldome of a Suretie bound with vs as you say to pay our debt which was euerlasting destruction of Body and Soule Our publike Churches Doctrine also auoucheth that â—…e was our Suretie Our Church alloweth that Catechisme to be taught in Schooles to Children with whom it may be you seâ—…ke to be sorted because you
neuer waded any farder vnlesse in one or two new writers that fit your fansie It doth approue likewise and appoint Erasmus Paâ—…aphrase to lâ—…e openly in the Church for euery man that doubteth of any thing in the nâ—…we Testament to reade for his instruction and yet you will not take euery word in Erasmus Paraphrase for the publike Doctrine of the Church of England For so you should â—…oone exclude the most of your new conceits But what saith the Catechisme that Christ was bound to suffer for vs or did endure the same damnation which we dâ—…serued It sayth that Christ was our Suretie The Catechisme goeth not so farre but sayth God dealt cum Christo quasi sponsore with Christ as it were with a Suretie Christ then did voluntarily assume some similitude but not the strict and exact condition of a Suretie euen by the tenor of the words which you cite though you guilefully translate them as if Christ had beene our Suretie It is one thing to hold Christ was our Suretie and ioyntly bound with vs by law to pay our debts which is your errour and another thing to say Christ was as it were a Suretie or did of his owne accord discharge our debts for vs. The Catechisme in this very section precisely noteth that he was not bound as Sureties be but of his owne will suffered for vs the cruell and wicked rage of the Iewes in putting him to death Haec quidem illi in eum crudeliter malitiose atâ—… impiè perpetrarant verum ipâ—…e sua sâ—…onte ac volens haec omnia perpeâ—…s atâ—… perfunctus est These things before described the Iewes did cruelly malitioâ—…ly and impiouâ—… against him but he OF HIS OVVNE ACCORD and good will not bound suffered all these things And before he commeth to your words he sayth but it iâ—… not vnusuall amongst men that one should vndertake and suffer for another By which he doth not meane that by right or law one man may be bound to suffer or die for another but by liking or loue men are sometimes thereto led Otherwise the law both of God man is directly against all such suffering Sancimus ibiesse poenaÌ„ 〈◊〉 est Peccata suos teneant authores nec vlterius progrediatur metus quam reperiaâ—…r delicium We appoint say the Emperours Arcadius and Honorius that punishment shall be there where the fault is Let offences binde their committers and let no feare of punishment extend farther than to such as be guiltie of the crime Gods law doth ratifie the same The wickednesse of the wicked shall be vpon himselfe The sonne shall not beare the 〈◊〉 of the father neither shall the father beare the iniquitie of the sonne but the same soule that sinneth shall die Wherefore the Catechisme if he vnderstood what he said as I truely thinke he right-well did could not deriue Christes bodily sufferings from any band or Suertiship allowed amongst men by Law but onely from Christes loue and will which is aboue all law by which indeed he humbled and emptied himselfe to the death of the crosse for our sakes when there was neither law nor band to compell him to it Also Cyprians words are plaine and can not beare any other sense than I make of them that Christ was a verie Suretie for his people and suffered such a forsaking of God touching sense of paine and want of present feeling of comfort in his paines as the damned doe I did well to say you neither vnderstood nor liked the meaning of Cyprian for where there is nothing in Cyprians words that bolstereth your error you haue made such a construction of them or rather such a contradiction to them that few men besides you could deuise the like For by them you bring the person of the Sonne of God in his humane nature that was alwayes full of grace and trueth To haue no MORE SENSE NOR COMFORT OF GOD for the time THAN THE DAMNED HAVE From which pâ—…stilent position though you kisse your hand in it I wish all the godly to blesse themselues But let vs first see on which words of Cyprian you graffe this golden fruit and then how true it is and agreâ—…able to the faith Your foundation â—…s because Cyprian sayth of Christ Thou diddest shew anxietates illius querimoniae verba esse dilâ—…ctorum tuorum quorum personam causam assumpseras the pensiuenesse of that complaint My God my God why hast thou forsaken me to be the words of thy beloued whose person and cause thou hadst assumed What is this to your purpose or how doth this patronize your violent and wicked assertion The dolors of Christs complaint on the Crosse that he was forsaken were the words of his beloued that is Christ spake those words in the name and behalfe of his Elect that they were forsaken of God not of his owne person as Austen saith of the same That was the voice of Christes members not of the head And Leo Sub redemptorum suorum voce clamabat Christ cried those words vnder the voice of his Redeemed Now this being Cypâ—…ans plaine speech that those were the words of his Elect finding themselues for their sinnes worthie to be forsaken of God how come you to turne Christ into his beloued that is the head into the members and his beloued into the damned and then to conclude of Christ that he had no more sense nor comfort of God in his paines than the damned haue Such another leape will easily bring you and your followers from faith to infidelity and if you take not heed the sooner from the number of the Elect to the rancke of the Reprobate which take so light occasion to draw Christ into the same desperation for the time with the damned Cypriâ—…ns words you say can not beare any other sense It is not enough for you shamefully to peruert Cyprians words but you must proudly proclaime in print that they can haue none other sense than you list to like of when his speech expresly doth import the contrarie If you had auouched so much of Christes words we would desire no better interpreter then Cyprian who saith those were the wordes of Christs beloued and so that forsaking had no direct application to Christes person but a mercifull relation to his members who might often inwardly feele that they were forsaken of Gods fauor and assistance for the time though not as the damned are MEE you thinke in Christes words must signifie his person and not his members But Cyprian is expresly opposite to you in that point and saith MEE there is as much as MY BELOVED or chosen members And for this exposition Cyprian hath the manifest precedence of the sacred Scriptures in which Christ often speaketh of his members as of himselfe by the verie same words Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee that is my members whom I loue and esteeme as my selfe and this is no cauilling euasion the Iudge at the last
sayth d 1. Tim. 5. I charge thee in the presence of God and of the Lord Iesus Christ and of the elect Angels that thou obserue these things without preiudice or partiaâ—…tie And againe we are made a e â—… Cor. 4. spectacle to the world to angels and to men And likewise s The woman ought to haue power on her head because of the Angels that is she ought to couer her head in signe of subiection to the power of the man because the Angels beholde this as all other actions of men either in the Church or in the world From this power to heare and see what is sayd and done on the face of the earth euen in the secret and darke places thereof the diuell is not excluded in that he is an Angel though fallen from heauen and cast vnto the earth yet an g Reuel 12. accuser and so a beholder of good whom he impugneth and of badde ouer whom he ruleth And what maruell that Angels who by their creation excell vs in power and might haue this incident to their condition when as men God opening their eyes can see things done in heauen and earth which naturally they can by no meanes see When Dothan was besieged by the Aramites to apprehend Elizeus and his seruant was afrayd at the sight of them the Prophet encouraging his seruant sayd h 2. Kings 5. Feare not for they that be with vs are moe then they that be with them and prayed God to open his seruants eyes which the Lord did and h 2. Kings 5. he looked and beholde the mountaine was full of â—…ierie charets and horses round about Elizeus i Mark 1. Assoone as Iohn was come out of the water where he baptized Iesus in Iordan Iohn saw the heauens cleaue asunder and the Holy Ghost descending on Christ like a Doue Steuen likewise not only had his face changed in the Councell k Acts 7. as the face of an Angell but looking stedfastly into heauen saw the glory of God and Iesus standing at the right hand of God Which though the incredulous Iewes did no wayes beleeue but stopped their eares when they heard him so say and ranne vpon him all at once and cast him out of the citie and stoned him as a blasphemous liar yet can he be no Christian Christ might see what he would that doubteth whether Steuen saw this with his bodily eyes or no the Scripture being so resolute for it how impossible soeuer it be to our eyes This power to beholde things farre distant notwithstanding all impediments interiected not onely Christ had when he would as appeareth by his words to Nathaniel l Ioh. 1. v. 48. Before Philip called thee being vnder the figge tree I saw thee for which Nathaniel acknowledged him to be the Sonne of God but he promised his that they should see greater things m Vers. 50. Because I sayd to thee I saw thee vnder the figge tree beleeuest thou Thou shalt see greater things then these n Vers. 51. Verily verily I say vnto you henceforth you shall see the heauens open and the Angels of God ascending and descending vpon the Sonne of man Since then Christ could and o Luke 10. vers 18. did see Satan like lightning fall downe from heauen I make no doubt but he could open his owne eyes to see the remote parts of the earth when it pleased him though vsually he did it not by reason he needed it not for he knew all things and euen what was in man which the Angels doe not and therefore needed not any such vse of his eyes but when he saw his time which in this case he might like lest the dâ—…uell should despise him as hauing greater power and cleerer sight then Christ did or could shew himselfe to haue For which cause also Christ would stand on the pinnacle of the Temple without the diuels helpe to let him know that he wanted not power to doe greater things then the diuell vrged him vnto but onely that hee would take his owne time and do nothing at the diuels instigation or motion nor repugnant to the will and pleasure of God A third way the diuell had if Christ would permit it to set these things before our Sauiours eyes Satan is able not onely to assume what shapes he will and to transforme himselfe into an Angell of light but also to make specters and shewes of any thing in the aire and to deceiue the eyes of men when he is suffered by God so to do which not onely experience of all ages but the Scriptures themselues confirme wherein all p 2. Thess. 2. false woonders and signes are ascribed to the operation of Satan By this meanes Simon the Sorcerer so bewitched the whole citie of Samaria that q Acts 8. they all from the least to the greatest gaue heed vnto him and sayd This man is the great power of God The Sorcerers of Pharaoh r Exod 7. turned their rods into serpents and changed the riuers into r Exod 7. bloud and brought s Exod. 8. frogs vpon the land of Egypt as Moses and Aaron did and other miracles could the diuell haue done as we see by killing of Iobs t Iob. 1. sheepe and seruants with fire from heauen and the u Iob. 2. smiting of Iobs bodie with sore boiles had not the hand of the Almightie stopped him and thereby made the Sorcerers confesse that x Exod. 8. v 19 there was the finger of God It was therefore no hard thing for Satan to frame the appearances of kingdomes and cities and shew the similitudes of them from euery part of the earth since they are but the figures and semblances of things that we see with our eyes which Angels good and badde haue in their power when they are sent of God to do his will Howbeit Satan could not delude the eyes of Christ without his knowledge and leaue though Satan did not so thinke And therefore all these wayes being possible yet I thinke the second most agreeable to the words and see no cause why we should measure Christs sight when pleased him by mans reason when as he did so many things heere on earth aboue all humane power and reason For he often y Marke 4. walked on the sea and z Iohn 20. came and stood in the midst of his disciples when the doores were shut and made the ship that receiued him in the sea of Tiberias a Iohn 6. to be by and by at the land whither they went besides many thousand miracles which he wrought with his word and hand whiles he conuersed amongst men Of which if no Christian may make any question why flie you to imaginations or visions so long as Christ had power enough with his eyes to behold whatsoeuer Satan could shew him It was Satans act you will say to shew them and not Christes Satan as an angell might see
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
from the furious rage of Satan and malice of wicked men Here are many mights rashly and falsly supposed of Christ but not a mite of Salt or truth in them Is it lawfull for you Sir Defender to dreame what you list of Christs sufferings and when you are required proofe thereof to say It might be so extraordinarily What absurdities and heresies may not thus be maintayned if euery addle braine shall frame to himselfe new Passions and strange Temptations in Christ and all on this ground forsooth it might be so Their eares must exceedingly itche that will leaue the writings of the Euangelists and Apostles and listen to your extraordinarie might be But what might be Might Christ vpon all this spirituall fury and subtilitie of Satan or concurrence and cooperation of the Iewes haue his Faith hope or loue of and in God faile or decrease could he mistrust or doubt that he might perish and neither saue himselfe noâ—… vs why Role you thus with Roperick Termes and frights of franticke men when you speake of Christs Temptations as if hell or Satan were to strong for the Spirit and grace of God in Christ or could seuer the vnion made with the mightie hand of God of Christs humane nature into one Person with his Diuine It may be your strange fansies doe often put you to such plunges but he that stedfastly beleeueth in the Sonne of God and knoweth the truth and force of his Masters words when ready to goe to his Passion he said to his Disciples d Iohn 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be bold or consident I haue ouercome the world will neuer doubt such dangers as you dreame of For in the world which Christ ouercame is the Prince thereof comprised euen the diuell whom before Christ pronounced to haue nothing that is no part nor place in him And to me that am assured the diuell could doe nothing against Christ but what Christ himselfe would and that the Sauiour of the world had power enough not onely to resist but also to represse the furâ—…e and subtilitie of Satan with his word or becke saue what him selfe would permit to let the diuell see his violence endured his asâ—…aults repelled his temptations reiected and his whole kingdome despised aud troden vnder foote these Tragicall Termes of yours are but blusterings of a busie Brayne and blastes of an vnstayed Tongue that would say somewhat and can not tell what and therefore hideth his â—…isformed fansies vnder the visard of strange and incomprehensible conceites e Defenc. pag. 85. li. 1. Here now we may see how vniustly you conclude that Satan could no other way assault Christ as an Instrument of Gods wrath but onely by executing torments on his Soule euen in such wise as he tormenteth damned Sâ—…ules in hell We see you haue opened your packe of strange wares and wastfull words and otherwise besides your owne liking you haue brought nothing for all this pelâ—…e and Trash that you haue vttered My words that are short but expressing the same which you with many circumductions fetch about to couer the presumption of your cause you much mislike and yet if you weigh them well you shall see they containe the very summe of your deuices To be tempted with suggestions of malediction reiection confusion desperation and damnation so they take no place noâ—… find no harbour in the hart of man can haue no such incomprehensible sorrowes nor hellish Torments as you talke of The Hart by Faith presently and throughly resisting quencheth all those fierie Darts of Satan as flaxe vnder foote And therefore you must either take from Christ present and perfect resistance by deâ—…reasing his faith and sâ—…aggering his hope or else you can neuer sinck him into such sorrowes as you suppose You giue him f Trea pa. 45. li. 25. a glorious conquest at the last but in the meane while you leauâ—… him not onely fearing and fainting but euen ouerwhelmed and all conâ—…ounded with these strange temptations and incomprehensible sorrowes which sometimes you say come from g Ibid li. 24. the immediate hand of God and sometimes from the diuels h Defenc pag. 15. â—…i â—…8 as Gods Instruments working the very effects of Gods wrath vpon him And these paines you say were not onely as sharpe as any are in hell but euen the same which the damned doe suffer Now wherein haue I wronged you except with too much sparing you What in saying you defend that Satan executed Torments on Christs Soule such as he doth on the demned Your words import no lesse The diuels you say were Gods Instruments to work on Christ the very effects of his wrath Now what are the effects of Gods wrath h Defenc pag. 15. â—…i â—…8 equall to all the paines of hell and i Pag. 12. li. â—…0 the same which are in â—…ell but the torments of the damned Soules in hell But you would haue Christ as well inwardly tempted as Tormented by the diuell and where you defend both I reported but one Pardon me that wrong I would haue hid your folly but you will not suffer me Howbeit I refuted the one and left the other as worthie none other answere then that where in the Scriptures the diuels confesse Christs word and presence did torment them you without Scripture haue found the diuels tormented Christ. k Defenc. pag. 85. li. 4. That can be say you no other way then by Satans verie possâ—…ssing of those soules Which grosse and infernall speculations of yours for trueths you can not make them I vtterly leaue to your owne discussing Are your fansies become so fine that what the Scriptures teach of Satans possessing mens soules or bodies must be grosse and your inuentions without wit or reason must be spruice What sayd I in any of these things which the plaine words or maine grounds of the Scripture do not confirme That the diuell can not worke but where he is Will you giue him more then an almighty power to worke where he is not or will you affoord him an omnipresence equall with God that he may be euery where to the end he may worke euery where as God doth Satan may torment the soule you will say and not possesse it The diuels that could not worke on swine but they must first l Matth. 8. enter them before they could make them runne headlong into the sea can they worke in men before they enter and possesse them The Cananite that intreated Christ to haue m Matth. 15. mercie on her daughter who was m Matth. 15. miserably vexed with a diuell receiued at length this answer n Mark â—… For this saying goe thy way â—…he diuell is gone out of thy daughter The father that brought his lunaticke sonne to Christ confessed o Mark 9. he had a dâ—…mbe spirit which did teare him and cast him often into the fire and into the water to destroy him and Christ confirmeth his words in
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
admitted by him there could be no want of grace no fainting of Faith no decrease of hope but he must conceaue and discerne both Gods counsels and deeds rightly without mistaâ—…ing either the purpose of the punisher or the measure of the paine in the purgation of our sinnes For he can not lie who gaue this Testimonie that y Iohn 18. Iesiâ—… knâ—… 〈◊〉 that â—…la come vnto him and that z Iohn 13. handsâ—…efore â—…efore his â—…assion which prooueth as well his voluntarie submission as his full power to moderatâ—… all his owne sufferings which he could stay but would tast for the preseruing of his Fathers Iustice. a Defenc. pag. 89. 〈◊〉 3â—… You graunt his body sufâ—…ered truely punishments for sinne Therefore his Soule might suffer alâ—…o euen those of the extreamâ—…st degree If you ment to deale plainly you would distinguish the nature of the punishment the measure of the paine and the purpose of The nâ—…e measâ—…re and purâ—…ose of Châ—…ists sufferingâ—… the Inflictour in all which Christ differed much from the damned For first you no way prooue that any kinde of paine mentioned in the Scriptures to be laid on the damned was found in Christs Soule or Body Secondly the paines of the damned passe the Patience of all Men and Angels and much more the weakenesse and frailtie of mortall flesh Lastly the purpose of God in laying the burden of oursinn es vpon his owne Sonne was not to dishonor him or to forsake him or to execute vengeance on him prepared for the wicked but to take recompence from him for all our sinnes in such sort as better pleased the holinesse and Iustice of God then if eternall damnation had beene inflicted on vs. So that I see no one point wherein the damned agree with Christ by the verdict of the holy Scriptures onely he felt sharpe and bittâ—…r painâ—…s for the Triall of his obedience and patience and so doe all the Sonnes of God before or when they depart this life though I willingly graunt that the sense of Christs paines in many respects were farre greeuouser then any the Godly can feele with submission and deuotion to God b Defenc. pag. 89. li 37. Your selfe also graunteth that Christ both might and did suffer the extreamest paines that migâ—…t be without his owne sinne Then the more to blame you that content not your selfe therewith but runne to the Reprobate and to the damned to drawe Christs Soule within the compasse of their confusion and destruction I neuer sought to diminish or elâ—…uate Christs sufferings so farre as the Scriptures gaue any witnesse thereoâ—… but to auouch as you doe that he suffered the true paines of the damned as I then saw no Scripture to warrant it so I yet heare no reason to vphold it besides your presumptuous will Howbeit I restrained the sufferings of Christ to the state of this life where he suffered and excepted not onely all stainâ—…s of sinne and wants of grace but added holinesse and righteousnesse to all his sufferings which must be voluntarie religious and meritorious that they might be the more pretious in Gods sight and this can agree to no sufferings of the Reprobate or of the damned You would faine torment and afflict the Soule of Christ with Gods immediare hand but your proofe thereof is so weake and idle and your inconstancie therein so plaine and sensible that you doe but play with both hands to see which will soonest deceaue the Reader For sometimes it shall be Gods owne and immediate hand and his most proper Act sometimes it shall be the displeasure of God against our sinnes conceaued and discerned by the Spirit of Christ that bred such torment and affliction of Soule and which of these two you will rather incline to you cannot yet resolue c Defenc. pag. 90. li. 1. It was possible for Christ to conceaue and feele in his mind farre greater sorrowes and paines for our sâ—…nne from Gods wrath then he could â—…eele meerely in his Body outwardly It euer hath been the last refuge of all heresie to flie from the truth testified in the Scriptures to the power of God or possibilitie Tertullian being so answered by Praxeas replieth in this sort d Tertullianuâ—… aduersus Praxeam Plainly nothing is hard to God but if we vse this sentence so abruptly in our owne presumptions we may fame any thing of God as if he had done it because he could doe it But though God can doe all things yet we must not beleeue that which he neuer did but we must examine whether he hath done it That God tormenteth Soules in hell with his immediate hand is a point stifly presumed by you but as strange to the Scriptures as the rest of your new found deuices and why you should doubt of the literall sense of Christs words Depart you cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the diuell and his Angels there is no cause but that you doe not thinke God is able to subiect sinnefull spirits to externall meanes of punishment And therefore you bring in Gods immediate hand as only meete to ouer-master Soules and diuels and giue him no power to punish them by any Creature ordained for that purpose Now whether it be Faith or Infidelitie to â—…lude all those places as â—…iguratiue speeches where euerlasting fire is threatned and mentioned in the Scriptures I haue formerly said what I thought sufficient thither I remit such as be desirous to read Likewise that God with his immediate hand tormented the Soule of Christ at the Time of his Passion with the same degree and kind of paine which the damned feele this is an other of your Positions for which you haue as much Scripture as you haue for the creating of another world What Christ discâ—…rned of Gods wrath to be laid on his person I would gladly here you expresse otherwise then in generall and doubtfull speeches which vnder a shew of some truth couer a number of your â—…rroneous conceits For first it is certaine that Christ conceaued truely as well of Gods Anger against our sinnes as of Gods fauour towards his owne Person which infinitely excâ—…eded the displeasure that Gods holinesse had against vs that were sinfull Creatures Himselfe saith e Iohn 8. I know my Father and if I should say I know him not I should be a liar like vnto you but I know him The same Euangelisâ—… saith of Christs sufferings Iâ—…sus f Iohn 18. knowing all things that should come vp in him And this knowledge if it swarued from the truth was not an ignorance but an error in Christ beleeuing a lie insteede of Truth which God forbid we should suppose of him that not onely said g Iohn 8. I tell you the Truth but h Iohn 14. I am the Truth Christ thâ—…n most certainly knew that God was highly offended with our sinnes but better pleased with his Person and that Gods loue towards him would accept his voluntariâ—…
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 〈◊〉
presumptuous follie and other shew of any matter worth the medling with you do make none c Defenc. pag. 91. li. 32. First I heartily intreat the Christian Reader to marke well and to consider how your L. doth contriue three notable equiuocations in these few words Christ suffered in his soule the wrath of God which you seeme to grant but in trueth you doe not And if we adde also the paines of hel then he opposeth a fourth fallacy against vs. And these three or foure are the only pillars of his doctrine I make no pillars of my doctrine but the manifest words of the Holy Ghost teaching vs by the Scriptures the price and maner of our redemption which lest any man should thinke I diuert and wrest to my priuate or secret conceits as you doe I shew the ancient and true Church of Christ did so beleeâ—…e them and expound them before me The pillars of your doctrine are phrases follies and falsities which if you did not hide with generall and ambiguous words the considerate Reader without intreatie would soone marke your mysteries but because you are so kinde as heartily to pray the Reader to marke how you play the man I desire him likewise to obserue how shamefully you come short of your great brags and euen betray your cause to him that well considereth it d Defenc. pag. 91. li. 37. For the three former your first equiuocation is in the word Suffered and about it wee deale in this place e Et pag. 92. li. 19. Now your next equiuocation is in this He suffered in soule Your next in Gods wrath Both which I haue plainly shewed before As also your fourth fallacie which may be called Fallacia accidentis To the three last notable equiuocations as he calleth them here is all that this Defensor speaketh in this place where he would haue thee Christian Reader so considerately to marke some maruellous matters And thus shalt thou often be troubled with his vaine tatling when thou most expectest either his proofs or his promises He sendeth thee backe to peruse his former pages where thou shalt finde as little to the purpose as here thou doest though words he wanted not to couer his conceits Is there be any thing in those pages proued by him which I haue not in the same places confuted I am content to hazzard the perill of thy censure Howbeit I thinke thou mayest perceiue by my carriage that I desire to auoid and preuent all ambiguities as much as in me lieth I speake as plainly as my simple abilitie will suffer me I distinguish thinges as euidently as either the matter permitteth or the trewth requireth And therefore he that in all his defence hath yet vttered not one distinct and cleere sentence touching his cause but clowded and cloaked with proper and meere and such like shifts and shadowes neuer expounded by himselfe and knowen to no man but himselfe hath small reason though as much in this as in the rest to say that fallacies are the Pillars of my doctrine But if thou beleeue Pedlers praising their owne wares then maiest thou credit this booke-maker craking of his cleere and Sunne-shine proofes which he himselfe neither expresseth nor vnderstandeth The equiuocation of the word SVFFERING which in this place his mastershipp will deale withall will giue thee a tast what thou shalt looke for in the rest f Defenc. pag. 92. li 1. The common and ordinarie phrase vnderstandeth herein Christes feeling of paines inflicted on him by way of PROPER punishment and satisfaction for sinne which he vndertooke for vs. Onely this in the ordinarie and vsuall manner of speach is signified by Christes suffering or his passion and so we alwaies vnderstand by it This is one of your enlightned and purified expositions which is as faire and bright as the darknes of Egypt Doe men vsually ordinarily describe Christs passion to be nothing els but the feeling of paines inflictedon him by way of proper punishment who vseth these wordes by way of proper punishment besides your selfe and your adherents who vnder that colour would secretly conuey the paines of the damned into the soule of Christ for what is the proper punishment of sinne that which all sinners not Redeemed by Christ must endure or that which all men being sinners doe endure or that which none endured but Christ alone because it was proper to the dignitie of his person with that punishment which god laied on him by the hands and mouthes of men to satisfie the iustice of God for our sinnes and vtterly to abolish the guilt and wages of our sinne Proper may be either to the damned whose sinnes are neuer pardoned or proper to sinne in all mankinde euer since the first man forsooke his Creator or proper to Christes person and not common to him with the damned Which of all these senses do you containe in the word Proper You spake euen now of equiuocations and made a grieuous complaint to your Reader that I meant to circumuent you with ambiguities and what is this but to turne your Readers eyes aside on me whiles you play your part with the maine worke of Christes passion for mans Redemption how often haue I chalenged in you this shifting with proper and improper when and where pleased you Christes sufferings in all mens speeches saue yours were farre larger than his passion He suffered afliction all the time of his life yea the whole course of his life was a continuall suffering of reproches disdaines dispites besides the naturall infirmities of our flesh as hunger cold wearines weeping and such like which in his person were all sufferings and yet no man calleth his life his passion his passion we take to be the manner of his death and so all his sufferings from the Garden to the graue imposed on him by the hands mouthes or harts of men betraying forsaking or pursuing him were parts of his passion The false accusing and vniust condemning him the mocking reproching and reuiling him to be wicked and forsaken of God were parts of his passion and yet these were no inherent nor sensible paines of which you would seeme to speake when you exclude his affections of feare and griefe of minde as no parts of his passion g Defenc. pag. 91. li. 6. You cunningly take another rare sense of this word as it signifieth the affections of the mind in Christ wholy bent to holines and obedience of god you are a learned Squire that doe not vnderstand the soule suffereth as well by her affections as by her senses and that in Christ the harts and tongues of the Iewes concurred to his passion as well as their hands The affections and perturbations of the soule are vsually and properly called by the Greeke fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by the Latine passiones passions or sufferings of the minde The Apostles applie the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SVFFERINGS both in Christ and in vs as euenly and
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.
he groned in spirite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and troubled or affected him selfe If this Rule be true which hath the grounds of faith and the words or the holie Ghost for a foundation then your assertion is false and against the faith that tkese were alwaies in Christ and alwaies caused an he 〈◊〉 in him For you imply a continuall necessitie of sorrow and griefe in the Soule of Christ where the Scriptures and Fathers teach vs that nothing could 〈◊〉 griefe or sorrow on him but when he himselfe would And that Iesus sometimes reicyced and l Luc. 10. v. 21. exulted in Spirit giuing thankes to his Father for hiding the mysteries of his kingdome from the wise and prudent and reuealing them to seelie ones the 〈◊〉 is euident You therefore as your manner is graunt that which is false and deny that which is true For what if Christ often though not alwaies sorrowed for these three aforesaid is that any proofe that 〈◊〉 Passion approching where he sawe 〈◊〉 lewes should call for the vengeance of his bloud to be on them and their children and was now by most earnest ardent prayer to obtaine remission of sinnes direction of his spirit and protection from Satan for his whole Church the Time and place now 〈◊〉 requiring it he should not with greater sorrow behold the one and with more 〈◊〉 zeale intreat the other But m Desenc pa. 94. li. 37. I strangely deceiue my selfe you say if I thinke that any or ali of these did so farre exceede in him as to procure his most dreadfull and bloudy Agony When I heare you speake some truth or see you vnderstand any thing right I will more regard your word then now I doe That these things might be the causes thereof shall plainly appeare to the sober and aduised Reader when we come to the discussing of them Howbeit I doe not say that euery one of these sixe was the whole cause of his Agonie as you childishly carpe or that these sixe were the sole causes of his Agonie but these respects were such as might most exceedingly grieue and most inwardly affect the Soule of Christ making now way by prayer to procure the course of mans Redemption to be actually and effectually decreed and pronounced at his instance which he would after perfect with patience Neither are there greater workes in mans redemption then these that were now in hand with which if you thinke it not likely nor possible the Soule of our Sauiour should be mightily affected your erroneous Imagination is farre stranger then my position of pietie and possibilitie for as if you aske me what the Angell that came from heauen said to Christ in the Garden I must openly professe I take vpon me no such knowledge but leaue Gods secrets to himselfe and his Sonne so what occasions besides these might at that instant affect the Soule of Christ I dare not determine though you be so desperate that you nothing doubt Christ then felt in Soule from the immediate hand of God the selfe same paines which the damned doe in hell Notwithstanding the Scriptures insinuate no such suspition much lesse auouch any such Doctrine for mans redemption n Defenc pag. 95 li. 1. For the Reiection of the Iewes what reason bring you Christ wept ouer their Cittie ergo now at his Passion he was driuen into his dreadfull Agonie for this cause You must make your owne match or else you will quickly marre all Where I professed it impossible certainly to conclude the true cause of Christs Agonie your wisedome taketh a part of my words and clappeth on a Conclusion to them of your owne stamping and then you say the Argument is nought and so nimble you be at nothing that where I repeate sixe causes that might be concurrent therein you will haue me inferre that euery one of them was the whole and sole cause thereof But your mastership is to warme to be wise and to selfe-willed to be sound you doe not so much as see or care why I tooke this in for one of the causes that might meete in this Agonie The reuerent o Sermo pag. 19. li. 4. regard I had to the Iudgements of Ambrose Ierom Augustine and Bede who obserued this before me as one of the causes that might be of Christs sorrow in the Garden made me number this amongst the rest howsoeuer you spurne them away like foote-bals and thinke with a wilde gallop to winne the Goale But soft Sir first their opinions lie in your way which wise men will respect before your emptie wordes and lasie likelihoods that haue no salt in them besides the sharpnesse of your humour Secondly my reasons to my purpose are auaileable enough though you mishape them with a senselesse error of your own as if euerie of these six were the single and sole cause of this agonie There can no one particular cause be assigned of Christes feare sorrow and zeale in the Garden but since himselfe is a witnesse that his Soule was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on euery side pressed with sorrow my proofes which you cannot auoide inferre that amongst others this might be one cause of his sorrow And so much those Fathers professe as I haue formerly shewed and you cannot decline them but with impudent flurting at them that p Defenc. pag. 95. li. 15. this verily cannot stand with any reason But of our Reasons let the Reader Iudge Christ wept at the sight of Ierusalem when he remembred her desolation by the hands of the Romanes What griefe then was it to him in all reason to foresee the reiection of that people from the sauour of God by their rash and wicked desire to haue his bloud on them and their children at the time of his arraignment before Pilate If Moses and Paul so vehemently 〈◊〉 at the fall of their bretheren according to the flesh that for their sakes the one wished to be wiped out of the Booke of God the other most sacredly protested the great heauinesse and continuall anguish that he felt in hart for them how much more then did it grieue the Sauiour of the world who farre exceeded both the other in compassion and mercie to see himselfe that came to blesse them and saue them to be the ruine and stone of offence that should stumble them and their children striking them with perpetuall blindnesse and bruizing them with euerlasting perdition through their vnbeliefe To this what answere you q Defenc. pag. 95. li. 28. It prooueth that Christ surely had very great pittie and commiseration of them but nothing else in the world I professed to prooue no more Why then should not this be one of the causes that mooued Christ to sorrow in the Garden where he confesâ—…ed his Soule was on euery side heauie r Ibid. li. 30. Christ might haue farre greater pittie of them then Moses or Paul had and yet he was able to carrie his affection farre more patiently
li. 33. Distemper Touching my alleadging their griefe for Gods people I doe not vse to venture on such desperate conclusions as you doe To my purpose it was sufficient that they both were e Rom. 9. grieued at hart with great and continuall heauinesse for their Nation which are the vndoubted and vnquestioned words of Paul and causes of Moses Prayer farder I did not goe but from that care and sorrow of theirs I obserued it both lawfull and likely for the Messias as he was man to be inwardly and deepely troubled in his affection with the present and perpetuall ruine of that people for his death by taking his bloud vpon them and their children And this standeth sound and good whatsoeuer become of your newe and notable collections which shew your small Iudgement and lesse truth in points of Diuinitie f Defenc. pag. 96. li. 34. Secondly we see here that there may be possibly a death of the Soule a curse and separation from God which is in it selfe neither siane nor conioyned with sinne necessarily but meerely a suffering of punishment from God for the sinnes of others imputed Contrarie to you also pag. 73. 310. yea generally euery where You remember belike the olde rule Ex impossibili sequitur quodlibet from an impossibilitie supposed any thing will The second errâ—…r drawâ—…n from their example follow and seeing your selfe destitute of all proofes for your new Doctrine you will needs make lotteries of impossibilities and thence draw what you like best For taking a plaine impossibilitie for your maine ground you thereupon frame vs foure obseruations as impossible as the first supposition And this absurd wandring from all truth and faith you would haue the Reader Note as a speciall demonstration of your discretion and vnderstanding in matters of Religion Suppose as you doe that God through his omnipotent power may turne heauen into hell and reuerse all that he hath decreed and prouided for the different rewards of pietie and impiety and you may soone prooue what falsitie you will by flying from Gods counsell and truth to his power and might But Christian religion teacheth not whatsoeuer is possible to Gods power but what is ordained by his will and reuealed by his word Otherwise what heresie can you name touching Gods works in his creation or redemption of the world that defendeth impossibilities to Gods power setting aside all respect of his will and truth This therefore is the high way to vphold all falsities and impieties to oppose Gods power against his will and word and to beleeue he hath done whatsoeuer his almightie power is able to doe Concerning the death of the Soule though here be no place to speake largely of it it is double by the confession of all Diuines and euen of the Scriptures themselues For as the places are diuerse where men doe abide here and else where in this life and the next so the life which the Soule enioyeth is proportioned to the place where she continueth God in his wisdome and goodnesse hauing so prouided that whiles she gouerneth the body here on earth she should be partaker of him by the grace of his spirit and hereafter in the kingdome of heauen she should haue the full fruition of him by the manifest reuelation and communion of his glorie Likewise the death of the Soule preuaileth in this life by sinne which is the naturall depriuing or voluntarie renouncing of all grace and in the world to come by damnation which is the iust reiecting of all the wicked from any fellowship with God in his glorie and the fastning them to euerlasting torments in hell fire Gods actions in either of which are most iust and holy for he withdraweth and denieth his grace when it is refused and excludeth them from all accesse to his blessednesse that heere on earth despised both him and it adiudging them to the iust desert of their sinnes in euerlasting flames But neither of these can possibly take hold of man without sinne committed or inherited And therefore your imagining a death of the Soule without sinne is a supposing of things impossible since neither Moses Prayer nor Pauls wish in that sense which you follow were possible as all Diuines both new and old confesse g Chrysost. 〈◊〉 16. in ca. 9. ad Roâ—… Paul wished saith Chysostome to be separate from Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it were Paul wished if it were pâ—…ssible and lawfull possible And againe Therefore am I grieued saith Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and if it were lawfull or possible to be separated and estranged not from the loue of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 farre be that from me to wish because he did this for loue but from that fruition and glorie I could admitt it that my Lord should not be blasphemed Photius as he is collected by Oecumenius Ibidem thus expresseth Pauls wish h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ca. 15. in 9 ca. 〈◊〉 ad Romanos Paul saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that if it were possible by my destruction for Christ to be glorified and the Iewes to be saued I would not refuse it I could wish it sayth he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it might be if it were lawfull if that choise were giuen me I would preferre the glory of Christ and the saluation of manie before mine owne The new writers that take Anathema for a separation from Christ as Chrysostome doth adde the same conditions which he doth confessing it neuer the lesse to be simply impossible The iudgements of Peter Martyr and Zanchius we saw before Aretius repeating this exposition amongst others saith Or els i Aretius in ca. 9. epist. ad Romanos separated from Christ that is euerlastingly damned if that were possible that with the losse of one soule the saluation of manie thousands might be redeemed The affection of those that speake louingly proceedeth often to things impossible For of it selfe neither was it possible that the Apostle with his destruction should redeeme the vnbeleeuing Iewes and it had beene wicked so to thinke since the merit of Chrâ—…st alone is propitiatorie neither was this lawfull for the Apostle to offer himselfe to be a Redâ—…mptorie sacrifice for the saluation of others but the Apostles affection is to be considered wishing impossibilities vpon an honest desire Piscator in his Scholies vpon that Chapter to the Romans k Piscatoris Scholia in ca. 9. ad Rom. I did wish for I could wish Nempe si licâ—…ret sulua pietate meaning if it were lawfull so to doe without breach of pietie Beza l Bezae Annotationes in 9. ca. ad Rom. This is very much to be obserued that Paul doth not say he did so wish at any time but he was so affected that willingly he could be content to redeeme the destruction of his nation with his owne nempe sisieri sic potuisset meaning if that might possibly be And therefore it is a needelesse
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
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
desert of sinne the whole masse of mankind was condemned If the Christian faith permit vs to say that we were condemned before we were redeemed since we could not be redeemed but from condemnation how much more lawfull is it for me to say that euerlasting death was deserued by vs and prepared for vs without Christ since the reward of sinne was first prouided for the diuell and his angels before man fell through his inticements and was neuer since vnprepared d Defenc. pag. 9â—… li. 〈◊〉 The truth is he could not by any meanes pray against that or decline that onely vnlesse he were for the time in some astonishment and perturbation of his senses which by the infinitenesse of that paine he well might be yea he could not but be as is afore shewed to haue hapned in Moses and Paul There is as much truth in this as in the rest of your deuices Here are errors as thicke as hops shuffled in vpon your bare word the proofe whereof you bring after at leasure about latter Lammas 1. That Christ felt infinite painâ—…s of hell which you before named all the whole paines which our sinnes deserued 2. That by the infinitenesse of that paine he could not but be in some astonishment and perturbation of his senses which though here you mitigate with some yet afterward you straine it aboue the extreamest degree of astonishment that might be Your words are e Defenc. pag. 128. li 26. Therefore no maruaile though this astonishment in Christ were farre greater then is to be seene in any man that euer was or shall be Wherein you keepe the Sauiour of the world as long and as often as pleaseth yourselfe 3. That against these paines he could not by any meanes pray onely vnlesse he were thus astonished 4. That Paul in his Epistle to the Romanes expressing his affection for the Iewes was likewise astonished and amazed as not knowing what he said f Defenc. pag. 99 li. 8. This is the very point of our Defence affirme this and you affirme with vs all that we hold and professe When I am out of my wits I may chaunce to hold these conceits with you otherwise so long as God giueth me grace to be soberly minded and well aduised I will see other manner of warrant for all these weafes and straies then you yet shew before I affirme them or professe them g Defenc pag. 99. li. 9. Otherwise if you meane that Christ praied intentiuely to haue the whole and intire cup of eternall malediction and death passe from him which both the elect deserue and the reprobate sustaine that as it is pâ—…ssing strange doctrine so is it simply impossible For he could not intentiuely pray against that nor feare that which he perfitly knew concerned him not at all and by no meanes could euer possibly come nâ—…are him I premonished the Reader that I would there repeate the diuers iudgements of diuers men and so farre admitte them as they might accord with the Christian faith To this opinion of some men that Christ was in his agonie stroken with a feare of eternall death and so might pray against it I gaue two expositions how those words might be tolerated in Christian Religion without apparent impietie The one that h Sermo pag. 23. li. 21. Christ had no neede to pray for himselfe against that cuppe of eternall death but ONLIE FOR VS who then suffered with him in him The other that if we would conioine Christs person with ours feare must there be taken for a shunning and declining of that cup which he i Ibid. pag. 24. li. 10. religiously disliked For k Ibid. pag. 23. li. 29. touching himselfe albeit the innocencie of his cause the holinesse of his life the merite of his obedience the abundance of his spirite the loue of his father and vnity of his person did most sufficiently guard him from all danger and doubt of eternall death yet to shew the perfection of his humility he would not suffer his humane nature to require it on right but prostrate on the earth besought his father that cuppe might passe from him and was heard in that he shunned or auoided I repeate the selfe same words which then I vsed to lett the Reader see that I shift not hands nor change not mindes as there is no cause I should but that this Broker neglecting my manifest limitations to other mens opinions and euident speache as also suppressing my purpose would haue the world beleeue that I graunt Christ doubted and feared eternall death to come on his owne person Which in the maze that you put him in sir defensor might well be since you auouch hee knew not what he praied or els he sinned in praying against the resolute and knowen will of God but by my positions it is impossible that any distrustfull feare of hell or eternall death should fall on the soule of Christ for the reasons there shortly but sufficiently collected by me And this is your idle course throughout your Booke to catch at a word and neuer to regard what goeth before or after be it neuer so plaine and perspicuous to recall your misconstruing my speach Omitte then your wanton rouing or malitious swaruing from my meaning and saying and refute either of these limitations if you can And first least any man thinke I limite other mens words without iust cause I ment herein the words of the Catechisme which you would faine pull into your packe as also of some other writers whose sayings so long as they might be salued with any good construction I thought not fitte to repell as intolerable in Christs Church The Catechisme saieth l Nowels Catechisme Greeke and Latine pag. 281. Christum non communi modo morte in hominum conspectu mulctatum sed et aeternae mortis horrore perfusum fuisse horribiles formidines atque acerbissimos animi dolores pro nobis perpessum et perfunctum esse Peccatoribus enim quorum hic quasi personam Christ us sustinuit non praesentis modo sed futurae etiam aeternaeque mortis dolores atque cruciatus debentur Christ not onely died our common death in the sight of men but was also perfused The Translator of the Catechisme into Greeke allowed as well as the Latin saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agonized with the horror of eternall death suffered and felt for vs horrible feares and most bitter sorowes of mind For to sinners whose person in some sort Christ here sustained were due the sorowes and torments not of this present death onely but also of future and eternall death Of the paines of the damned really inflicted in the garden on Christs soule by the immediate hand of God and of Christs extreame astonishment for the present Torments therof the writer of the Catechisme knew nothing these deuices of yours are later then the making of that Booke but he speaketh of Christes fearing the infinite wrath of God against
our sinnes which he apprehended in the Garden and in respect thereof fell into this horrible feare These wordes of the Catâ—…chisme if we referre to the feare Christ had for his members then ioined in one bodie with him whose cause he vndertooke with more desire and care then his owne since he emptied and loaded himselfe to purchase their aduancement and ease they might be receaued and approoued as sufferable in the Christian faith but if we so tooke them as if Christ had any doubt or distrustfull feare of his owne saluation they were not agreeable to the trueth Your selfe sir wrangler speake against this later senâ—…e of the wordes as much as I doe For you say m Defenc. pag. 99. li. 11. 12. It is passing strange doctrine and simply impossible that Christ should feare the cup of eternall malediction which he perfectly knew concerned him not at all and by no meanes could euer possibly come neere him But the Catechisme saith Christ was perfused or perplexed with the horror of eternall death And as our head knit with vs into one and the same body he might tremble at eternall death hanging ouer our heads and most dreadfully persuing our sinnes in vs if he made not satisfaction for vs. You would shift the word eternall out of the text and tell vs a tale of the substance thereof which you will imagine how Christ shall suffer by a new deuice of yours though the Catechisme speake nothing thereof but if you expound the Catechisme and not correct it or confute it you must shew vs how Christ might feele or feare EVERLASTING OR FVTVRE DEATH due to sinners For those are the words of the Catechisme who not content to say EVERLASTING addeth thereto FVTVRE death which of force must follow after this present death separating the soule from the bodie except you haue the skill in Grammar to make future goe before present How Christ in coniunction with vs and compassion on vs might feare euerlasting death for vs as imminent ouer vs and yet speake in his owne name I will in place conuenient more largely declare when I come to Christes complaint on the crosse till which time I pray the Reader to haue patience least I should be forced often to prooue and repeat one and the same thing Touching the other limitation that Christ might feare that is warâ—…ly and religiously shunne the cuppe of eternall malediction and intentiuely pray against it as well in respect of himselfe as of vs you blunder out a proposition which in Christes cause is not so true as you take it to be n Pa. 99. li. 13. He could not you say intentiuely pray against Christs manhood prâ—…ied for that with all 〈◊〉 which his person by rigâ—…t might haue chalenâ—…ed that which he perfectly knew could by no meanes come neere him By this rule Christ should pray for nothing touching himselfe for Christ perfectly knew all that God had most certainly decreed towards him and chiefly Gods resolute and reuealed counsels for his glory What need then was there Christ should pray for any such thing since he perfectly knew what should come to passe and by the power of his person was fully able to dispose of heauen and hell life and death both present and eternall His owne words are 〈◊〉 Whatsoeuer things the Father doth the same things 〈◊〉 Iohn 5. doth the Sonne also for likewise as the Father raiseth vp the dead and quickeneth them so the Sonne quickeneth whom he will The Father iudgeth no man but hath committed all iudgement to the Sonne that all men should honour the Sonne as they honour the Father and hath giuen him power also to execute iudgement in that he is the Sonne of man Christ perfectly knew that p Eâ—…a 42. 49 he should be giuen for a light of the Gentils Did he not therefore aske it according to Dauids prophesie q Psal 2. Aske of me and I will giue thee the Gentils for thine inheritance Christ neither had nor could haue any doubt of his glorification Did he not therefore pray r Iohn 17. Now Father glorifie me with thine owne selfe with the glory which I had with thee before the world was Was not Christ most assured that he should s Esa. 53. diuide the spoiles of the mightie and be a t Hose 13. death vnto death and a destruction vnto hell and yet Dauid applieth these prayers vnto him u Psal. 22. Deliuer my soule from the sword my desolate soule from the power of the dogge Saue me from the lions mouth and heare mee from the hornes of the vnicorne Though therefore by the right of his power he might haâ—…e sayd in all things as he did in some x Matth. 8. I will be thou cleane and againe y Iohn 17. Father I will that they which thou hast giuen me be with me euen where I am that they may behold my glory yet to demonstrate the wonderfull vertue of his obedience and humilitie he suffered his humane nature humbly to pray for that which his person could of it selfe performe and in all things referred himselfe to his Fathers will though he also sayd to his Father All thine are mine and I am glorified in them and all things that the Father hath are mine Then might Christ in the Garden pray that the cuppe of eternall malediction deserued by our sinnes might passe from him and his though he submitted himselfe and his members to drinke of the cuppe of Gods wrath so much as should please his heauenly Father which he was assured in regard of his prayer should be no more than he and his should well endure z Defenc. pag. 99 li. 16. All this is nothing else in effect then your first cause his submission to Gods maiestie sitting in iudgement wherefore you might haue lessened your number and so your answer to this might haue beene the same which is made to your foremost Your conceite is not so currant that I should pare my number for your pleasure Christ himselfe saith a Matth. 22. On these two Commandements thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thine heart with all thy soule and with all thy minde and thy neighbour as thy selfe hangeth the whole Law and the Prophets Were therefore then the tenne Commandements which God gaue to Moses superfluous because they might be reuoked to two generall contents speciall parts and duties are profitablie deliuered so long as they be any way distinguished notwithstanding they may be comprised in fewer but more generall branches The worke of our Redemption was the summe of all that Christ did said or suffered heere on earth shall we therefore reiect the rest of the Gospell because the substance thereof may be expressed in a word or twaine these you will say are not distinct in matter but in wordes Who told you so The trembling at Gods glorie when it was reuealed to mans infirmitie the honouring Feare
the time though it were after restored with greater glory This I did not put for the cause of his agonie as you idlely amplifie but noted it as a respect that might worthily lead Christ to dislike or abhorre death in respect of his perfection and communion with God aboue all men and Angels saue for the will of his father and the good of man which ouerruled this dislike in him g Defenc pag. 105 li 22. You say excellent well but by your practise in all matters so farre as I see you neuer meane to obserue it in Gods cause let Gods booke teach vs what to beleeue and what to professe shew me then where you read in Gods word any or all these to be effectuall causes of this strange 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 my part I shall neuer beleeue you If I did professe to bind mens faiths to these causes of Christes agonie as you doe to your new redemption by the paines of the damned I would shew you where I redde them in the word of God or els I would leaue â—…ch beleeuer to his libertie but I forwarned all men that the Scriptures directly and particularly speaking nothing of the causes of Christes agonie the safest rule that I could find or they could follow was not to depart from any knowen and receaued grounds of Religion and principles of pietie for the causes thereof For since the Scriptures keep silence and our Sauiour himselfe would not shew it to all his Disciples but chose three from the rest to goe with him and tooke the darke time of the night and left those three whose eies were so heauie that they could not forâ—…eare sleepe about a stones cast before he would pray because he would not haue thâ—…m 〈◊〉 to all that he said or did in that place I see no reason why any man should be ouer curious in searching that which the word of God hath not precisely reuealed specially seeing no demonstratiue cause can be giuen of secret affections and voluntarie actions such as these were in Christ. And your audacious and presumptuous boldnesse is the more chalengeable for that you not onely take vpon you to giue the right and exact cause therof out of your owne braine but you light on such a cause as hath no foundation in any part of the Scripture nor any coherence with the maine positions of the Christian faith vnfalliblely deliuered in the word of God Wherfore I haue not transgressed my directions when I teach what iust and waighty respects of feare sorow zeale our Lord Sauior had in the worke of our redemption which might be the causes of that earnest prayer agonie and withall shewed the iudgements and opinions of diuers ancient and learned Fathers concerning the same but you as insolent in your conclusions as in your conceits take vpon you to specifie the full and true cause thereof for which you haue no shew of Scriptures nor touch of reason And such is the cause which you yeeld that thereby you crosse the chiefe streames of faith and trueth most currant in the sacred Scriptures and with all learned and religious antiquitie The same rule then binding you which bindeth me shew you what Prophet Euangelist or Apostle euer taught or thought the paines of the damned to be inflicted on Christes soule in the Garden by Gods immediate hand and that without the paines of hell we could not be 〈◊〉 or els my not beleeuing you will not excuse your enterprise you must answere to God and to all the faithfull for innouating the very roots and branches of their redemption by the bloud and death of Christ Iesus which you auouch to be vnsufficient for the ransome of our sinnes except your hell be thereto added when the Holy Ghost who should best know the trueth being the spirit of trueth hath expressed no such thing in all the Scriptures h Defenc pag. 105. li. 32. Your sixt and last maine cause is that Christ by this his bloudie sweate and 〈◊〉 praiers did nothing but voluntarily performe that bloudie offering and Priesthood 〈◊〉 in the Law This we simply grant If you should truely repeat and conceiue any part The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agonie of my writings you should put your selfe to more paines than you are willing to take iustly to refute it Wherefore your course is either to misrecite or to misconstrue all that you bring In the oblations of the Law which prefigured the death of Christ I obserued that not only the Sacrifice was slaine by the shedding of bloud but that the person of the Priest was sanctified as well as the sinner presented by the Priest to God with earnest and humble prayer to make atonement for the trespasse And since the trueth must haue some resemblance with the figure Christ might in the Garden performe some points requisite to his Priesthood as the sanctifying of himselfe with his owne bloud and presenting his bodie to be the redemption and remission of our sinnes with most instant and intentiue prayer for the transgressours This if you simply graunt as in wordes you say you doe tell vs now which way you will conclude Christes suffering of hell paines in the Garden from his bloudie sweat It hindereth not our assertion Much lesse doeth it further it but yet if there might be a cause of Christes voluntarie sprinckling himselfe with his owne bloud and dedicating it to Gods pleasure for mans redemption besides and without your hellish torments you will come shorter than you recken to make good your conclusion i Defenc. pag. 106. The Scriptures which you cite prooue indeed that Christ now executed his office of Priesthood but will you diuide and exempt his death on the Crosse from his Priesthood Who besides your selfe restraineth Christes euerlasting Priesthood either to the garden or to the crosse But it was one thing for Christ with feruent and submissiue prayer to present and submit his bodie which was his Sacrifice to the will of his Father as he did in the garden and another thing to receiue and admit the violent and wicked hands of the Iewes executing their rage on his bodie with all reproch and crueltie as he did on the crosse Now what had his Priesthood to do with the paines of hell since he was to present and performe the bloudie sacrifice of his bodie prefigured in the Law which he did in the garden and on the crosse And forsomuch as you grant that Christes bloudy sweat and his vehement prayers in the garden were pertinents to his Priesthood prefigured in the Law which indeed is k Hebr. 5. confirmed by the Apostle as you can shew no figure of suffering hell paines or the second death in the sacrifices of the Law no more doth either of these performed in the garden concerne any secret death of the soule which Christ there suffered from the immediate hand of God l Defenc. pag. 106. li. 14. Why say you not aswell that his death
and bloudshed on the Crosse shewed in him no paines nor infirmitie but onely that voluntarily he made himselfe there the true Priest and performed the prefigured bloudie and deadlie sacrifice for the sinnes of the world As good reason altogether you haue to say so as to affirme it of his agonie No by your leaue for Christ did not actually offer two sacrifices the one ghostly suffering the paines of hell in the garden as you imagine the other bodily and bloudy yeelding himselfe to the death of the crosse m Heb. 〈◊〉 14 With one oblation he hath made perfect for euer them which are sanctified n vers 〈◊〉 and we are sanctified by the offering of the body of Iesus Christ once made This sacrifice was presented and submitted to Gods will in the garden but finished and consummated on the Crosse which could not be without paines and infirmitie belonging vnto death In the garden where no Scripture saith Christ died I admit not the second death nor the paines of the damned which are thereto consequent And where you say I refuse all paines and infirmitie in Christes agonie it is one of your wonted trueths which in another were an open lie I admit not the paines of the damned or of the second death til you shew where the scripture teacheth that Christ suffered two deaths the first on the Crosse and the second in the garden and that afore the first Otherwise painefull affections of feare and sorow which were humane infirmities though voluntarily and religiously receaued by Christ into his soule I euerie where acknowledge and with Cyprian make them entrances to his oblation for the sinnes of the world o 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vt fieret voluntas Patris sacrificium carnis a timore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suberant victime desolatoriâ—… carbones quos obedientiae liquefactus adeps extinxit 〈◊〉 tâ—…e will of the Father might be donne saith Cyprian and Christ begin the sacrifice of his flesh with feare and sorow consuming coales of feare and sorow in the gardeÌ„ were puâ—… vnder the sacrifice which the sweet fatnesse of his obedience mâ—…lting did quench So that Christ beganne the sacrifice of his body in the garden offering that to be disposed at his fathers will for the life of the world and his entring to it was with feare and sorow the painfulnesse whereof his obedience abolished and so without all feare went to the rest of his suffrings before and on the crosse where he perfected and ended his oblation despising all torments and punishments that the wicked could deuice for him * 〈◊〉 ibidem 〈◊〉 vt sanaret inâ—…irmos timuit vt faceret securos Christ sorowed to heale our weakenesse and feared to make vs secure I beheld 〈◊〉 workes o Lord saith he and admire thee fastened to the crosse betweene two condemned Theeues now to be neither fearefull nor sorrowfull but a conquerer of thy punishments p Defenc. pag. 105. li. 6. You meane voluntarie in such sense that Christmas not also vrged thereunto by any violence of paines and feare procuring it in him naturally I meane by voluntarie that Christ had power enough to resist and represse the vehemency and painefulnesse of these affections 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his affections as â—…e saw cause in him selfe and therefore against or without his will they could not trouble him For 〈◊〉 did not preuaile or exceed in him as they do in vs against our wils but he must be willing to submit himselfe to each affection of feare sorow before they could take hold of him or be grieuous to him Our nature though he tooke in substance yet the corruption and distemper of our sinfull nature he did not take and therfore as before our fall the innocency and rectitude that was in man could guide and gouerne as well the rising as the inflaming of his affections so much more Christ who besides sincerity from sinne and libertie from corruption had the grace and power of Gods spirite aboue measure in his humane nature could so restraine and represse in himselfe all affections of feare and sorow that till he was willing and thought it fitte they neither did mooue nor molest his humane flesh or spirit And when he suffered mans nature in him to feele the same affections that are in vs they were holy and righteous in him declaring his obedience to his Fathers will and not disordered as we find in the corruption of our flesh And where you adde that Christ was vrged to his bloudie sweat by violence of paines or feare procuring it in him naturally you speake not only against the trueth but euen against your selfe For within one leafe after you grant q 〈◊〉 107. li. 16 it was aboue the course of nature led thereunto by Hilaries wordes that it was r Hâ—…lar de Trinitate li. 10. non secundum naturae consuetudinem not according to the accustomed course of nature And indeed how could it be naturall since feare cannot by nature cause a bloudy sweate and of all the men that you imagine did euer suffer the paines of hell you neuer read in the Scriptures or else where that any of them did sweate bloud Now if it were naturall to paine yea to your supposed paines of hell in this life to sweate bloud as many as you vrge suffered the same yea all the members of Christ to whom in these sufferings you make him like must needs at one â—…ime or other sweate bloud as well as Christ. Wherefore it is certaine that either you fitten and faine thâ—…se sufferings in other men or else Christ was not vrged NATVRALLY to this sweate by any â—…eares or paines of hell that oppressed him in the Garden s Defenc. pag. 10. li. 2. Of this Exposition with all the rest you pronounce that they are sound and well agreeing with Christian pietie Yet is it contrarie to your Resolution also yea it is contrarie to the Scripture expressing his feare and vehement sorrowes and discomfort to haue caused his Agonie Your words are of so small waight that a man would skant spare you Oyster-shels vpon your credit You know not the difference betwixt the occasion of Christs sorrow and sweate in the Garden and the exposition of his complaint on the crosse What I say of the one You more then negligently apply to the other As for my Resolution Pag. 290. prooue it contrarie to this position for exposition it is none since it concerneth the cause of Christs sweate and not the sense of his words and you shall after many failes and follies prooue somewhat Otherwise if these things in the Garden concerned Christs priesthood which is mine Assertion in this place I hope his Priesthood prooueth both his submission to God to whom he yeelded himselfe obedient and suppliant and his compassion on man for whose sake he refused not to make a bloudie and deadly offering of his owne bodie which is my Resolution in the Page
of these words professing to cite the text you say But still he was in his agonie And as for the words he prayed more earnestly which are The 〈◊〉 corrupteth S. â—…uke immediate before Christes sweating bloud you shutte them cleane out as not fitting your turne lest the Reader should thinke his vehement prayer after comfort receiued was the cause of this agonie for that the Euangelist placeth it next before in the text Your wordes then hee was in his agonie are no good translation and that which is added but still he was in his agonie is a violent corruption for genómenos there doeth not signifie his being or continuing that which he was before but his becomming that which he was not before For example z Gal. 4. v. 4. God sent his Sonne genómenon made of a woman and genómenon made vnder the law Doth the word genómenos heere signifie that Christ was man before he was conceiued of his mother or rather that he was made of his mother which before he was not and so made vnder the law doth not import that Christ was subiect to the law before he was man but that being altogether free from the law he would become subiect to the law which before he was not Likewise a Ioh. 1. v. 14. ho logos sarx egeneto the word was made flesh which before it was not This difference of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greeke Scholiast obserueth commenting vpon S. Pauls words I could wish to be separated from Christ for my brethren b Photius apud 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 9. Epist. aâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paul doth not say he could be content to become a curse which is NOVV PRESENTLY to be seuered from Christ but to be or haue beene a curse that is to haue yet continued seuered from Christ. So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be mâ—…de or to become is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the present time and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be is still to continue Wherefore genómâ—…nos enagonia is falling at that present vpon comfort receiued by the Angell into an agonie and not as you corruptly translate still he was in his agonie An agonie you will say you vse for all Christes affections and actions in the garden But so doth not S. Luke he referreth the word to Christes more ardent prayers and to his bloudie sweat If we speake abusiuely an agonie may be taken for feare as I haue formerly shewed or if defectiuely we name one part for the whole which How some vse the word Agonie some men vse to auoid length of speech and the number of particulars then Christs agonie may stand to note all his affections actions and supplications in the garden but if we speake properly as there is no cause nor proofe S. Luke should heere do otherwise then Christes agonie both by the proprietie of the Greeke word and by the circumstances of the text was that vehement contention of minde wherewith Christ prayed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more feruently than before being now strengthened or comforted by the Angels appearing and message and euen powred forth his spirit to God with so zealous affection that his sweat was like bloud This you would crosse by your corrupt translation in saying BVT STILL he was in his agonie though the words of the Euangelist doe not import that he continued still any former agonie but vpon the strength and comfort receiued by the Angell he fell into an agonie of most vehement desire to preuaile in the worke of our redemption and to remooue all impediments for which he vsed so strong cries and teares that his sweat was coloured like bloud All these things you venture to determine by your owne authoritie as if the Scriptures were vnder your command and little thinke that wise and godly Readers will censure your licentious intrusion on the Scriptures as it deserueth Neither can you cease for ought that I see for as you affirme that which our Sauiour assumed vpon the Angels message to haue possessed him before at his entrance into the garden so the words which he spake before any prayer in the garden and much more before the appearing of the Angel you make consequent to his bloudie sweat Your handsome and holie translation and exposition is c Defenc. pag. 107. li 3. but still hee was in his agonie and sweat like droppes of bloud trickling to the ground and presently sayth My soule is full of sorrowes to death Where you commit two notable falsifications euen of the Scripture it selfe The Dâ—…fender addeth to Saint Luke that which he neuer wrote and leaueth out that which he wrote For first these words My soule is full of sorrowes euen to death are not in S. Lukes Gospell whence you would seeme to cite them as presently sayd after Christes bloudie sweat Next you peruert both the other Euangelists in which these words are written for both Matthew and Marke which witnesse the speaking of those words precisely record that they were spoken to Christes three Disciples before he departed at first from them to pray in secret and before he began to expresse any desire that the cuppe might passe from him Reade the texts they keepe almost the same wordes When Christ had sayd to the rest of his Disciples d Mar. 14. v. 32 Sit you here till I haue prayed e 33. he tooke Peter and Iames and Iohn and he began to be afrayd and in great heauinesse f 34. and sayd vnto them My soule is very heauy vnto death tary here and watch g 35. So he went forward a little and fell downe on the ground and prayed that if it were possible that houre might passe from him You turne all vpside downward and tell vs out of S. Luke that still Christ was in his agonie and sweat like droppes of bloud and presently sayth My soule is full of sorrowes euen to death With such additions translations and corruptions against the circumstances described in the Scriptures some doubt may chance to creepe at a creuie into some mens consciences touching the cause of Christes agonie but your pains of the damned are not one iot the neerer for all your inuerting peruerting the Euangelists words to your will For what if Christ did sweat bloud at first which the Gospell referreth to the last doth that giue entrance to the second death and torments of the damned Are not the paines of this life able to make men sweat bloud but you must runne to hell for the lake that burneth there with fire and brimstone before mans body may colour his sweat with the shew of bloud Is it harder for Christ to resolue his bloud into sweat by zeale without paines or with bodilie paines whiles he was liuing than when he was dead to send out of his side first h Ioh. 13 v. 34. bloud and then water so distinctly and miraculously
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
line or letter of holy Scripture q Defenc pag. 109. li. 7. Againe your owne rule is which I like well that no figure is to be admitted in Scriptures where there is no ill nor hurtfull sense following litterally But I haâ—…e shewed a little before a plaine easie and Christian sense hereof taking it litterally The rule is most needfull to preserue the right sense of the Scripture For if euery man may elude with figures that which liketh not his humour we shall haue little truth left in the word of God But euen by that rule your sense of Christs complaint is quite ouerthrowen because your exposition plainly fastneth desperation for the time to the Soule of Christ. For all hope hath ioy and comfort in it r Rom. 12. Reioycing in hope saith the Apostle If then Christ neuer forsaken of hope and comfort Christ for that season of his Passion were all comfortlesse as you pretend and had no sense nor feeling of any comfort or ioy he had no hope for hope bringeth ioy and comfort And what is no hope but despaire that therefore the litterall sense of these words neither is nor can be true taking dereliction for the inward forsaking of Gods grace and spirit as well the Scriptures as the Fathers whom I haue produced doe with one voice confirme Saint Austen may serue to shew the reason that led him and the rest so to thinke s August in Psal. 43. Ille caput nostrum vocem de cruce non dixit suam sed nostram non enim vnquam dereliquit eum Deus sed propter nos dixit hoc Deus Deus meus vt quid me dereliquisti Christ our head vttered not his owne words but ours For God neuer at any time forsooke him But for vs he said My God my God why hast thou forsaken me t Defenc. pag. 109. li. 19. Finally this first sense is contrarie to your second and third following also to your fift and sixt senses If either of these be taken as the true meaning of this place it cannot possibly stand with the rest I did not professe to discusse the likeliest sense of those words It sufficed me to let you see the weaknesse of your cause in deriuing your hell paines from Christs complaint on the crosse by this that twelue auncient and learned Fathers did diuersly sift and examine those words and yet none of them euer lighted on your second death or on the forsaking which you labour to establish in the soule of Christ. Now if the words doe tolerably beare so many interpretations what assurance had you thence to conclude your hellish confusion which you imagine in the Sauiour of the world yea graunt the expositions were contrarie which indeed are somewhat different according as the word of dereliction is applied and intended that maketh the more against you and hindereth not me For still I vrge the words which you stand on do necessarily inferre no such sense as you would fasten to them The thing that I presse is this that there are many other senses of these words approoued and preferred by the consent of the best writers old and new and yours of all others as it hath no consent of Christs Church ne was euer heard of before our age so hath it no foundation in the Sacred Scriptures You would disgrace the Fathers as iuuentors of strange and new senses but you little remember all this while that of all others yours is the latest absurdest and least likely sense of that complaint And yet if you wrest it to the lowest step of dereliction that this life knoweth or the Scripture here 〈◊〉 it may amount to desperation but neuer to reall and actuall damnation u Defenc. pag. 109. li. 23. Your second sense what is it euen this that Christs humane Nature was left helplesse to the rage of the Iewes which is a kind of forsaking This seemeth to come neerest indeede to your liking but as I said thiâ—… is directly contrarie to your first sense and to the rest following They that giue diuerse senses of any places in Scripture doe not meane they The second sense of Christes complaint on the crosse shall be wholy like or the same for then they were not diuerse but according to the varietie of significations and circumstances offered by the words they varie their expositions So here if we take dereliction for losse of grace then that sense of the word could not agree to Christ but to the reprobate without Christ or to the rest before they be engraffed into Christ and consequently me in Christs words must signifie my Members that were one body with him If we take it for lacke of helpe in time of trouble then it might well agree vnto the person of Christ who was forsaken that is left in his affliction and not deliuered from it till he died that we might euer after be restored and reconciled to the fauour of God Which commeth neerest to my liking I neuer acquainted you the places which you quote prooue no such thing they onely shew that this exposition hath sufficient foundation in other places of Scripture where the word forsaking is vsed to the like intent Howbeit there is no cause that I or you should mislike this exposition and the trifles which you obiect against it will confirme as much x Defenc. pag. 109. li. 29. There is surely no reason nor shew of Reason that Christ should here so mournfully and so â—…ncomfortably complaine that God had forsaken him if it were onely but for such distresses as the godly also doe equally suffer at the hands of euill men Had you but perused the places by which you conclude my liking of this Exposition you should haue seene Reason and reason enough for Christ to be thus affected in his extreame miseries as well as his Church is in the like or lesse Had the Church of God no reason to say in the Prophet Esay y Esa. 49. The Lord hath forsaken me or did God want reason in his answere when he said z Esa. 54. ver 7. for a while I forsooke thee for a moment in mine anger I hid my face from thee If then God had Reason to say to his Church a Ibid. ver 6. the Lord hath called thee a woman forsaken and afflicted in spirit could Christ want reason in his intolerable paines on the Crosse to complaine that he was now a long time left in them without helpe or ease as for the equall sufferings of the godly at the hands of men on which you would take aduantage I haue shewed the difference before When paines in others grow sharpest then sense decaieth and'death approcheth in the paines whereof men cannot expresse how much nature misliketh and abhorreth the paine In Christ it was otherwise his bodie being in exquisite paines on euery side and in euery part from Christs patience was at the highest proof before he complained on the
for the manhood of Christ to say my God my God why hast thou so long forsaken me without any publike signe or shew that thou louest and fauourest me whom this nation had so much wronged and blasphemed or is it of late become so shamefull a thing with you that Christ should complaine he was forsaken and left in the hands of his persuers without help or ease both old and new writers euen of the best learned that haue been in Christs Church haue thought it no shame for Christ in that very respect so to speake o Hieronym in Matth ca. 27. Maruaile not saith Ierom at Christes complaint of being forsaken when thou seest the scandall of his crosse p 〈◊〉 de fide li. 2. ca. 3. He speaketh as a man saith Ambrose which was no shame for him to doe because being in danger we thinke our selues forsaken of God The same wordes q 〈◊〉 in Mar. ca. 14. Bede r 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 ca. 27. Rabanus and r 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 ca. 27. Aquinas repeat and follow Theodoret saith Christ s 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 21. calleth that a dereliction which was a permission of the diuinity that the humanity should suffer Christe would endure saieth Austen this vnto death in the sight of his enemies that they might take him as one forsaken Lyra. u 〈◊〉 Mat. ca 27. Dixit 〈◊〉 derclictum a deo 〈◊〉 quia dimittebat cum in manibus occidentium Christ saith he was forsaken of God his father because he was left in the hands of those that slew him And so our new writers August epist. 120 x 〈◊〉 in Mat. ca. 27. Hic questus est se in manibus impiorum adomnem ipsorvm libidinem a patre derelictum Christ heere complained saith Bucer that he was forsaken of his father or left in the 〈◊〉 of the wicked to endure all their rage Bullinger y Bullingerus in Matth. ca. 27. Derelinquere siue deserere in 〈◊〉 est permittere To forsake or leaue in Christes wordes on the Crosse is to permit So that this was Christs meaning why doest thou suffer me to be thus afflicted why doest thou permit these things to mine enemies when wilt thou deliuer me Munster z Munsterus in Psalm 21. haec Christi verbanon impatientiam aliquam aut diffiden̄tiam prae se ferunt c these words of Christ My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee shew no impatience or diffidence but declare that he was a true man and that he had truely suffered And what if as some learned Fathers conceaue Christ did not grieuously complaine in those wordes that he was forsaken but thereby led his enemies to looke and search in the Psalmes Prophets for the cause why the messias should be so forsaken deliuered into the hands of sinners as they saw he was a August epist. 120. Christ doth not say saith Austen my God my God why hast thou forsaken me sed causum commonuit requirendam cum addidit vt quid dereliquisti me id est propter quid quam ob causam but he admonished the cause to be searched when he added why hast thou forsaken me that is to what end and for what cause for truely there was a cause and that no small cause why God would not deliuer Christ from the handes of the Iewes but leaue him in the power of his persecutors till he died Leo likewise b Leo de Passione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 17. Therefore Christ cried with a loud voice why hast thou forsaken me that he might make it knowen to all for what cause he ought not to be deliuered nor defended sed saeuientium manibus derelinqui but to be left in the hands of his pursuers which was to be made the Sauiour of the world and the Redeemer of all men non per miseriam sed per misericordiam non amissione auxilij sed definitione moriendi not by any miserable necessitie but of mercie not for lacke of helpe but of purpose to die for vs Whether then Christs meaning in those wordes if we apply them to his owne person were to hasten the time of his death which he knew was at hand and should bring him case of his excessiue How many meanings 〈◊〉 words on the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haue paines or to mooue his father to demonstrate by those signes which followed what fauour and affection he bare to the person of his sonne though for our sakes he suffered him thus to be vsed or to teach his persecutors that there was a cause which they knew not why himselfe being their messias should die this death on the crosse or last whether his manhood conformed it selfe to the desires and grones of his church and members whom the Prophets teach in this wise to pray when they were oppressed with any great calamity or misery none of these waies I say are the wordes of Christ on the crosse chalengeable but they stand well with the piety patience confidence and expectance that were in Christ and haue better foundation in the sacred Scriptures then your paines of the damned or your second death to be then and there suffered in the soule of Christ. c Defenc. pag. 110. li. 7. The bare names againe of Austen Ambrose Ierom doe here likewise no good this is but a weake kind of reasoning for so learned a Diuine as you are I like better this kind of weakenesse in matters of faith to haue the consent of the learned and auncient fathers for that I teach then your kind of strength which is to be so stiffe in your priuate conceits that you will delude the Scriptures with your figures and deride the fathers as seely fooles not vnderstanding the first principles of Religion rather then you will forgoe the least of your fansies If you light on any Reader of the same mind let him know that the choice wil be hard for him to make whether all the fathers in Christes Church did erre in the chiefe grounds of their faith or he himselfe be out of the trueth If Christian Religion were not since Christes time before our age this is a greater forsaking of Christ then any was on the Crosse. For then hath God forgotten all his purposes and promises so often mentioned in the Prophets and confirmed to Christ if there were neuer Church of Christ since the Apostles death till our dayes And he that is of that humour it skilleth not greatly of what side he be for certainly he can be no member of Christs Church that reiecteth all persons places and ages before his birth as none of Christs I wish no wise nor sober Reader so farre to venture his soule If then to the Primatiue Church of Christ next after the Apostles we yeeld but ordinary knowledge of the Christian faith we may not take from so many learned fathers and Pastours as God hath for so many hundred yeares adorned his Church withall the common vnderstanding of their Catechisme and
de Trinitate li. 10. Derelinqui se ad mortem questus est sed TVNC confessorem suum secum in Regno Paradisi recepit Christ complained that he was forsaken or left vnto death but EVEN THEN he receiued the Thiefe that consessed him into the kingdome of Paradise iointly with himselfe Ambroses words are u Ambros in Luc. li. 10. de commendatione spiritus in 〈◊〉 Patris Clamauit homo diuinitatis sepâ—…ratione moriturus The man Christ cried not then dead in soule when he cried as you would haue it but ready to die or that after should die when he yeelded his spirit into his fathers hands The very next sentence before sheweth that this departing was of the diuinity from the body to leaue that vnto death x Ibidem Euidens manifestatio contestantis Dei secessionem diuinitatis corporis A manifest speach of God witnessing the departure of his diuinity from his bodie So that by no meanes Ambrose euer imagined that Christes soule died but as he expresseth himselfe in the same Chapter y Ibidem Caro moritur vt resurgat spiritus Patri commendatur vt pax fuerit in Caelo The flesh dieth that it might rise againe the spirit is commended to God the father that peace might be established in the heauens Thus shortly haue you taken the paines to produce three Fathers for the death of Christes soule and haue as shamefully peruerted and inuerted euery one of them which is no newes with you and yet all that you can conclude out of them may amount to a pestilent heresie if you will that the vnion of Christes person was dissolued for the time of his death but it can neuer inferre any thing pertinent to your purpose z Defenc. pag. 113. li. 4. Here the Fathers do sâ—…ew indeed that Christ died but more than a meere bodily death euen the death of the soule also Heere the Fathers are exquisitly belied and falsified otherwise that Christes soule died they offer neither word nor syllable sounding that way And though you can not speake trueth in so false a cause yet you should learne to speâ—…ke coherently You grant they auouch here that Christ died the death of the bodie and more euen the death of the soule also whereas it is euident by the words of the holy ghost as also by your owne positions that Christ neither did nor could die these two deaths at one time For by the manifest witnesse of the Euangelist Christ a Luc. 22. 〈◊〉 his spirit into his Fathers 〈◊〉 and so died Then most certeinly the soule of Christ was accepted and receiued into the hands of God which I trow is life and not death when the bodie was left to death Wherefore if their words concerne his bodily death they by no meanes admix the death of the soule since they all affirme aâ—… the Scripture doth that Christ committed his soule to his Fathers hands and so died of which death they say he spake in those words Why hast thou left me that is to die as they expound it Now if you affixe any death to the soule of Christ I hope you will free him from it before he commended his soule into his Fathers hands And so the one must be ended before the other could enter and consequently if they spake of the latter their words haue no intent to implie the other But what dispute we of their meaning when their words are so manifest that you can not hale them to your hell-paines but by shamefull corrupting of their sentences and wilfull misconstruing the bodie for the soule b Defenc. pag. 113. li. 6. What is the separation of the deitie from his soule els but the death of his soule Which of these Fathers doth auouch the separation of Christes deitie from his soule Is it so small a mote in your eye that Christes deitie was separated from his humane soule that you may loosely and lightly surmise it by disordering and altering other mens words At this speech of Ambrose you could not so grosly haue stumbled had you but read the Master of the Sentences who long since in one whole distinction of his third booke examined those words and answered as the trueth is that separation in that place was taken for want of protection and withholding Christes power whiles the bodie died c Sententiarum li. 3. dist 21. Separauit se 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subtraxu protectionem Separauit se foris vt non esset ad defensionem sed non 〈◊〉 defuit ad vnionem Si non ibi cohibuisset potentiam sedexercuisset non 〈◊〉 Christus The deitie seuered it selfe because it withdrew protection It separated it selfe outwardly not to defend but if failed not inwardly to continue the vnion If it had not refrained but exercised power Christ could not haue died Theodoret calleth this dereliction d In Psal. 21. The permission of the deitie that the humanitie might suffer And Isychius sayth e 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 li. 5. ca. 16. Diuinit as abijsse dicitur cohibens propriam virtutem ex humanitate vt daret spacium Passioni Christs deitie is sayd to depart by withholding his owne power from his humanitie that he might giue time to his Passion Otherwise it is a certaine truth which â—…ulgentius teacheth f Ad 〈◊〉 lib. 3. Licet in Christi morte carnem morieâ—…tem fuisset anima desertura diuinit as tamen Christi nec ab anima nec à carne posset separari suscepta Though in Christes death the soule were to forsake the bodie dying yet the deitie of Christ could not be seuered from the soule nor from the bodie once assumed g Defenc. pag. 113. li. 7. Howbeit note I pray that neither the Fathers nor I do meane any separating of the vnion of both natures in Christ nor the separating of any holinesse or habituall grace of God from his soule nor the separating of Gods loue from him but the separation of all comfortable feeling and assistance of the Godhead This separation is meant and may be called the death of the soule If you separate none of these what then is it that you separate from the soule of Christ to proue it dead All comfortable feeling and assistance of the Godhead He knew himselfe to be personally God and man he saw his soule full of all truth and grace he was assured the loue of God towards him could neither faile nor change he knew that his obedience and sacrifice were acceptable to his Father and should be the redemption of the world and he was most certaine that the third day he should rise againe into immortall and celestiall glory hauing men diuels and angels euen all things in heauen and earth subiect to his manhood Were all these no comforts or was there no assistance of the Godhead in these Nay take but your owne words a little before that Christ on the crosse euen when he complained of his forsaking was in h Pag.
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
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
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
when I came I should haue SOROVV of them of whom I should haue ioy When the rest of the seruants saw what the euill seruant that was pardoned of his master the great debt of 10000 talents did to his fellow that ought him an hundred pence n Matth 18. vers â—…1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were very sory And when Christ sayd to his Disciples One of you shall betray me o Matth. 26. vers 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were exceeding sorowfull and bâ—…ganne euery onâ—… to say Master is it I As also when â—…e tolde them of his departure and their troubles he added p â—…ohn 16. Because I haue spoken these things vnto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sorow hath filled your hearts And generally thorowout the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doeth no where signifiâ—… actuall and absolute paâ—…ne but griefe and sorow of minde And therefore your wresting of our Sauiours words with a false translation in saying My soule is full of paines intending thereby the paines of the damned inflicted by Gods immediaâ—…e hand is a false and lewd corruption q Defenc pag. 116. li. 34. Here we will remember againe what is taught by authoritie in England The rather for that you take on as a man impatient because I doe affirme that our doctrine not yours hath the publiâ—…e authoritie for it You call it an egregiouâ—… lie an insolent and impudent speach well becomming â—…n alchouse c. and yet in the very next page in plaine termes you graunt the same to be taught in our hâ—…milie of Christs Passion The way to mend a lie is not to double it and â—…riple it but to see your error that you may acknowledge the trueth Iâ—… I had then cauâ—…e to dislike the egregious lie which I iustly challenged I haue now more whâ—…n to saue your â—…elfe from some impudencie you â—…hew more then stupidity You would needes in your treatise amongst other vntrueths auouch that your doctrine 〈◊〉 the r Treatis pa. 89 li. 13. publike authorised doctrine of England deliuered in the booke of homilies I told you then which yet is true that this as well as others was an insolent and impudent speach You aske s Defenc. 〈◊〉 â—…7 〈◊〉 30. who is that egregious lier now t Defenc. 〈◊〉 â—…7 〈◊〉 35. you hope you are cleare from it Euen he that was before and you are cleare from it as Iudas was from betraying Christ by â—…aying is it I master to cleare your selfe you now say your exposition of those words My God my God why host thou forsaken me is found in the booke of Homilies and that I my selfe in plaine wordes confesse so much Then are you the verier lyer to say this is your doctrine which I impugned or that our maine question was about the exposition of those words Christs complaint on the crosse I sayd did not prooâ—…e your hell-paines nor the second death to be suffered in Christs soule which way soeuer you expounded it so you followed any example of Scripture vsing that word To reprobation or desperation if your conscience did thereto stretch you might applie this word by some examples of Scriptures but not to reall and actuall damnation no not in the most wicked castawayes that â—…uer were The sundry senses which I gaue out oâ—… the Fathers shew the wâ—…aknesse of your illation from those words they directly touch not the maine point of doctrine questioned betwixt vs and amongst theâ—…e senses this was one which the booke of Homilies seemeth to follow The direct cause of Christs feare sorrow and bloodie sweate since the Scripture concealed it I sayd could not be certainly concluded thence what is that to Christes complaint on the crosse whose words though they may be extended to expresse his paines yâ—…t your doctrine is no whit the truer for all that nor the more confirmed by the lawes of this Realme So that the lie by your leaue doth lye where it did only you haue furnished the former lie with two or three fresher and as your vse is you correct matters amisse by making them worse then they were u Defenc. pag. 117. li. 6. Here I am sure you thinke not that our Homilie maketh Christes pietie or pitie nor yet his meere bodily paine to force him thus farre Nor in these words next following there O that mankind sâ—…ould put the euerlasting sonne of God in such paines for the grieuousnesse of our sinnes Are you sure what I thinke well fare your wisedome yet that when you should prooue your doctrine to be receaued and authorized by the publike lawes of this Realme you are sure I am of your mind This is not onely a childish fainting but foolish dallying to cleere your selfe from a notorious lie by assuring your selâ—…e what I thinke If you will needes know what I thinke first it is euident to him that readeth these homiliâ—…s that the whole summâ—… and meane of our redemption being theâ—…e purposely deliuered neither of these homilies speaketh one word of your hell-paines nor of the second death to be suffered in the soule of Christ. Againe it is as euident that the suffering of a shamefull and painfull death in Christs body is there taught to be the only sacrifice for our sinnes The wordes are x 1. Sermon of the Passion pa. 5. There is none other thing that can be named vnder heauen to saue our soules but this only worke of Christs pretious offering of his body on the Altar of the Crosse. What paines Christ suffered on the Crosse whether the paines of the damned or of his body bruised and broken on the Crosse the booke it selfe doth plainly witnesse c Christ being the sonne of God and y 2. Serâ—…on of the Passion pa. 9. perfect God himsâ—…lfe who neuer committed sinne was compelled to come downe from heauen and to giue his BODY TO BE BRVISED AND BROKEN ON THE CROSSE for our sinnes Was not this a manifest token of Gods great wrath and displeasure towards sin that he could be pacisied by none other meanes but ONLIE BY THE SWEET AND PRETIOVS BLOVD of his deare sonne If you teach this that the bruising and breaking of Christs body on the Crosse and the shedding of his pretious bloud was the ONLIE MEANE to pacifie Gods wrath against sinne then I did you wrong to call your speach impudent but if this be the new doctrine which I defend and you impugne then doe you deserue not only the termes which I gaue but worse so openly and obstinately to resist deface and belie publicke authority z Defenc. pag. 117. li. 12. Adde herâ—…unto the full and large declaration hereof in the authorised Catechisme Christ suffâ—…red not only a common death in the sight of men but also was throughly touched with the horror of eternall death c. When he did take vpon him and beare both the guiltines and iust paine of mankind damned and lost he was afflicted with
and loue God as the great and chiefe reward the Lord saying when he appeared visible to the eyes of their bodies promised himselfe inuisible to be seene of cleane hearts he that loueth me shal be loued of my Father and I will loue him and will shew mine owne selfe vnto him n Defenc. pag. 120 li. 7. The transfiguration of Christ on the mount declareth that some reall part of heauenly glory may be heere on earth which you your selfe somewhere confesse cleane against your selfe You would needes tell vs in you Treatise that heauen was some foretaste of the infinite ioy prepared for the godly which you attempted to prooue by the Apostles words common to all the children of God and thereupon concluded thus you o pa. 80. li. 23. see that as there is heauen in this life in some measure euen so there may be hell I replied that if you p Conclu pag. 337. 〈◊〉 34. affirmed of heauen as you did of hell that the VERY SAME IOYES which are in heauen or EQVALL with them are heere sometimes found in vs liuing on earth it was a wicked error flatly repugning to the trueth of Gods promises and to the very nature of our Christian faith and hope We reasoned not of Christs manhoode which q Colos. 1. in all things had the preeminence aboue and afore all the sonnes of God but OF THE CODLY whom you expressely named and of whom I accordingly replied and to whom those words of the Apostle cited by you for proofe of your purpose doe precisely pertaine For of Christ they are most false that his eye neuer saw nor his eare neuer heard nor his hart neuer conceiued the things which God hath prepared for them that loue him Now when you should prooue that mortall men and no more then men though the members of Christ liuing heere on the earth haue THE VERY SAME IOYES which are in heauen or EQVALL with them you run to Christes transfiguration on the mountaine and by that you would inferre that there was heauen euen in this life in some measure But first where can you shew that Christes transfiguration on the mountaine is called heauen in the Scriptures Next what deriuation can you make from Christs power knowledge and glory to ours heere on earth Christs soule had many parts and degrees of heauenly perfection in this life which ours haue not he was free from sinne and error which abound in vs he was full of trueth and grace which want in vs saue what we receiue from his fulnesse he was the way the light and the life that leadeth lightneth and quickeneth euery man comming into the world yea the crosse of Christ was the wisdome and power of God These and many other maine differences the Scriptures expresse betwixt Christ and vs so that from his perfection and preeminence to our weakenesse wickednesse and wretchednesse in this world no comparison can be made nor any consequent but that beleeuing in him louing him and obeying his commandements as we are heere regenerate and renewed by his spirit so we shal be conformed to his image to raigne with him in the next life if we suffer with him in this life Christs transfiguration then is not called heauen in any Scripture neither had it the perfection or condition of heauen since heauen is not a transitory taste of mutable ioy or glory but a full and euerlasting possession of all power honour and blisse communicable from God and proportionable to the receauer But if Christ had the reall fruition of heauen in his flesh heere on earth how much more in his soule which was alwaies full of trueth and grace light and life and hauing so reall a tast as you speake of and so immeasurable a fulnesse of life and grace as the Scriptures speake I greatly maruaile how you come really to place hell and heauen in one soule together and specially in the soule of Christ on which you inflict the very substance of hell paines when yet the abundance and continuance of heauenly ioy could not want in him As for my somewhere confessing cleane against my selfe that Christ transfigured in the mount tasted of that heauenly glory prepared for him I see not how that crosseth any thing auouched by me in the 337. and 338. page by you noted You shall do well when you challenge contrarieties not to let the report rest on your crackt credit but produce the words that your Reader may be iudge of both You are sharp enough to catch hold of any thing if there were any cause I called indeed Christs transfiguration on the mount a taste of that heauenly ioy prepared for him I called it not heauen A taste of things neither abideth nor sufficeth which heauen fully doth therefore it is rather a contradiction then a confession of your conceit For if you thinke that Christs heauenly glory may be defectiue or mutable as his transfiguration was you broch a wicked and impious error Christs transfiguration did not exempt him from feare sorrow shame and death following which if you imagine of his glorification in heauen it is a right hellish impiety And whatsoeuer we affirme of Christ touching his preeminence aboue all the children of men as that he was free from sinne and full of grace and had the perfect knowledge of Gods trueth and will aboue men and Angels I hope you will not deriue it to his members heere liuing in the flesh least you leaue no ground of Christian religion vnshaken r Defenc. pag. 120. li. 10. Onely this you haue to obiect touching men that faith and hope is the euidence of things not seene neither are our greatest ioyes the same nor equall to them which we shall possesse in the next world I haue also to obiect that it is not lawfull for you nor for any man liuing to determine of Gods kingdome without his warrant nor to auouch that to be heauen which the Scriptures doe not Take heed it is no pastime to play with heauen and hell as you do without better aslurance than you haue Know you not what that learned Father sayth s Tertullianus de praescrip aduersus haereticos Nobis nihil ex nostro arbitrio indulgere licet It is not lawfull for vs that be Christians to deuise any thing of our owne heads But t Cyril de fide ad Reginas li 2. it is necessarie for vs as Cyril sayth to follow the diuine Scriptures and in nothing to depart from their praescription u Defenc pag. 120 li. 14. I answere our reasons before do proue more than only hope in the faithfull sometimes And I replie that none of your reasons do any way proue the ioyes of heauen Gods answere to Moses must stoppe your mouth and the presumption of all such as you are x Exod. 33. Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and liue Moses saw as much as in this mortall life any
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
began to be afrayd and so doth the Geneuian translation of the Bible into English He began to be afraid and in great heauinesse Others more indifferent I shall not neede to repeate You take a course by your selfe that as you differ from all men in opinion so you will in translation of the words For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you will haue to be c Defenc. pag. 123. astonished with feare though the rest content themselues to say he began to be afraid d Defenc. pag. 127. li. 6. The Text following doth inuincibly shew that he did fully come to the extreamitie of astonishment and began not onely For did he but begin when he swet clotted bloud trickling from his body to the ground also when an Angell was sent from heauen to refresh him and comfort him did he then but begin to be heauy Your fansies follow so fast without the Text that they run headlong against the Text. That Christ was afraid I doe not deny that he came to the extremitie of astonishment the Scriptures denie howsoeuer you whiske it after your whifling maner that you may seeme a man tried in all toyes The extremitie of astonishment is neither to do nor speake any thing but to be silent and as it were without sense as I haue formerly shewed Your selfe doth so describe it for you say Christ was astonished that is ouerwhelmed and all confounded in all the powers of his soule and senses of his bodie A man in this case hath no right vse of reason vnderstanding memory speach sight or hearing for the time Was Christ so doe your impertinent pushes prooue any such thing doe they not rather prooue the contrary did not Christ speake when he praied did he not rebuke his Disciples for their sleepinesse and admonish them to watch and pray that they entered not into temptation did he not fall to more earnest and vehement praier when his sweat beganne to looke like bloud which you in your learned conceit call clotted bloud The strong cries and teares which you mention doe they not plainly reprooue your supposed astonishment and cleerely confirme that Christ had all the powers of his soule and senses of his body in their full vse when he thus conuerted them with such zeale and contention of mind to this great worke of our redemption what Sadler or Shoemaker would conclude this to be the fulnesse of astonishment which by so manifest circumstances cited by your selfe is irrefragablely refuted and on you run as if you would ouerbeare all the world with such witles words and flaunting follies which only serue to bewray the weakenesse of your owne conceites Feare and sorow I admit in the soule of Christ and religious of either kind in the highest degree that mans nature is capable of A naturall feare of death in the flesh of Christ I likewise acknowledge but I make not these things which you meane the effects thereof What I receiue and what I refuse in our Sauiours agonie I haue so largely deliuered that I must not spend paper to repeate all againe Neither doth Ierom meane that Christ had a touch of feare and no farder as you most fondly misconster him and his wordes where he saith Christ began to be afraid but he meaneth Christ so farre admitted the pearcing and painefull affection of feare for a time required in so great a cause that it neither possessed him wholy nor continually to beare dominion ouer him or to worke any corruption in him which is vsuall in our affections You make your selfe merie with the beginning and neuer consider that Ierom thereby excludeth the heigth of our inordinate affections of feare and sorow such as you bring in when you all confound Christ in his whole humanitie both in all the powers of his soule and senses of his bodie E Defenc. pag. 127. li 33. As for Ierom if he denie this I must craue leaue to dissent from him And from you if you affirme that all wise and Christian Readers must dissent without your leaue For it is not onely false and directly repugnant to the text but it is extremely wicked and impious to bring that confusion which you mention and forgetfulnesse into all the powers of Christs soule and senses of his body f Ibid. li. 27. I thinke all to little sufficiently to expresse our Lords sufferings for vs. You must then thinke the doctrine pen of the holy Ghost to be most vnsufficient that continually clearely proposeth the sufferings of the son of God for our saluation without any such presumptuous and irreligious speaches And howsoeuer you commend your deuotion in g Ibid. li. 31. labouring to shew how Christ loued vs and to what basenesse of our nature he submitted himselfe for our sake learne first to content your selfe with that which the wisedome and iustice of God required of his sonnes humane nature and the trueth of God witnesseth in the Scriptures and so shall you honour the sufferings of Christ as you ought to doe and not deuise new helles and new damnations for him to please your violent fansiâ—…s And as new is your deuotion as strange if the whole Church of Christ before your time neâ—…er knew nor heard how Christ loued his and to what he submitted himselfe for their sakes but haue all this while erred in beleeuing following the direction of Gods spirit in the word of trueth and life since they wanted all knowledge of your hellish torments and confusion which you haue lately inuented for the soule of Christ as the more principall part of our redemption and without which the death of the Crosse to which he was obedient was nothing worth h Defenc. pag. 127. li. 38. Nay God forbid we should reioyce in any thing so much neither can we praise and magnifie him for any thing so highly as we may and ought for this extreme abasing of Christ for vs. There was neuer no hereticke that could not cast a shew of pietie vpon his erroneous pretences Satan doth transforme himselfe into an Angel of light and falshood alwayes seeketh to put on the vizard of trueth Is it not thankes worthie that the sonne of God would leaue the vse and honour of his diuine glory wherein hce was equall to his Father and take vnto him the shape of a seruant with all the basenesse and weaknesse of our flesh and with the shame and paine of his death on the crosse make satisfaction for our sinnes and by his blood redeeme vs to God which is the emptying of himselfe expressed by the Apostle in the place abused and misapplied by you but you must teach all this is skant worth thankes if Christ did not suffer in soule the second death which is the lake burning with fire and brimstone and euen the very paines of the damned that you might be indeede beholding vnto him And what if another as wise as you will say that all which Christ suffered heere on earth was
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
the greatest of his passion then was he freest from all confusion and so your hell paines by your leaue were not the cause of Christes astonishment if any such thing were in him m Defenc. pag. 133. li. 16. I confesse his extreame astonishment did euer quickly passe from him yet the sense aud tast of that cup might continue longer in such a manner and measure as he was better able by his deitie to sustaine it Now what ill is there in these conceits I pray you what follie is there in them As much as may be For when you haue sought heauen and earth sea and land to bring Christs soule within the compasse of your hell-paines and therewith to astonish and confound all the powers of his soule and senses of his bodie suddainely with the speaking of yet you free him from it and still returne and remooue it as often as you list And when you are vrged that hell paines continuing and increasiing on the crosse by your doctrine there was no manner of astonishment or confusion in Christs reason or remembrance you say the tast of the cup might continue So that when the paines were lesse then Christ did drinke the cup and when they were greatest then he did but tast the cup. Thus play you the Tapster with Christs torments and set vp the rest of your cause on this absurd conceit of Drinking and tasting the cup which is not only dissonant from all trueth but repugnant to all sense For if your hell paines were the true cause of Christs astonishment then the cause continuing the effect could not cease and the cause increasing the effect could not diminish Where you fly for help to Christs deity the better to enable him to sustaine the paines of the damned without astonishment you forget that if Christ would haue vsed any diuine power to resist or represse his paine he might easily haue suffered none And weake you make Christs godhead if vsing it to that end he could not saue himselfe from confusion and forgetfullnesse as also you put a conflict betwixt the Father and the Sonne if he could not enable his manhood against astonishment as well at one time as at another Therefore this abusing Gods immediate hand to take memory from Christ when you list and thus pretending Christs deity to keep him in the paines of hell and yet to free him from forgetfulnesse shew right on what foundation you bâ—…ild the whole plat of your doctrine euen on your owne fansies without all direction or instruction from the sacred Scriptures which haue not one word more or lesse touching these deuices of yours in so waighty causes of our redemption n Defenc. pag. 134. li. 1. How you seeme to auouch that Christ was by God for saken in body but not in soule leâ—… them declare that can I am sure no man can in trueth maintaine it It is more easily maintained then refuted To be forsaken is to be depriued of all sense and fruition of the power and life that is in God and commeth from God Thus Christs body was forsaken for the time left to death which is contrary to life wherewith God quickned man heere on earth But the soule of Christ was neuer forsaken of hiâ—… life which was the grace and spirit of God whereby the soule is quickened As for wresting Ambroâ—…e as I did Hilarie shew first wherein and then spare not to speake it Otherwise your censure hath so much partiality and so little probability that your Reader after so many failes will not now depend on your single say o Defenc. pag. 134. li. 5. After this you are bold and aske if any dare doubt of your doctrine yea surely I darâ—… not but doubt of it What dare you not doe who dare deuice a new faith without all precedence of the holy Scriptures and take vpon you to guide and rule Gods immediat hand as seemeth best to your liking In our conformity to Christs sufferings I obserued two things out of the word of God one that we haue fellowship with Christs afflictions and follow his steps the other that we must reioice in communicating with his sufferings Neither of which can generally and iustly be verified of your hellish confusion and torments For must we be all confounded in all the powers of our soules and senses of our bodies and must we forget Gods knowen will through astonishment and pray against it before we can follow Christs steps this must be your doctrine as also that we must reioice in this shrincking from the will of God and praying against it because the holy Ghost willeth vs to reioice when we communicate with Christs sufferings p 〈◊〉 li. 15. Some are conformable in some measure with Christ euen in these his sufferings Not only some may but all must be conformed to Christ their head to suffer with him before they shall raigne with him So that as Christ said to Iames and Iohn q Matth. 20. Ye shall drinke indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptisme that I am baptized with So he performeth to all true beleeuers Whosoeuer saith he r Luke 14. beareth not his crosse and commeth after me cannot be my Disciple And where to my allegation that we must reioice in the fellowship of Christs afflictions you answeare s Defenc. pag. 134. li. 17. We ought to turne them to ioy and gladnesse though not properly to be glad in them This is but an euasion I commend not affliction because it is greeuous to nature but for the vse and reward thereof and partaking therein with Christ. And if we are therein to reioyce as you now confesse t li. 22. euen when we are most bruized pierced in our soules with the terrors of God Then I hope our Sauiour Christ in the midst of all his sufferings had the same ioy which we must haue and consequently I had reason and trueth on my side when I said u Pag. 132. li. 36. Christ on the Crosse had alwaies persistance in ioy which you then impugned and now doe grant against your will And if your credit were ought worth I say not in this so much as you doe For you ascribe to Christ on the crosse x Pag. 110. li. 28. 34. constant and continuall ioy in God yea exceeding and generall ioy and yet you thinke it much that I should affirme that the Scriptures attribute to Christ persistance of ioy on the crosse how bitter or greeuous soeuer the shame and paine thereof were vnto his flesh y Defenc. pag. 134. li. 24. You frame an obiection to your selfe which you neither doe nor can answere Christs soule might feele the torments of hell for the time without any distrust or doubting of his saluation or our redemption I answered you which you shall neuer auoid first that the true paines of hell by the sacred Scriptures are not temporall but eternall You tell vs you haue shewed
in Scripture for this point yet our question is fully proued and confirmed by those other sufficient and pregnant proofs alleaged and iustified before Your palpable and pregnant follies are sufficiently seene before your proofs were none but bald and false presumptions conceiued by your selfe though otherwise voide of all reason and authoritie with such props you haue hitherto supported your Defence and now you be come to the maine issue whether the Scriptures or Fathers doe teach that Christ for our redemption died the death of the soule or the death of the damned which is the second death you would passe it ouer as a matter of no moment and here tell vs if you had no such proofe as indeed you haue none yet you haue played your part before which was to set a good face on an euill cause and to proue iust nothing d Defenc. pag 136. li. 13. For it is to be noted that no man setteth the question in these tearmes that Christ died in his soule neither doe we at all vse them very much in speaking of this matter The Scriptures themselues set that for the question First of all I e 1. Cor. 15. deliuered vnto you sayeth Paul that which I receiued how that Christ died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures Since then f Rom. 5. we were reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne and Christ is the g Hebr 9. Mediatour of the New Testament through death for the redemption of the transgressions in the former Testament and where a Testament is there must be the death of him that made the Testament The question riseth of it selfe what death the Sonne of God died for our sinnes by the witnesse of holy Scripture And hitherto for these fifteene hundred yeeres and vpward the Christian world both of learned and vnlearned hath beleeued that the Sonne of God by the death of his bodie on the tree ransomed our sinnes reconciled vs to God and vtterly destroyed the kingdome of Satan and that he neither did nor could suffer any other kinde of death as the death of the soule or the So that the reference of the Apostles words standeth thus he offered vp praiers and supplications with strong cries and teares to him that was able to saue him from all touch of death and was heard in that he prayed for and though he were the sonne and god was able to keepe him vntouched of death that is to make him the Sauiour of the world without tasting any kind of death yet such was Gods counsell and his owne liking that he learned or perfourmed the obedience of a sonne by the things which he suffered Whereby the Apostle teacheth vs it was neither want of power in God that Christ died for God was able to haue saued the world by him without his death neither was it lacke of fauour towards his sonne for God HEARD him in that he asked but to manifest in his person the perfect submission of a sonne to his father God would haue him obedient to death euen vnto the death of the crosse and so make him the author of eternall saluation to all that obey him As he obeied God his Father Those words then Christ offered praiers to him that was able to keep him from death prooue not death to be the cause of Christs feare nor the scaping therefrom to be the scope of Christes strong cries and teares but the Apostle thereby noteth that Christ neither doubted of his Fathers power nor loue when he praied so earnestly vnto him but was assured of both and enioyed both in such sort as might best stand with the honor and wisedome of God the father and of Christ his sonne And therefore all your collections and illations built on that false ground doâ—… fall of themselues as hauing nothing to support them but your idle and vaine supposals a Defenc. pag. 137. li. 6. Your owne selfe doe fully grant and affirme it with me yea you affirme farder then we doe or then the trueth is or possibly can be you say Christ heâ—…re thus feared eternall death and euerlasting damnation I must take no â—…corne to haue you wrest and wring my words to a contrary sense when you offer that course to the Apostles words The place which you quote for proofe of my meaning will conuince you to be a malitious falsifier My words a man would thinke are plaine enough and my exposition of that speach vsed by some men is such that no man of any intelligence or conscience would so grosly peruert it Thus I say pag 23. b Serm. pag. 23. li. 4. Distrust of his owne saluation or doubt of Gods displeasure against himselfe we cannot so much as imagine in Christ without euident want of grace and losse of faith which we may not attribute to Christs person no not for an instant And againe c Ibid. li. 17. I refraine to speake what wrong it is to put either doubtfulnâ—…sse or forgetfulnesse of these things in part of Christs humane nature And to the question thereon demanded d li. 20. Why then did he pray that the cup might passe from him I answere he had no need to pray for himselfe but only for vs who then suffered with him and in him What learning I cannot say but what lewdnesse is this to father that on me which I fully forsake and still to presse me with that which I so often preuent and repell I did not intend in my Sermons to note any by name nor sharply to censure their sayings but repeating as much as I saw I gaue the best construction or mittigation to their words that any trueth would endure Where then some men whom by your importunity you haue vrged me to name as the Catechisme of master Nowel which you would seeme so much to reuerence in plaine words auoucheth that Christ was e Pag. 280. 〈◊〉 mortis horrore perfusus perfused or plunged with the horror of etâ—…rnall death And master Caluin saith f Institutione li. 2. ca. 16. sect 10. Oportuit 〈◊〉 cum inferorum copijs 〈◊〉 mortis horrore quasi consertis manibus luctari Christ was to wrâ—…si â—…ith the powers of hell and with the horror of eternall death as it were hand to hand Their words suppressing their names I there taught might be tolerated if we tooke horror for a religious feare only trembling at the terror of hell and praying against it or did attribute that trembling and feare of eternall death to Christ in respect and compassion of vs that were his members and whom he ioined and reckened in his sufferings for vs as one person or body with him Which moderation of mine you euery where conceale and make your Reader beleeue that I fully grant and affirme that which I expressely denie And not content therewith you enterlace my words with your lewd additions as if I said Christ thus feared eternall death You meane with strong cries and teares and
world the death of the bodie that hence both body and soule might be haled to hell though first the soule and after the bodie when at the last day it shall rise from the corruption of the graue to euerlasting destruction To thinke that Christ submitted himselfe to all these sorts of death corporall spirituall and eternall is most hellish blasphemie for so he should not haue redeemed vs but destroyed himselfe bodie and soule foreuer To say that Christ deliuered vs not from all these lincks of death from spirituall death whiles here we liue from eternall death after this life and at the generall resurrection from the power of the graue where our bodies rot in the meane time is heathenish impietie and heresie denying the whole force and fruit of our redemption by Christ. Since then he cleered vs from all and yet suffered not all sorts of death it is manifest which is the Apostles meaning in the wordes by you cited that by one kind of death which in Christ was corporall he freed vs from all power of death heere and heereafter in bodie and soule not preseruing our bodies that they should not turne to dust but restoring them after death which is the farre more marueilous and mightie worke of God And this is euery where so plainly witnessed in the Scriptures and plentifully confessed by the learned and auncient fathers that none but he that is blinder then a bat would professe he seeth no such thing Christ g Matth 20. gaue his life a ransome for many and h Coloss. 2. by the bloud of his crosse pacified things in heauen and in earth i Hebr. 9. By the sacrifice of his bodie once made we are sanctified and k 1. Peter 1. healed by his stripes who bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree If then the bloud of Christ clense vs from all sinne by which the diuell and death had power ouer vs It is most certaine that Christ abolished sinne and Satan by suffering his bloud to be shed vnto death for the remission of sinnes raising himself that is the Temple of his bodie from death into a glorious and blessed life by which the power and kingdome of Satan were vtterly ouerthrowen l Defenc. pag. 137. li. 15. Against this you haue no reason at all but wordes and wrestings and vaine oftentation of Fathers none of them all denying our sense The reason of all reasons is against it which is that no man nor Angell may adde or alter any thing in the Christian faith without the sure warrant of the sacred Scriptures m Rom. 10. Faith is by hearing and hearing by the word of God It is reason enough for me and for all â—…he faithfull that there is no such thing deliuered in the word of God You talke of words and wrestings as knowing them best and vsing them most and herein I am content to stand to the iudgement of the wise and indifferent Reader whether you haue brought ought yet for the death of Christes soule or his suffering the second death but your owne speaches and surmises abusing the wordes of the holy Ghost to your owne fansies without either cause or colour And touching the vaine ostentation of Fathers who as you vaunt deny not your sense I brought ancient learned writers not ignorant of the Christian faith as being the pillars of their times that with great perspicuitie and vehemence denied as I doe the death of Christs soule and affirmed with me the death which Christ suffered in the body of his flesh to be a most sufficient ransome for the sinnes of the whole world Augustins words were n August epist. 99. The same flesh in which only Christ died rose againe by the quickning of the spirit For that Christ was dead in soule that is in his humane spirit who dare 〈◊〉 since the death of the soule in this life is none else but sinne from which he was altogether free This you say denieth not your sense and why because you auouch the death of Christs soule which Austen asketh who dare auouch to say that Christ suffered the death of the soule is with Austen an impudent and wicked presumption and no part of the Christian faith or of mans redemption Austen by the death of the soule ment sinne you will say which you meane not You say by your leaue that Christ o Trea. pa. 42. li. 20. became defiled and hatefull to God by our sinnes And so if pollution of sinne be the death of the soule that kind of death you ascribe to Christ though not for his owne sinnes yet for ours then made his no lesse by guilt then by punishment as you teach directly against the assertion of Saint Austen who saith p August contra Faâ—…stum li. 14. ca. 4. Christ tooke our punishment without our guilt that thereby he might release our guilt and end our punishment But you vnderstand not Austen when he saith there is no death of the soule here but sinne he doth not thence exclude the consequents and adherents to sinne in this life but noteth that onely sinne doth kill the soule because it doth separate vs from God who is the life of the soule and the light and grace of God departing from the soule by sinne the soule dieth that is looseth all her sense of God and motion to God by which she liueth vnto God This with Austen and this indeede by the word of God is the death of the soule which if you attribute to Christ you incurre open and exquisite infidelitie For your meaning therefore it maketh no great matter if you will offer to correct our Creede you must speake as the Scriptures speake and not deliuer â—…s your priuate dreames for the publike doctrine of Christs Church With like neglect you skip the rest auouched by Saint Austen that Christ died onely in his flesh which rose againe by the quickning of the spirit Wherein least you should vse your accustomed euasion that the flesh of Christ compriseth as well his soule as his bodie Saint Austen hath wisely preuented you in saying the same flesh onely died Which rose againe Where if your learning serue you to say that Christes soule rose againe the third day you shall make vs a new resurrection of soules after this life as the Scripture doth of bodies which were a meete deuice for such a diuine as you are How beit Saint Austen naming Christs soule a part from his flesh and affirming of Christs soule that no man in his right wits dare auouch Christs soule died but onely that flesh which rose againe it is as cleere as mans speech may be that he vtterly refuseth the death of Christs soule as an irreligious and vnchristian position and directly teacheth this as a ground confessed in Christian religion that Christ died in his bodie alone which rose againe the third day and not in his soule which no Christian man durst auouch was euer dead Of
all the elect he saith likewise that they who q August dâ—… 〈◊〉 li. 13. ca. 15. pertaine to the grace of Christ so farre die as Christ died for them Carnis tantum morte non spiritus the death of the flesh onely and not of the spirit If this make not against you nothing that I say maketh against you for I can vse none other nor plainer words thâ—…n Austen and the rest of the Fathers doe in teaching that Christ died the death of the bodie onely and not of the soule and that by his death which was onely corporall he destroyed the dominion of sinne and the strength of eueâ—…lasting death r August 〈◊〉 162. There is a first death saith Austen and there is a second The first death hath â—…wo parts one whereby the sinfull soule by transgressing departeth from her creator the other whereby she is excluded from her bodie through the iudgement of God for a punishment The second death is the euerlasting torment of the bodie and soule either of these deaths had euery man obliged vnto them but the immortall and righteous sonne of God came to die for vs in whose flesh because there could be no sinne hee suffered the punishment of sinne without the guilt thereof Wherefore he admitted for vs the second part of the â—…irst death that is the death of the bodie onely by which he tooke from vs the dominion of sinne and the pâ—…ine of eternall punishment Say as Saint Austen here saith and our controuersies are ended If he denie not your sense you may the sooner accept this confession of the Catholike and Christian faith from which no man yet swarued these fifteene hundred yeerâ—…s But then you must teare both your Treatise and your defence in pieces For by this as by infinite other places in Austen it is euident first that Christ tooke not vnto him the guilt of our sinne secondly that hee died the death of the bodie onely thirdly that by that his corporall death he destroyed sinne hell and Satan fourthly that the death of the soule he could not die because he could haue no sinne and lastly that he was farre from the second death which is the eternall damnation of bodie and soule Acknowledge these which neuer Christian man yet refused and we shall soone resolue all other questions If you haue of late gotten you a faith besides this and against this generall Creede of all Christendome looke well to your new deuices you may sooner be excluded from the faith then your fansies be included in the faith s Defenc. pag. 137. li. 17. Thirdly it seemâ—…th also that Peter teacheth the same saying Christ in his suffering was donne to death in the flesh but made aliue by the spirit Where death may be very well referred both to the soule and bodie of Christ because the text heere speaketh as I iudge of the whole and entire sufferings of Christ. Be these the demonstrations you bring vs out of the Scriptures for the death of Christes soule that these words of Peter MAY BE referred both to the soule and bodie of Christ IT SEEMETH SO and YOV IVDGâ—… SO To you that hunt after your conceits in euery syllable of the scriptures that is any thing doutfull may things SEEME that are not and if you may be iudge what sense eche place may beare we shall quickely haue a new doctrine and discipline in the Church of God framed to your fansies though no way deduced by iust proofe from the word of God But heere Christian Reader thou mayest see the foundation of this new redemption by the death of Christs soule and his suffering the second death H. I. so iudgeth and to him it so seemeth Indeede it is common with you and your consorts to set downe euery thing for the vndoubted word of God what you once conceite may seeme to be within the compasse of any text But I hope the wise and Godly Reader will looke better about him then to take your maying your seeming your iudging for the ground of his faith against the plaine and expresse places of the Scriptures and against the continuall and generall vnderstanding of the whole Church of Christ. Yet let vs heare the reason of your seeming since other proofe for your purpose you bring none neither heere nor else where Christ as Peter teacheth was t 1 Peter 3. mortified or put to death in the flesh but quickned in or by the spirit What conclude you out of these words u Dâ—…fenc pag. 137. li. 2â—… The word flesh it seemeth cannot heere in this place be vnderstood to signifie only the bodie of Christ. If that cannot be then was S. Austen much deceiued who out of these very words coÌ„cluded that Christ died in x Epist. 99. flesh alone and not in soule addeth a better reason out of Peters words then you bring any since Christ was in that part mortified in which hee was afterwardes quickned of the soule of Christ as none durst auouch it was euer mortified so neuer being dead there was no cause it should be quickned and therefore neither of these attriâ—…utes agreed to the soule of Christ but to his flesh onely y Defenc. pag. 137. li. 28. My reason is because wheresoeuer in the Scripture the flesh and the spirit are noted oppositely together in Christ there the flesh signifieth alwayes the whole humanity euen both parts thereof the soule also and not only the bodie First that rule hath no ground nor truth and if it were addmitted it proueth no such thing as you would enforce For in a case farre plainer the name of Christ wheresoeuer it is applied to Christ liuing I meane saying suffering or doing any thing there without all question the whole humanitie is comprised in that name since Christes bodie without his soule could neither say suffer nor doe any thing And yet were it mad diuinitie to attribute euery action and passion affirmed of Christ in the Scriptures as well to his soule as to his bodie That Christ sate that he hungred that he did eate that he slept and was circumcised buffited whipped and a number such like are auouched in the Scriptures of Christ liuing that is of his whole â—…umanitie for without bodie and soule he could doe nor suffer none of these things And yet I trust you will not therefore conclude that Christs soule did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eate or sit or that it was circumcised buffited and whipped as well as his body So that the word may containe the whole man as doubtles the name of Christs 〈◊〉 doth and yet the things ascribed to the person doe not alwayes properly agree to both parts alike For so we shall make the soule to haue flesh and bones as well as the bodie hath which weâ—…e to make it no soule but a bodie Wherefore your illation is as weake as your obseruation is false and you farre from inferring your purpose I know the soule doth partake in all
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
man of any learning or vnderstanding thus in print and open view of the whole Realme to rage revell rush on with lying craking and facing when he speaketh not one true word for first Sir flincher is this the point heere or any where proposed by me whether Christs sufferings were only bodily did I promise or produce any Fathers to that end is it not the death of the soule and the paines of the damned which I impugned in Christs sufferings haue I not most truely performed which I euer professed that the whole Church of Christ for so many hundred yeeres neuer thought neuer heard of the death of Christs soule in the worke of our redemption but rested their faith on the death of Christs body as a most sufficient price both for the soules and bodies of the faithfull What cunning then is this first to shift your hands of that you can no way prooue though you still doe and must professe it and then to clamour at me for drawing the Fathers cleane from their intent and meaning is this the way to credit your new Creed by such deuices and stratagemes to intertaine the people of God least they should see how farre you be slid from the ancient primatiue Church of Christ take a while but the thought of a sober man and this pangue will soone be ouerpast Did you not vndertake to prooue the death of Christs soule by Scriptures which indeed I first and most required and haue you so donne looke backe to your miserable mistakings and palpable peruertings of the words of the holy Ghost and tell vs what one syllable you haue brought sounding that way are your secrets such that they be no where reuealed in the word of God must all faith come from thence and is your faith exempted that it shall haue no foundation there are men and Angels accursed that preach any other Gospell then was deliuered and written by Christs Apostles and shall you be excused for deuising a new kind of redemption by the death of Christs soule no where witnessed in the Scriptures you see how easie it were to be eloquent against you in a iust and true cause but words must not winne the field What I impugned my sermons will shew what I haue prooued I will not proclaime If I haue failed in that I endeuoured the labour is mine the liberty is the Readers to iudge Let the indifferent read it they shall find somewhat to direct them let the contentious skanne it they shall see somewhat to harle their hast and perhaps to restraine their stifnesse What euer it be I leaue it to others since the discourser hasteth towards an end and so doe I. s Defenc. pag. 146. li. 2 This is the profit that comes by ordinarie flaunting with Fathers which many do frequent in these dayes Thinke they if the Scriptures alone suffice not for things in religion that the Fathers will suffice or if the Scriptures may be wrested by subtle heads that yet the Fathers can not Is it not enough for your selfe to be a despiser of all antiquitie and sobrietie but you must insult at them that beare more regard to either than you do If to flaunt with Fathers be so great a fault which yet respecteth their iudgements that haue beene liked and allowed from age to age in the Church of Christ what is it to fliske with pride and follie grounded on nothing but on selfe-loue and singularitie It were to be wished that euen some of the best writers of our age as they thinke themselues had had more respect to the auncient Fathers then they shew we should haue wanted a number of nouelties in the Church of God which now wee are troubled withall as well in Doctrine as in discipline This course of concurring with the lights of Gods Church before our time in matters of faith though you mislike other manner of men then you are or euer will be haue allowed and followed as u August contra Iâ—…num li. 1. Augustine x Theodor. diol 2. 3. Theodorete y Leo epist. 97. 〈◊〉 Leonem Leo z Cassi. de incarnat Domini li. 7 ca. 5. Cassianus a Gelas. de duabus in Christo natâ—…ris Gelasius b Vigilius li. 5. cap. 6. Vigilius and the two c Hispalensi concilium 2. ca. 13. councels of Hispalis and others not doubting the sufficiencie of the Scriptures but shewing the correspondencie of beleeuing and interpreting the Scriptures in all ages to haue bene the same which they imbraced and vrged And in all euennesse of reason were it better to feede the people with our priuate conceits pretended out of Scripture or to let such as be of iudgement vnderstand that we frame no faith but such as in the best times hath bene collected and receiued from the grounds of holy Scripture by the wisest and greatest men in the Church of God your only example turning and winding the words of the holy Ghost to your owne conceits will shew how needfull it is not to permit euery prater to raigne ouer the Scriptures with figures and phrases at his pleasure and thence to fetch what faith he list If you so much reuerence the Scriptures as you report which were to be wished you would why deuise you doctrine not expressed in the Scriptures Why teach you that touching mans redemption which is no where written in the word of God Indeed the Scriptures are plaine in this point of all others what death Christ died for vs if you did not peruert them against the histories of the Euangelists and testimonies of the Apostles Omit the description of his death so farely witnessed by the foure Euangelists what exacter words can we haue then the Apostles that Christ d Coloss. 1. pacisied things in earth and things in heauen by the bloud of his crosse and reconciled vs which were strangers and enemies in the bodie of his flesh through death Beleeue what you reade and what you reade not in the word of God beleeue not and this matter is ended but by Synecdoches without cause you put to the Scriptures not what you read in them but what you like best and by Metaphores and Metonimies you will take bodie for substance and flesh for soule And so where the Apostle auoucheth that we were reconciled to God through death in the bodie of Christs flesh you tell vs we could not be redeemed without the death of Christs soule and the essence of the paines of the damned suffered by suddaine touches from the immediate hand of God after an extraordinarie manner If you teach no doctrine but deliuered in the Scriptures aband on these deuices not expressed in the Scriptures If you content your selfe with the all sufficient word of God in matters of faith you must relinquish the death of Christs soule and paines of the damned as no part of our redemption since there is no such thing contained in the word of God To me and
mouth of this most insolent prater that I professe I mislike nothing the writings and resolutions of all these learned Protestants for as much as I haue seene and read of them which is as much as I could get touching our redemption by the death of Christ but teach the same that they taught and in my priuate moderation could beare the words of many others those onely excepted who elude the plainenesse of the Scriptures with the finenesse of their new deuices were it not that such hoblers as this is vpon such occasions will neuer leaue their fresh inuenting new meanes and causes of our redemption till they be they know not where Taking it therefore to be no euill way when men of great wits and gifts begin to turne to their owne deuices to see what the learned and auncient lights of Christes Church beleeued and deriued from the sacred Scriptures in those very points of trueth and our saluation I haue chosen rather to shew thee Christian Reader the generall and continuall consent of religious and reuerend antiquitie then to muster mens names of latter times and by disgracing or comparing their labours or learnings to set any man or Church in fire If so many learned and auncient fathers displease happilie some in respect of their priuate contrarie conceits I haue done my duety to declare the trueth and shewed my desire of peace whiles I neuer ment nor can yet bee drawen to impeach any mans name or credit howsoeuer I thinke that some of them swarue from the exact rule and sense of holy Scriptures in some few points as well of doctrine as of discipline THE SECOND PART WHAT IS MEANT BY THIS IN THE CREED THAT Christ descended to HADES or Hell I Shall not need good Christian Reader to spend much time or paines in this question An article of the Creed since it is That Christ descended into Hell and the same deriued from the Scriptures confessed by all Antiquitie and confirmed by authoritie of this whole Realme as well in the booke of Common prayer as in the Articles of Religion ratified by Prince and Parliament it is not for an English man directly to dispute against it howsoeuer retaining the words many doubt or denie the sense thereof I may be the shorter for that the Refuter insisteth onely on foure reasons against the descent of Christ to the place of the damned which our English Creed calleth Hell and the rest which he bringeth is like his former labor that is is nothing but a bolde pronouncing of his owne conceits and a false misconstruing of other mens sayings His first reason is If there be a good and sound generall reason in Christian faith that Christes soule leauing his bodie ascended vp to heauen and there remained till his resurrection and if there be no speciall reason of authoritie to the contrariè that his soule now descended thâ—…n surely euerie good Christian ought to beleeue that his soule ascended to heauen and descended not locally into hell But both these former parts are most true Not one of these parts is true and were they as they are not most true yet conclude they not your purpose That Christes soule leauing his bodie ascended vp to heauen is more than any Scripture expresly auoucheth The order of our Creed leadeth vs to beleeue that Christ rose the third day from the dead before he ascended to heauen That he was in Paradise the same day that he died his owne words to the penitent thiefe This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise may proue if we admit them to be spoken of Christes soule and not of his Deitie as Saint Austen and others expound them but that Christes soule departing from his bodie and returning to the same againe diuerted no whither nor spoiled powers and principalities nor made an open shew of them triumphing ouer them for this there is neither good reason in the Christian faith nor warrant in the word of God but onely your couragious assuming any thing that may seeme to support your cause On the other side what reasons there are generall or speciall for Christes descent to hell though you make light of them the Church of Christ from the beginning hath receiued and professed them not from the mouthes of men but from the witnesse of holy Scripture howsoeuer you turne and winde the words of the Holie Ghost to fit them to your appetite And what so great need is there of speciall reasons of authoritie to the contrarie Will not generall testimonies of the Scriptures serue to proue a trueth except the speciall circumstances of time and place and maner be therewithall expressed The analogie of faith requireth that the head should be there where the members were and where they remaine till their resurrection that there he tarie till his resurrection It seemeth also these texts will prooue it Where I am there also shall my seruant be I will that where I am there they also shall be with me Did you speake of the perpetuall abode of the head and members in one and the same place of ioy and blisse at Gods appointed time Your words had some dependance on Christes promise saying Where I am there also shall my seruants be but this speech of Christes is restrained to a certaine time in which it shall be verified as appeareth by that he sayd I goe to prepare you a place I will come againe and receiue you vnto my selfe that where I am there also you may be At his next comming he will take vs vnto himselfe and then shall we be euer with the Lord. This is the time when his promise shall be performed And though the Saints dissolued are now with Christ that is not only receiued to rest and ioy in Christ but also where the glory of Christ sitting at the right hand of his Father continually shineth to them and on them with full assurance of euerlasting glory prepared for them yet no analogie of faith nor any words by you brought do proue all the Saints to haue their bodies now in heauen because Christ hath his there or that the soules of the iust were after the speaking of these words alwayes here on earth where Christ was or that all the Saints rose with him as some did or that when and where Christ appeared after his resurrection all his Saints must or did appeare with him Much lesse is there any sequele from either that all the soules of the righteous must or did accompanie Christes soule going to Paradise and comming thence so that he could not descend to Hell to triumph ouer Satan and all the power of darkenesse but the spirits of the iust deceased must leaue Paradise and go thither with him I see not but that he promiseth heere his seruants euen a locall accompanying of him after this life and that also generally whither soeuer he went Then was Peter a slender Diuine who hearing these words from his Masters mouth did
departed from the bodie it rested not idle but descended ad inferos vnto hell And surely the one and the other societic both of godly soules and of the damned found the presence of Christes soule For the soules of the faithfull were cheered with great comfort and gaue God thanks sor deliuering them by the hand of this Mediatour and performing that which so long before he had promised Other soules also adiudged to euerlasting damnation animae Christi aduentum persenserunt perceiued the comming of Christes soule Zanchius shewing the different interpretations of those words of the Apostle Christ spoiled powers and principalities and made an open shew of them triumphing ouer them in himselfe that is in his owne person sayth Other Interpreters hold that these enemies were vâ—…nquished and conquered on the crosse by Christ but the triumph was pâ—…rformed when Christ in his soule entred the kingdome of Hell as a glorious victorer For so they interpret the Article He descended into Hell And because the word deigmatizein doth signifie to carie one in an open shew as the Romans were woont in the eyes of men to leade their enemies once ouerthrowen with their hanâ—…s bound behinde them to their perpetuall shame and the soule of Christ separated from his bodie might really doe this to the diuels bringing them out of their infernall kingdome and carying them along the aire in the sight of all the Angels and blessed soules therefore nothing hindereth vs to interpret that which Paul heere writeth as the words sound euen of a reall triumph ouer the diuels in the sight of God onlie and of the blessed spirits specially since the Fathers for the most part so expound them ex nostris non pauci neque vulgares and of our Expositors not a few and those no meane men Aretius in his Problemes purposely treating of Christes descent to hell first alleageth that Tota Ecclesia vbique terrarum hodie illum Articulum agnoscit diuer sum à sepultura recitat the whole Church throughout the world at this date acknowledgeth that article and reciteth it as different from Christs buriall And to that obiection that some Creeds had not this clause he answereth The Church finding the descent of Christ to hell to be plainly deliuered in the Scriptures with great aduise admitted this Article into the Creed Otherwise how could it be that with so full consent of all nations and all tongues this clause should be so constantly and so consentingly receaued Repeating therefore many other senses he refuseth them euery one and concludeth Quare mea est sententia Christum descendisse ad inferos postquam tradidisset spiritum in manus Dei patris in cruce c. Wherfore mine opinion is that Christ descended into hell after he yeelded his soule on the Crosse to the hands of God his Father And hell in this question we put to be a certaine place appointed for the damned euen for Satan and his members To the words of Christ vttered to the thiefe this daie shalt thou be with me in Paradise I answere they hinder not this cause For Christ was in Paradise with the thiefe according to his diuinity in the graue according to his body in hell according to his soule Howbeit there is no certaintie how long Christ staied in hell not long it seemeth so that he might in soule that verie day returne from hell and after a glorious sort enter Paradise with the thiefe Neither hath that any more strength that Christ commended his soule into his Fathers handes For the soule of Christ was still in his Fathers hands though he descended into hell This descent was voide of forrow and shame to Christ. Where they say there was no need of this descent they run backe to the beginning for how should it be needlesse which the Scripture pronounceth Christ did and we confesse in our Creed We iudge it therefore needfull first for the reprobate that they might know he was now come of whose comming they had so often heard but neglected it with great contempt Againe Satan was perfectly to know that this Christ whom he had tempted in the desart and deliuered to death by the fraud of the Iewes was the very Messias and the seed promised to the woman Hoc inquam expediebat etiam Demonibus in imo Tartaro innotescere This I say was expedient euen for the diuels in the deepe of hell to know Thirdly it was expedient for the elect that Satan might see he should haue no right no not on their bodies since Christ heereafter would raise them to life Hemmingius As Christ by his death conflicted with the enemy on the gibbet of the crosse and ouercame him so by his glorious descent to hell resurrection and ascension to heauen he executed the triumph erecting as a monument of his victorie the ensigne of his crosse Mollerus writing on the 16. Psalme Touching Christes descent to hell We saith he vnderstand that Article of our faith in the Creede simply and without allegorie and beleeue that Christ truely descended to the lower parts of the earth as Paul speaketh Ephes. 4. It is enough for vs to beleeue which Austen affirmeth in his Epistle to Dardanus Christ thereforâ—… descended that he might helpe those which were to be holpen For Christ by his death destroied the powers of hell and the tyrannie of the diuell as is said Osee 13. O death I will be thy death and thy destruction O hell And this his victory he would in a certaine maner shew vnto the diuell that he might strike perpetuall terrors into the diuell and take from vs all feare of Satans tyrannie Let it suffice vs to know this and omit curious questions and disputations heereabouts Pomeranus on these words of the 16. Psalme Thou wilt not leaue my soule in Hell Heere hast thou saith he that Article of our faith Christ descended into hell If thou aske what he did there I answer He then deliuered not the Fathers onely but all the faithfull from the beginning of the world to the end thereof not out of Lymbus but out of the lowest nether most hell to which we all were condemned and in which we all were as in death by the sentence of God There euerlasting fire did abide to vs all that being deliuered to death by the sinne of Adam we might in the last iudgement be deliuered to punishment and perpetuall sire Christ therefore descended euen thither vnto death and hell to this end least thou shouldest dâ—…scend thither that as he had redeemed vs from death so he might deliuer vs from hell Westmerus in his expositions of the Psalmes followeth worde for word the confession of Pomerane Wolfgangus Musculus Christ therefore was to die not that he should simply be dead but that by his death he might conquer death and ouercome him that had the rule ouer death and so he was to descend to hell
he the preeminence in all things if all the Patriarks and Prophets were there before him againe the words of Abraham reach no farder then vnto men they restraine not Angels from descending and ascending and much lesse the sonne of God If none without exception could goe fro heauen to hel as you would construe Abrahams speach how fell the Diuell and his Angels from heauen to hell how did Saint Iohn see an Angel come downe from heauen hauing the key of the bottomlesse pitte binding shutting vp Satan in that pitte if Angels may passe from the one place to the other how much more might Christ who is the Lord head of Angels and hath the keies of hell and death But since the Scriptures anouch Christes soule was not left in hell there are plainer and exprâ—…sser words for the being of his soule in hell then in Abrahams bosome so if there be no returne thence no not for Christ himselfe then by your lame and lewd collection you condemne Christs soule to perpetuall prison in hell And how commeth it to pasâ—…e by your diuinity that Abraham must receaue Christs soule into his bosome who was the Redeemer and Sauiour of Abraham is your skill so great that you forget Christ to be the sonne of God and so meeter to receaue Abrahams soule into his protection then to be receaued of Abraham but what will you not say and suppose to continue the credit of your conceits in the eies of the simple though no wise man vnlesse wedded to your deuices will any thing be mooued with these weake suggestions As touching Austens diuers opinion and yours see before page 29 and your page 360. Could you find any diuersity worth the marking between Austens opinion and mine touching Christs words on the crosse to the thiâ—…fe your modesty would serue you to make the most of it but if I repeat diuers opinions of learned writers and leaue the Reader to his Christian liberty which he best liketh what offence take you at that except it be that I follow not your trade which is to despise all the world besides your selfe Indeed in your 29 Page you say I reiect Austens exposition of Christes words to the Thiefe this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise which Austen vnderstandeth of the thiefes soule and Christs diuine presence in Paradise but you keepe your wont to tell taâ—…es for trueth and to wast words when you want good matter For I doe not reiect Austens exposition but only adde as now I doe since there is no Scripture to fasten Christs soule to hell for the whole time of his death Christs soule might after death at diuers times be in Paradise and in hell Wherein I leaue the Reader to his discretion which of those two expositions he will embrace Neither did I in this anouch more then Austen himselfe els where is content to yeeld For reasoning against Felicianus the Arrian he saith Seddicet aliquis deitatis hanc non animae Christi credimus vocem But some will say we beleeue this to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise was the voice of Christs deity and not of his soule To which part then of the thiefe doe we take this promise was made this day saith Christ to the thiefe shalt thou be with me in Paradise whose body the common death had inclosed vntill the resurrection to come It was then the soule of the thiefe to which Christ promised and performed this Whereupon he concludeth Si igitur mortuo corpore ad Paradisum anima mox vocatur quemquamne adhuc tam impium credimus qui dicere audeat quoniam anima seruatoris nostritriduo illo corporeae mortis apud inferos custodiae mancipetur If then the body of the thiefe dying his soule were presently called to Paradise shall we thinke any man so wicked as to dare say that the soule of our Sauiour during the three dayes that his bodie lay dead was held in the custodie of hell So that though S. Austen acknowledge the other sense of Christes diuine presence in Paradise to be multo expeditior ab ijs omnibus ambiguitatibus liber farre the easier and freer from all obiections yet he doth not endure that any man should so fasten the soule of Christ to hell for the time of his death that Christ might not thence depart and be in Paradise when pleased him as well as the Thiefe but must stay in hell as if he were kept in custodie How you will doe to maintaine that Christ went indeed to them but presently left them that he might goe to hell I know not In this I doubt you walke without your guide If I did vse any such wordes that Christ must presently post from heauen to hell as if he were like to be benighted afore he came thither you might busie your braines with lacke of time and want of guides but if Angels present themselues heere from heauen in a moment and time almost insensible what should hinder the soule of Christ endued with greater power and might then any Angel to goe at what time and with what speed he would to doe that which the Scriptures testifie he did If then the Prophets and Apostles beare witnesse that his soule was in hell and there not left but ascending vpward ledde captiuitie caâ—…tiue and spoiled powers and principalities why play you the iade in iesting at an Article of the Christian faith as if the way were long and tedious betweene Paradise and hell so that Christ must haue some time and helpe to dispatch so great a iourney The Apostle teacheth that the resurrection of the dead shall be in a moment and in the twinckling of an eie If so generall and strange a worke as to haue all their soules out of Paradise and hell ioyned to their bodies and their persons aliue caught vp to the iudgement seate of Christ in the aire shall be wrought in all the sonnes of men elect and reprobate at an instant what incredible thing is this except to an infidell that he which made heauen and earth with a word should in as short time as he saw cause shew his humane soule to the powers of darknesse in the midst of their kingdome and take all strength and rule from them and lead them captiue at his pleasure And therefore neuer calculate so curiously the distance or passage from Paradise to hell if these things were not marueilous in mans eies they were not meet workes for the Sonne of God but examine soberly whether the Scripture auouch any such presence of Christes soule in hell and conquest ouer hell And if that appeare teach men to leaue the rest to the mightie hand of God which brought the soule of his Sonne thither in what time and maner he thought good and might best make for his glory I adde that which is cleere and certaine yea that which your selfe rightly beleeueth and professeth with
hath destroied death and purchased life for vs. And therefore after Chriâ—…s resurrection and ascension to aske who shall ascend to heauen to procure vs life or who shall descend into the deepe to destroy death for vs is to frustrate through infidelity that which Christ hath done for vs. If we confâ—…sse with our mouths and beleeue with our hâ—…arts that God hath raised vp Iesus from the dead to be Lord ouer all that is to giue life and saue from death whom he will we shal be saued this is the Apostles purpose As for merit-mongers of whom you say the Apostle speaketh these words it is an idle and drowsie conceit of yours These words doe no waies fitte presumers on their merits for they thinke they shall ascend to heauen by their workes they aske not who shall ascend and in the bottom of the sea what merits can you deuise or to what creatures there should Pharises seeke how to fulfill the law what bables be these to be wreathed into the Apostles words or who but you would place all the creatures of God either in heauen or in the bottom of the sea If you cannot write as a diuine speake yet as a man of common sense or vnderstanding And all these senses you say the Apostle may insinuate in this word I thinke as soone all as one but that the deepe in one and the same sentence should signifie the graue the bottom of the sea and the whole state of the dead is a flower of your field it groweth in no wise mans garden I may not omit to shew how you deale here againe with the Text. You alleage it â—…e descended into the deepe But he is cunningly added neither are these words meant of him Your eyes be not paires that perceiue not the difference betwixt a quotation and a conclusion gathered out of the Apostles words In the 220 page with which you cauill the letter b pointing to Rom. 10. in the margine is set after he and next before descended to the deepe So that any sober man might soone see I alleaged not this word he as out of the text but inferred it as the true meaning of the Apostle And whether I haue better reason to say these words are meant of Christ as all Interpreters new and olde doe than you haue to say they are meant of a Pharâ—…aicall Merit-monger that seeketh to learne of fishes in the deepe of the sea how to fulfill the Law let the Reader iudge now he hath heard vs both The like praâ—…se you vâ—… againe in the Psalme There is no word to exprâ—…sse beneath which you put into the text of your owne head Were there no word importing so much yet so long as the word added is expresly ratified by many places of Scripture as appeareth Esay 14. vers 9. and Prouerbs 15. vers 24. in plaine words that Sheol is beneath and the addition is in another letter different from the rest before and after your Mastership might haue taken it for an explication inserted and not for any part of the text cited But you neuer suppose that the Printer may sometimes mistake or mis-set my directions and that maketh you so fast to fome at mouth with my falsifying the word of God of purpose and for aduantage where you rather lie of purpose or for aduantage since I doe not offer there to build any thing on that word nor so much as mention it in my collection there which if I would haue done Scriptures enough besides this would warrant my assertion And what if you whet your teeth against the trueth and the word there of it selfe will beare this addition without any corruption is not your time well spent to play the Bedlom in this sort and in the end to betray your owne ignorance and malice The Septuagint translate the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if I descend or go downe to Sheôl whom the Greeke Fathers follow The West Church kept the same word as is euident by all the Latine Fathers The Chaldaie paraphrase sayth Veêmuc lishjol If I depresse or humble my selfe downe to Sheol where the word is mac to be depressed downe or humbled low Ierom sayth If I lie downe in Sheól New Writers well skilled in the Hebrew tongue as Pellican Pomerane and others continue the word of descending and many that change it retaine the same sense as Vatablus Heâ—…raismus prosietiam descendam ad Ima it is an Hebrew phrase importing thus much If I doe descend to the parts beneath Westhmerus expoundeth it Si descendam in infima loca terrae If I descend to the lowest places of the earth Mollerus Si ettam descendam ad Ima If I should descend to the places beneath Dauid Kimchi obserueth that this word is not only to spread but withall it hath in it the force of lematta below beneath Augustâ—…us â—…stinianus translated the Arabick with the word of descending If all these haue falsified the word of God in so translating and expounding this place then haue I mistaken in following their iudgements but that I falsified of purpose or for an aduantage that is the meale of your mouth not vnlike the rest of your griest Howbeit it is eâ—…ident the Hebrew word hath in it as Kimchi noteth the signification of sub infra and in that respect importeth a bed where a man lieth downe in a lower position than he had before For which cause I might lawfully render the word as I did If I lie downe or lodge beneath in sheól Since Sheol by the Scriptures is a place whither a man must descend though indeed to preuent all challenge I was content to expresse the force of the word in another letter Our second and most principall reason is this If there be not one place of Scripture to proue that Christs soule was in hell then you ought to denie that opinion but you haue not indeed any one place that proueth it therefore it ought to be denied You shew your Logâ—… where little need is keepe it if you be wiâ—…e till it may stand you in more steed Euery Child knoweth or at least hath heard that faith must depend on the word of God Wherefore if it be no where written we meane not to beleeue it But if when the words be plaine you will wrest them with figures and phrases to another purpose then giue vs leaue if your proofes be not sound and good to tell you that our faith relieth on the singlenesse and plainnesse of the word of God so receaued and beleeued since Christ had a Church on earth And though you can make shewes with diuers acceptions and figuratiue senses of words yet that is no reason to reuerse the trueth written For giue me the like liberty without regard of faith and trueth and I can shift of any word whatsoeuer in the Scriptures yea the chiefest and mainest grounds of Religion I can elude with different
verie rules of Grammar expressed in euery Lexicon require necessarily that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 euerie where vsed by Greek writers in verse and in prose after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and such like should be supplied with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or some such word importing a place or house before it can be excused from false Greek how then are you so ignorant or impudent choose which you will as to say that hades is the world of soules without limitation of place or state haue you forgotten what Eustathius saith of the very word it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades is a darke place vnder the earth And Phauorinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades is a Region without light Or what Lucian reporteth of all the people who were Grecians that persuaded by Homer Hesiode the rest of the Poets tooke Hades to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a place vnder the earth deepe great and dark If the word then of it selfe import a place vnder the earth and that deepe and darke what trueth is there in your words or what force in your allegations which prooue nothing against any thing that I said nor for your new made world of soules without limitation of place or state The common Epithet of hades is hades pandocheus hades receauing all both good and bad And what then was hades therefore either not vnder the earth or not a place of darkenesse because all men good and bad after death by the Pagans opinion went to hades if hades withall your prophane writers saue once in a speciall conceit of Socrates were below in the earth and a dwelling in darknesse then doth the word it selfe beare in it a limitation of place below vnder the earth not aboue in heauen and a state in darkenesse not in light Against this speaketh not one of your authors whom heere you huddle most idlely not regarding what I admit or reiect That which I say they confesse with one consent as I haue elsewhere shewed if those testimonies were not sufficient you might haue ten times as many But to make short worke Clemens Alexandrinus shall let you see how peeuishly you impugne my assertion He alleageth out of Diphilus an auncient comicall Poet as followeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In hades we resolue there are two waies on for the iust the other for the wicked Howbeit the earth doth couer them both Your selfe is a witnesse against your selfe that to this place Hades come not the wicked onely but the noblest and best also Now where this place was in their opinion to which all come after death if you doubt Homer telleth you it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the house of hades vnder the dennes or darkenesse of the earth Theognis saith in like words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They goe to the house of hades vnder the dennes or closets of the earth Mimnermus saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He goeth to hades vnder the earth Euripides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnder the earth to hades there being Sophocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They come to the closets of the God below Aristophanes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will goe with speed to hades below So that your great Masters of the Greeke tongue if euer you saw them or read thē exactly resolue against you that your hades pandocheus whither all goe both good and bad is vnder the earth and so can no way be proportioned to heauen or paradise which are farre aboue the starres of heauen and are habitations of light and blisse where your hades of the blessed in the opinion of Pagans and Christians was a place of darkenesse though mixed with ease and comfort as they supposed And touching the Latin Inferi of which you seeme to make such account by pretence of Ciceroes words but without all cause I replie with the words of Lactantius whom the Christians called their Cicero Nihil terra inferius humilius nisi mors inferi Nothing is lower and baser then the earth but death and inferi And because Hen Iac is become of late so deuoute a Patrone of Ciceroes that he may not suffer his Paganish errors to be reprooued and is angrie that any man taketh his beedleship from him let him read but the next chapter of Lactantius against Cicero by name and he shall see what honour is to be yeelded to heathen Idolaters against the trueth Homer describeth Tartarus to be so much beneath hades as heauen is from the earth What if Hades or hell be exceeding deepe is that a proofe that the top thereof is no part of Hades because the bottome is farre beneath it Are not the parts of heauen infinitely one aboue another and yet all are heauen In my fathers house saith our Sauiour are many mansions and yet they all are but one house Though then the Poet faine that Hades hath in it deepe pits yet all is contained in the generall name of Hades specially since both Pagans and Christians confesse that men are punished in Hades and not vnder Hades Iustine the Martyr alleageth out of Philemon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is iudgement in Hades Theodoretus saith of Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many times hee affirmeth places of punishment in Hades Cydonius saith generally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there is vengeance in Hades for offences heere committed not onely the consent of all wise men but the equitie of Gods iustice approoueth this opinion The Gospell calleth Hades a place of torments Your selfe all this while haue maintained Hades to be a place as well of rest as of punishment that is of both at least And would you now with a Poeticall fiction or comparison strike out all that you and others haue said and appoint punishments not in but vnder Hades Poets haue their speciall fansies of Tartarus and therein agree not one with another Hesiode saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The dungeon of Tartarus is so farre vnder the earth as heauen is aboue the earth Virgil saith Tartarus ipse bis patet in praeceps tantum Tartarus is twice as deepe as heauen is high And though Homer were blind yet he neuer intended to make Tartarus no part but the lowest parte of Hades And therefore he placed it deepe vnder the higher hades where dead bodies are which Hesiode called the earth For Hades is common as well to the bodies buried as to the soules receiued vnder the earth And therfore your citing Sophocles and Aeschylus vsing Hades for the graue where our bodies rest is an answere to that which you bring out of Homer and an heaping vp of matter no way pertinent to your purpose For thinke you that the graue hath no limitation of place why then are you so copious in things not doubted wholy
the condition of soules thither adiudged and I see no danger in the vse of hades for hell since the Pagans by that word intended the places vnder earth where the wicked after this life were punished A Philosopher will rarely and sometime perhaps note the aire by Tartarus yet vsually and in a manner alwayes they ment hell by it Yet Peter not Canonizing their dreames of hell notwithstanding signifieth hell indeed by that worde of theirs according to the common vse thereof Though the Poets vse not Tartarus as often as they doe Hades for the receite of soules after death yet it is false which you say that in a manner alwayes they ment the dungeon of hell by it It is an vsuall phrase among the Poets for the place where soules were bestowed after death as Hades is Pindarus expressing the inconstancie of mans life saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou must goe to the deepe of darke Tartarus by ineuitable necessity Moschus wisheth he might goe thither to heare Bion sing there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O if I might goe downe to Tartarus as did Orpheus Vlysses or Hercules Hesiode sheweth how the destenies as soone as any man was wounded or slaine seased on him and sent his soule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cold Tartarus Anacreon giuing a reason why though he be old he is loth to die saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I sigh often fearing Tartarus for the chamber of Hades is grieuous So Theognis and others vse Tartarus for Hades without any distinction betwixt them And where you say Peter signifieth hell indeed by that word you may meete with many that will tell you Saint Peter there calleth the aire about aboue the earth by that name as well as the places vnder the earth and that in respect of the light which the reprobate Angels did before enioy in heauen this world may iustly be called darkenesse Zanchius saith By this name Peter vnderstood not the place onely which is vnder the earth sed imprimis ipsum aerem but chiefly this aire the whole space beneath this moone For in this regioÌ„ are the diuels kept captiues as the Apostle teacheth calling the diuell the Prince of this aire Saint Austin saith as much Let vs not doubt but the sinfull Angels were cast into this aeriall mist about the earth as into a prison according to the Apostles faith kept to be punished in iudgement Aretius Hiperius Beza and others are of the same mind So that this signification of Tartarus was not taken from the heathen as you presume but is a comparison with their former state when they were Angels of light and adorned with brightnesse within and without who now are throwen from their hight and plunged into outward and inward darknesse The very naturall Etymologie of the word according to the Grammar doth properly signifie VNSEENE or not seene any more in this world topos aides an vnseene place as Plato calleth it Where note it cannot bee referred to the estate of Angels but of them that had once a visible and ordinarie being and conuersation heere in this world You hang this geere together with hookes Hades you say is properly not seene any more in this world yet it is tópos áides an vnseene place as Plato calleth it You haue gotten you three starting holes vnder the couert of Hades the place vnseene the person not seene any more in this world the state inuisible but you hide your selfe so vnhandsomely in them that when you thinke your selfe most inuisible all the world may see your open follie Was the place of Hades euer seene in this world I trust not Then Hades is topos aides a place which neuer man liuing saw for a man must bee dead before he can come to that place You graunt the Grammaticall Etymologie of the word Hades is to signifie a place vnseene as Plato calleth it How come you then to applie this to the person or state not seene any more in this world by which you would exclude Angels from being in hades It is euident that the Poets made Hades a person and supplie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hadou very often with domous or such like as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the housen of Hades and call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades the God with the blacke lockes of haire Was this ruler of the places below which is the diuell euer aliue with vs in this world If he neuer had no visible state in this life and yet is properly and originally called Hades as I haue shewed before then Hades is that which was neuer seene in this world and doth agree as well to Angels for all your noting as to diuels if it import no more but that which is vnseene of vs. But who warranteth this interpretation besides your selfe Let aïdes stand for vnseene how prooue you as you conceiue that it inferreth a state once seene in this world and now by death vnseene I say vnseene applied to hades is neuer seene of any man liuing and not as you wrest it now no longer seene And so your Etymologie maketh nothing for you And what if hades deriued from aïdes signifie that place where nothing can be seene for lacke of light doe you not finely strip your Reader with an vnseene sleite as you thinke but indeed with a sensible deluding of the trueth peruse your masters of the Greeke tongue and tell mee whether theâ—… do not take hades for the place where nothing can be seene by reason of darkenesse Sophocles calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blacke Hades Euripides calleih it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the house without sunne light Theognis calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the blacke gates Homer saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades had for his share the darke mist to dwell in Plutarch sayth of Hades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee is darke and master of the blacke night The great and learned Etymologist of the Greeke tongue whom your Lexicons refuse not in most words to follow giueth this exposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 áides is that place wherein we see nothing For Hades is an house of darkenesse The place then wherein nothing can bee seene for darkenesse is properly by the masters of the Greeke tongue and by the right Etymologic of the word called Hades and all your expositions and applications be forced and framed to your owne fansies without any iust cause or reason but onely to serue your owne humours The Apostles tooke the word Gehenna from the Hebrewes and vsed it properly for hell Therefore they need not alter hades for that purpose for which they had another proper word Christ speaking to the Iewes vsed the word Gehenna for hell fire which they best vnderstood and Saint Iames writing to the Iewes dispersed saith The tongue is inflamed of Gehenna But the rest of the Apostles that instructed
the Gentiles neuer vsed that word which the heathen at that time did not vnderstand but where occasion so required they retained the word hades and applied it to the place of torment and to the ruler thereof which things were not strange to the Gentiles Since then the Euangelist and Apostles neuer ment to confirme or continue the erroneous fansies of the Pagans and yet vsed their words it is euident they vnderstood so much by these wordes as was not repugnant to the Christian faith Now hades with the Pagans was a place vnder the earth where the wicked after this life were punished This was agreeable to the trueth and for that cause the Apostles retained that sense and force of the word That the soules of the iust were also kept vnder the earth in rest and ease this was the error of the heathen though both Iewes and Christians lighted afterwardes on that fansie This the Apostles doe not ratifie in vsing the word hades for that it was not consonant to the grounds of true religion from which they neuer ment to depart by vsing any wordes accustomed among the heathen And as the Gentiles before they beleeued vsed hades for the chiefe ruler of those Infernall places so doth Saint Iohn not refuse to attribute that name to the diuell in his Reuelation And so without your conceits or discourses we haue shortly and plainely the cause and course why and how the Canonicall writers concurred with the Grecians in vsing the word hades and yet corrected their error Howbeit I thinke the Apostles had chiefe respect to the Septuagint who translating the Hebrew into Greeke then rife in many learned mens handes and expressing there the sense of Sheôl vsed Hades for the death of the bodie in the graue and for the death of the soule in hell after whose example the sacred writers of the new Testament speaking of the wicked or ioyning death with hades note what hades is besides the death of the bodie which they intend by Thanatos And therefore though Hades in the old Testament import the places of death for bodie and soule I meane the graue and hell yet throughout the new Testament that word being alwayes opposed to heauen applied to the wicked or connexed with other wordes that signifie the death of the bodie it must of force be taken for the power and place that killeth the soules of all men approching it except onely Christs to whom all powers and principalities in heauen and earth and hell were and are submitted and subiected Hitherto wee haue tried the nature and vse of Hades and haue found it to bee not properly hell as you auouch no not when it is applied to soules of men deceased And therefore also that it cannot be so vnderstood in Acts 2.27 where it is applied to Christs soule after he was dead which yet is the onely place you haue to pretend Hitherto you haue prated what pleased you and proued nothing and notwithstanding your vaine euasions meere priuations inuincible conditions and plaine visible contradictions Hades is found by the full consent of Christian and heathen writers to bee a place vnder the earth and in darkenesse where the soules of the dead adiudged to that place were and are detained vnder the Dominion of the Diuell though the Pagans in their wandering from their trueth imagined him to be a God and dreampt of earthly pleasures there to comfort their deiected spirits against the terror of death And since Christs soule was not left in hades after death as appeareth Acts 2.31 what haue you or any man liuing to say why Christs descent to Hades that is as the Gospell expoundeth this word to the place of torment of which it was impossible for him to be held or to bee therewith touched should not bee iustly grounded on this place wee may simply take hades for the inuisible state or place of the deceased If for the place then for heauen where you say Christes soule was after death And would Christ so greatly reioice that his soule should not be left in heauen Otherwise we may take it simply for deaths force and power supplying also the same wordes eis ton topon or tên chôran hadou in that place where the power and strength of death preuaileth and holdeth the deceased soules from their bodies You haue so many senses that you haue neuer a good First you tooke hades for a state or place and then you supplied it as indeed you must with topon or choran a place or region And so your sense went round like a wheele Thou wilt not leaue my soule in the place of place or state which is not seene that is not in heauen Now you renew your strength to take better hold and saie Thou wilt not leaue my soule to the place of deaths power Where we must note that heauen for there was Christes soule as you grant is by you appointed to be the place of deaths power and so you haue brought vs the strength and power of death and darknesse preuailing in heauen and euen on Christes soule This is the world of the dead implying nothing else but an estate opposite to our visible state in this world Are the places or states of heauen and hell nothing but an opposition to our visible estate in this world There are bodies both in heauen and in hell by the consent of the best Diuines new and old How then is their state opposite to our visible state Moses and Elias were seene talking with Christ in the mount What place will you appoint for them since they were visible And if the world of the dead be nothing else but an estate opposite to our visible estate then Christ after his resurrection relapsed often to hades to the world of the dead for he was inuisible to all men as long as he staied on earth but when and where he was pleased to shew himselfe And if that be true which you your selfe doe say that l in very deed hades hath properly but a priuatiue sense and not any thing positiue in it then your additions of place and region be repugnant to the nature of hades except you can bring vs a place and region of meere priuations in which is nothing positiue and consequently your varieties and expositions of hades be meere illusions and haue nothing in them but lies and mockeries For hades is a place below in the earth and darke by condition as wherein nothing is seene as both Christians and Pagans affirme Hades therefore is no mecre priuation If the soule of Christ then after death were in hades it was not at the same time in heauen for heauen is opposite throughout the Scriptures to hades and your owne common and inuisible place of both is a priuate and palpable errour of your owne Last of all we may take Hades heere by a prosopopaea conceauing it to be as it were some person of vnresistable power taking away
after his resurrection all power in heauen and earth that is in all places and ouer all things created is giuen vnto me Since then without question Christ had the keyes as well of death and hell as of heauen and so that sense of his words is most true let vs see which of our expositions hath best reason When Iohn for feare fell as dead at Christs feete would Christ to comfort Iohn in that plight say no more but that he himselfe was once dead and now aliue and had power to die no more as you expound Christs words how could this strengthen or restore Iohn that was euen dead for feare or did Christ rather encourage Iohn not to feare without cause seeing he himselfe not onely was risen from the dead but had all power ouer death and hell that is the keyes of both to dispose of ech mans life and Soule at his pleasure when therefore Christ that had all power of life and death Saluation and damnation laid his right hand on Iohn to protect him and bad him not feare but write the things which he saw had not Iohn iust cause to cast away all feare and cheerefully to obey the voice of him that was so able and ready to rescue him from all feare and danger whatsoeuer Christs power ouer death you will say was enough to preserue Iohns life and therefore mention of the key of hell was superfluous Iohn was to see and write the things that were and after should be in heauen earth and hell as is euident in his Reuelations yea the opening and shutting of the bottomelesse pit the chaining of Satan there the comming of the Locusts and the beast from thence and the lake of fire and brimstone euerlastingly burning there and who should be throwen into it were to be reuealed vnto him Lest therefore the sight of these things should amaze Iohn or the reporting of them should want credit with vs Christ did professe which is most true that he had the keyes that is all power euen ouer these secret and fearefull places so that Iohn should neither shrinke at the vision nor we distrust the Relation of them And though my reason of mentioning here the keyes of hell be such as you shall neuer counteruaile yet doe I not runne proudly and peremptorily as you doe in mine owne conceits I haue the iudgement of the best Interpreters old and new that haue intermedled with the opening of these reuelations Andreas Arch Bishop of the same Caesaria that Saint Basil was and within 600. yeeres after Christ though you skornfully reiect him as you doe that venerable writer Bede expounding these words of Christ I haue the keyes of death and of Hades saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of the death of the Body and of the Soule Primasius expoundeth them thus I haue the keyes of death and hell idest Diaboli totius corporis eius that is ouer the diuell and all his body or societie The exposition of the Apocalyps extant in Saint Austens works thus I haue the keyes of death and Hell because he that beleeueth and is baptised is deliuered from death and from hell Haymo thus By the name of the keyes is shewed Christs eternall power by death the diuell is vnderstood by whose enuy death came into the world And by hell his members that shall come to the torments of hell Lyra. I haue the keyes of death and of hell that is power to deliuer thence the iust which Christ did in his Resurrection and to inclose there the wicked which he shall chiefly doe in the last iudgement Of our new writers Bullingere Christ then hath the keyes of death and hell because whom he will he deliuereth from the perpetuall damnation of death and whom he will he suffereth iustly to remaine in that perill of damnation Christ hath the supreme gouernment of the house or kingdome of God to quicken whom he will and to draw them from hell and damnation and whom he will damne with his iust iudgement to destroy For he hath most full power ouer death and hell He conquered and disabled both as it is Osee. 13. and 1. Corinth 15. Aretius He that resembled the Sonne of Man in the Apocalyps said I haue the keyes of hell and death hoc est in damnatos damnandos damnatorum loca that is ouer those that are damned or shall be damned and ouer the places of the damned Chytreus Christ deliuereth his Church from the captiuitie of death and hell casteth the wicked into the Dungeon of hell and of eternall death For he hath the keyes that is most full power ouer death and hell Sebastian Meyer whom Marlorate followeth I haue the keyes of death and hell that is power to pardon sinnes which being abolished both death and hell are depriued of their strength Osiander I haue the keyes of death and hell that is it is in my hand to kill and quicken to damne and sauc These men had both learning and reason to say as they did neither will any pick them ouer the pearch as you doe Andreas Caesariensis and Bede but he that hath neither Againe one sitteth on a pale horse whose name was death and Hades destruction the world of the dead or the kingdome of death followed after him This in no wise can be hell because the Text addeth power was giuen them to slay with the sword and with famine and with death and with wild beasts Hell slayeth none in that sort these are not the weapons of hell You lacke three Gennets to set your three poppets on horsebacke If by these three destruction the world of the dead the kingdome of death you meane in effect nothing but death as you vse to expound your selfe that is expressed before and Saint Iohn saith Hades followed after him Doth any thing follow after it selfe Againe will you bring your world of the dead that is all the Soules in heauen and hell to ride on horse-backe and that in the shew and shape of one person you would make good dumb shewes you haue such pretie fansies to make death goe first alone and his kingdome to come after him But though you play with Saint Iohns visions you haue no warrant to mistake Saint Iohns words and to muster your owne errors vnder his colours Saint Iohn doth not say that power was giuen to death and Hades to kill with the sword with famine and with death as you dreame but Saint Iohn hauing represented the sword or warre by the red horse verse 4. and famine by the blacke horse verse 5. and all sorts of diseases and pestilences by the pale horse verse 8. he saith power was giuen to them that is to the riders on these three horses to kill the fourth of the earth with warre hunger and sicknesse And because these three come not one after another but when God is greatly prouoked with
as you doe tending all to expresse one thing but seeke a little to shew vs what matter is contained in them you should soone see what labour you haue lost in this Carrecke of words which you haue newly brought vs home Your meere and simple death which you say is nothing els but the going asunder of the soule from the body hath of necessitie thus much in it It is the separation of the soule from the body which is the cause of life in the body It is the dissolution of the person which consisteth of body and soule It is the priuation of life which endeth with the departing of the soule It is the continuing of death since possibly there is no regresse from the priuation to the habite without the mightie hand of God working aboue nature For the soule departing neuer returneth till God commaund by whose word heauen and earth were made What now after death becommeth of both parts of man is no hard matter to conceaue Salomon saith Dust meaning flesh first made of dust returneth to earth as it was and the spirit to God that gaue it by him to be disposed and adiudged to ioy or paine as pleaseth him The body then goeth to corruption the soule receaueth iudgement where it shall remaine in hell or heauen till the bodie be restored againe which shall be at the last day Descending to hades after death cannot be verified of the whole person of man but in respect of the parts Referred to the body it is as much as buried and laide in the place where it shall putrifie and returne to dust Applied to the soule it must signifie the place to which the soule is caried which I say must be vnder earth since heauen is neuer called by that name nor expressed by that word either in the Scriptures or in any other sacred or prophane writers The power and dominion of death which you so much speake of is nothing else but Gods ordinance that from death there is no returne to life till hee appoint If then there be no dominion nor kingdome of death preuailing or ruling in heauen where the soules of the Saints are without their bodies then Christ in ascending to heauen descended not to Hades Againe with what trueth can you auouch Christes soule came vnder the full power and dominion of death since death had no power ouer the bodie or soule of Christ longer or farder then he himselfe would permit and his soule free from all bands and paines of death destroied the dominion and kingdome of death to which it was alwaies superiour and neuer subiect but onely that he might shew himselfe with greater power to be conquerer of death rather in rising from the dead then in declining the force of death as if he were not able after death and in death to dissolue the dominion and power of death Wherefore your exaggerating the power and dominion of death OVER THE SOVLE of Christ and that IN HEAVEN whither you graunt Christes soule went after death is not onely a vaine and idle flourish but a poisoned and pestilent doctrine if you take not heed to it since no power of death but Christes will to shew himselfe Lord of life and death either seuered his soule from his bodie or bestowed his soule in any place after death or detained him in the condition of death but he was free to die when he would and rise from death when he would which euerteth all power and dominion of death ouer him how much soeuer in wastefull wordes you auouch the contrarie Touching the proprietie of wordes that you say is as true as the rest For Hades hath no such natiue and proper sense as you talke of but exactly and directly when it is referred to a place and not to a person signifieth a place of darknesse where nothing can be seene as with one consent Heathen and Christian writers acknowledge And the word descending after death which you must applie to the soule ascending to heauen you childishly change into the fall of the person from lise to death or inconstantly varie you know not how to Christes submission when he died or his abasement by lying held and subdued so long time in death Where againe you incurre the same sands that you did before in affirming Christ was held and subdued of death for the time which is plainly false doctrine since he would abide that time in death least any should thinke him not truely dead but was neuer vnder the power and dominion of death And as for lying held in death that phrase is strangely referred to the soule of Christ which ascended to the third heauen with more honour and ioy then it receaued in this life heere on earth What Ruffine saith is not much to be regarded if we beleeue S. Ierom neither was Ruffines faith sound nor his authoritie any thing in the Church and yet were he woorth the respecting he maketh more against you then for you For first these wordes are not vsed as an exposition of Christs descent to Hades but Ruffine saith Diuina natura in mortem per carnem descendit non vt lege mortalium detinerâ—…tur a Morte sed vt per se resurrecturus ianuas mortis aperiret The diuine nature of Christ descended to death by his flesh not to be held of death after the law of mortall men but that rising of himselfe hee might open the gates of death Where he saith the diuine nature descended to death he speaketh not of the soule but of the godhead of Christ which words by your leaue require a sober interpretation and yet in respect of the diuine glory the phrase of descending vnto death signifieth Christes submission to die not his descent after death And withall he refelleth two of your fansies first that Christ was was not held of death which you say he was Secondly that he followed not heerein the lâ—…w of mans nature which you say he did And that Christes soule descended to hell by Ruffines opinion his wordes are plaine enough in many places He applieth that to Christ which Dauid saith Thou hast brought my soule out of hell and alleaging the place of Peter In his spirit Christ preached to them which were in prison heerein saith â—…e it is declared quid operâ—…â—…gerit in Inferno What Christ did in hell So that the lesse hold you take of Ruffine the better for you and your cause he will doe more harme then good If any thinke this to be somewhat figuratiue yet is it verely so familiar and easie to all people as that other word in the Creede is he sitteth at the right hand of God yea it is farre easier When you can diue deepe into your owne fansies you thinke them as familiar to all others as to your selfe If this were so easie and readie with the simpler sort as you make it me thinkes it should not so much trouble
his buriall and going downe into his graue as you acknowledge that hades many times may well signifie With the septuagint that were Iewes and translated the old Testament out of Hebrew into Greeke almost 300. yeeres before Christes birth I said indeed Hades stood aswell for the graue as for hell euen as the Pagans also did vse it but the Euangelists and Apostles retaining a difference betweene Thanatos death and Hades take Hades for hell and neuer for the graue whose example the Greeke Diuines doe follow and therefore Hades with them doth not signifie the graue but the place where the wicked are tormented after death as it doth in the Gospell of S. Luke Secondly the wordes of Ignatius agree not with that in Matthew by which you would expound them For Matthew saith the graues did open at Christs death and manie bodies of the Saints that slept arose and comming out of their graues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after his resurrection came into the holy citie and appeared to many They did not rise with Christ but after him as Austen well expoundeth it that Christ alone might be the first fruits and first borne from the dead And therefore Ignatius did not speake this of Christes resurrection but of his ascension euen as Thaddeus did in the selfe same sort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He descended alone to Hades but he ascended to his Father with a great multitude That Ignatius here noteth Christes buriall in none other wordes besides If you meane in the same sentence there was no cause nor need he should if you meane in the same place it is not true for the next sentence sauc one is this The day before the Sabbaoth at the third houre Christ receaued sentence of condemnation from Pilate at the sixt houre he was crucified at the ninth he breathed out his spirit and before the Sunne-set he was laid in his graue The Sabbaoth day he staied vnder the earth in his graue and at the dawning of the Lords day he rose from the dead But that Ignatius wordes can not be verified of Christes buriall is euident by the very purport of the wordes themselues he descended to hades alone saith Ignatius To his graue Christ descended not alone Those that were crucified with him were buried at the same time with him Besides he descended alone is as much as of his owne accord and by his own force no man helping or accompanying him which was not the manner of his buriall For his bodie was buried by others and could not of it selfe descend to the graue His descending to hades was a voluntarie action euen as his ascending from it was which in a dead bodie no man can imagine Lastly the wall neuer broken before can not be vnderstood of the graue since from the graue some others rose long before the death and birth of Christ as is plaine by the storie of him that was cast dead into Eliseus graue and of Lazarus Faine you would slubber vp these things but they hang in your teeth and will not goe downe The power of the graue or the strength of death which remained indeed from the beginning of the world as a mightie wall not broken downe was now you say by Christes death vtterly ouercome and dissolued In this answer you inclose three vntrueths First Christ neuer descended into the power of the graue nor strength of death as you conceaue they had no power or dominion ouer him he breathed out his owne soule at his owne pleasure to be resumed againe when pleased himselfe though for the proofe of his death to be true and vnfained hee was content his body should lie in the graue till the third day Againe the power of the graue or strength of death was no wall vnbroken from the foundation of the world Many rose from the dead before Christ and some were translated that they should not see death Thirdly it is not yet as you affirme vtterly ouer come and dissolued For the bodies of the Saints are vnder it and so shall be till the last day when the wicked shall rise from their graues aswell as the Saints though not to heauenly blisse as they shall Besides this the words as well of Ignatius as these of Thaddeus must be performed betweene Christs descent to hades and his resurrection For so Eusebius reporteth the wordes of Thaddeus Christ descended to hades and brake the wall neuer broken before since the world began And rose againe and raised the dead which had slept from the beginning Hades then hath a partition which neuer man brake as Abraham told the rich man Onely Christ who was God and man voluntarily descended thither and with his returne thence broke the wall that was neuer broken before Though some being dead did rise to life againe before Christs resurrection as touching the time yet the vertue and power of Christs resurrection was before them by which onely and meerely they rose againe Neither yet was resurrection to alâ—… the dead forthwith performed by the resurrection of Christ neuerthelesse purchased it was euen then and by the onely power and vertue thereof is and shal be performed to all in dâ—…e time You would seeme in this to answere me but indeed you refute your selfe For you confeste that this partition betweene death and life was often broken before Christs resurrection bâ—…it the power of Christs resurrection you say was before them by which onely they rose againe But both Ignatius and Thaddens say it was neuer broken before the time that Christ descended to hades They therefore doe not meane the graue as you doe If you say the graue was a partition to stay men from heauen till Christ was risen then were not the soules of the Saints in heauen whose bodies were in the graue which is repugnant to your owne position So that the graue neither hindering the body from life nor the soule from heauen before Christs comming was not the wall vnbroken till Christs descent to hades of which these auncient writers speake Our resurrection was purchased by Christs death and openly confirmed and assured to vs by Christs resurrection but since it shall not be performed vnto vs till the last day this wall is not vet actually broken downe to all Christs elect no more then death is abolished to them which is the last enemy that shal be destroied but is not yet subâ—…ected vnder Christs feet in respect of his members which doe and shall lâ—…e in theiâ—… graues to the end of the world Neither doth the Apostle call Christ the first fruits of the dead as you intend because others who rose from the graue before Christ did rise by the vertue and power of his resurrection you commit heerein a double error Christ was truely the first that euer rose from death to an immortall and celestiall life and the power and force of his resurrection bringeth not men backe to a
Ephesus which the Councels of Chalcedon and Constantinople doe fully approoue Now what Cyrill meant by spoiling hades appeareth in these words Our Lord Iesus saith Cyrill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hauing spoyled death and loosed the number of soules that were detained in the dâ—…nnes there rose the third day We must not say that the Deitie of the onely begotten returned from the denns vnder the earth but his soule descended to hades and vsing his diuine power and authoritie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shewed it selfe to the soules there and said to them in bands come forth and to them in darkenesse receiue light This Cyrill tooke from Athanasius whom he much followed and often cited Those wretches the diuels did not know that the death of Christ should giue vs immortalitie and his descent to Hades should procure our ascent to heauen For the Lord rose the third day from the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hauing spoiled Hades hel troden the enemie vnder foote dissolued death broken the chaines of sin with which we were tyed and freed vs that were bound saying arise let vs goe hence Being therefore freed from the bondage of the diuell let vs acknowledge our redeemer and glorifie the Father c. So elswhere What neede had Christ that was God of the crosse of the graue of hell to which things we were subiect but that in them he sought vs quickning vs in this manner agreeable to vs For if the Lord had not bene made man wee had neuer risen from the dead as redeemed from our sinnes but had remained dead vnder the earth neither had we beene exalted to heauen but had laine still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hell For vs therefore and for our sakes it is sayd God exalted him and gaue him the dominion of heauen earth and hell By which places as by infinite others in Athanasius it is euident that Christ conquered and spoiled hell and Satan for vs and deliuered vs thence aswell as those that were formerly deceased to whom as to vs hell had a chalenge till the Sauiour of the world freed both them and vs thence And this is the true meaning of those prouinciall and generall Councels which say Christ rose the third day hauing first spoiled hell The same I affirme of that Allegory in Luke which sheweth Christs ouercomming binding and spoiling of Satan indeed but not by his locall being in hell Christ expressely applieth it to his dispossessing of Diuels out of mens bodies I did not alleage this parable to prooue Christs going to hell in soule after death but to shew what parts Christs conquest ouer hell and Satan must haue to wit that he must subdue bind and spoile Satan before his conquest ouer Satan could be perfect Other places of Scripture applied these parts to Christs rising from the dead and spoiling the kingdome of Satan for this parable it did suffice that these things heere mentioned must be fully performed by Christ before he did fully conquere Satan Now that these things were throughly performed by Christ whiles he liued on earth is repugnant to the Scriptures For so Christ should neuer haue died since death was a part of Satans power which Christ was to spoile It is therefore certaine that Christs ouermastering of Satan began here on earth when he cast him out from such as were possessed but Christs conquest ouer Satan had not his sull and complete higth no not in his owne person till he rose from the dead and ascended to heauen leading captiuity captiue That therefore it began before Christs death I doe not denie but that it was not finished till his resurrection and ascension the Scriptures auouch Christ saith Origen hauing bound the strong man and by his crosse conquered him went euen to his house to the house of death and into hell and thence tooke his goods that is the soules which he possessed And this was that which he spake by a Parable in the Gospell saying Who can enter a strong mans house and spoile his goods except he first bind the strong man So Ierom. The strong man was bound and tied in hell and troden vnder the Lords foote and the Tyrants howsen being spoiled captiuity was led captiue And Zanchius The Apostle to the Ephesians the 4. where he speaketh of Christs triumph and saith he led captiuity captiue that is he led the Diuel captiue and triumphed ouer him doth not there say this triumph was made on the crosse but then performed that is perfected when Christ ascended to heauen Christ then obteined it on the Crosse but performed it afterwards Of euill spirits subdued and spoiled the Sonne of God triumphed Whither pertaineth that parable of Christs when a strong man keepeth his house his goods are in peace but when a stronger then he commeth vpon him he taketh his spoiles from him Remember I pray how God shewed his displeasure against your wresting of his word by that strange terrour that happened euen then when you were descended intâ—… he depth of this vncouth doctrine at Paules Crosse. Indeed it may be that you and such others were in a strange terror at that time otherwise there was no cause nor harme but the breakeing of an old rotten forme which men desirous to heare had ouer loaden and so where they stood halfe a yard aboue ground before they were then faine to stand on their feet But Sir by what authoâ—…ity doe you take vpon you to interprete Gods will by the cracking of an old stoole Are you of late become a Southsaier that you professe to declare Gods meaning by the breaking of an old borde in sunder What say you then to those Coronations of Princes and other assemblies where many haue been slaine What say you to S. Pauls Sermon where Eutychus falling downe from a third lâ—…ft was taken vp dead Will you say his doctrine was vncouth because the hearers were a while troubled with that accident had there any thing indeed fallen out as God be thanked there did nothing you would haue plaied the false Prophet apace to presume of Gods purpose when by your owne foolish feare vpon the cracking of an old forme you proudely and prophanely take vpon you to pronounce of Gods pleasure Where you charge me in the end arrogantly and absurdly to falsisie the Synod of this Realme it is but what your selfe doth in effect I said our Synod corrected King Edwards Synod You acknowledge and professe that in the later words of that former Synod now left out are three things that cannot be iustified by the Scriptures If a man would hire you you cannot leaue this outfacing and falsifying no not when you goe about to cleare your selfe of it which whether it be absurd or arrogant I leaue to the Reader Our Synod you said corrected King Edwards Synod Said you no more did you not lustily conclude Therefore our Synod
renounceth apparantly this sense of the Creed that Christ descended to the hell of the damned Now that is nothing so they thought not good in this Article of the Creed to expresse more then was aunciently set downe for the people to beleeue but they doe not reiect as false whatsoeuer they omit of the later words of King Edwards Synod For so they should reiect this also for false that Christs body lay in the graue till his resurrection which I trust no Christian man doubteth Three things I said there were which the later Synod might conceaue to be conteined in the former that could not be iustified by the Scriptures and in that respect they might leaue out those later words not cutting of putting out or casting away as you ruffle in your termes euery thing there mentioned for so they should cast away aswell the buriall of Christs body as the presence of his soule in hell but refraining to confirme those later words both because there was somewhat amisse in them and they would not impose more on the people to beleeue then was at first comprised in their Creed as also for that they would not establish this to be the right and vndoubted sense of Peters words that Christ in soule preached to the spirits in hell You â—…arge these words of King Edwards Synod with two points which are not in them First that it saith how the spirits of the iust were in hell and that Christ descending thither staied there till his resurrection In me you would make this a great matter so to misreport the words of a Synod which indeed saith nothing hereof Were there no more but this in the words of that Synod that the preaching of Christ to the spirits in hell is set down there as the sole cause of his descent thither or that this sense of S. Peters words is imposed on all men by their authority to be beleeued either of these was reason sufficient to omit those later words of King Edwards Synod But if we rightly looke into the manner and purpose of their speach we shall easily see that I wrong them not For by those words they ment to shew the places where Christs soule and body did abide after they were seuered vntill the resurrection His body say they euen vntill the resurrection lay in the graue his soule being breathed out was vntill the same time with the spirits in prison or hell and preached to them as the place of Peter doth witnesse To say that the soule of Christ dismissed from his body was not at all in the place where the spirits of the iust were had been repugnant to Peters words in the next Chapter if we grant as they did by these words of Peter that Christ preached to the dead For there it is said The Gospell that is the glad tidings of Redemption performed was preached to the dead Which could not be to the wicked since the Gospell was not preached vnto theÌ„ but the iustnesse of their condemnation rather published vnto them Since then as they tooke S. Peters words Christ preached to both the iust and vniust and by their Article declaring where Christ abode after death no more is expressed but that Christ was with the spirits in prison and hell and preached vnto them How can it in any reasonable mans iudgement be auoided but that their words implie the iust were in prison and in hell where Christ preached Neither was this so strange a thing in those daies since many hundred yeeres before it was receaued in most mens mouths and minds that the iust deceased before Christs death were in the same place called hell with the wicked though not in the same paines and many of the Fathers directly affirme no lesse Seing then themselues in their words make no difference betwixt the iust and vniust and generally auouch that Christs soule was with the spirits in hell and preached to them by warrant of Peters words who saith The Gospell was preached to the dead What reason had I to wrest their words to any other sense then that which I saw currant in many fathers before them whose steps by the generall purport of their words they seemed to follow And how iustly might the later Synod refuse those words of theirs which were either so dangerons or so doubtfull that they might not safely be retained It is well that you renounce that of Peter by Austens direction as making not at all for any locall being of Christ in hell But yet herein your selfe openly refuseth the mind of all your Predecessors yea of our later Synode if they beleeued as you vrge they did For if they liked Christs locall being in hel they misliked not the applying of that in Peter thereunto as by Master Nowels Catechisme may appeare It is true that I refrained to bring those places of Peter because Saint Austen though he strongly hold Christs descent to hell to be a part of the Christian faith yet he perceaued and confessed these places might haue an other sense and nothing touch Christs descent to hell Your illation that if the Synode liked Christs locall being in hell they misliked not the applying of that in Peter thereunto is like the rest of your collections As if Saint Austen did not like the one and yet mislike the other Notwithstanding there is difference betwixt liking a quotation as some way pertinent to the cause and proposing the same as a part of Christian Religion for all men of necessitie to imbrace The Synode might doe the one and yet not the other and so iustly leaue out that clause of the former Synode though Peters words in their opinions might haue some such intent Neither doe I preiudice any man to like or alleadge that place of Peter for this purpose since I bind no man to my priuate exposition of the Scriptures but rather stand on those places which haue the full consent of all antiquitie to pertaine directly to this matter Yet this is no barre but many auncient Fathers did vse that place of Peter to prooue Christs descent to hell as Athanasius Cyrill Hilarie and Ambrose did though Austen did not and the Synode in her Maiesties time that is now with God might like thereof to shew that Christ amongst other things did also confirme by his presence and preaching in hell the condemnation of the wicked there though I did not cite those places because Saint Austen had otherwise expounded them For take the word Spirite for the Soule of Christ as the same word is taken in the next verse following for the Soules of men where it is said In which he went and preached to the Spirits in prison and expound the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kept â—…liue or continuing in life as the Syriacke translator doth in saying Christ died in body and liued in spirit in which sense the Scripture saith A man may quicken his soule that is keepe
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
soule suffereth in and by all her powers 134. 135 The soules suffering by sympathy is the Defenders owne phrase 170 The soule is not deriued from the fathers of our bodies 171. 172 The Soule chiesly sinneth and chiefly suffereth but not onely 181. 182 What powers and faculties of the Soule the Fathers 〈◊〉 corporall and why 187 The Soule ioyned with the Body hath one state and seuered another 198 The Soule vseth her corporall spirits in thinking and remembring 207 The Soule leadeth and the flesh followeth to all sinne 210. 211 The Soule hath a â—…st of sinne and paine before the last day 213 The Soule feeleth paine and griefe by her vnderstanding and will 344 Whence theâ—… Soules come that are raised to life 425 The Soule is a consequent to a liuing body but no part of it 426 The Soule is some time called flesh 529 The Soule taken for life 570 The Spirit of sanctification is the holy Ghost 511 Flesh and Spirit doe not alwaies note the two natures of Christ. 512 The Spirit signifieth the Soule of man 529 The preaching to the Spirits in prison 676 The law which curseth offendors admitteth no Suerties 264 Christ no way bound to be our Suertie 277 Christ a Suretie to vs of the new Testament 278 Though Christ may be called a voluntary Suerty yet was he truely a mercifull Redeemâ—…r 280 The similitude of an earthly Suertie not fit for Christ though the name may well be vsed 282. 2â—…3 The Law alloweth no offendois any Suerties 288 I mislike not the name but the bondage of a Suertie in Christ. 291. 292 Submission to God and compassion on man the generall causes of Christs Agony 347 Submission with great feare and trembling Christ yeeldeth to God sitting in iudgement 350. 351 The correcting of King Edwards Synode 675 The things misliked in king Edwards Synod ibid. T TArtarus a part of Hades with the Poets 613 Tartarus with the Pagans is hell 617 Tartarus taken for the aâ—…e ouer vs. 617 Christ could not be tempted to euill by any motion of his owne hart 304. 305. 306 Christ was tempted in the wildernesse by the suggestion of Satan 307 Christ was tempted after 40. daies 307 Christ was tempted all his life long but not inwardly 312 Perswasion tempteth as well as compulsion 314 Difference of outward and inward temptations 314 No temptations without desperation kill the soule 525 The Terror of God felt by Iob and Ionas were not the paines of hell 452 Tertullian ascribeth all sinne to the whole man 208 What forsaking Tertullian speaketh of 427 Tertullian nameth no death but of Christs body 428 Tertullian is farre from affirming the death of Christs Soule 532 Tertullian admitteth none to Paradise before the last day but Martyrs 594. 595. 596 Tertullian therein followed Montanus the Hereticke 597 How 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades and Inferi concurre in signification 579 The storie of Thaddeus no fable 660 Thaddeus did not receaue adoration 662 Thomas how he might be called Iudas 660 Euill Thoughts defile the whole man 204 Our will the cause of our euill thoughts 200 Christs bodily transfiguration was imperfect and transitorie 458. 459 Triumphes are not secret and solitarie 664 V VEngeance proper to the wicked appeared not in the Crosse of Christ. 156. 157 All Christs infirmitie was Voluntarie 407 W VVHat the Scriptures meane by the Wages of sinne 12 A threefold death the Wages of sinne 13 Weakenesse appeared in Christs flesh but willingnesse in his spirit 424 Whole redemption and propitiation are verie large and doubtfull termes 103 The Whole man dieth though the soule liue 513 514 Euill thoughts defile the whole man 204 The whole man guilty of all sin 185. 186. 187. 208 Our Will the cause of our euill thoughts 200 What is ment by the Worme that neuer dieth 46 What the Scriptures meane by the Wrath of God 15 What proper applied to wrath signifieth 18 Christ suffered not the proper and meere wrath of God 19. 23 What Wrath of God Christ suffered 57 58 What is Gods Wrath against sinne 60 God hâ—…d neuer displeasure or Wrath against Christs person 61 God wrath against sinne hath many degrees and â—…arts 157 How the wrath of God in this life differeth from wrath to come 158 Christ might suffer the wrath of God and yet not the true paines of hell 159. 160 Wrath must be measured by Gods intention not mans discerning 165 The triall of Gods Saints is no effect of Gods proper wrath 313 What Christ discerned of Gods wrath against our sinnes 333 Christ did not apprehend of Gods wrath as the damned doe 335 Christ was to see more of Gods wrath against our sinnes then he felt 376 Christ might iustly feare the power of Gods wrath 380 Z ZAnchius what he teacheth of mans redemption 537 Faults escaped should thus be amended PAge 4. line 25. for fourth read foorth ibid. l. 34. infimities r. infirmities p. 26. l. 48. neighbour r. neighbour p. 38. title to his r. to hell p. 58. marg of agony r. of Christs agony p. 66. l. 47. death r. death p. 230 tit in subuerting r. in subiecting p. 353. l. 47. what to doe r. what they doe p. 428. marg in manibus r. in manus p. 466. l. 14. the comfort r. to comfort p. 468. l. 4. thambeesa r. thambeesai p. â—…69 l. 1. astonished r. astonished him p. 473. l. 38. because God r. because Iacob p. 485. throughout enlabeia r. eulabeia p. 487. l. 49. eisaekonstheis r. eisakoustheis p. 488. l. 6. eisakonstheis r. eisakoustheis ibid. 26. in marg Zinglius r. Zuinglius p. 502. l. 35. in members r. in my members p. 597. l. 23. since r. sense ibid. 32. affections r. afflictions p. 520. l. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 522. l. 17. Vigius r. Vigilius p. 523. l. 39. enstranging r. estranging p. 528. marg your r. the. LONDON Printed by Melchisedech Bradwood for John Bill 1. Sam. 2. Acts 26. The sermons The first and second Sermon of the Passion The Sermon of the Resurrection The Treaâ—…ise The Conclusion of the Sermons The Defence Treat pag. 95. De Trinitate li. 10. Epistola 99. Epistola 99. a Praefat pag. 9. lin 2. b â—… Conclu pa. 243. l. 5. c Pag. 2. l. 10. d Sermons p. 8. lin 22. e Serm. p. 11. l. 24. f Serm. pa. 41. l. 14. g Serm. pa. 48. l. 34. h Serm p. 42. l. 2. i Serm. p. 73. li. 13. k Serm. p. 133. li. 13. l Ibidem li. 30. m l. 14. n l. 34. o fo 243. Their foure restraints of hell paines p Defence p. 7. l. 32. q Math. 8. vers 17. r 1. Pet 2. s Heb. 4. t Heb. 2. u Defence p. 7. x Prâ—… p. 3. l. 8. y Serm p. 73. l. 13. z Serm. p. 78. l. 32. a Serm. p. 83. l.
THE CROSSE OF CHRIST should be frustrate For the PREACHING OF THE CROSSE is to them that perish foolishnesse but to vs that are saued it is the power of God Christ crucified then being the very ground of our saluation and the Gospel declaring him to be the power of God to saue all that beleeue euidently the crosse of Christ was the maine doctrine of the Gospell which Paul preached to the Galathians and which the false Apostles mixed with circumcision and the righteousnesse of the law as well for the aduancing themselues being Iewes as for feare of their countreymen who vtterly disdained and egerly pursued all that taught a man hanged on a tree as a malefactor for so the vnbeleeuing Iewes conceiued of Christ to be the Sauiour of the world and complement of all Gods promises made to the seede of Abraham for their euerlasting blisse The rage of the vnbeleeuing Iewes against Paul for preaching the death and blood of Christ to be the Redemption of all the faithfull is manifest in many places of the Actes and of his owne Epistles which furie whiles the false Apostles sought to decline and somewhat to please and pacifie the Iewes they added circumcision and the obseruation of the law vnto the Crosse of Christ as necessary for iustification and saluation without which the death of Christ could doe vs no good This error then newly sowen among the Galathians to whom Paul before had preached Christ crucified as the sole and sufficient meane of their Redemption and Iustification through faith in his blood the Apostle throughout that large Epistle of his written vnto them with his owne hand doth purposely and mightily confute and is so farre from coupling any thing with Christ as requisite for righteousnesse or blessednesse and chiefly the law that he opposeth himselfe against men and Angels for the truth of his doctrine and resolueth cleane contrary to those false teachers and flatterers of the Iewish nation in most vehement manner Behold I Paul say vnto you that if yee be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Ye are abandoned from Christ whosoeuer are iustified by the law ye are fallen from grace His reasons are vrgent and euident If righteousnesse could be by the law then Christ died in vaine And that no man is iustified by the law in the sight of God it is plaine for the iust shall liue by faith now the law is not of faith For all haue sinned and are iustified freely by Gods grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Iesus whom God hath set foorth to be a Reconciliation THROVGH FAITH in his blood to declare his righteousnesse by the forgiuenes of sinnes As many then as are of the works of the law are vnder the curse but Christ hath redeemed vs from the curse of the law being made a curse for vs as it is written cursed is euery one that hangeth on a tree that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentils through Iesus Christ. And that made the Apostle enter this disputation with so sharpe a rebuke to the Galathians for sliding from this Gospel or glad tidings of their saluation in the Crosse of Christ to circumcision and the works of the law O foolish Galathians saith he who hath bewitched you not to obey the truth to whom Iesus Christ was before your eyes described crucified among you And in this confident course he goeth on with plentifull and substantiall proofes that the Redemption righteousnesse blessednesse adoption freedome and sanctification of Gods children proceede from the grace of God and of Christ who gaue himselfe for our sinnes that he might tast death for all and are receiued by faith in the blood of Christ which confesseth him to be the Sonne of God and the only Sauiour of the world What marueile then if in the close of this example when Paul had shewed his care to haue the Galathians persist in this truth in that he wrote so long a letter vnto them with his owne hand which otherwise he did not vse he did also traduce the pride and pollicie of the false Apostles who partly to aduance themselues because they were Iewes partly to shunne the enuie of their countrimen frustrated the Crosse of Christ by adding circumcision and the obseruation of the law vnto it not that they themselues kept the law but only because they would not suffer persecution for preaching the Crosse of Christ which the vnbeleeuing Iewes so egerly resisted and impugned and withall professed of himselfe that howsoeuer they reioyced in the flesh that is in the circumcision of the Gentils yet God forbid that he should reioyce but in the crosse of Christ as the most sufficient meane of mans Redemption by which he was crucified to the world and the world to him what persecution soeuer he suffered for it And the verses following which you peâ—…uishly pull to patience in persecution pertaine directly to establish the truth and force of Christs Crosse. For in Christ Iesus saith he that is to attaine saluation by Christ crucified neither circumâ—…sion anâ—…leth any thing nor vncircumcision but a new creature that is Regeneration in Christ when the inward man of the hart is renued by faith through the operation of the spirit And as many as walke according to this Rule of doctrine by preaching and beleeuing the crosse of Christ for many walke after an other rule of whom I haue often told you that they are the enimies of the crosse of Christ peace be vpon them and mercy and vpon the Israell of God that is vpon as many as be Iewes within and not without and haue the circumcision of the hart in the spirit not in the flesh whose praise is not of men but of God And therefore from hence forth let no man put me to businesse as if I liked or allowed circumcision when and where pleased me For if I yet preach circumcision why doe I yet suffer persecution the slâ—…inder of the Crosse is abolished and the Iewes haue no cause of offence against me But of the Iewes fiue times receiued I fortie lashes sane one I was thrise beaten with rods I was once stoned I haue beene in stripes aboue measure in prison frequent in death often I beare in my body the markes of the Lord Iesus that is the signes of these persecutions suffered for his cause which prooue that in preaching the crosse of Christ I goe not about to please men but God For if I would please â—…en I were not the seruant of Christ. There is no miscoherence with the Text nor dissidence from the truth in this exposition which not my selfe alone but the auncient Fathers and best Diuines both olde and new haue imbraced yea it fully agreeth with the maine intent of Paul in this Epistle with the perpetuall vse of his words and with the cleare light of other places where
like persons and cause were vndertaken by the Apostle You only are found Sir Discourser that to shew neither learning nor reading but a presumptious ouerweening of your owne witte will needs make the Reader beleeue I vnderstand not the Text. But let vs heare your pure conceit how currantly it carrieth with it the words and circumstances of the Text. They vrge you to be circumcised onely least they should suffer persecution for the crosse of Christ saith Paul of those false teachers which peruerted the truth of the Gospell among the Galathians by teaching circumcision and the righteousnesse of the Law to be necessarie to saluation How expound you these words of the Apostle he may say you be vnderstood to say that he would not suffer persecution for commending the afflictions and shame of good Christians for Christs sake You should say THEY would not suffer persecution vnlesse you put Paul into the number of false teachers but that might be the scape of your Printer Come to your owne ouersights First then Christs personall sufferings are here quite excluded for Christ I trust shall haue an other title with you then the name of a good Christian among the many and so the crosse of Christ in this place by your exposition doth both exclude and include the proper sufferings of Christ. For afore you said here Paul doth ioyntly together vnderstand by Christs crosse the afflictions of the whole mysticall body of Christ both head and members Secondly where euer read you in the Scriptures that the Iewes raized persecutions against any for commending the afflictions of the godly If it be a truth name vs the place and the persons if it be a dreame of yours keepe it to your selfe the Scriptures can expound themselues without your â—…ansies That the Iewes had a furious disdaine and hatred against the person of Christ and specially against the shame and reproch of his crosse and for his sake against all that preached or beleeued him to be the Messias so long before promised and his death to be the Redemption of tâ—…e world the Euangelistes and Apostles euery where in their writings giue full testimony Paul himselfe first persecuting the Christians vnto death and afterward as sharply pursued by the Iewes for the very same cause best knew what offence the Iewes tooke at the infamous death of Christ on the crosse and how egerly they were bent against all that durst professe the name of Christ and therefore could speake in this case out of his owne experience that not the commending of the afflictions of the godly but the preaching of Christs death on the crosse to be the saluation of the world was the point that so much irritated the Iewes to lay violent hands on the Christians Thirdly did circumcision hinder the commending of the afflictions of the godly the Apostles and first spreaders of the Gospell as also Paul himselfe were circumcised and yet the chiefest fauourers and encouragers of the afflicted Christians so that circumcision was no impediment to like and allow the afl ictions of the godly But as Paul saw himselfe to be most odious to the Iewes because they held opinion of him that he taught all men euery where against the people the Law and the Temple and indeed he boldly professed that in Christ Iesus neither circumcision auayled any thing nor vncircumcision and that they were no longer vnder the Law since Christ had redeemed both Iew and Gentile from the curse and bondage of the Law so he could not but discerne the drift of those false teachers who to flatter the Iewes and to claw fauour with the enimies of Christs crosse taught circumcision and the righteousnesse of the law to be necessary vnto saluation as if the death of Christ without them could profit vs nothing You doe therefore not expound but peruert the words of Paul which I tooke for my text when as he reprouing those false teachers whom he before confuted for adding circumcision and the iustification of the law to the death of Christ thereby to mitigate the malice of the Iewes conceaued against the crosse of Christ you turne the Apostles words from doctrine to manners from preaching to not commending from the death of Christ to the afflictions of Christians and so of the highest point of our Redemption and Saluation by the crosse of Christ you haue found out a cold kind of scant allowing the troubles of the Saints But the Fathers which I brought ouerthrow not your sense they rather iustifie it Whether Augustine Chrysostome Ierome and Bede whom I cited for the sense of this place do take the word Crosse in this very sentence for the personall suffeâ—…ings of Christ on the crosse which was my assertion I referre it to the censure of the Reader vpon the sight of their sayings which he may finde in the conclusion of my Sermons I must confesse mine eyes be not matches if they speake not directly to that purpose Howbeit you haue a speciall gift to make a short returne of all the Fathers with a nihil dicit when they speake against you Indeed you are out of your element when you talke of Fathers for you neither like their credits nor allow their iudgements as in processe we shall more fully shew For the present to satisfie those that be soberly minded and to let all men see to your shame that I tooke my text right though you fondly seeke by your silly conceits to impeach it marke I pray thee Christian Reader whether both elder and later Diuines doe not concurre with me in that sense of Christes crosse which I auouched to be in Pauls words Christ was crucified vnder Pontius Pilate This sayth Augustine we beleeue and we so beleeue it that we reioyce in it Be it farre from me sayth Paul to reioyce but in the crosse of Christ. Happily some man sayth Athanasius beholding the Lord and Sauiour to be condemned of Pilate and crucified of the Iewes will cast downe his head for shame But if we learne the cause why the Lord suffered wee shall cease to blush and rather reioyce as Paul did in the Lords crosse Ignatius in his Epistle to those at Tarsus where Paul was borne sayth mindfull of Paul Holde it for most certaine that the Lord Iesus was truely crucified for Paul sayth Be it farre from me to reioyce but in the crosse of our Lord Iesus and truly suffered and died Cyril Be it farre from me to reioyce but in the crosse of the Lord Iesus Paul sayth he reioyceth in the death of Christ he knew Christ therefore to be God and to haue suffered for vs in the flesh Theodoret thus expresseth Pauls meaning Ego autem propter solam salutarem crucem me iacto mihi placeo I onely boast my selfe on that crosse of Christ which bringeth saluation and therewith I content my selfe Theophylact vpon the same words of Paul Illi inquit circumcisionem hanc
containe the reconciliation of man to God who for sin had before forsaken vs and was now pacified by Christes bloud and an entrance giuen vs to the Father by vertue of Christes oblation and petition for vs. Wherefore in their iudgements as Christ then suffered for vs so he prayed in these words for vs and the neere coniunction of Christ with vs as the head with his members made him couer vs and present vs to God vnder his owne name who was then and there no Redeemer of himselfe but of vs. Examples of this speech they haue many and good as where Christ sayd to Paul u Acts 9. Saul Saul why persecutest thou me that is my members And againe I am Iesus whom thou persecutest that is whose members thou pursuest And in one x Matth. 25. Chapter where Christ foresheweth the separation that he will make betweene the sheepe and the goats he calleth his brethren and seruants by the name of himselfe no lesse than two and thirtie times saying y Ibid. vers 35. I was hungrie and ye gaue ME meat I thirsted and ye gaue ME drinke I was a stranger and ye lodged ME z vers 36. I was naked and ye clothed ME I was sicke and ye visited ME and so forth to the number that I named And when the good maruelled how euer they affourded any of these things to him he answereth them a vers 40. Verily I say vnto you in as much as ye did it vnto one of the least of my brethren ye did it vnto me So that this exposition of Christes speech concerneth directly the worke that Christ had then in hand for vs and wanteth not Christes warrant for the vse of his owne words and this sense of that his prayer presenting and commending vs to God that were forsaken of God was of no lesse waight for vs than the rest of his sufferings b Defenc. pag. 108. li. â—…0 Shew me their reasons presse not their authorities So sayth he that hath neither reason nor authoritie and yet presseth his fansie vpon the whole Church against all reason and authoritie Their reasons I haue shewed to stand on a better foundation than your direfull and infernall paines or your astonished confusion and destitution of all inward and outward ioy and comfort And could you with halfe that soundnesse make good your hellish exposition you should not shew so great pride as you now doe For I vtterly denie that your exposition hath any ground in the word of God but resteth onely on your single and sillie surmises in fauour of your owne fansies And since you demand of all the Fathers a reason of all their expositions how come you against all reason and trueth to conclude the paines of the damned to be suffered in Christes soule by pretence of this dereliction when as the word thorowout Dereliction in the Scriptures neuer implieth the paines of the damned the Scriptures neuer implieth the present state or paines of the damned What defence can you haue for your desperate aduenture to plunge Christes soule into the second death which the Scripture calleth the Lake burning with fire and brimstone since you want all as well diuine as humane reason and authoritie c Defenc. pag. 1. 8. li. 31. Your selfe reiect them when you list though when you list againe they must be your best yea your only reason A lie is a good shift with you or els you would often lie in the mire I do no where refuse the faith professed and preached in the primitiue Church of Christ by the learned and ancient Pastours and Guiders thereof I openly confesse Wherein wee should follow the Fathers to God and this Realme I should neuer sleepe quietly if I saw my selfe to be of another faith than they were In other things not pertinent to our saluation and redemption where they themselues tooke libertie either to dissent ech from other in some questions or sometimes vpon better aduice to correct or moderate their former opinions I thinke my selfe not burdened in conscience if I with modestie make choise what I like best Neither doe I account it any disgrace to make their faith deduced and confirmed by the word of God my best or only reason since all hereticks haue subuerted themselues and their followers whiles they would shew their inuentions and with plausible reasons fasten their fansies on the sacred Scriptures not contenting themselues with those sober and sound interpretations of hard places which the Church of Christ with long experience and great diligence had examined and tried And howsoeuer for want of knowledge in the Hebrew tongue they might sometimes come short yet this was their generall care in all their expositions and applications neuer to swarue from the Canons of the Christian faith I speake of those whom the Church accepted and allowed for truely Catholike Yet to their interpretations I binde no mans conscience farther than euident trueth shall appeare to be in them onely I wish others and euen you Sir Inuentour not ouerhastily to despise their iudgements which the Church of God hath so many hundred yeeres reuerenced and followed Howbeit this is a bar sufficient to your bold deuices that where you would deriue your hell paines from Christes complaint on the Crosse I bring you fiue or six expositions of those wordes out of the auntient and catholike fathers whereof you shall neuer be able to refute one which no way touch your hellish torments and thereby teach you if you be capable either of verity or sobriety that your conclusion more then halteth in the highest mysteries of christian Religion d Def. pag. 108 li. 33. li. 38. If these Fathers be vnderstood as before I haue shewed Cyprians meaning to be then they agree iust with our minde herein for then doubtlesse it was for the infinite paines which now he felt in our stead that he so cried out My God my God why hast thou for sakenmee After you haue plaied your part with reuelling at their expositions will you now flatter them afresh ioyne hands with them so they will be of your minde In vaine do you striue to bring them to that which they neuer intended but euer detested What kinde of dereliction Cyprian confesseth to haue beene in Christ is euident by his words e Cyprianus de passione Christi Quod pro eis voluisti intelligi qui deseri à Dea propter peccata meruerant quorum reconciliationis causam agebas in qua alle gator subtilis pro seruis seruilem non dedignaris accipere personam ET IN TANTVM infirmis compatcris vt nec crucifigi nec mori nec crubescas nec forâ—…ides altitudinem tuam derelinquens ad tempus gloriae tuae maiestâ—…tem euacuans vt redeant dispersi respirent derelicti The words of thy complaint on the Crosse sayth Cyprian to Christ thou wouldest haue to be vnderstood for 〈◊〉 who had deserued by their sinnes to be
words of Christes sorow and feare or astonishment vsed by the Euangelists S. Ierom saith p Hieronym in Matth. ca. 26. Caepit contristari aliud est enim contristari aliud incipere contristari Christ began to be sorowfull for it is one thing to be sorowfull and another thing to begin to be sorowfull And so Origen q Origen in Matth. tract 35. Capit pauere vel tristari nihil amplius tristitiae vel pauoris patiens nisi principium tantum Christ began to be afrayd or to be sorrowfull suffering no more but onely the beginning of feare or sorrow And consider sayth he r Ibidem the Euangelist sayth not he was afrayd or he was loaden with sorow but he beganne to be afrayd and sorowfull There is great difference betwixt sorow and the beginning of sorow And so he expoundeth Christes words My soule is heauie vnto death that is Heauinesse is begunne in me so that I am not altogether without some taste thereof The continuance thereof the Scripture noteth not to be such that either bereaued him of memorie or hindred his prayers for both he persisted in earnest and humble Christ did not pray in astonishment prayer wherein he was heard and carefully warned his Apostles that were with him to watch and pray that they entred not into temptation Now prayer requireth not vnderstanding and memory alone but faith also Of euery man that would pray Saint Iames sayth s Iames 1. Let him aske in faith and wauer not for he that wauereth is like the waue of the sea tost with the winde Neither let that man thinke he shall receiue any thing of the Lord. And where by these tastes and touches of feare and sorow you would insinuate your hell paines partly felt and partly further to come S. Austen telleth you that t August 83. quâ—…st quâ—…st 33. cognitu facile est nullum metum esse nisi futuri imminentis mali it is easie to know there is no feare but of future and imminent euill As also u Ibidem Nihil erat inter omnia genera mortis illo genere execrabilius formidolosius Amongst all kindes of death there was none more execrable and formidable than that kinde of death on the crosse which Christ died So that what Christ feared was to come and not present as also he might haue a naturall mislike and feare of that kinde of death respecting as well the paine which would be intolerable as the exactnesse of patience required more in him than in all men liuing because he might admit no declining nor disliking the sharpnesse thereof in the weakenesse of his flesh were it neuer so grieuous This I speake of his bodilie paines besides the feare and sorow that his soule might apprehend for the weightie worke of mans redemption then in hand x Defenc. pag. 115. li. 31. You skip this kind of feare when you recken but foure kinds for this was neither a religious care nor doubtfull feare nor desperate nor damned feare but a right naturall feare in Christ. As though the ground of all these were not a naturall feare and dislike of hell paines For why doe the faithfull decline them the weake conflict with them the desperate sinke vnder them and the damned lie confounded in them but because nature abhorreth and shunneth all kind of paine and consequently the greatest which is hell with the greatest detestation that may be You after your surly sort presume that Christ really felt in the Garden the paines of the damned I admitting no such deuice did yet sufficiently comprise all kinds of feare concerning hell in that diuision of mine since if they were presently felt of Christ as they are of the damned his feare of them must then needs be a damned feare or rather paine because he had as you defend a present sense of them as the damned haue And therefore if you misse no more in your conclusions then I did in my partition your reasons would passe without any iust reproofe y Defenc. pag. 116. Dauid wanted sometime the present feeling of Gods comfortable spirit and mourned dolefully for the want of it albeit yet he was not destitute of his spirit indeâ—…de which also himselfe knew well enough And thus did Christ euen in his greatest plunge of woe for then he called God his God resolutely The example of Dauid maketh nothing for your hell paines to be suffered in the soule of Christ but very much against them and yet betweene Dauids case in that Psalme and Christs there is no comparison For Dauid then was not pressed with any outward affliction but stroken with an inward doubt of Gods fauour towards him whom he had so greatly offended with adultery and homicide and so long dallied with before repentance Christ contrariwise was neuer pressed with any doubt or distrust of Gods fauour towards himselfe but the weakenesse of his flesh was burdened with extreame and intolerable paynes What affinitie then had Dauids feare of reiection with Christs sense of affliction and yet were they like what gaine you by that Dauid was truely penitent when he made that psalme and true repentance I hope putteth not men into the paines of hell Againe Dauid you confesse was not then destitute of Gods spirit which also himselfe knew well enough But the spirit of God is life to the soule of man and quickeneth it Ergo Dauid though he wanted the full peace and ioy of conscience which he calleth saluation yet he liued in soule and was farre from the second death How much more then was Christs soule free from all these things in whom was the fulnesse of Gods spirit with all his gifts and graces any way needfull for the Sauiour of the world though glory were differred and ioy diminished for the time by excesse of paine To wish ease of paine or to grieue at the sharpenesse therof is naturall vnto man and therefore may well be graunted to haue bene in Christ as also to lacke the fulnesse of ioy and comfort till his sufferings were ouer past But he neuer wanted the ioy of saluation nor assurance thereof and therefore he doubled his inuocation on the crosse saying not onely My God my God but Father forgiue them and Father into thine hands I commend my spirit and in the Garden he resolutely pronounced as often if not oftner z Mat. 26. vers 39 42. O my Father Which words doe most apparantly prooue that Christ had neuer any other perswasion suspition or feare but that God was his God and his Father and therefore most certainly bare towards him a fatherly loue and affection though he knew it was his Fathers will he should inwardly and outwardly grieue a while for our sinnes and so receiue ease by death ioy by Paradise and glory by his speedy and heauenly resurrection a Defenc. pag. 116 li. 14. Thirdly adde hereunto Christs owne expresse wordes when in this season he prayeth that this