but relieued supported inwardly by the power of gods spirit in which he reioiced whiles his flesh indured bitter and sharpe torments And this rule When I am weake then am I strong was true in Christ and after his example shall be in all his members For Gods power is perfited in infirmitie Very gladly therefore must all the godlie reioice and take pleasure in their infirmities that the power of Christ may dwell in them How can this be called Christs power if he wanted it in his infirmities and afflictions And if we haue it from him why presume we to take it from him in the time of his sufferinges Shall the scholler be aboue his maister or the seruant more perfect then his Lord Yea then God manifested in the flesh But I hope men learned will take good héede howe they diminish the comfort of Christs crosse we must looke to Iesus the authour and finisher of our faith If he were amazed perplexed and forsaken in his afflictions who shal raise and comfort vs in our extremities Hee that himselfe was astonished and ouerwhelmed with his sufferings on the crosse It may then be said vnto him Phisition heale thy selfe Shall hee comfort vs that could NOT COMFORT himselfe Can wee REIOICE AND TAKE PLEASVRE in following his steppes when hee sanke vnder the burthen and suffered both his fayth and hope for the time to faile But farre be from vs these vnsauorie thoughts and vnséemelie spéeches It was fit that hee from whom and by whom are all things should CONSVMMATE BY AFFLICTIONS THE PRINCE OF OVR SALVATION that shoulde bring many sons vnto glorie the selfe same way that he went before them Which cannot be by doubting distrusting the fauor and help of god much lesse by suffering induring the paines of the damned but by desiring through loue and reioicing vnder hope to take vp Christs crosse and follow him delighting in reproches necessities persecutions and anguish for Christs sake that when his glorie shal appeare we may be glad and reioice with fulnesse of euerlasting ioy Do we then exempt the Lord Christ from all sense of his fathers wrath against our sins whiles we defend in him peace and ioy of the holie ghost as he hung on the crosse There is a feeling of gods wrath which may stand with the pacification consolation of the inward man and there is a sense of Gods wrath which ouerthroweth both and bréedeth a fearful apprehension of Gods displeasure towards vs in which is neither peace nor comfort All the miseries of mans life whatsoeuer they be came first froÌ„ the force of gods wrath reuenging sin and therfore not only death damnation but al kinds of troubles paines griefs in our states bodies and minds which shorten or sower this present life are degrees of gods wrath chasticements of our transgression and corruption When the plague was kindled amongst the people for murmuring against Moses AaroÌ„ Moses said to Aaron take y e censer put fire incense therein go quickly vnto the congregation and make an atonemeÌ„t for theÌ„ for there IS VVRATH GONE OVT FROM THE LORD the plague is begun When the prophet Iehu reproued Iehosaphat for aiding Achab the king of Israel he said wouldst thou help the wicked and loue them that hate the lord euen for this cause WAS THE VVRATH OF THE LORD VPON THEE The prophet Esay comforting the church saith Awake awake and stand vp ô Ierusalem which hast drunke at the hand of the Lord THE CVP OF HIS VVRATH By the prophet Micheas the Church humbleth her selfe vnder the hande of God in these wordes I will BEARE THE VVRATH of the Lord because I haue sinned against him vntill he plead my cause and execute iudgement for me Euerie where the like is vsed in the scriptures I VVAS VVROTH with my people and gaue them into thine hand saith God to Babylon and thou didst shewe them no mercie but didst lay a verie heauie yoke vpon the auncient So Ieremie complaineth to God Thou hast vtterly reiected vs thou art EXCEEDINGLY ANGRY VVITH VS These and many such places more mention the wrath of God which the saints seruants of god tasted and felt for their sinnes but they do not import that Gods eternall fauour and loue towards his children in heauenlie things was vanished or changed The foundation of God standeth sure yea the gifts and calling of God are without repentance And therefore it is vtterlie impossible that Gods election should alter or that hee should not loue his owne vnto the end but iudgement beginning at the house of God wee are chastened of the Lord that wee should not be coÌ„demned with the world And albeit y t bitternes of affliction some time bite so neere that the conscience of our sinnes accusing vs as vnworthie to bee the sonnes of God feare calleth Gods fauour in question for the time yet that temptation riseth from the guiltines of our hearts and weaknesse of our faith which giueth way to the diuel otherwise as we ought to béene god will be merciful to our iniquities remember our sinnes no more for his couenant made with vs in the bloud of his sonne so should we bee fallie perswaded that when we endure chastening bee it neuer so sharpe God offereth himselfe vnto vs as vnto sonnes for what sonne is it whome the father chasteneth not So that if wee bee without correction whereof all are partakers wee are bastards and not sonnes since God chasteneth vs for our profite that wee might be partakers of his holines This correction and chastisement of God because it seemeth greeuous for the present and not ioyous is called in the scriptures the rodde and wrath of God not that Gods loue ceaseth when he correcteth his children for whom the Lord loueth he chasteneth and he scourgeth euery sonne that hee receiueth But as the blessings which he abundantly bestoweth on vs do manifest his gracious and vndeserued mercy so the plagues with which he visiteth our sinnes do witnes his righteous and prouoked iudgement And in that sense must we reckon them to be the signes and effects of Gods wrath For as he is iustly offended with our iniquities because they resist his will dishonour his name and grieue his holie spirit by whoÌ„ we are sealed vnto the day of redemption so when hee chasteneth our transgressions the scourge which we feele is trulie said to be the wrath of God not that God is touched with anie peâ—turbation or alteration in himselfe but his iustice leadeth him to inflict that punishment on vs as well to bring vs to hate that we haue done by godlie sorrow as to make vs more warie how we attempt the like which is religious feare restraining vs from often and easie offending the maiesty and sanctitie of God But this vengeance of our sinnes because
partes yea the chiefest partes and effectes of Gods wrath against sinne This is far from your meaning as you often protest Trulie I beléeue it charitie leades me to thinke though you be somewhat foolish in this cause that yet you are not so diuelish as to fasten these things on the sonne of God But you must also be so wise as to sée that if your antecedent be general these wil follow whether you mean them or no if your antecedent be not general but indefinite as Christ suffered the wrath of God due to sinne that is some partes and effectes of Gods wrath due to sinne you shall neuer make choise in your conclusion which parts he suffered as namelie the true paines of hel of the damned Now choose which you will either the inualiditie of your argument or the impietie of your antecedent the one will proue you to lack learning that you sée not the difference the other that you want christianity if you should not with mouth disclaim and with hart detest that horrible blasphemie You wil pretend I know your conclusion is not general no more indeed is it your words are therfore Christ suffered for vs the wrath of God but this conclusion beeing indefinite and verie doubtfull will do you no good in the fortifieng of your cause For Christ may suffer the wrath of God in his bodie yea in his soule hee maie suffer it and yet not the paines of the damned or of hell but because you make this the maine foundation of your whole matter let vs looke somewhat better into it You labour to proue by a long processe that Christ suffered the wrath of God for sinne First then what meane you by the wrath of God I hope you doe not meane anie inwarde affection or perturbation in God but as you expoâ—nde your selfe the verie effectes of his iust wrath you shoulde saie of his iustice and power punishing sinne And this warning gentle Reader if thou bee simple I must giue thee for the learned knowe it of themselues that when thou readest in the scriptures or hearest me reason of the wrath of God thou doe not imagine that God is mooued with anie inwarde mutation but the punishment ordained for sinne by the iustice of God or inflicted on vs when we haue sinned by the hand of God whatsoeuer mean it please him to vse is called the wrath God Ambrose saieth well Ira est non ei qui iudicat sed illi qui iudicatur It is no wrath to God that iudgeth but to him that is is iudged Quia culpas percutit irasci dicitur saieth Gregorie God is saide to be angrie because he punisheth our sinnes And so Austen Ira deâ—non perturbatio animi eius est sed iudicium quo irrogatur pana peccato The wrath of God is no affection of mind in him but his iudgment whereby punishment is inflicted for sinne The conclusion is nomine irae intelligitur vindicta iniquitatis by the name of Gods wrath is vnderstoode the punishment of iniquitie It is then euident that by the name of Gods wrath throughout the scriptures is vnderstoode the vengeance or punishment prepared or inflicted for the sinnes of men Nowe what particular punishmentes God hath prouided for sinne as well in this life as the next to chastise and reuenge both the bodies and soules of sinners woulde aske long time to rehearse The greatest and foarest are these iudgementes which are executed on the wicked in the worlde to come to witte reiection from the kingdome of God and condemnation to hell fire where not onelie darkenesse amazeth the eies and remembrance of sinne committed afflicteth the conscience but an intolerable flame of fire tormenteth both soule and bodie for euer These terrible iudgementes of GOD against sinne the Scriptures publish and denounce to men in this life that if the loue of heauen doe not winne them to obedience the feare of hell shoulde hold them from resisting and contemning God The greatest torment that in this life canne befall a sinner is desperation when the soule of man conuinced in her selfe by the number of her hainous ofsences loseth all hope of life to come and casteth her eies wholie on the fearefull tormentes of hell prepared for her the continuall thought and fright whereof doe so amaze and afflict the comfortlesse soule that shee sinking vnder the burden feeleth in her selfe the horrour of hell before shee come to it So that the losse of heauen and feare of hell maie torment wicked and desperate persons in this life but the execution thereof after this life shall breede an other manner of astonishment and torment then they canne yet conceaue If the thought of these iudgementes and punishmentes ordayned by Gods power and iustice for sinners so afflict men what shall the sight doe If the feare of hell bee so intolerable what shall the flame bee when therefore you saie Sir Refuter Christ suffered for vs the wrath of God wee must not content our selues with that generall worde you must tell vs in particular what partes and effectes of GODS wrath Christ endured before you canne auouch that which hee suffered to bee equall to hell and all the tormentes thereof Did hee suffer hell fire either in soule or in bodie the damned shall suffer it in both Did hee finde or feare himselfe to be excluded from the kingdome of God the damned doe see themselues shut out for euer If hee neither felt nor feared the MYST the VVORME the FIRE of hell nor so much as DOVBTED the LOSSE of Gods kingdome what tormentes equall to hell canne you name vs The wrath of God you will saie is equall to hell and all the torments thereof The wrath of God is hell and so are all the tormentes of hell yea they are the sharpest effectes of Gods wrath against sinne And therefore neuer plaie with generalities and ambiguities but expresse plainly what other effectes of Gods wrath you meane For since the losse of heauen the darkenesse worme and fire of hell and the feare of both bee the greatest and sorest iudgementes of God against sinne that are decreed by his iustice reuealed by his word and executed by his power in this life or the nexte wee plainelie and truelie saie you can name vs none other effectes of Gods wrath equall to these If then it be haynous impietie to saie Christ suffered these and none other are equall to these take backe your lauishing vntruth that Christ suffered the effects of Gods wrath equal to hel and all the tormentes thereof for my part I see neither sense nor reason in it But it shalbe soundlie and euidently prooued Will you prooue you know not what Tell first what effects of gods wrath you meane and then on with your proofes Your meaning may be such as you shall neuer prooue It may be such as we wil easely graunt For touching your words which you take for the castel of your cause Christ
hee shall saie no such thing as this is to bee repelled from the honour of that blessed glorie Neither of these two could be in the person of our Sauiour much lesse the paine of hell fier no nor so much as the feare or doubt that anie of these should or could light vppon him which amazeth and driueth the wicked to desperation in this life and often afrighteth the godlie when they behold and consider the horror of their owne sinnes and the dreadfull power of the Iudge But this feare could not possesse the soule of our Sauiour being alwaies most assured of Gods fauour and certainelie knowing not onlie the counsell and decree of his father that annointed and sent him to saue his people from their sinnes but chieflie the coniunction of his humane nature with his diuine in the vnitie of his person which neither sinne nor death nor diuell nor hell could infringe or frustrate And touching the feare of hell torments which this discourser would faine hide vnder the name of Gods wrath heare Christian Reader what an ancient father or two saie Cyrill examining the cause of Christs teares and praiers in the garden and of his words my soule is sorrowfull vnto death repelleth the feare of hell to be the cause therof with some indignation Sed infernum timâ—it inquiunt mirum est quod haec audeant dicere But he feared hell they saie It is a marueilous thing that they dare so saie And when others affirmed congruit ipsi mortem formidare periculum suspicari flere in teÌ„tationibus et opus habere alterius manu vt seruetur ad haec discere obedientiam ex iis quae teÌ„taÌ„do passus est It was fit for Christ to feare death to suspect danger to weepe in temptations to haue neede of another to saue him and to learne obedience by those temptations which he suffered Cyrill replieth hoc est absurdè loqui sentire this is an ABSVRD BOTH SPEECH AND THOVGHT His owne opinion is this Igitur nos eramus in illo tanquam in secundo generis principio cum clamore valido non sine lachrymâ—s adorantes aboleri mortis imperium roborarique vitam olim naturae donatam precantes Therefore wee were in Christ as in the second roote of our nature worshipping with strong cries teares praying the imperie of death might bee abolished and the life which was giuen to man at the first strengthned Athanasius in like manner Quî quaeso non absurdum impiumque hunc dicere mortem aut infernum exhorâ—uisse ad cuius conspectum Ianitores inferorum metu se contraxerunt How I praie you can it be but ABSVRD and IMPIOVS to saie that Christ feared death or hell at the sight of whom the keepers of hell for feare shruncke awaie Hilarie hauing cited Christs praier in the garden and his complaint on the Crosse and his commending his soule into his fathers handes as proofes brought by others of Christs feare at the tyme of his passion saith hoc legens non intelligens aut piè tacuisses aut etiam religio se intelligentiam eius orasses non magis per impudentem assertionem stulto furore veritatis incapax vagaueris Anne tibi metuere infernum chaos torrentes flammas omnem paenarum vltricium abyssum credendus est dicens latroni in cruce Amen dico tibi hodie mecum eris in Paradiso Reading this and not vnderstanding it thou shouldest either with pietie hould thy peace or religiouslie praie for the right vnderstanding thereof and not with an impudent assertion wander in a foolish madnesse as vncapable of the trueth Wilt thou beleeue Christ feared hell gulfe and those burning flames and depth of penall vengeance when as hee told the thiefe on the Crosse verelie I saie to thee this daie shalt thou bee with mee in Paradice What would these fathers haue saied to these that defend Christ suffered the verie same torments of hell which the damned doe when they are soe earnest against such as imagined Christ might haue some feare of hell In that which is past I haue giuen thee a view Christian an Reader how scornfully this Confuter reiecteth the iudgments of the auncient fathers by mee alleaged touâ—â—ing the causes of Christs agonie in the garden and his complainte on the Crosse as likewise how forgetfullie hee changeth or purposelie maimeth my reasons that hee maie the better auoyde them and thirdlie how vncertayne his propositions and how lame his conclusions are that hee maketh for his owne side yea often such as ouerthrowe his owne assertion Thou shalt heare now some of his speciall reasons as hee calleth them but as the trueth is some of his speciall absurdities and impieties wherein I will be no longer then of force I must bee I take little pleasure in raking such an vncleane sinke The first is Christ suffered the paines and sorrowes for sinne which we should This proposition Sir confuter if you take it indefinitlie as it lieth prooueth nothing for you you maie do well to goe to the Uniuersitie againe whence you came afore you were wise and there learne to put quantitie to your propositions that wee maie know when you speake of any thing whether you meane ALL or SOME for if you meane here that Christ suffered ALL that wee should this proposition is an horrible blasphemie then Christ suffered the LOSSE of Gods GRACE SPIRITE FAVOVR LIFE and KINGDOME for so should wee then hee was plunged into finall desperation irreuocable malediction and eternall condemnation for so should wee You are farre from that frensie you will saie I hope so too neither doe I charge you with it but if your proposition bee generall you cannot auoide it and therefore after your loose and trifling manner you sette downe a doubtfull assertion that maie serue for all or for part of y â— which wee should haue suffered If you meane but part then your proposition prooueth no such thing as you intend For you would faine from hence inferre that Christ suffered the paines of hell which were due to vs if hee suffered but part of that which wee should a wise Christian will suppose anie part rather then the paines of hell howbeit the Apostle teacheth mee to saie that Christ died for our Sinnes according to the Scriptures and that death was the death of the Crosse He humbled himself became obedient vnto death euen to the death of the crosse That is no sufficieÌ„t answere you wil saie because on the Crosse He sustained our sorrowes as Esaie said he should The wordes of Esaie are not as you would faine haue them he bare ALL our sorrowes for then he must haue sorrowed for the losse of gods grace fauour kingdome as I said before but the prophet saith he bare our sorrowes which maie receiue a double construction and either of them verie religious and christian The first whatsoeuer hee felt or
become an ale-house where no maÌ„ should heare you but in the face of the world to bray after this sort is tolerable in no man but in you that neither know what you say nor see what you should prooue nor vnderstaÌ„d what maketh with you or against you You no sooner reade in any maÌ„ new or olde mention of Gods wrath or of death but you straight fansy that he meaneth your hel paines the death of the soule and so you play with the homilies allowed by the lawes of this Realme Where because you find that Christ interposed himselfe betweene the wrath of God vs to auert it from vs you forthwith resolue the Homilies teach your doctrine But awake Sir Refuter and you shall sée great difference betwixt the doctrine taught in the booke of Homilies and publikely approoued by the lawes of this Realme your frenzies that Christ DIED the DEATH of the SOVLE that the VVHOLE CVRSE of God was executed on Christ that he was by our sins defiled sinful hateful accursed that al the powers of his soule senses of his body were ouerwhelmed distracted and all confounded that he felt the verie Diuels to be instruments executing the wrath of God vpon him that the sufferings of Christs soule by Sympathie as you call it that is from and by the body make not to our redemption that Christs soule died and was crucified where it is absurd and most false to say Christ was made aliue ether in his humane soule or by the same these and an hundred such absurdities and impieties haue no allowance in the bookes of Homilies nor any thing sounding towards your hellish paines of the damned The doctrine there taught is sound true and plaine that we are redeemed by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus that such was the iust displeasure of God against our sinnes that though he were his owne son that vndertooke the cause for vs the iustice of God pursued him with most painfull smart and anguish euen vnto death and forced the weaknesse of his humane flesh to crie my God my God why hast thou forsaken mee But you content not your selfe with this you must haue him suffer the verie paines of the damned in Hell or nothing His bodilie death were it neuer soe paynefull and sharpe you make light account of the theeues crucified with Christ suffered you say as great bodily violence as he did yea wicked vngodly men indure with boldnes great ioy far more exquisite barbarous tormeÌ„ts sharper tortures as touching the body then Christ could endure and therefore in plaine words you saie such follie in the sonne of God bee it farre from yâ—u once to imagine as that he should stagger shrink or faile for any corporal tormentes whatsoeuer forgetting what Ambrose writeth Neque enim habent fortitu linis laudem qui stuporem magis vulnerum tulerunt quaÌ„ dolorem it can haue no praise of fortitude to be desperately confirmed rather then patientlie subiected vnto paine of torments And what AusteÌ„ confesseth Nihil erat tunc IN CARNE INTOLERABILIVS there was nothing more intolerable in the flâ—sh then the crosse of Christ as likewise what Bernarde resolueth Nec aliquo modo dubitandum quin infirmitatem exterminationem corporis incomparabilem sustinuerit it must not be doubted but Christ suffered incomparable weakenes and torment of body For this if you did striue it were to be tolerated for that which no father euer testified nor scripture euer affirmed when you shew your selfe so eager you bewray your humor you benefit not your cause Thou hast heard christian Reader what things I haue misliked in the first part of this opponents pamphlet but nothing more then this that he wasteth so manie wordes and neither expresseth what hee meaneth nor proueth what hee pretendeth All that he hath saide is this in effect Christ suffered in soule the wrath and curse of God foâ— our sinne or due to sinne but these are so generall termes that in parte they bee true in parte they bee false and therefore hee that walketh in these cloudes and descendeth not to particulars meaneth to hide his heade vnder the Couert of these generalities when neede is and out of these to fashion to himselfe such assertions as please best his humour The waâ—e to come by a trueth is to specifie the partes of Gods wrath and curse which they suppose Christ suffered and then shall wee in fewe wordes trie whether those sufferings accord with the rules and groundes of the scriptures or no. And this I foretell because if hee or anie other for him bee disposed to reuiue his cause hee must not bring a sacke full of words for so waightie matters but plainlie and particularlie declaring what he holdeth and proouing what he affirmeth go directly to the point and then by Gods grace we shall soone trie where trueth standeth But if anie man will draw the grounde of our redemption to generall and ambiguous termes which shall still increase contention to noe purpose I meane not to repell words with words till they answere these proofes I will not trouble my selfe with their emptie phrases In the second Question of Christs descent to hell I shall not hold thee long gentle reader because this babler forgetting what I sayd concerning the proofe and purpose of Christs descent to hell runneth a new course to Pagans and Poets for help to expound that article of our Creede and there presumeth himselfe to be so strong that of the rest he doth prate without reason or remembrance The end of Christs descent to hell I noted out of Athanasius Fulgentius and others and prooued their speach conformable to the Scriptures the places thou hast in the latter part of the treatise I meane not to increase this close with néedlesse repetitions The CoÌ„futer belike distracted and distempered with the cogitation and confusion of his hell paines vtterly mistaketh or forgetteth the whole He supposeth Christs descent to hell had none other purpose but to triumph and insult vpon the thrice miserable and wofull wretches in their present vnspeakeable damnation infinitely confounded alreadie inferreth Sure a verie sorie triumph this were for the sonne of God which euen among men were nothing but dishonorable but if his braines be so briâ—kle that he can neither conceaue nor carrie awaie what I sayd I must not beate it into his head that I then preached is here now printed let him refell it if hee can Soe when I made the subduing of hell and treading on Satan with all the power of darknesse a chiefe part of the glorie of Chrits resurrection this scorner in his foolish conceite mocketh at it and saith a worthie priuiledge surelie and verie honorable All men would thinke it a greater honour neuer to haue come in hell at all For his actuall triumphing in hell all the world knoweth is the most inglorious and vilest debasing In sadnes Syr refuter if
The effect of certaine Sermons TOVCHING THE FVLL REDEMPTION of mankind by the death and bloud of CHRIST IESVS WHEREIN Besides the merite of Christs suffering the manner of his offering the power of his death the comfort of his Crosse the glorie of his resurrection Are handled What paines Christ suffered in his soule on the Crosse Together With the place and purpose of his descent to hel after death Preached at Paules Crosse and else where in London by the right Reuerend Father Thomas Bilson Bishop of Winchester With a conclusion to the Reader for the cleering of certaine obiections made against the said doctrine 1. Corinth 3. I esteeme not to knowe any thing saue Christ Iesus and him crucified Athanasius de Incarnatione verbi dei Therefore the sonne of God tooke to him a bodie that might die that enduing it with a reasonable soule it might suffice for a full satisfaction to Death for all Imprinted at London by Peter Short for Walter Burre and are to be sold in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Flower deluce 1599. To the Christian Reader IT is some time since good Christian Reader that lying in London and preaching at Paules Crosse as the feast of Easter drawing neer did admonish mee I made choice to speake of the redemption of mankinde by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus And because that Citie then had and yet hath as manie learned and religious preachers so some conceited and too much addicted to nouelties who spared not in their Catechisings and readings to vrge the suffering of the verie paines of hell in the soul of Christ on the crosse as the chiefest part and maine ground of our Redemption by Christ I finding how fast that opinion had increased since it was first deuised and doubting where it would end thought it my dutie publikelie to warne them that were forward in defending this fansie to take heed how farre they waded in that late sprong speculation For as these words of Dauid The sorrowes of hell besieged me and these of Ionas Out of the belly of hel I cried thou heardest my voice may be tolerablie applied to Christ if they be metaphorically interpreted of Christ as the scriptures meane them in Dauid and Ionas so if wee grow from the figuratiue vse of the worde HELL to the proper signification thereof and rise from the degrees of sorrowes and feares which pursue the Saints in this life to the highest sense and suffering of ALL and THE VERIE SAME paines and punishments which the damned do and shall endure for euer freeing Christ from nothing but from the place and continuance of hell vve make not a curious and superfluous but an erroneous and daungerous addition to the mysterie of our Saluation The better to slacke their inconsiderate heate I laboured to prooue these foure pointes vnto them First that it was no where recorded in the holie Scriptures nor iustlie to bee concluded by the Scriptures that Christ suffered the true paines of hell and so the Consciences of the faythfull coulde not iustlie bee forced to the necessarie beleeuing of anie such strange assertion Secondlie that as the Scriptures describe to vs the paines of the damned and of hell there are manie terrors and torments which without euident impietie cannot be ascribed to the Sonne of God as namely extreame Darkenesse Desperation Confusion vtter separation reiection and exclusion from the grace fauour and kingdome of God remembrance of sinne gnawing the conscience horrour of Diuels tormented and tormenting and flame of fire intolerablie burning both bodie and soule Thirdlie that the death and bloud of Christ Iesus were euidentlie frequentlie constantlie set downe in the writinges of the Apostles as the sufficient price of our Redemption and true meane of our reconciliation to God and the verie same proposed in the figures resembled in the sacrifices of the Lawe and sealed with the Sacraments of the new Testament as the verie grounde worke of our saluation by Christ and so haue beene receaued and beleeued in the Church of God fourteene hundred yeares before anie man euer made mention of hell paines to bee suffered in the soule of Christ. Lastlie where the Scriptures are plaine and pregnant that Christ DIED for our sinnes and by his DEATH destroied him that had power of death euen the Diuell and reconciled vs when we were strangers and enemies IN THE BODIE OF HIS FLESH THROVGH DEATH for wee are reconciled to God by the DEATH of his sonne and sanctified by THE OFFERING OF THE BODIE of Iesus Christ once who himselfe bare our sinnes in his BODIE on the Tree where hee was put to death concerning the FLESH Besides that the holie Ghost in these places by expresse wordes nameth the bodilie death of Christ as the meane of our redemption and reconciliation to God no considerate diuine might affirme or imagine Christ suffered the Death of the soule for so much as the Death of the soule must exclude Christ from the grace spirit and life of God and leaue in him neither faith hope nor loue sanctitie nor innocencie which God forbid anie Christian man shoulde so much as dreame Wee shoulde therefore do well to reuerence the manifest wordes of Gods Spirit in so high a pointe of Religion and suffer our selues as schollers to bee taught by the leader into all trueth what to beleeue and confesse in the mystery of our redemption and not to controle or correct the doctrine so cleerelie deliuered in the Scriptures so consonantlie retained of all learned and vnlearned in the Church of Christ for so many hundred yeares And if anie man to maintaine his deuise woulde inuent a newe hell and another death of the soule then either scriptures or fathers euer heard or spake of they shoulde keepe their inuentions to themselues it sufficed me to beleeue what I read and consequently not to beleeue what I did not read in the word of God which is and ought to be the foundation of our faith Thus farre I purposed when I first entered by Gods grace to proceede in this cause according to y e simple vnderstanding wherwith god hath endued me for the good of his Church The article of the Creed Christ DESCENDED INTO HELL I meant not to meddle with choosing rather to leaue y t vntouched then to presse any sense as a point of faith for vvhich I had not so full and faire warrant as for the redemption of man by the death and blood of Christ Iesus but the vehemencie of some contradicting that I taught and the importunitie of others requesting to knowe what they might safelie beleeue of that article made mee to alter my minde For whē some vrged others doubted that if Christ did not suffer the paines of hell whiles he hung on the Crosse that part of the Creed was added in vaine and the wordes of Dauid Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell applied by Peter vnto Christ in
earth with his bloud it was declared not to him who knewe it but vnto vs that he had obtained the effect of his praier with his bloud to purge the faith of his Disciples which earth lie frailtie did weaken and whatsoeuer offence the earth had taken at his death al that he dying should abolish yea with his innocent death he should raise vnto an heauenlie life the whole world then dead in their sinnes Bernard taketh hold on S. Pauls wordes where hee calleth Christes sweate by the name of teares and â—aith Ventum est adorationem vsque tertiò factus in Agoâ—ia orabat vbi quidem non solis oculis sed quasi omnibus membris sleuisse videtur vt totuÌ„ corpus eius quod est ecclesia totius corporis lachrymis purgaretur Christ came to praier and being in an agony he praied thrise where he seemed to weepe not onelie with his cies but with all the parts of his body that the whole body of his Church might bee purged with the teares of his whole body S. Paul alleageth the cries and teares of Christ in the garden as a proofe of his priesthood saith that not onlie He offered praiers supplications which was one part of y e priests office wherein hee was heard for the reuerence had of him But also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being sanctified to offer sacrifice for so the word doth often signifie or else consummated by the offering of himselfe on the crosse which was the other part of his priestlie function was made authour of eternall saluation to all that obey him being thus called and allowed of God to bee an high priest after the order of Melchizedec Christ readie to enter the garden saith Proâ—eis sanctifico meipsum for their sakes I sanctifie my selfe and sanctification properlie belonged to the priestes person before hee might appeare in Gods presence to offer for the sinnes of the people and by the rite of Moses lawe the priestes when they were sanctified vnto God had their bodies sprinkled with the bloud of their sacrifice from top to toe Christ then being the truth of all their figures as well in the sanctification as oblation of himselfe might miraculouslie sprinkle his whole bodie with his own bloud for it was aboue nature as Hilarie noteth and so consceraâ—e his person as approoued of God to be the true priest after the order of Melchizedec and voluntarilie dedicate his bloud to be shed for the remission of our sinnes which hee did of his owne accord yeeld to be disposed of at his fathers pleasure before the Iewes or Gentiles wounded his bodie that his whole passion which followed might bee a willing sacrifice and no forced violence by the handes or weapons of the wicked Christes agonie then being alleaged by the Apostle to demonstrate Christs priesthood must not rise from the terror of his own death but rather from the vehemencie of his praier for vs that it might bee aswell an intercession for sinners as a sanctification of himselfe to offer the sacrifice auaileable for the sinnes of the world To which if anie will adde the signification of the martyrs bloud which Austen speaketh of as if Christ in the garden did not onelie present his owne bloud to be the true propitiation of our sinnes but also the bloud of his martyrs to make their death acceptable to God that willinglie laide downe their liues for the witnes of his truth I can be well content to admit that exposition considering Christ must offer both the liues and deathes of all his saintes to God his father before they can be holie or precious in his sight But since Christes feare as they expound the Apostles words Hebre. 5. is made the groundworke of this conceipt let vs see whether their owne foundation wil not ouerthrow their owne building The paines of hell did Christ when hee praied in the garden feare them or no if hee did not feare them hee did not féele them for they are fearefull yea the verie expectation of them is verie dreadful as the Apostle saith Hebre. 10 and if he feared them not howe could they bee the cause of his agonie which these men so stiflie maintaine If he feared them he was fréed from them as they themselues interprete the worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for hee was heard in that he feared His praier was to haue that cup passe from him and God neuer denied whatsoeuer he asked I know saith Christ to his father that thou hearest me alwaies Whence they conclude he feared hell paines thence I infer hee suffered them not for being deliuered from the feare of hell approching he could not be left vnder the burden of hell abiding Againe if the suffering of hell were the cause of Christs agony the cause continuing the effect could not cease But his agonie ended in the garden how then could the paines of hell endure on the crosse and be lengthened almost to the end of his life Ierome saith vpon these wordes of Christ to his disciples Arise let vs go least they finde vs as though we were fearefull and drawing backe let vs of our owne accorde goe towardes them vt considentiam gaudium passuri videant that they may see the confidence and gladnesse of Christ going to his passion The continuance of Christes agonie they proue by his complaint on the crosse where not long before he yeelded vp his spirit he cried My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and these words they saie do plainelie conuince that Christ felt himselfe forsaken of God and that this was the true cause of his agonie whatsoeuer pretences are inuented by others to excuse or colour his feare Indeede this place must beare the burden of the whole frame for the rest are onlie signes of sorrowe and zeale the scriptures not expressing the cause but here are manifest wordes if wee mistake not their reference My father is greater then I am were words as cleare as daie light but the referring that to the diuine which hee spake of his humane nature bred the Arrian heresie My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee are not so plaine for the saints of God haue often complained vnto God that they were forsaken of him when he withdrew neither his fauour grace nor spirit from them but onelie withhelde his helpe or comfort for the time to make them more earnest to séeke and flie to him But were they neuer so pregnant if we applie them to the wrong part which God neuer forsooke we may incurre as grosse an errour as euer did Arrius And yet if we straine them to the vttermost they will neuer proue that Christ on the crosse suffered the paines of hell For if we should grant which were diuelish impietie to thinke that God forsooke Christes soule as verelie as euer hee did anie of the wicked heere on earth Cain Saul Iudas not excepted yet that doth not
him alone in the power of his pursuers vntill he died Vt homo loquitur meos circumferens metus quod in periculis positi a domino deseri nos putamus Christ speaketh as a man saith Ambrose bearing about him my feares for y t we when we are in danger think our selues forsaken of God Ne mireris querimonias derelicti cum scandalum crucis videas Maruaile not at Christes complaint that he was forsaken when as thou seest how he was vsed on the crosse Derelictus est Christus pro parte carnis Christ was forsaken in his passion as touching his flesh A third is that Christs godhead together with his humane soule were then departing from his bodie and leauing it vnto death Tertullian Deus Filium dereliquit cum hominem eius tradidit in mortē Ita relinqui a patre fuit mori filio God forsooke his sonne in that he deliuered his humanity vnto death So for the sonne to die was to be forsaken of his father Hilarie Habes conquerentem se esse relictum ad mortem quia homo est vt intelligentia nostra sit homo mortuus deus regnans Thou heardest Christ complaine that hee was left vnto death that we should conceiue he died as a man he raigned as a God And againe Clamor ad deum corporis vox est recedentis a se verbi dei contestata dissidium relinquitur quia erat homo etiam morte peragendus Christes complaint vnto God that hee was forsaken is the voice of his body testifying the separation of the diuine nature from it for a time He is forsaken because he was a man to be consummated by his death Epiphanius saith hee spake these words When he saw his deitie with his soule readie to depart from the person of his humanity to forsake his body A fourth is that where God for sin had refused and forsaken man euen from the fall of Adam Christ nowe exalted on the tree reconciled mankind vnto God and slue hatred making peace by his prayer betwixt God man Cyril whē Adam transgressed the diuine commaundement mans nature was after a sort forsaken of God and therby subiected to a curse and death These words of Christ therfore Erant soluentis manifesté derelictionem quae nobis acciderat quasi placantis in hoc patrē c. Were the manifest remouing of that derelictiō which fel on vs and as it were an appeasing his father and procuring his fauor towards vs as towards himself Basil Dicit haec dominus primitiae humanae naturae pro vniuersa The lord speaketh these words for all mankind as being the first fruits of mās nature Otherwise of his own person it is true that Athanasius saith Neque enim à patre derelinqui potuit quia semper est in patre antequam hanc vocem ederet post quam edidisset Ecce enim dicente cur me dereliquisti ostendit pater sevt semper antea ita tum quoque in filio fuisse He could not be forsaken of his father who was alwaies in his father both before and after he spake these words Behold as hee vttered these words why hast thou forsaken me the father shewed himselfe to be euen then in his sonne as he was at all times before For the earth feeling the weight of her Lord straight wayes trembled the vaile rent the Sunne darkened the stones claue the dead rose The fift that Christ putteth vs in mind by these wordes to acknowledge the cause why God doth often not heare our prayers but in refusing our desires prouideth better for vs then if we had our wils Vox ista quare me dereliquisti doctrina est nō querela Nam cum in Christo dei hominis vna sit persona nec ab eopotuerit relinqui à quo non poterat separari pro nabis trepidis infirmis interrogat curcaro pati metuens exaudita non fuerit This speach saith Leo My God my God why hast thou forsaken me is an instruction and no complaint For where in Christ there is but one person of God and man and he could not be forsaken of God from whom he could not bee separated he asketh the question for vs that are fearefull weak why flesh fearing to suffer is not heard Vnde ipsa vox non exanditi magni est expositio sacramenti quod nihil humano generi conferret redemptoris potostas si quod petebat nostra obtineret infirmitas The verie wordes of him that was not heard open to vs a great mysterie to witte that the power of the redeemer coulde doe mankinde no good if our infirmitie might obtaine what it woulde aske Origen sayth In respect of that in which consisted the inuisible forme of God Christ was forsaken of his father where hee tooke the shape of a seruant and came to the death of the Crosse which amongst men was most shamefull So that for Christ to become man and to suffer on the Crosse was to bee forsaken of God in comparison of that glorie which hée had with his Father before all worldes The last exposition is that when the Iewes reproched Christ on the Crosse as reiected of God he with a loud voice that all might hear sang or cited the beginning of the 21. Psalme wherein it was by the Prophet Dauid foreshewed that the true Messias and sauiour of the worlde should suffer all those wronges and shames which they had heaped on him and thereby taught them that they had gathered themselues togither to do whatsoeuer the hand and counsaile of God had determined before to be done The Lord saith Ierom hanging on the Crosse vseth this verse My God my God why hast thou forsaken me by which wee perceiue that in the Crosse he sang the whole Psalme as directly pertaining to his passiō Christ spake these words saith Chrysostom that the Iewes might know hee honoured his father to the last breath and that God was not his enemie as they obiected for which cause he vsed the Prophet Dauids words to verifie or fulfill the scripture of the old testament All these interpretations are sound and stand well with the rules of christian pietie without dishonouring the person or disturbing the faith of Christ therfore I cannot but maruel what reason our late writers had to refuse them all and deuise another exposition of their owne which imploieth not onlie desperation in Christs soule if wee presse the wordes and the dissolution of Christes person but an euident contradiction to all that Christ did or saide on the crosse or in iudgement after the Iewes had once laide handes on him For if these words be referred to the soule of Christ and unport a generall and true dereliction which must be supposed before the paines of hell can thence be concluded Christ féeling and confessing himselfe to bee forsaken of God coulde haue neither faith nor
part which moderation I wish in you all What I reade in the word of God that I beleeue what I do not reade that I doe not beleeue In Gods causes wee maie not easily leaue Gods words and with a new kind of speach make way for a new kinde of faith We must learne from God what to beléeue and not by correcting or inuerting his words teach him how to speake Since therefore redemption and remission of sinnes are euerie where in the scriptures referred to the death and bloud of Christ I dare not so much as thinke the words of the holie ghost in one of the greatest mysteries of our christian faith to be improper or imperfect And that you may the better perceaue how plainelie and fullie this doctrine is deliuered in the propheticall apostolical scriptures I thinke it good to go forwardes with the effects of Christes crosse by which it shall appeare howe sufficient the price of our redemption is in the bloud of Christ without anie supplie of hell paines to be suffered in y e soule of Christ. The effectes of Christs crosse though I might recken manie yet to keep my selfe within some compasse I restraine to fiue chiefe branches the MERITE of his suffering which was INFINITE the MANER of his offering which was BLOVDY The POVVER of his DEATH which was mighty the COMFORT of his CROSSE which was NECESSARIE the GLORY of his RESVRRECTION which was heauenly These fiue will direct vs not onely what to beléeue but what to refuse in the person and passion of our Sauiour I will therefore take them as they lie in order The merite of Christs suffering must be simply infinite that it may worke two things for vs to wit redeeme vs from Sathan and reconcile vs vnto God cleere vs from hell and bring vs to heauen in either respect it must be infinite The wages of sinne is death both of bodie and soule héere and for euer With the Iudge of the world is no vnrighteousnesse He therefore punisheth no man without cause or aboue desert Since the reuenge of each mans sinne is eternall y t is infinite in time the waight of each mans sinne must needs be infinite as being rewarded with euerlasting death It may séeme much to carnal men that God should requite sin with euer during reuenge but if we seriouslie bethinke our selues what it is for earth and ashes to waxe proud against God after so manifold abundant blessings to cast off his yoake readily yea gréedily to prefer euerie vanitie and fansie before his heauenlie truth glory we shall presently perceiue how iust cause God hath infinitely to hate our vncleannes eternally to pursue the pride contempt rebellion of wicked and wilfull men against his diuine maiestie howsoeuer we digest it it is a thing determined with God and no doubt balāced in his vpright and sincere iudgment The soule that sinneth that soule shal die Death life are both eternall y t is infinite in length though not in weight in durance though not in degree and sence of ioy or paine Then in either respect to counteruaile our deliuerance from hell our inheritance in heauen she merit of Christs suffering must be infinite An infinite purchase cannot be made but with an infinite price For this infinite price whither shall we seeke to the paines of hell or to the powers of heauen◠y e paines of hel are neither meritorious nor infinite What thanks with God to be separated from God and the soule being alienated from God what other part of man can merite his fauor If any man fal away my soule shall haue no pleasure in him Hel paines therefore are accursed not accepted of God and hee that suffereth them is hated and no way beloued Depart from me ye cursed into euerlasting fire As they are not meritorious no more are they infinite I meane in waight but they must euerlastingly be suffered before they can be infinite For not only diuels but men of all sorts shal suffer them who cannot endure any infinite sence of paine All creatures are finite both in force to do strength to suffer Infinit is as much as God himself hath therefore God alone is infinite So that neither hel fire is of infinite force to punish nor men nor angels of infinite strength to suffer but the vengeance of sinne continueth for euer by reason no creature is able to beare an infinite waight of punishment Since then the paines of hel haue neither worth nor waight sufficient in themselues to satisfie the anger procure the fauor of God we must séeke to heauen euen to God himselfe for the true ransome for our sinnes and redemption of our soules which we no where find but in the person of Christ Iesus who being true God tooke our nature vnto him and by the infinite price of his bloud bought vs from y e power of hel brought vs vnto God For neither y e vertues of Christs humane soule though they were many nor the sufferings of his flesh though they were painful are simply infinite til we looke to his person then shall we find that God vouchsafed with his own bloud to purchase his Church that we were reconciled to God by the death of his sonne when we were his enemies Bernarde expressing the infinite merite of Christes death and passion saith Incomprehensibilis deus voluit comprehendi summus humiliari potentissimus despici pulcherrimus deformari sapientissimus vt iumentū fieri immortalis mori vt compendio absoluam deus fieri voluit vermiculus quid excelsius deo quid inferius vermiculo The incomprehensible God woulde be comprehended the highest humbled the most mighty despised the most beautifull deformed the most wise bee like a beast the immortall would suffer death to speake all in fewe wordes God would become a Worme what is higher then God what is baser then a Worme If betwéene the Creator and the best of his creatures there be an infinite distance what thinke yee then was there betwixt the throne of God in heauen and the crosse of Christ on earth not an infinite distance and so infinite that neither men nor Angels can comprehend it The ground of our saluation then is the obedience humility and charitie of the sonne of God yeelding himselfe not onelie to serue in our stéed but to die for our sinnes For when he was equall with God in nature power and glory hee refused not to take the shape of a seruant vpon him and to humble himselfe to the death of the crosse not onelie obeying his fathers will which we had despised but abiding his hand for the chastisement of our peace The Apostle noteth these thrée vertues in the person of Christ Let the SAME AFFECTION of loue bee in you which was in Christ Iesus vvho being in the forme of God emptied and humbled himselfe and became
PROPITIATE the Iudge It doth SEALE THE COVENANT of mercie grace glorie betwixt God man It doth CONCLVDE and bind the diuell what more can be required I verily cannot coÌ„iecture If the blood of Christ performe al these things for vs more we can not aske or expect why shrinke we from it as vnable to saue vs except it be supplied with the paines of hell Whether I affirme any thing of mine owne or deliuer you that which is plainly taught in y e scriptures iudge you Ye were REDEEMED saith Peter by the pretious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe vnspotred and vndefiled Christ by his own bloud saith Paul entered once into the holy place OBTAINING eternall REDEMPTION The bloud of Iesus Christ CLENSETH VS froÌ„ all our sinnes He WASHED vs from our sinnes in his bloud Beeing now IVSTIFIED by his bloud we shall bee saued from wrath through him Iesus suffered that hee might sanctifie the people with his bloud By Christ then wee haue redemption through his bloud euen the remission of sinnes and nowe in Christ Iesus yee which once were farre off are made neere by the bloud of Christ. For it hath pleased the Father by him to reconcile all thinges vnto himselfe And to pacifie through the bloud of his Crosse both thinges in earth and things in heauen Whome God hath purposed to bee a Reconciliation through fayth in his bloud And therefore the new testament is sealed with Christes bloud This is saith hee my bloud of the new Testament which is shed for manie for the remission of sinnes Yee are come to Iesus the mediatour of the newe Testament saith Paul to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things then that of Abell For Abels bloud cried for vengeance but Christs bloud speaketh for mercie and grace And for that cause Paul calleth it The bloud of the euerlasting Testament For this is the Testament that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes sayeth the Lorde I will put my lawes in their minde and in their heart I will write them and I will bee their God and they shall bee my people I will be mercifull to their vnrighteousnesse and I will remember their sinnes and iniquities no more This testament of mercie grace and glorie is confirmed by the death of Christ and sealed with his bloud which if we weaken or frustrate with our inuentions or additions wee must looke for that fearefull iudgement which the Apostle threatneth He that despiseth Moses lawe dieth without mercie vnder two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shal he be worthie which treadeth vnder foote the sonne of God and counteth vnholie the bloud of the Testament wherewith he was sanctified and reprocheth the spirite of grace The wrong that is offered to the bloud of the newe Testament treadeth vnder foote the sonne of God and reprocheth the spirit of grace Now howe can we more vnsanctifie the bloud of the Testament then to make it so vnprecious that it cannot redeeme vs without the paines of hell or to set vp another price for which we haue no expresse record against or aboue the bloud of Christ by which we are cleansed from our sinnes and reconciled to God I knowe they will and must answere the paines of hell are contained in the bloud of Christ for so much as he suffered the one in â—heir imagination when hee shed the other Could they prooue by expresse and infallible testimonies which they cannot do that Christ suffered in soul the paines of the damned they had some reason to comprise the one within the other but no such thing being warranted or witnessed in the scriptures they must take héed that they do not elude rather then expound the words of the holie ghost with a perpetuall Synecdoche which shall frustrate the very force of all those euident and vehement speeches For it is strange to mee first that without iust proofe any such thing should be ioined to the bloud of Christ to helpe the price thereof Next that the holie ghost should alwayes vrge the one and as if were continuallie forget the other Thirdlie the things which are named in the Scriptures as they were the last so are they the chiefest parts of Christs sufferings the rest being vnderstood as antecedent to them and not eminent aboue them Nowe the CROSSE BLOVD and DEATH oâ— Christ are euerie where mentioned in the scriptures as the verie ground worke and pillars of our redemption Lastlie the bodie of Christ wounded and his bloud shed for the remission of sinnes are the seales that confirme and ratifie the new testament and therefore they giue chiefest power and strength to the whole couenant as appeareth by the Sacraments which import vnto vs not the paines of hell but the death and bloud of Christ as the right and true meanes of our redemption Know ye not saith Paule that all we which haue beene baptised into Iesus Christ haue beene baptised into his death Wee are buried then with him by baptisme into his death And speaking of the Lords Supper he saith As often as ye shall eate this bread and drinke this cuppe ye shewe the Lords death vntill he come The cuppe of blessing which wee blesse is it not the communion of Christes blood The bread which we breake is it not the communion of Christs bodie By these we are grafted into Christ by these wee are quickned nourished into life euerlasting And these propose vnto vs no inuisible paines of hell but the bodie of Christ wounded and his bloud shed for the remitting of our sinnes â—ow vniting vs vnto Christ that we may be members of his bodie of his flesh and of his bones Yea what an vnthankefull part were it for the captiues that are inlarged to chalenge the ransome which was paide for their fréedome as defectiue when the aduersarie from whom we were bought receyued it by the rule of Gods iustice as a price most sufficient for vs all that were deliuered F I will redeeme them from the power of hell I will ransome them from death saith God by his Prophet g you were bought with a PRICE saith Paul The price then which Christ paid must be fully worth the thing redéemed For since it pleased God not by force to take vs from Satan but with a price to buie vs out of his hands it were dishonour to God and a kinde of reproch to giue lesse for vs then might counteruaile vs. And therefore let vs rest assured that the price which Christ payed for vs was of farre greater value then we were not onelie in the vpright iudgement of God but euen in the malicious and furious desire of Satan who thirsted after the bloud of the sonne of God with greedier â—awes then after all the worlde besydes and tryumphed more in bringing him to a shamefull death then in
a curse and sin but he was called by those names that he might abolish bâ—th the curse and sinne Christ was no more a curse then hee was sinne who indéede and with God was neither but with men he was reputed both wicked and accursed by reason God suffered him to endure that vilde and shamefull kinde of death which hee did to saue vs from the curse of sinne Epiphanius saith he was A CVRSE VNTO THE CVRSE that is a dissoluer and finisher of the curse Ignorat omnino miser ille quod neque Christus maledictio factus sit absit sed maledictionem quae propter peccat a nostra fuit abstulit seipsum cruci dedeâ—s factus est mors morti propter peccata nostra MALEDICTIO MALEDICTIONI Quapropter non est Christus maledictum sed maledicti solutio benedictio autem omnibus verè in ipsum credentibus That wretch Marcion is vtterly ignorant that Christ was not accursed God forbid but he tooke away the curse that lay on our sinnes in yeelding himselfe to the crosse and was made death vnto death for our sinnes and A CVRSE VNTO THE CVRSE Wherefore Christ WAS NOT A CVRSE but THE DISSOLVER OF THE CVRSE and A BLESSING to all that â—â—ulie beleeue in him These though they diuerslie applie the Apostles speach Factus pro nobis maledictum Christ was made a curse for vs some to the toleration of death some to the opinion of men and some to the depulsion of the curse from vs yet in this they all agrée that by giuing his bodie to die on the Crosse Christ receiued sustained and abolished the curse due to vs for transgressing the law of God And to iustifie their assertion they haue not onelie the plaine text of Paule and Moses Cursed is he that hangeth on the tree but the manifest wordes of Peter He bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree To proue the death which Christ suffered to be a cursed kinde of death the place of Moses is verie pregnant to proue the person to bee accursed in soule it hath neither cause nor truth For innocents maie suffer that wrong to bee hanged on trées and shall they then be accursed in soule And be they malefactors they may repent as did the theefe on the crosse and shall they notwithstanding their repentance bee accursed Shall we close both penitent and innocent within the true curse of the soule rather then we will suffer Pauls words to be referred to the death of the bodie For he saith Cursed is EVERIE ONE that hangeth on the tree excusing none and if anie might bee excepted out of the generall rule Christ Iesus most of all But euerie one that hangeth on the tree hath a cursed kinde of death though a blessed soule Paule therefore expresselie teacheth that Christ subiected himselfe to a cursed kind of death and in so dying he deliuered vs from the curse of the Lawe Ex parte quippe mortali pependit in ligno mortalitas autem vnde sit notum est credentibus Ex poena quippe est maledictio peccati primi hominis quam Dominus suscepit peccata nostra pertulit in corpore suo super liguum That part sayth Austen which was mortall in Christ hung on the Crosse and whence mortalitie came the faythfull knowe It came from the punishment of sinne and is the malediction of the sinne of the first man which the Lorde tooke vnto him and bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree Yea when Christ tooke the curse hee tooke the sinne of the olde man into his flesh and fastened it togither with his flesh vnto the Crosse. Quid pependit in ligno nisi peccatum veteris hominis quod Dominus pro nobis in ipsa carnis mortalitate suscepit Vnde nec erubuit nec tumuit Aposâ—olus dicere peccatum eum fecisse pro nobis addens vt de peccato condemnaret peccatum Non enim vetus homo noster simul crucifiâ— cretur sicut Apostolus alibi dicit nisi in illa morte Domini peccati nostri figura penderet What hung on the tree but the sinne of the olde man which sinne the Lorde tooke vpon him for vs in the verie mortalitie of his flesh Wherefore the Apostle was neither ashamed nor afraied to say that God made him sinne for vs that by sinne he might condemne sin For our olde man could not be crucified togither with Christ as the Apostle else where writeth except the figure of our sinne did hang on the Crosse in that death which the Lord died And if Peters words be true which can not be false Christ bare our sinnes that is the malediction and punishment of our sinnes in his body on the tree and thereby saued vs from the eternall malediction which is Go you cursed into euerlasting fire My resolution then is which I hope will bee receyued because it is the Apostles WE ARE DEAD TO THE LAVV BY THE BODIE OF CHRIST that we should be to another euen to him that is raised from the dead We are quit from the feare from the yoke from the curse from the vengeance of the law in one word WE ARE DEAD to the lawe which hath no more chalenge to vs nowe then a man hath to his wife that is long since dead And if you aske when and how we became dead to the lawe Saint Paul answereth BY THE BODIE OF CHRIST when hee suffered on the Crosse for our sinnes And as he that is dead is freed from sinne so we dying in and with the bodie of Christ are LOOSED FROM THE LAVVE OF SINNE AND DEATH Sinne beeing condemned and death conquered in the flesh of Christ VVHICH IS OVR FLESH not onelie because it was taken of vs but also for that it is vnited vnto vs as the heade to the members and communicateth with vs both in life and death as appeareth by that we died and rose againe in him and to this daie he suffereth in vs then which no coniunction can be surer or neerer Since then the corruption of our flesh the guilt of our sinne the curse of the lawe the sting of death were all closed and crucified in the bodie of Christ on the Crosse and his death hath discharged vs from their dominion iustlie doth the Apostle saie of Christ that hee did partake with flesh and bloud that through death hee might destroy him that had power of death euen the diuell For in that wee bee freed from the curse of the lawe which brought and bound sinners by death to hell the chaynes of darkenesse are broken and Satans force wholie frustrate and he himselfe nowe left to beholde the ruine of his kingdome to grieue at the spoyle of his goodes and to feare the vengeance prouided for him howsoeuer for a season hee bee suffered to pursue the members of Christ here on earth to his owne shame and their greater comfort in trying the mightie
together Góod Sir awake out of your sleepe and learne at least to vnderstand before you aunswere As this presumer euerie where with disdaine casteth away the iudgements of the fathers which I produce preferreth his owne peeuish conceite before them all so when he reporteth my reasons he either ignoraÌ„tlie mistaketh them or purposelie peruerteth them y â— they may the lesse encumber him In the effectes of Christes crosse I noted out of the Apostle to the Hebrues three properties of the true propitiatorie sacrifice which tooke awaie the sinne of the world It was a bodilie a bloudie and a deadlie sacrifice and amongst manie reasons to confirme the same I brought these two which the confâ—ter after his forgetfull maner roueth at The first in effect was this The true sacrifice for sinne which the Redeemer should offer was shadowed and foreshewed by the sacrifices which God commanded and accepted in the old testament but the sacrifices of the Patriarches and of the faithfull appointed by Moses foreshewed and figured a bodilie bloudie and deadlie sacrifice and no paines of hell therfore the true sacrifice for sinne was made by the bodie bloud and death of the Redéemer and not by the paines of hell suffered in his soule The second this As the sacrifices of the law prefigured what the Sauiour of the world should do for the abolishing of sinne so the sacraments of the newe testament confirme and scale that performed in the person of Christ Iesus which was the true propitiation for our sinnes and price of our redemption but the sacraments of the new testament and speciallie the Lordes supper declare and confirme vnto vs the bodie of Christ giuen for vs vnto death and his bloud shed for the remission of our sinnes therefore this was the true propitiation for our sinnes and price of our redemption and not the paines of hell suffered in the soule of Christ as some imagine To the first the Confuter answereth The proposition is false taking it generally The carnall sacrifices of the Iewes signified that which they were apt to signifie but not anie further The sacrifices of beastes coulde not prefigure the personall vnion of God and man nor the reasonable and immortall soule of Christ nor his resurrection all which were necessarie pointes in the meritorious sacrifice Secondlie he denieth the assumption For certaine of the Iewes sacrifices set foorth the sufferinges of the soule of Christ also As the scape Gote in the 16. of Leuiticus which was a sin offering though it were sent awaie free and vntouched To the reason drawne from the Sacraments hee saieth Wee are to answere as we did before These are bodilie and earthlie Elements and therefore fitte to set soorth bodilie and apparant effects in Christ they can not set out the spirituall and inuisible effects in him And yet the ceremonie of breaking the bread which is to shewe that Christes bodie was broken for vs can not belong properlie to the bodie but to the soule These I trust are your words now heare my replie I had no such proposition as you frame to your selfe that either the sacrifices of the lawe or Sacraments of the Gospel were figures of our whole and absolute redemption which is as you expound it of all the fruits and causes of our redemption This is your euasion not my proposition I tolde you that as God had promised so the faithfull beléeued that his owne sonne should be the Seede of the woman and by his death and bloud should purge their sinnes To continue this promise and confirme the faith of all before and vnder the lawe God appointed bloudie sacrifices as continuall remembrances and figures not of the person nor of the function of Christ but of the Sacrifice by which hee shoulde abolish sinne to wiâ—te by his bodie slaine and his bloud shedde which the carnall sacrifices were fittest to resemble since God would not haue the bloud of anie man but of his owne sonne shedde for remission of sinnes My proposition then speaketh of the true sacrifice for sinne and auoucheth that to bee the true sacrifice for sinne which was shadowed and figured by the death and bloud of those beasts that God commaâ—â—ded to bee offered vnto him This proposition you doe not denie for you graunt The Iewes sacrifices signified what they were apt to teach and signifie but they were apt and ordained of GOD to teach the Iewes that by the death and bloud of the Messias they shoulde bee redeemed and saued from their sinnes ergo they were apt and ordained of God to figure and shadowe the true propitiatorie sacrifice And so the patriarkes and Prophetes beléeued and expected whose faith and hope could neither be vaine nor frustrate since they were thereto directed by Gods owne appointment This proposition be you Christian or Iewe you may not denie and therefore you doe well to denie the assumption and to affirme that certaine sacrifices of the Iewes as namelie the scape Goate in the 16. of Leuiticus did signifie the immortall soule of Christ which was a sacrifice for sinne and did properlie beare our sinnes and suffer for our sinnes But Sir if a man aske you howe you proue that the scape Goate signified the soule of Christ what haue you to saie Because both Goates saie you are a sacrifice for sinne as the Text speaketh You abuse the Text and deceiue your selfe The wordes are Aaron shall take of the assemblie of the children of Israel two hee Goates fâ—r a sinne offering that is to make a sinne offering of one of them on which the Lordes lotte shall fall So followe the wordes in the 8. verse of that chapter Aaron shall cast lottes ouer the two hee Goates one lotte for the Lorde and another lotte for the scape Goate And Aaron shall offer the Goate on which the Lords lot shall fall and MAKE HIM A SINNE OFFERING The taking of the Goates from the people doth not make them sacrifices for sinne but the offering them vnto the Lord by the Priest so that though two were taken yet lots were cast which of them should hee the sinne offering and which of them the scape Goat which consequentlie was no sinne offering because that was made a sinne offering on which the Lords lot fell And so if the scape Goate did signifie the soule of Christ as you affirme more boldlie then wiselie then was not the soule of Christ a sinne offering neither did it suffer for sinne if your owne example maie bee trusted Howbeit what the scape Goate signified I am not so forwarde to pronounce as you bee though I haue better warrant so to doe then you haue For Cyrill or as some thinke Origen writing vpon that place of Leuiticus 〈◊〉 If all the people of God were holie there shoulde not bee two lottes cast vpon the Goates one to bee offered to the Lorde the other to bee sent to the desart but there should bee one lotte and one offering
laid or executed on him that is hanged This most apparantly was a publike punishment executed by the magistrate vpon the body of the offender and because by his open and shamefull death which Moses rightlie calleth the curse of God hee had satisfied the sentence of the Iudiciall lawe God commandeth no farther reproch to be offered his bodie in suffering it to hang in all mens eies any longer but to bee buried the same daie For that by his death the curse of God ceased The difference betwéene these two curses is soone perceiued Euerie sinne receaued the first curse whereof Paul spake before fewe crimes receaued the iudgement of this seconde kinde of curse which was to bee hanged The first was inflicted by God himselfe the second was executed by the magistrate The first touched bodie and soule in this life and the next the second ended with the death of the bodie The first was committing of sinne the seconde was suffering for sinne And therefore Chrysostomes exposition is verie true when hee saieth The people were obnoxious to another curse which was this Cursed is euerie one that continueth not in that which is written in the booke of the lawe for there was not one of them that had fulfilled the whole Lawe but Christ insteede of that tooke vpon him another curse which said cursed is euery one that hangeth on the tree He that should take away the first curse must not bee subiect to the same but vndertake an other in place thereof and by that dissolue the first As if one being adiudged to die for some crime an other no way guilty of the same but willing to die for him should deliuer him from the punishment So did Christ not being subiect to the curse of trāsgression insteede thereof he tooke an other curse and dissolued the curse that laie on them Before a man can be accursed by his death hee must you saie be iustlie hanged for manie Innocents and martyrs are hanged who are most blessed Innocentes and martyrs bee their soules neuer so blessed maie beare in their bodies a shamefull death as Christ did in his and that is a kinde of corporall curse though by men vniustlie inflicted euen as death in the godlie is a remnant of Gods curse vpon sinne though their soules bee blessed before and after death Yea the worde KALAL whence the Hebrewes deriue that which with them signifieth a curse noteth also to make vilde and contemptible as if shame reproch and contempt were the greatest outwarde curse that coulde befall anie man in this life The cause why wee suffer it shall make it iust or vniust but wee must call thinges by those names which GOD first allotted them Nowe death shame wrong reproch and such like God ordayned at first to bee punishmentes of sinne and so partes of the curse due to sinne If wee suffer at mens handes for piety that which God appointed to be the wages of iniquity so wee bee patient and willing to abide the triall which is righteous with God though iniurious from men the name is not altered but the reward increased Yea God it is that causeth iudgement to beginne at his own house oftentimes by the handes of persecutors hee doth vs right when men doe vs wrong and dealeth not with vs according to our sinnes in the greatest wrongs that can be done vs. Therfore martyrs and innocents may do well to remember that God hath cause enough though man haue none and so submit themselues as worthie of worse from Gods handes But none of these thinges may be saide of our Sauiour who alone among all the children of men wanted sinne and suffered wrong and therefore his punishments with God were iust not by his deseruing but by his desiring to suffer for man How then commeth it to passe that martyrs which are sinners before God are vniustlie hanged because they deserue no such thing at mens handes and Christ who was most innocent before men and most righteous before God you wil needs haue to be iustly hanged The suerty you say by his suertiship is a debtor to the creditor and to the law and so Christ though most innocent in himself yet was hee iustlie hanged as our suretie by the iust sentence of the law You mistake Sir Confuter as well the sentence of the lawe as the suertiship of Christ. For though mans lawe permit which is the rule of charitie that men should beare each others burdens and vndertake one for an other in money matters and such like things which God leaueth in each mans will and power yet tell me I praie what lawe Gods or mans permitteth a murderer or like offender to be spared and an other that is willing to bee hanged in his steede I thinke mans law will allow you no such suertiship I am sure Gods lawe will not As I liue saith the Lord the soule that sinneth that soule shall die The wickednes of the wicked shall bee vpon himselfe Hee shall haue then no suerties to die for him much lesse shall his suertie be compelled to die by the sentence of the law Their monie men may giue awaie but their liues they may not till God call for them and if not their liues much lesse their soules by anie sentence of the law The sonne of God did not by LAVV but by LOVE interpose himselfe to beare our sinnes So God loued the worlde that hee gaue his onely begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue euerlasting life Yea the sonne of God loued vs and gaue himselfe for vs not by anie obligation to the lawe for hee was aboue the lawe and could not be bound by the lawe and we were condemned by the sentence of the law and not put to finde suerties The eternall wisedome and counsell of God then out of his inestimable loue towardes vs without the lawe and before the law decréed as to create vs so to redéeme vs by Christ his sonne And the sonne not as debtour to anie nor for anie but of his good will and fauour toward vs offered himselfe to suffer for vs whatsoeuer the iustice of his father would impose Wherein he became not a Suertie bound to the law but a Mediatour to God and a Redeemer of man Suerties that stand bounde and must paie the debt may not looke to be Mediators and he that redeemeth a prisoner from the enemie is not bound but content so to doe And that the death of Christ should be paide as a debt to the lawe whereto Christ was bounde is to mee a strange position I tooke Christes sufferings all this while for a voluntarie oblation to God and not for a due obligation to the lawe and himselfe to be a mediatour not a debtour his death I reckned to bee a richer offer then man coulde owe and a greater price then the lawe could exact And therefore the newe testament of mercie grace and glorie was made by his bloud which are
other manner of purchases then the due paiment of mans debt Howe coulde that bee due vnto the lawe which ouerthrew the law Sinners such as we are were to die by the lawe but that the sonne of God should die for vs what lawe did or coulde require that at his handes you shall doe well therefore to leaue these â—angerous discourses and learne to saie with the scripture and fathers that loue not lawe desire not debt mercy not necessity brought the sonne of God from his throne in heauen to his crosse on earth Such was the sentence of the lawe you will saie that without death he could not redeeme vs. Naie such was his loue you should saie that euen with his death hee would redeeme vs. Cum posset nobis etiam non moriendo succurrere subuenire tamen moriendo hominibus voluit quia nos videlicet minus amasset nisi vulnera nostra susciperet nec vim suae dilectionis nobis ostenderet nisi hoc quod a nobis tolleret ad tempus ipse sustineret Passibiles quippe mortalesque nos reperit qui nos existere fecit ex nihilo reuocare etiam sine sua morte potuit à passione Sed vt quanta esset virtus Compassionis ostenderet fieri pro nobis dignatus est quod esse nos voluit vt in semetipso temporaliter mortem susciperet quam á nobis in perpetuum fugaret Christ when he might haue succoured vs without dying woulde rather helpe man by dying saieth Gregorie because he had loued vs lesse if he had not taken to himselfe our woundes neither had hee shewed vs the strength of his loue vnlesse hee had for a tyme sustayned that from which he deliuered vs. Hee founde vs miserable and mortall yet hee that made vs of nothing might haue recalled vs from our miserie without his owne death But that hee might declare howe greate the vertue of Compassion is hee vouchsafed to bee that which hee appointed vs to bee that receauing a temporall death in himselfe hee might chase it from vs for euer Those saieth Austen that aske did GOD so want meanes to deliuer men from the miserie of this mortalitie that hee woulde haue his onelie begotten sonne to bee made a mortall man and to suffer death It is not enough so to refute that wee shewe this waie to be good and agreeable to the diuine excellencie whereby God vouchsafed to deliuer vs by the Mediatour of God and man Christ Iesus verum etiam vt ostendamus NON ALIVM MODVM POSSIBILEM DEO DEFVISSE cuius potestati cuncta aequaliter sub iacent sed sanandae nostrae miseriae conuenientiorem alium modum non fuisse nec esse oportuisse but also that wee shewe God VVANTED NOT OTHER MEANES to whose power all thinges are subiect but that neither there was nor coulde bee a more conuenient way to heale our misery For what was so needefull to raise vp our hope and to free mens mindes from despairing immortalitie being alreadie deiected by the condition of their mortalitie as to make euident shewe vnto vs how much God esteemed vs and how much hee loued vs whereof what plainer or perfiter proofe could be made then that the sonne of God remaining that he was would take from vs for vs that which he was not and vouchsafe to be amongst vs and first without anie deserte of his to beare our miseries and vpon vs then beleeuing how greatly God loued vs and hoping where afore wee despaired to bestowe without all merit of ours yea when wee deserued euill at his handes the giftes of his grace with bounty no way prouoked by vs. And so Ambrose By one mans death the world was redeemed Christ might if hee woulde haue refrained from death but hee neither refused death as vnprofitable neither could he haue saued vs any better waie then by dying So that no legall necessitie much lesse Iudiciall seueritie brought Christ to his Crosse but to teach vs obedience to God by his example to demonstrato his loue to vs by refusing nothing for our sakes and to declare his owne power whose weakenesse was stronger then all his and our enemies and to strengthen our patience and giue vs comfort in all the troubles of this life he chose the paynefull and shamefull death of the Crosse and there shewed so perfitte a patterne of obedience innocence patience that the Angels themselues did admire it So farre you make Christ suertie for vs that in taking our person on him hee became by our sinne sinnefull defiled hatefull and accoursed Similitudes if you sucke nothing from them but that which is agreeable to y e truth in teaching may be tolerated in concluding they wil halt That Christ is a suerty we find it once mentioned in the scriptures but not to y e law to pay our debtes but of a better testament euen of the new couenant of grace established in his bloud wherof he is also the mediator priest Now he died for vs not as a suerty bound to y e law but as a mediator to God for vs he interposed himself of his own accord to yeeld such recompence vnto his father as hee should be pleased to accept for vs. If you wil needs vse similitudes vse rather the similitude of a mediator and Redeemer which the scriptures often call him then of a suerty therby to bind him not onely to suffer the paines of hell in our stéede but also to defile him with our sinnes and make him hatefull to God by our curse No similitudes can prooue Christ in taking our person on him to be SINNEFVLL DEFILED HATEFVL and ACCVRSED and therfore your vncleane mouth and vncleaner heart that thus speake and thinke of the sonne of God are worthier of castigation then of refutation I know you will pretend the Apostles wordes God made him sinne for vs that knewe no sinne but howsoeuer some late writers turne sinne into sinner and thence giue cause of these and the like speaches the church of God from the beginning hath warilie declined such irreuerent wordes and yet plainelie confesse the truth That God MADE HIM SINNE hath two good and approoued senses one that he made him a sacrifice for sinne and so the clenser of sinne and no waie defiled by our sinne the other that he punished our sinnes in him and vsed him as hee doth sinners They that know saith Austen the scriptures of the olde testament acknowledge this that I saie Not once but often and verie often it is found Sacrifices for sinnes are called sinnes Then him that knewe no sinne God made sinne for vs that is a sacrifice for sinne Christ was made sinne in that he was offered to abolish sinne And againe peccatum vocabatur in lege sacrificium pro peccato assidue lex hoc commemorat non semel non iterum sed saepissime Tale peccatum erat Christus Peccatum non habebat peccatum erat peccatum erat
faith and truth The Apostle giueth not here the cause why Christ is able to helpe vs in our miseries and necessities for he is able in that he is God to do what he will but hee sheweth that our high Priest is faithfull and mercifull that is willing and readie to heare vs and helpe vs in all our afflictions and troubles for so much as in his owne person hee woulde feele our temptations and infirmities that he might be the better able to helpe vs in hauing more compassion on vs. And this is that the Apostle saith in the fourth chapter of this Epistle Wee haue not an high Priest which can not bee touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all things or throughlie tempted alike except sinne So that his sufferinges made him the more mercifull and faithfull because he knoweth best as well our naturall infirmities as our manifolde miseries This for the sense of the Apostle nowe to the truth of your collection CHRIST SVCCOVRETH VS NOT but wherein he hath felt the same Meane you Christ is not able or not willing For you saie hee succoureth vs not To saie hee is not able is blasphemie because he is God and God I hope can succour vs in all our miseries without suffering those things which we doe To say he will not though the Apostles word bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee is able is as false in it selfe and as iniurious to Christ. For then Christ will neuer helpe anie man that is sicke because hee neuer felt anie disease of bodie nor anie whose bones are broken because his were whole nor anie Martyr that burneth in fire because hee died on the crosse â— the blinde deafe dumbe lame and a thousand such like Christ will neuer heare nor helpe because he suffered not the same You speake of ghostlie temptations you will saie not of bodily afflictions Saint Paule speaketh of both and Christ had experience of both and therefore if your collection be false and absurde in the one it will neuer bee sound and assured in the other But come to your owne pitch Will Christ deliuer no man from blindnesse and hardnesse of heart because hee neuer endured either Will he not aide vs to represse the lusts of our â—lesh because he neuer was tempted with them Will he not helpe our vnbeliefe because his faith was alwayes strong Will he not saue anie from desperation because he neuer despaired Will hee not cure frenzie and furie because hee was neuer out of his wittes Neither did hee nor will hee cast out Diuels because himselfe was not possessed Is this the reason that cannot bee refuted by mans witte which euerie childe maie presentlie controlle In deede you speake truer then you are ware of if your deuise maie bee receiued For you doe not sticke to defile Christ with our sinnes to astonish and amaze all the partes and powers of his minde to torment him with Diuels and in the ende to adiudge him to the death of the soule which hath in it blindnesse and hardnesse of heart infidelitie and what not Yea it is with you of all absurdities the greatest that meere men although they bee reprobates shoulde suffer more deepely then Christ did For Gods iustice saie you shoulde bee as seuere on Christ as on anie reprobate and yet they suffer reprobation desperation damnation From hence you go to another of your holie mysteries and as if you had not done the Lord of glorie wrong enough with these irreuerent and irreligious speaches you take from him in his passion at your pleasure not only his vertues graces but euen his sense memorie vnderstanding leaue him often times when you list your selues amazed astonished and forgetfull of himselfe for feare yea so distempered disturbed distracted ouerwhelmed ALL CONFOVNDED in his whole humanity both in all the powers of his soule and senses of his body that he knew not what he said or did God grant Sir Refuter you be wel in your wits that depriue the Sauiour of the world when you will of all sense memorie vnderstanding The euangelists you wil say in expresse words affirme that Christ in the garden was astonished grieuously perplexed Haue you the skill when the scriptures saie that Christ beganne to bee astonished and perplexed to stretch y e beginning to the highest degree of all astonishment that maie light on the Reprobate in this life or the damned in the next when the holie ghost toucheth a naturall infirmity common to Christ with all the godlie in the like cases doth your coÌ„science serue you to make of that not onlie a general and total distemper but an Infernall confusion of all the powers of his soule and senses of his bodie had you consulted S. Ierom hee would haue taught you an other lesson Dominus vt veritatem probaret assumpti hominis veré quidem contristatus est sed ne passio in animo eius dominaretur per propassionem caepit contristari Aliud est enim contristari aliud incipere contristari The Lorde to shew himselfe a true man was sorrowfull in verie deede not that any passion ouerswaied his minde but he began to be touched with the affection of sorrow It is one thing to be sorrowfull and an other to begin to be sorrowfull his sorrow was not for any feare to suffer since he came of purpose to suffer and reproued Peter as too feareful but for that most wretched Iudas and the weakenes of all his Apostles and the reiection of the whole nation of the Iewes and the miserable destruction of Ierusalem And if heretickes doe interpret this sorrowe of heart not for our Sauiours affection towardes them that shoulde perish but for a perturbation of minde let them answere me howe they expounde that which Ezechiel speaketh in the person of God and in all these thinges thou didst make me sorrowfull Saint Ierome saieth the wordes enforce no more then that Christ began to bee sorrowfull and perplexed and if anie man stretch them farther hee giueth him the note of an hereticke and though I refraine that worde because I hope you doe it of ignorance and not of malice yet I cannot excuse you from a dangerous errour and that in foure speciall pointes First you mistake the cause whence this feare arose secondlie you extende it farther then in trueth you shoulde thirdlie you continue it longer then with anie warrant you may and fourthlie by pretence thereof you chalenge Christes prayers in the garden not onelie with want of good memorie but with flat repugnancie to the knowne will of God which is euident sinne Concerning the first I am resolued as in the treatise before I haue specified that the cause of Christes agonie could not procéed but from his submission to the maiestie of God sitting in iudgement or from his compassion on mans miserie or from both You will haue it procéede from the intolerable horrors
of Gods fiery wrath equall to hell And where Cain saide The horror of my sinne is heauier then I can beare you doubt not but Christ as touching the vehemencie of the paine was as sharpelie touched euen as the Reprobates themselues yea if it may be more extraordinarilie You that are so well acquainted with the horrors of the Reprobate for their sinnes that you dare attribute them to Christ can you tell what they are is it speculation that you speake of or experience that you dare thus subiect the sonne of God to the same terrors and horrors of conscience which namelie Cain as you saie and other reprobates haue felt I praie you Sir in so waightie matters as maie amounte to heresie and open blasphemy plaie not with generall termes so as neither you vnderstande your selfe nor anie man else can conceiue your meaning The terrors of â—he wicked in this life wee can coniecture you canne perhaps liuelie describe them but for ought that wee learne by the scriptures they are such as without horrible impietie you cannot ascribe vnto the Sauiour of the worlde Remorse of sinne committed vexing and gnawing the conscience is the first of their paines which suffereth them night nor daie to take anie test Secondlie the feare that God whome they haue despised hath likewise reiected them and is become their enemie and therefore from him they looke for nothing but the iust vengeance of their sinnes both in this life and the nexte so pursueth them that they tremble and slie when no man followeth them Thirdlie the griefe to forsee themselues excluded from the fellowship of that ioie and blisse which is prouided for the saintes of GOD which Chrysostom saieth is far more bitter then the paine of hel doth make them sinke for sorrowe Lastlie the continuall terrour of that dreadfull iudgement which shall be pronounced of that horrible confusion which then shall ouerwhelme them and of those eternall and intollerable flames of fire in which they shall burne the verie terrour I saie and horrour thereof doeth so afflict and torment them as if they presentlie felt it More wordes may bee vsed and perhaps more vehement to amplifie their paine but these are the partes and causes of that feare and horrour which pursueth the wicked for their haynous offences Can anie of these Sir Refuter bee applied to Christ Dare you but offer so much as the mention of the least of them to bee founde in the sonne of GOD I thinke you bare not I hope you will not What meaneth then this matching of Christ with Cain yea this touching of Christ deeper then anie of the Reprobate In horrour and paine you saie Christ was like them who be separated in deede from the grace and loue of God yet himselfe neuer separated but alwaies most intirely beloued The horrour and paine which the Reprobate heere feele riseth from the remorse of their owne conscience and from the distrust and feare of their owne hearts which pursueth them euen in this life before iudgement The execution of his terrible vengeance indéede God hath reserued to the next life The greatest terror that the Apostle noteth in the wicked here in this world is a feareful expectation of iudgment and of burning fire which shall deuour tâ—e aduersaries What horror then like the reprobate coulde the conscience of Christ féele that had no remorse distrust or feare of anie such thing as they haue but was assured and secured of Gods euerlasting fauour and loue in the highest degree was there paine without horrour and feare in the soule of Christ if you meane the paine that is consequent to our naturall affections as to sorrowe and feare you saie nothing to the purpose Saint Iohn saith timor habet poenam Feare hath in it paine and so hath sorrowe euen as hope hath ioye Reioice in hope but this is not the paine which the Reprobate feele much lesse which the damned suffer I trust their paine is more then a naturall oppressing and afflicting of the heart with humane feare and sorrowe And therefore if I conceaue anie thing you misse the truth verie much Sir Confuter when you saie that Christ was touched in horrour and paine as déepelie as the Reprobates are and yet your conceite reacheth farther For you defende that he suffered as much as the damned in hell which is more then the reprobates doe in earth howsoeuer to shewe your learning you make hell and heauen heere on earth For my selfe Christian Reader whence I thinke the astonishment of Christ in the garden might rise thou hast it in the treatise before I shall not néed to repeat it againe In like maner you extend Christes agonie too farre for where it was an agonie of minde which did not bereaue him neither of sense memorie nor vnderstanding you haue brought vs a fardell of phrases to expresse that all the senses of his bodie and al the powers of his soule were amazed astonished distempered disturbed distracted forgetfull ouerwhelmed and all confounded and you thinke you neuer haue words enough to expresse your follie in dreaming of the greatest astonishment that maie be because the scripture saieth he began to beastonished But Sir how proue you this you saie as in feares and sorrowes there bee diâ—ers degrées so are there likewise in astonishmeÌ„ts To be astonished is to ioine feare with admiration which draweth the minde so wholie to think on some speciall thing aboue our reach that during the time we turne not our selues to anie other cogitation Euen as the eie if it be bent intentiuelie to behold anie thing for that present it discerneth nothing else So fareth it with y e soule if she wholie addict her selfe to thinke on anie matter she is amused if it bee more then she conceaueth or more fearefull then she well indureth she is amazed or astonished but not of necessitie so that she looseth either sense or memorie onelie for that time she conuerteth neither to anie other obiect The present beholding of the diuine maiestie sitting in iudgement and of his iustice armed with infinite power to reuenge the sinnes of men might iustlie astonish the humane soule of Christ seeing the rewithal how mightilie God was prouoked by the manifold and wilfull transgressions of men but this religious astonishment though it might for a season suspend all other thoughtes in our Sauiour yet is there no neede it shoulde depriue him of vnderstanding sense or memorie When Paul saieth worke your saluation with feare and trembling doth hee meane they should want memorie or vnderstanding When Moses receaued the law from God so terrible was the sight that hee saide I tremble and quake Was Moses 〈◊〉 voide of sense or reason at that present An horrible terror saith Dauid hath taken mee for the vngodlie that forsake thy lawe Was Dauid for their sakes besides himselfe and all confounded in bodie and soule as you speake here of Christ Our whole conuersation
shoulde bee as Paule professeth of himselfe when hee saieth I was among you with much trembling and feare Should therefore Christians bee alwayes besides themselues Christ often praied vnto his Father you saie and then presented himselfe before the Maiestie of God and yet wee do not reade that euer hee was vexed terrified and amazed in so doing Sir Refuter if your vnderstanding and memorie be not lost I tolde you that the humane nature of Christ presented it selfe before the maiestie of God in iudgement there to suffer man euerlastinglie to perish whome hee deerelie loued or to vndertake in his owne person that burthen which the iustice of God displeased with our sinnes should laie vpon him And if you doe not thinke this a cause sufficient for the manhoode of Christ to feare and tremble yea for the time to bee astonished at the number of our sinnes and terrour of Gods vengeance prouided for our eternall destruction both of bodie and soule you bee so déepe in your hellish paines that your wits and senses are confounded Absurdities and contrarieties are so rife with you that you thinke other men can hardlie auoide them but first vnderstand your owne and then you shall the better charge others After you haue spent the whole strength of your small eloquence and lesse intelligence to infer and amplifie the most wonderfull and piteous agonies feares sorrowes miseries outcries teares astonishment forgetfulnesse and confusion of the powers of nature with which the sense of Gods wrath afflicted distracted amazed ouerwhelmed and all confounded our Sauiour in his whole humanity You suddainlie euen in the twinkling of an eie free him from all and set him cleare as if all this had béene but a dreame For vppon Christes speaking of these wordes Father if it bee possible let this cuppe passe from mee you inferre if Christ had thus praied aduisedly and with good memorie against the knowne will of God hee had sinned And in the words presentlie following without staie or pause betweene yet not my will but thine bee doone you imagine that Christ as it were comming suddainly to himselfe quickly controled his former words And thus when it pleaseth you you put the sonne of God into a wonderfull and piteous confusion and forgetfulnesse of all the powers and partes of his bodie and soule and least you shoulde be conuinced of a manifest and irreligious vntrueth in the verie nicke of the nexte worde which Christ spake with the same breath you restore him to his perfect senses and discharge him from your hellish confusion and paynes But good Sir if it were so vnsupportable and intolerable a burden and confusion as you dreame of howe came our Sauiour to bee so lightlie and quicklie ridde of it as if there had béene no such thing was that heauie and fierie wrath of GOD against our sinnes equall to hell so soone quenched or was the sonne of God no longer able to endure it Of all absurdities your selfe beeing iudge for it is your position this is the greatest that meere men should suffer more deepelie then Christ. Then if Cain endured this all his life long if Saul and Iudas had no intermission of their payne if the damned in hell from whome you fetch your patterne doe euerlastinglie suffer it howe commeth it to passe that after you haue so hotlie stirred for it you are so soone wearie of it will you make vs beleeue that Christes obedience and patience was tried with a touch of this hellish paine and so an ende or will you returne it as often as please you and if this cuppe did so quicklie passe from our Sauiour howe did hee then praie against the knowne will of God which is an other of your foundations when as in the vttering of these words the cup did passe from him by your owne confession In like sorte to excuse Christ from sinne in praying against the will of his Father you cast him into a wonderfull confusion and forgetfulnesse of all the powers of his soule and senses of his body and in the same page for an other aduantage you auouch that in that praier Christ PERFECTLIE KNEVV the dominion of death shoulde not holde him Were all the powers of his soule ouerwhelmed and all confounded and yet did he euen in that whole confusion of sense memorie and vnderstanding PERFECTLY KNOVV the dominion of death should not holde him can a man haue his knowledge and memorie all confounded and ouerwhelmed and yet retaine PERFECT KNOVVLEDGE coulde Christ forget his fathers will in that praier through astonishment and in the speaking of the words remember he praied amisse and in the nexte worde quicklie correct himselfe Surelie these be conceites answerable to your cause and deuices fit for your diuinitie But Sir Refuter let passe your dreames and shewe vs your proofes that Christ praied against the knowne will of his father which you make the groundwork of this confusion and when you haue so done then prooue that your hellish paine was the cause of this astonishment Manie thinges might astonish our Sauiour for the time besides the paines of hell and in that astonishment if Christ had spokeÌ„ he knew not what which I beléeue not as Peter did when he sawe his glorie in the mountaine it had béene a defect in nature and no contempt of Gods counsell much lesse such an infernall confusion as you describe It is manifest you saie that Christ in plaine words praied contrarie to Gods known will It is more manifest that you knowe not what you saie How coulde he praie against his Fathers will that praied eâ—preslie with this condition ô Father IF THOV VVILT take awaie this cup from me That is a correction after the praier you will saie and no condition in the praier Are you so captious against Christ that you will not supplie one Euangelist with an other Luke and Matthew put a plaine condition vnto the praier of Christ the one saying father if thou wilt the other father if it be possible that is to stand with thy will and mans saluaâ—ion And though Marke omit the condition in the tenor of the praier yet doth he fuâ—â—ie expresse his meaning to bee al one with the rest For tâ—us he saieth of our Sauiour hee fell downe on the grounde and praied that IF IT VVERE POSSIBLE that houre might passe from him So that all thrée Euangelistes concurre that Christ praied not onelie with a reseruation of his fathers will but annexed that condition vnto his praier and therefore in all mens eies saue yours hee praied not in plaine wordes contrarie to Gods knowne will And this erroneous and contumelious position you set downe to the worlde as the chiefest fortresse of your hellish paines wherein you plainly wrest the scriptures from their expresse words But S. Iohn you will saie reporteth Christes 〈◊〉 to bee simplie made Father saue mee from this houre Saint Iohn speaketh of
an other time and place and his wordes import a deliberation of two partes proposed by our Sauiour with his resolution in the ende what shall I saie Father deliuer me from this hower that is shall I saie deliuer me from this hower but therefore came I into this hower Father glorifie thy name Chrysostom thus expoundeth Christes wordes NON DICO libera me ex hac hora sed pater glorifica nomen tuum I SAIE NOT deliuer me from this hower but father glorifie thy name And so doth Epiphanius Quid dicam pater serua me ex hac hora hoc inquit dicam at propterea veni in hanc horam What shall I saie Father saue mee from this hower shall I saie so but therefore came I into this hower But what better expositor canne wee haue then Saint Paul who plainely saith that Christ in making this praier was heard deliuered from that he feared Hee praied not against the knowne will of God whose praiers God heard and performed And where you flie to this hellish confusion to saue Christ from sinne by pretending to cléere him from sinne you charge him rather with sinne For the praier which is not made in faith is sinne Nowe can the heart be assured it shall receaue that it asketh at Gods hands if it bee neither directed to aske according to the will of God nor prepared to aske with that deuotion which is fit for God So that when you make Christ to triple his praiers with vehement teares and cries still repugnant to the will of God you chalenge the sonne of God with open sinne from which you would seeme to excuse him And as for your double relapse into the same astonishment still when Christ was twice cléere from it it is a foolish deuice of your idle braines as if the Lorde no sooner returned to his praiers but your hellish confusion did waite at his heeles to interrupt and ouerwhelm him and within sixe wordes againe to leaue him If your cause be holie iest not thus prophanelie with the sonne of God nor bereaue him of his wits when you thinke good If it were a necessarie effect of Gods wrath then after it lighted on our Sauiour in the garden it must continue till man was redéemed and Gods wrath appeased which was not done but by the death of Christ. And therefore make your choise either let the wrath of God cease in the garden when Christ ended his praiers or if that still continued to â—he death let also this astonishment still continue or at least bee no necessarie effect of Gods wrath One of these you must take take which you wil the rest will serue to subuert your tower of Babell I doe you wrong you will saie to call your opinion the tower of Confusion you do your selfe wrong Sir Refuter in the chiefest point of Christian religion to leaue the faith confessed by the whole Church of Christ for these 1500. yeares and to walke in such ambiguities and absurdities as your selfe doe not vnderstande For I praie you Sir this wonderfull confusion and astonishment in all powers of the soule and senses of the bodie is it a necessarie consequent to the wrath of GOD or no If it bee for you saie Christ coulde not but sinke and bee confounded vnder that burden howe commeth it to passe that the reprobate and desperate feeling the sense of GODS wrath vpon them doe not loose their wits and senses as Christ by your assertion did will you affirme they are astonished and all confounded as Christ was then if you excuse Christ from sinne in disâ—iking and declining his Fathers knowne will because hee was astonished you must likewise excuse all the wicked and Reprobate from their sinnes after they once feele the sense of Gods wrath because they cannot but bee astonished and confounded vnder that burden Againe coulde Christ not sinne whiles hee felte the wrath of God vppon him because he was astonished Ergo neither coulde hee merite all that while and so neither his obedience patience humilitie nor charitie coulde haue anie place or vse so long as the sense of GODS wrath dured Haue you not deuised vs a goodlie sense of Gods wrath that shall exclude Christ Iesus from the exercise of all his graces vertues and merites This palpable absurditie you thinke to skippe Sir Refuter but your wit is too weake or your cause not good it will not bee If a man in distresse fall a sleepe saie you or be astonished with some violent blowe on the heade in such an one there is no decaie of faith nor of obedience nor of patience nor of loue euen so in Christ there was no defect of grace but an infirmitie of nature Was Christ a sléepe or in a swoune astonished you thinke he was Was hee so astonished that his senses were taken from him did hee not walke did he not speake did hee not pray whie then compare you this to a sléep or a swoune wheras in Christ was neither and though you plainelie faile in your comparison yet were it so as you would haue it for your life you cannot auoide my conclusion For a man in a sleepe or a swoune though he loose not the habite of faith and patience obedience and loue yet hath hee no vse of them for that time much lesse doth hee serue God with them But Christ Iesus by all his sufferinges must merite which a man a sleepe or amazed cannot doe And therefore remember Sir Refuter this reason amongst the rest is yet vnanswerd and I thinke wil somwhat trouble your braines before it bee answered All that Christ suffered for our Redemption was and must bee meritorious with God But the suffering of hell paynes which astonish and confounde all the powers of the soule and senses of the bodie neither was nor coulde bee meritorious with God Christ therefore did not suffer such hellish paynes as did confounde and astonish all the powers of his soule and senses of his bodie And thus by your amazed position you haue wholie confounded your owne opinion Thou hast heard good Reader a number of the Refuters speciall follies I haue some fewe more to trouble thee with and so I will leaue him to his holie cause and thee to the mercies of God To shewe himselfe learned as well in the Gréeke tongue as in philosophie hee vndertaketh an other reason that I made and sporteth himselfe somewhat handsomlie with it Out of the fift to the Hebrewes where the Apostle saieth Christ in the daies of his flesh did offer vp prayers and supplications with strong cryes and teares vnto him that was able to saue him from death and was heard in that he feared or deliuered from his feare I collected two things First that Christ in his praiers made in y e garden for to those the Apostle pointeth did but feare and not as then suffer that he feared The nexte he was deliuered from his feare and consequentlie neuer
Christ died which was not againe quickned but still left dead then that parte suffered perpetuall death which is not onelie plainelie false but openlie blasphemous Then must this stande for an vndoubted grounde that whatsoeuer part of Christ was dead the same must be quickned againe to auoid the eternall death of anie part And if anie part of Christ néeded not quickning or restoring to life it neuer died for quickning is heere the restoring of life to that which was dead and not the giuing of life to that which had none before Then if Christs soule died of force it must either be quickned againe or kept vnder eternal death but to saie that Christs soule was quickned or made aliue IS ABSVRD AND MOST FALSE Ergo to saie that Christes soule died IS ABSVRD AND MOST FALSE You will aske me howe I proue the Minor or second parte of this Argument if Saint Austen did not helpe me to proue it the Confuter will Loe Sir Refuter your own words in the very same place take care I praie you that I misrepeat them not for if I hit theÌ„ right you wil proue your selfe as verie a baby as euer suckt a bottle BOTH THESE saie you ARE ABSVRD AND MOST FALSE that Christ was made alïue either in his HVMANE SOVLE OR BY THE SAME Sée and shame if there be anie grace or sense in you that going about purposelie to prooue that Christs soule died and was crucified you set this for a preface vnto it it is ABSVRD and most FALSE that Christ was made aliue in his humane soule which without any shift or colour you do saie must saie before your conclusion can be true except you wil flie to this that Christes soule died in deede but was neuer restored to life or made aliue againe which if wee come to I must proclaime you no longer foolish but blasphemous Howbeit I hope you will rather see your follie then fall to this frensie for my part I wish you better counsell and more reading and although you tell me of errors corrupt fansies and vayne imaginations shameful questioÌ„s toyish fables fond absurd without sense or reason when I doe but repeat the iudgementes of the ancient and learned Fathers yet I will beare them at your hand and from my heart doe pittie your ignorance for I hope it bee but ignorance howsoeuer you take vpon you to controle all as fond and absurde that yeelde not to your humour For the cleering of this place of Peter wherein the Confuter hath so much ouerseene himselfe I stand not vpon the aduantage of his wordes but vpon the sounde and learned exposition of Saint Austen whose antiquitie and authoritie concurring with the truth of the scriptures doth please me I trust christian reader wil content thee Christus spiritu viuificatus est cuÌ„ in passione esset câ—rne mortificatus Quid est enim quod viuificatus est spâ—ritu nisi quod eadem Caro qua sola fuerat mortificatus viuificante spiritu resurrexit Nam quod anima fuerat mortificatus Iesus hoc est eo spiritu qui hominis est quis audeat dicere cum mors animae non sit nisi peccatum a quo ille omnino immunis fuit Certe anima Christi non solum immortalis secundum naturam caeterarum sed etiam nullo mortificata peccato vel damnatione punita est quibus duabus causis mors animae intelligi pâ—test ideo non secundum ipsam dici potuit Christus viuificatus spiritu In ea re quippe viuificatus est in qua fuerat mortificatus ergo de carne dictum est Ipsa euim reuixit anima redeunte quia ipsa erat mortua anima recedente Mâ—rtificatus ergo carne dictus est quia secunduÌ„ solam carneÌ„ mortuus est viuificatus autem spiritu quia spiritu operante etiaÌ„ ipsa caro viuificata surrexit Christ was quickned by the spirit when in his Passion he was put to death in his flesh What meaneth it that he was quickned by the spirit but that the same flesh in VVHICH ONLY HE DIED rose againe by the quickning of the spirit For that Iesus DIED IN SOVLE I meane in his humane spirit VVHO DARE AFFIRME IT where as the death of the soule is nothing in this life but sinne from which he was wholie free Surelie the soule of Christ was not onlie immortal by nature as others are but neither died by sinne nor was punished by any damnation which are the two waies how the soule maie possiblie die And therefore Christ could not bee said to bee quickned in soule by the spirite for in that part was hee quickned in which hee died Therefore it was spoken by Peter of Christs flesh That reuiued when the soule returned because that died when the soule departed Christ then is sayd to bee done to death in his flesh for that hee died ONLY IN HIS FLESH and to be quickned by the spirite because that verie flesh rose againe being quickned by the working of the spirite These learned and sound conclusions of S. Austen are derectlie repugnant to your weake and false obseruations Syr Refuter Christ died in the flesh saith Peter that is saith Austen in THE FLESH ONLY for the soule of Christ died not since the death of the soule is either sinne in this life or damnation in the next both which were farre from Christ. You tell vs that Christs soule not onlie died but was also crucified and all the proofe you bring for it besides Terence is that Peter saith Christ died in the flesh Now the flesh saie you signifieth as well the soule as the bodie and so Christ died in both but such proofes if you vse them often will prooue you to haue a great deale lesse religion and learning then you would seeme to haue What death the Scriptures affirme Christ died for vs if you bee now to séeke at these yeares it is pittie your shoulders haue beene so long troubled with your head Can there bee fuller or plainer words then those which the foure Euangelists vse in describing the death buriall and resurrection of the bodie of our Sauiour Shew but one such word in Scripture or father that Christs soule died at the time of his Passion and take the cause He layd downe his soule vnto death you will saie You should haue done well in your pamphlette at least to haue laid that downe for a shewe and not vpon your single word to haue vouched so weightie a matter as the death of Christs soule is but you must be borne with your wits are often not at home What is ment by this that Christ laid downe or yéelded his Soule vnto death S. Austen largelie disputeth in his 47 treatise vppon S. Iohns Gospell The effect is when Christ laid downe his soule vnto death his bodie died and not his soule Quid fecit Passio quid fecit mors nisi corpus ab anima separauit
and get you some other profession So then the paines which the damned feele besides the griefe of heauen lost is FLAMING FIER intolerably formenting both bodie and soule and as Cyprian obserueth Omni tormento atrocius desperatio condemnatos affliget Desperation which shall afflict the condemned worse then al their torments To these if you subiect the Sonne of God you know what will follow from these if you frée him as you needes must then is the Question at an end for in euery mans sight Christ did not suffer the paines of hell nor the torments of the damned which the scripture maketh to be these not those which you can neither expresse nor proue FroÌ„ slender reasons you come Sir Refuter to slenderer authorities and though you quote but few and not one of them speaking one word to your purpose yet before you produce them you chalenge them as vnsufficient to testifie in this or any cause against your liking For where they may not be iudges nor with you so much as witnesses of the Scriptures sense you so reieâ—t their expositions euerie where with pride disdaine yet you in your wisedome take vpon you to build vpon the words of the holy Ghost what absurdities and follies you list and your best reason is it were fond to thinke otherwise but be more sober if you will be ruled by me it is the way to hazard your own wits not their credits to entertaine theÌ„ in this maner They speake not plainly nor fully you say because it was neuer in question in their time Touching the redemption of man by the death blood of Christ Iesus they speake as plainly and fully as it is possible for men to speake and kéepe exactly the forme of wholesome doctrine deliuered in the Scriptures touching your hell paines they say nothing in déed because it was neuer heard of in y e Church of Christ in their times but that Christ died NOT THE DEATH OF THE SOVLE and by the ONLY DEATH OF HIS BODY and shedding of his blood sufficiently ransomed redéemed vs this cannot be spoken in plainer and exacter terms then they haue proposed it and proued it And therfore you and others shal doe well not to make al the ancient learned lights of Christs Church so ignorant in their Créed Catechisme as not to know how they were saued by y e Crosse death of Christ before your hellish paines of the damned were of late deuised Your better sifting of this matter is the open wresting and forcing of the scriptures against their true proper and perpetual sense to serue your strange conceits And as you do with the scriptures you must be suffered to do with the Fathers which you produce that is to put theÌ„ quite from their own meaning frame their words to your fancies before any man can tell to what end you cite them The first word you quote out of Ierom you falsifie by putting maledictum to it where Ierom doth not so but simply saith VVHAT VVE should haue suffered for our sinnes that he suffered for vs. The very next words that are his owne for he interposeth a place of Scripture that in his fâ—esh Christ dissolued our enmitie with God and healed vs with his stripes are these Ex quo perspicuum est sicut corpus flagellatum laceratum ita animam verè doluisse pro nobis Whereby it is euident that as his bodie was whipped and torne so his soule truely sorrowed for vs. Here you must be permitted to adde of your owne besides Ieroms meaning that this sorrow was your hellish sorrow or else I cannot sée why you cited Ierom except it were to falsifie him But how and why Christ sorrowed for vs when Ieroms own words were alleaged by me your answer was this is more fond and absurd than the other Cyprians words you neither vnderstand nor like he saith that Christ taking our person and cause vpon him sayd in our names that he was forsaken Quod pro eis voluisti intelligi qui deseri à Deo propter peccata meruerant quorum reconciliationis causam agebas which he would haue to be vnderstoode of vs or for vs who deserued by our sinnes to be forsaken of God whose reconciliation he then vndertooke So S. Austen expounded those words of Christ My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Illa vox membrorum ipsius vox erat non capitis that voyce was the voice of his members and not of the head but you could not endure either Austen or my other father so to say without controlement But Cyprian saith Christ endured like punishment to those that be sinners accursed In part not in all otherwise he must haue suffered eternall death of bodie and soule and therefore expounding himselfe in the next sentence he saith In tantum infirmis compateris vt nec crucifigi nec mori dum illi viuant non pereant nec erubescas nec formides So far didst thou suffer with the weake that thou didst neither shame to be crucified nor feare to dye so they might liue and not perish Ambrose saith With the sorrow of his soule Christ abolished the sorrow of our soules Here you must haue leaue to bring in your hellish sorrowes against Ambroses minde or else this is but lost labour the causes of Christs heauines and sorrow when I repeated out of this very place of Ambrose you reiected them as fond and false and now with the bare name of sorrow you think Ambrose dreamt of your hell paines For shame reade out the chapter and leaue these mistakings But Ambrose saith the man in Christ now readie to die by the separation of the Diuinite cried my God my God why hast thou forsaken me A man dieth when his soule leaueth his body Christ therefore ready to die the death of the body which was left of y e deitie vnto death by withdrawing it selfe for a time vttered these words Death of the soule or dereliction vnto hell paines there are none to be found in Ambrose nor any words sounding that way vnlesse you peruert them at your pleasure The words next going before are these Gloriosa Dei professio vsque ad mortem se pro nostris descendisse peccatis vel euidens manifestatio contestantis Dei secessionem Diuinitatis CORPORIS It was a glorious profession of God that he descended euen vnto death for our sins or an euident manifestation of God witnessing the departure of his Diuinitie from HIS BODIE when it dyed The next words of Ambrose why you alleage I doe not sée but to make vp the number which is very smale and lesse forcible Who doubteth but Christ offered that which he put on He put on his body his body he offered S. Paul will tell what Christ offered We are sanctified by the offering of the bodie of Iesus Christ once made Your own author Saint
aire that is not seene nor hath any colour And in his discourse whether a secrete and silent life be best or no Plutarch proposeth this etymologie as truer elder theÌ„ Soâ—rates fancie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men ACCORDING TO THE AVNCIENT TRADITIONS OF THEIR FATHERS thinking the sunne to be Apollo named him Delius and Pythius And the RVLER of the contrarie destinie to life and light whether he bee a God or a DIVEL they termed HADES being the MASTER of dark night and dead sleepe for that when wee depart hence wee go into an vnknowne and vnseene place So that Socrates deriuation of Hades was both false and newe euen as his opinion of HADES to be an eloquent and bountifull God and his reason is woorst of all that because men returne not backe againe after death therefore HADES doeth detaine them with eloquent perswasions and great rewards which maketh him to be called Pluto For the scripture assureth vs that men dead can not returne againe though they were neuer so willing and though God of his goodnes bestoweth euerlasting blisse on his Saints yet the rest would faine bee rid of their eternall miserie and can not neither are they held in their state with faire promises or large benefites but by the vnalterable rigor of Gods iustice Eustathius vpon Homers wordes that Achilles sent many a worthie soule to HADES saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a darke place vnder the earth not to be seene appointed for soules and is deriued from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the priuatiue and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to see and is called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by contraction HADES So when Homer bringeth in Hectors wife complaining of her miserie and saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou husband art gone to HADES house vnder the dennes of the earth Eustathius addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is a place vnder the earth and so hidde from vs. Therefore it is called Hades that is an inuisible aire which wee can not see And howsoeuer Socrates pleased himselfe in framing this heauen as you call it for himselfe and a fewe others for hee admitteth none but Philosophers into it Lucian in his Dialogues of the dead bitterlie mocketh him as being in Hell with all the rest howsoeuer he dreamed of an heauen for himselfe after his departure hence How Paganish and not onelie ridiculous but blasphemous Platoes heauen is appeareth by this that Socrates maketh SVVANNES his fellow seruants to Phoebus imagineth they sing that day they die 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FORESEEING THE GOOD THINGS THEY SHALL HAVE IN HADES And further saith that wheÌ„ they perceiue they must die then chiefly and most of al they sing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reioycing that they SHALL GO TO GOD whose seruants they are And those wordes which Socrates spake of Swannes foreséeing THE GOOD THINGS IN HADES you Sir Confuter in the abundance of your wit note to proue HADES to be heauen And to this heauen though Socrates admitte Swannes yet he accepteth no men but such as haue béene Philosophers those of the purest sort As for such as vse popular and ciuil vertues as iustice and temperance gotten by care and continuance without Philosophie his words are expressely these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is fit that such soules should returne againe into some such politicall and tame kinde either of BEES VVASPES or EMMETS after that into men again But into the kinred of the Gods it is not lawful for anie to come that hath not beene a Philosopher and verie pure at his departing hence Others that were slouthfull and filled their bellies hee saith must be turned into Asses and such other beasts and oppressours and wrong doers into Wolues Kites and Hawkes Of these his plaine resolution is that such soules wander vntill by the earnest loue of their bodilie nature which followeth them they PVT ON BODIES againe And such bodies of birds and beasts they put on as resemble the manners of their former life Here is a goodly world of soules to be brought out of Plato into the Créede and Socrates heauen why you should fansie I cannot gesse except it be that none but very pure and precise persons shall come thither to whom you would faine be the ringleader But this is not all In making HADES AND PLVTO by which the Poets meane the diuell to bée a wise and bountifull God hath not your wise Master fitted his new heauen with an excellent head Plutarch moueth the doubt whether HADES be a God or a DIVELL that hath power ouer darknes and death Homer Hesiode affirme he dwelleth vnder the earth and is implacable cruell and hated of men Porphyrie no meane follower of Plato concludeth PLVTO which is all one with HADES as Plato confesseth to be the chiefe of all wicked spirits Porphyries words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We doe not without cause coniecture that all wicked spirites are vnder Serapis being led so to thinke not onely by his ceremonies but because offerings to pacifie and sacrifices auerting rage are done to PLVTO as we haue shewed in our first booke Now Serapis is all one god with Pluto and therefore he is the greatest prince of Diuels and one that giueth charmes to driue away spirits Loe here is Socrates wise and bountifull god HADES AND PLVTO concluded by a great Platonicke to be the chiefe diuell whose iudgement Eusebius followeth And in déede considering his place where he dwelleth his rage that he vseth against men for which hee is so feared and hated of them and his sacrifices in which hee delighteth as also his power ouer death and darkenesse it is a cléere case that Platoes HADES OR PLVTO is the great diuell in hell whose craftes and sleighâ—s because hée knew not as a Pagan he hath promoted him to bee a wise and liberall god and you haue learnedly cited this wise deuise to make him ruler of your heauen whither you send Christ and his Saints to liue there for euer Now were it graunted vnto you that Pluto and HADES which by the description of all your classicall Poets is in déede the diuell were one of Platoes gods are you so little acquainted either with Plato or with Paganisme that you presently conclude hee is the true God of Heauen Or that this inuisible place must néedes bee the kingdome of God Looke but in the latter end of this booke which you alleage for this very purpose and there you shall sée what pretie fansies Socrates hath of another inuisible earth farre aboue this and waters likewise and trees and flowers and fruites and beastes and men that liue longer than we doe here below and without sicknes where also there are temples woods in which the gods dwell familiarly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That to see that earth is the sight of the blessed But what
next such as being wearie of their liues killed themselues now willing to suffer pouertie or any paine on earth so they might returne to life againe In the fourth place are Lugentes Campi the wofull fields of such as died for loue in the fift Warriers and such as pursued each other with the sword where Aeneas saw all the Grecians and Troians that dyed at the siege of Troy Of all these places where yet are no punishments the Poet maketh Deiphobus to say to Aeneas what cause driueth thée Vt tristes sine fole domos loca turbida adires To come to the wofull housen without sunne and lothsome placesâ— Then leadeth the left hand to Tartarus which these men so much harpe at compassed with fierie Phlegeton and there are the punishments of the wicked then Plutoes palace and on the right hand Amaena vireta fortunatorum nemorum sedésque beatae The sweete springs of the fortunate woods and the blessed seats Here is the heauen which this confuter alleageth out of Virgil and here Aeneas found his father Anchises in a greene vale viewing the soules that dranke of the water of obliuion and were tâ— take new bodies on earth againe His words are Animae quibus altera fato Corpora debentur Lethei ad â—luminis vndam Securos latices long a obliuia potant The soules who by destinie are to take bodies the second time doe here at the Riuer of Lethe drinke the waters of vtter forgetfulnes no way remembring whatsoeuer they saw or knew either whiles they first liued or during the time of their abode vnder earth And because it séemed strange to Aeneas that soules should come to take other bodies though this be right Platoes fansie in his Phaedone Anchises telleth his sonne the secrets of Platoes Purgatorie heauen and resurrection as Virgil conceiued them who was a great Platonist When men die saith he all the infections of their bodies cannot presently be taken from their soules Ergo exercentur poenis veterúmque maloruÌ„ supplicia expendunt Therefore the soules of such as are curable for the desperate and insanable are cast into Tartarus and neuer come thence by Platoes owne words are purged with paines and abide the punishment of their former infection some are hanged vp to the winde some are plunged vnder water some are clensed by fier Quisque suos patimur manes exinde per amplum Mittimur Elysium pauci laeta aruatenemus Donec longa dies perfecto temporis orbe Concretam exemit labem purúmque reliquit Aethereum sensum atque auraï simplicis ignem Has omnes vbi mille rotam voluêre per annos Letheum ad fluuium Deus euocat agmine longo Scilicet immemores supera vt conuexa reuisant Rursus incipiant in corpora velle reuerti Wee euery one of vs suffer our clensing and after that wee are sent out into the large Elysian fieldes where but a fewe of vs inhabite these pleasant places vntill long time hath taken awaye the bodilie infection and leaueth the aethereall sense pure and the vigour of the fierie and simple ayre Then after a thousand yeares God calleth all these soules thus purged and placed in the fortunate seates to the flood of Lethe that they may goe to the earth againe with vtter forgetfulnesse of all things and beginne to desire to returne to new bodies To these Elysian fields when Aeneas should come the Poet maketh Sybilla say Ad genitorem imas Erebi descendit ad vmbras Aeneas descendeth to his father euen to the soules below in Erebus And that Erebus is one of the infernall Gods as the Poets call them can bee no question For when Dido minding to kill her selfe prepared Sacra Ioui stygio Sacrifices to the infernall Iupiter the Poet maketh her Priest to inuocate Tercentum tonat ore deos Erebúmque Chaósque Three hundred gods and Erebus and Chaos This is the worlde of Soules that Virgil deliuered in his time which hée collected out of Plato this is the heauen that is contayned in HADES and INFERI Iudge thou Christian Reader whether this be not the high way to Paganisme to tell vs that this is the heauen where the Saints of God are in rest and whether Christ ascended For my part but that I thinke this confuter talketh of that hée knoweth not I must haue proclaymed him for a Pagan and therefore after hée séeth it if hée persist to say that heauen is either Homers HADES or Virgils INFERI I may not spare to discharge the dutie of a Christian man to let the whole realme vnderstand that this is open infidelitie cloaked vnder the name of Puritie Platoes world of Soules where it altereth from this is rather worse than better For hée saith the soules of euill men are clogged with their bodilie vncleanenes and wander 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about tombes and graues as it is said and then put on the bodies of beastes birds or wormes And yâ—u Sir Confuter lighting on the first part of those wordes openly falsifie them and lewdly misapply them For in stéede of as it is said you translate as it is commonly said and by that worde COMMONLY of your owne adding and referred to the former words where there is a manifest distinction or pause betwixt them you bid the reader note that HADES is commonly called heauen For thus you write Againe Plato saith of heauen that it is an vnseene estate euen HADES as it is commonly called which you will by the side to be noted where Plato in that place speaketh not one word of heauen But such is the miserie of your cause you must belie your authors or else you will lacke proofes for your humours And touching the soules of all men that are borne Plato holdeth their soules had bodies before and staye in HADES vntill the time come that they must haue bodies againe and therefore all our knowledge heere is but the remembring of that wée knew before when our soules were in other bodies which is the opinion that Tertullian chargeth him with His owne wordes are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is an auncient assertion which wee remember that soules departing hence are there and come hither againe and are new borne from the dead And least you should thinke hée did not consent to it hée saith somewhat after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wee are not deceiued confessing all this but there is in very trueth a returning of soules to liue againe on earth and of the dead spring the liuing Consult you and your Instructor whether you will bring this HADES or world of soules into the Créede or whether the thiefe from the Crosse ascended to this heauen together with the soule of our Sauiour But if these bee intolerable and abominable heresies to haue soules passe from bodie to bodie and Platoes HADES be nothing else but a continuall chopping and changing of soules from life to death and from death to life againe hale
vnto Sheol that is to his Graue refusing to take anie comfort whiles he liued since his sonne was dead You like a tyrant ouer the Scriptures will haue what sense pleaseth you in euerie place and then you saie it is plaine and common In déede your ignorance and insolencie is verie plaine and common but the interpretations which you make of Scripture be absurde and more then foolish A man liuing maie well be said to descend into his graue liuing hee standeth dying he lieth downe and the face of the earth on which we are is higher then the bowels of the earth where wee lie buried but of a soule ascending vp to heauen to say it descendeth to hell is a phrase of your making and fit for your faith which is guided more by will then by truth When you proue these two points that HADES is HEAVEN in the Scriptures and that DESCENDING IS ASCENDING we will hearken to your exposition till then wee will leaue it as a distemper of your vnsetled braine For the last exposition of the three which remaineth I haue shewed thée Christian reader by the particular circumstances of the Scriptures that in the continuall vse of the new Testament HADES signifieth HELL which is the place where the wicked after this life are in torments I haue also in the sermons before examined the words of Dauid alledged and applied by Peter to Christ Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell whence Peter concludeth Christs soule was not left in hel as likewise the words of Paul importing that Christ descended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the bottomlesse deepe which worde throughout the new testament doth signifie nothing but HEL I haue noted how anciently Christs local descent to hel was preached in the church euen by one of the seuentie disciples that were conuersant with Christ continued to this daie with the full consent of the fathers both Greeke Latin without exception and by the whole church of Christ receiued I must not iterate that which there is so latelie written The words are faire and plain there is no danger nor difficultie in them the end of Christes descending thither being both honourable to him and comfortable to vs as I haue before deliuered it Lastly I see no cause either in this Confuters ridiculous pamphlet or in his abettors tempestuous and furious libell why anie man should dislike or distrust this exposition as vnfit for the wordes or vnsound for the faith of the Creede To load thee with authorities were to make an other volume thou shalt onelie see I haue not deuised it of mine owne heade but that it hath both antiquitie for it and authoritie with it and so I will make an ende Cyprian in his Sermon of Christs passion Ipse dicit ad patreÌ„ non derelinques animaÌ„ meam in inferno nec sines corrumpi carnem meam in sepulchro quia vbi in praesentia illius effractis inferis est captiuata captiuitas praesentata victrice anima in praesentia patris ad corpus suum siue dilatione reuersus est Christ saieth to his Father Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell nor suffer my flesh to rotte in the graue because as soone as captiuitie was subdued hell being broken vppe in his presence and his triumphing soule presented to the sight of his Father hee without delay returned to his bodie Arnobius writing vppon the hundreth thirtie and seuenth Psalme Postea vidit Inferos longè factus est non solum à coelis sed ab ipsa terra Abyssi profunda descendens scidit quia indereuerteretur ad superos quia a superis remearet ad coelos Afterward Christ went to hell and was farre not onelie from heauen but from the earth descending hee brake the bottomlesse deepe that hee might thence returne to life and from thence to heauen Lactantius in his verses of the resurrection saith Tristia cessarunt infernae vincula legis Expauâ—tque Chaos luminis ore premi Depereunt tenebrae Christi fâ—elgore fugatae Aeternae noctis pallia crassa cadunt The fearefull bands of the infernall power ceased and Chaos was afraid to be oppressed with the light of his presence The darknesse of hell was chased away with the brightnes of Christ and the grosse couerings of eternall night vanished Athanasius Ipse est dei virtus qui infernum expugnauit imperium Diaboli demolitus est qui Deus in descendeÌ„do deus in ascendendo corpus suum à morte excitatum patri repraesentauit ac vindicauit à morte sub â—uius imperio tenebatur Christ is the power of God which surprised hell and ouerthrewe the kingdome of the diuell who beeing God in descending and God in ascending presented his body raised from death to his father and tooke it from death vnder whose power it was helde Hilarius Hic ergo vnus est mortem in inferno perimens spei nostrae fidem resurrectione confirmans corruptionem carnis humanae gloria sui corporis perimens Christ alone is hee that in hell killed death confirmed our hope with his resurrection and destroied the corruption of mans flesh with the glorie of his owne bodie Basil Habes ergo myrrham ob sepulturam guttam ob descensionem ad infernum quod non inefficax in sepulchro permanserit sed ad infernum descenderit gratia dispensationis circa resurrectionem absoluendae vt quae de seipso erant oracula Prophetarum vniuersa expleret Thou hast in this Psalme myrrhe for his buriall dropping for his descent to hell because hee lay not in his graue without force but descended into hell to dispatch thinges needfull for his resurrection that hee might fulfill all that the Prophets forespake of him Nazianzene maketh Christes mother to say of him At vbi veneris in atram nocte Plutonis domum Infernum acerbo iaculo defixeris But when thou wentest to the house of Pluto where darke night is thou diddest thrust thorow hell with a wounding speare Fulgentius Dauid spake of Christes resurrection that his soule was not left in hell nor his flesh saw corruption In this then the Godheade of Christ shewed the power of his impassibilitie that being euery where alwaies and vnspeakeablie present it wanted not to his flesh when it suffered not his soule to feele any paine in hell neither forsooke his soule in hell whiles it kept his flesh from rotting in the graue Beda our countriman shall be the last My flesh saith Dauid of Christ shal rest in hope expounding in what hope to wit in this hope that though my soule descend to hell yet thou wilt not leaue it to be possessed of hel The rest go all cléer that way applying y e words of Dauid cited by Peter Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell to Christs descent thither after death And howsoeuer the fathers incline to thinke as Ierom did that the saints before Christes comming
harts of men when y e diuel preuaileth with temptation there he worketh leading such as consent and yéeld vnto him into all wickednesse euen with greedinesse So he worketh in the children of disobedience as the Apostle testifieth This can haue no place in Christâ— because he did no sinne neither was there anie guile found in his mouth He that committeth sinne saith saint Iohn is of the diuel and for this purpose appeared the sonne of God that hee might dissolue the workes of the diuell Then since inward temptation by the hart Christ could haue none and outward temptation by the mouthes hands of the wicked is no effect of Gods wrath but rather a triall of Gods gifts and graces bestowed on vs It remaineth that if Christ felt the diuels as the very instruments that wrong he the verie effects of Gods wrath vpon him that is vpon his soule for that part of Christ you say must properly and immediateliâ— feele the wrath of God it resteth I saie by your owne wordes y e Christ FELT the DIVELS TORMENTING HIS SOVLE And indeede for so much as in executing the true paines of hell and of the damned God hath none other instruments but diuels you cannot defend that Christ suffered the paines of hell but you must graunt that Christ felt the diuels as instruments executing those paines on his soule Nowe the bodie of man they may torment with touching as they did Iobs the soule they can not but by possessing it For they can not woorke but where they are and therefore they must possesse the soule which they torment Is not here Christian Reader an wholesome clearke and an holie cause that concludeâ— Christes soule was possessed and tormented of diuels on the Crosse And the proofe is as ridiculous as the position is impious Christ spoiled principalities and powers and openlie triumphed ouer them ergo say you hee felt them the instruments of Gods wrath by tormenting his soule If your learning and Logicke serue you so well you may procéede Doctor in doâ—age when you will For my part christian Reader I will giue none other answere to these lewd and wicked absurdities but that which Iacob said to Simeon and Leâ—i Into their secret my soule shall not come To strengthen thee thou maiest remember what Peter saide of Christ. God anointed Iesus of Nazareth with the holy ghost with power to heale all that were oppressed of the diuell for God was with him or else what Christ said of himselfe The prince of this world commeth and hath naught in me or at least what the diuels themselues said to Christ Iesus the sonne of God VVHAT HAVE VVE TO DO VVITH THEE Art thou come to torment vs before the time And so in the Gospell of saint Luke the soule spirit when he saw Iesus cried out what haue I to doe with thee Iesus the sonne of God most high I beseech thee torment me not But perchance I mistake him would God there were so much grace in him as to reuoke it or refuse it I woulde gladlie confesse mine errour in mistaking his wordes but what if he go on from bad to worse What if he heapeth vp reasons as he thinketh but indeede trifles void of sense and reason to confirme the same This reason will proue the same saith hee taken from the lesse to the more Thus do the members of Christ suffer Therefore of necessitie Christ our head suffered the like Yea to the Hebrues hee sheweth a reason which can neuer be refuted by the witte of man Christ succoured vs not but wherein hee had experience of our temptations and infirimities but he succoureth vs euen in these our temptations of feeling the terrours of God and the sorrowes of hell Therefore hee himselfe had experience of the same Adde hereunto that of all absurdities this is the greatest that meere men should suffer more deepely and bitterly then Christ did You haue more words then witte Sir Confuter that propose these childish arguments for inuincible reasons Your selfe shall sée the weakenes of them What soeuer the members of Christ say you did or shall suffer of necessitie Christ our head suffered the like Meane you in bodie or in soule or in both If in bodie thâ—n Christ had his eies put out for so had Sampson he was swalowed vp by a whale for so was Ionas hee was cast into a burning furnace for so were Sidrac Mishac and Abednego he was stoned to death for so were Naboth Steuen and others You meane not in bodie meane you then in soule Inwarde assaults of error lust and sinne Christ neuer had He was â—ree from all conflicts of heart that rise in vs from the roote or remorse of sinne that increase with weakenesse of faith want of grace and quenching of Gods spirite The terrors of minde which wee feele through conscience of our vnworthinesse ignorance of Gods counsell and distrust of Gods fauour hee neuer felt his faith admitted no doubting his loue excluded all fearing his hope reiected all despairing So that howe you shoulde make a falser proposition and more repugnant to the Apostles wordes which you alledge then this which you haue made I by no meanes can conceiue Hee was tempted in all thinges a like except sinne Then neither the rootes partes nor fruites of sinne must bee in him But the Apostle that excepteth sinne excepteth all sinnefull adherentes The punishment of sinne which proceedeth from the iustice of GOD and is no sinne that Christ might and did beare but in no wise those terrours and feares of conscience which proceede from sinne and augment sinne as doubting distrusting despairing in which GOD reuengeth sinne with sinne these muste bee farre from Christ vnlesse wee will wrappe him within the snares of our sinnes The feare of Gods Maiestie armed with mightie power to reuenge sinne is profitable to keepe vs from sinne therein Christ may communicate with vs though not to that ende â—or he could not sinne but fearing doubting or distrusting that God wil for our manifold sinnes cast vs from his presence and condemne vs to hell commeth in vs from the guiltinesse of conscience and weakenesse of faith and hope which in Christ neither had nor coulde haue anie place But the Apostle you saie sheweth a reason which can neuer bee refuted by the witte of man Christ succoured vs not but wherein he had experience of our temptations Are those wordes in the Apostle No you will saie but collected from the Apostles wordes where hee saith In that Christ suffered being tempted he can helpe those that are tempted Hence you conclude vpon your owne warrant that Christ can succour vs in no temptation but whereof himselfe had first experience and this you proclaime to be irrefutable Such lips such lettice such doctors such diuinitie Your collection Sir Refuter is not onelie farre different from the Apostles wordes but euidentlie repugnant to the christian