or designement unto that high office a calling far more solemne and of better note then that which Aaron had to the Legal Priesthood For of the calling of Aaron it is only said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was called by God is a common word and therefore like enough 't was done in the common way But the calling of Christ it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a more solemne and significant word and intimates that he was solemnely declared and pronounced by God to be a Priest after the order of Melchisedech Now as the calling was so was the consecration in all points parallel to Aarons and in some beyond Aaron was consecrated to the Priesthood by the hand of Moses but Christ our Saviour by the hand of Almighty God who long before as long before as the time of David had bound himself by oath to invest him in it Aarons head was anointed only with materiall oile Christs with the oil of gladnesse above all his fellowes The consecration of Aaron was performed before all the people gathered together for that purpose at the dore of the Tabernacle That of our Saviour was accomplished in the great feast of the Passeover the most solemne publick and universall meeting that ever any nation of the world did accustomably hold besides the confluence and concourse of all sorts of strangers In the next place the consecration of Aaron was solemnized with the sacrifices of Rams and Bullocks of which that of the Bullock was a sin-offering as well for Aarons own sins as the sins of the people and of the Rams the one of them was for a fire-offering or a sacrifice of rest the other was the Ram of consecration or of filling the hand And herein the preheminence runs mainly on our Saviours side who was so far from needing any sin-offering to fit him and prepare him for that holy office that he himself became an offering for the sins of others even for the sins of all the world And as he was to be advanced to a more excellent Priesthood then that of Aaron so was he sanctifyed or prepared if I may so say after a far more excellent manner then with bloud of Rams For he was consecrated saith the text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with his own bloud and with this bloud not only his hands or ears were spinkled as in that of Aaron but his whole body was anointed first being bathed all over in a bloudy sweat next with the bloud issuing from his most sacred head forced from it by the violent piercing of the Crown of thornes which like the anointing oyle on the head of Aaron distilled unto the lowest parts of that blessed body and lastly with the streams of bloud flowing abundantly from the wounds of his hands and feet and that great orifice which was made in his precious side Though our Redeemer were originally sanctifyed from the very wombe and that in a most absolute and perfect manner yet would Almighty God have him thus visibly consecrated in his own bloud also that so he might become the authour of salvation to all those that obey him and that he having washed our robes in the bloud of the Lamb might be also sanctifyed and consecrated to the service of our heavenly father Finally the consecration of Aaron and of all the high Priests of the law which succeeded him was to last seven dayes that so the Sabbath or seventh day might passe over him because no man as they conceived could be a perfect high Priest to the Lord their God until the Sabbath day had gone over his head The consecration of our Saviour lasted seven dayes too in every one of which although he might be justly called an high Priest in fieri or per medium participationis as the Schoolmen phrase it yet was not he fully consecrated to this Priestly office till he had bathed himself all over in his own bloud and conquered the powers of death by his resurrection That so it was will evidently appear by this short accompt which we shall draw up of his actions from his first entrance into Hierusalem in the holy week till he had finished all his works and obtained rest from his labours On the first day of the week which still in memory thereof we do call Palme Sunday he went into the holy City not so much to prepare for the Iewish Passeover as to make ready for his own and at his entrance was received with great acclamations Hosanna be to him that cometh in the name of the Lord And on the same day or the day next following he purged the Temple from brokery and merchandizing and so restored that holy place to the use of prayer which the high Priests of the Law had turned or suffered to be turned which comes all to one to a den of Theeves The intermediate time betwixt that and the day of his passion he spent in preaching of the Gospell instructing the ignorant and in healing of the blind and lame which were brought unto him in the performance whereof and the like workes of mercy he was more diligent and frequent and more punctuall far then Aaron or any of his successors in the legal Priesthood in offering of the seven dayes sacrifice for themselves and the people On the fift day having first bathed his body in a bloudy sweat he was arrained and pronounced to be worthy of death in the high Priests hall And on the sixt according to the Iewish accompt with whom the evening is observed to begin the day he went into his heavenly sanctuary to which he had prepared entrance with his precious bloud as Moses at Aarons consecration did purifie and consecrate the materiall Sanctuary with the bloud of Bullocks and of Rams Not by the bloud of Goats and Calves saith the Apostle but by his own bloud hath he once entred into the holy place and obtained eternal redemption for us Which Sacrifice of the Son of God on the accursed Crosse although it was the perfect and full accomplishment of all the typical and legal sacrifices offered in the law yet was it but an intermediate though an especiall part of his consecration to the eternall Evangelical Priesthood which he was to exercise and not the ultimum esse or perfection of it That was not terminated till the day of his resurrection untill a Sabbath day had gone over his head which was more perfectly fulfilled in his consecration then ever it had been in Aarons and the sons of Aaron For then and not till then when God had powerfully defeated all the plots of his enemies did God advance him to the Crown to the regal Diademe setting him as a King on his holy hill the hill of Sion and saying to him as it were in the sight of his people Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And then and not till then when he had glorifyed him thus in the
at the best be they what they will neither the Fathers nor Apostles no nor Christ himself for ought I can see to be excepted Which error being thus sprung up did in an Age so apt to novelties and innovations meet with many followers and some too many indeed in this Church of England some of them teaching as it is affirmed by their learned Adversary that Christ redeemed our souls by the death of his soul as our bodies by the death of his body Now whereas the soul is subject to a twofold death the one by sin prevailing on it in this life which is the natural depriving or voluntary renouncing of all grace the other by damnation in the world to come which is the just rejecting of all the wicked from any fellowship with God in his glory and fastning them to everlasting torments in hell fire I would fain know which of these deaths it was the first or second which our Saviour suffered in his soul. I think they do not mean the last and am sure they cannot prove the first for to talk as some of them have done that there may be a death of the soul a curse and separation from God which of it self is neither sin nor conjoyned with sin is such a Monster in Divinity as was never heard of till this Age. Certain I am the Scripture only speaks of two kindes of death the first and the second both which we finde expressed in the Revelation where it is said the fearful and the unbeleeving and the abominable and murtherers and sorcerers and whoremongers and Idolaters and all lyers all which no doubt are under the arrest of the first death whereof he speaketh chap. 2. vers 11. shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death And sure I am the Fathers if they may be credited are contrary in tearms express to this new device not only acknowledging no death in Christ but the death of the body but also utterly disclaiming this pretended death of the soul. In quo nisi in corpore expiavit populi peccata in quo passus est nisi in corpore Wherein saith Ambrose did he expiate the sins of the people but in his body wherein did he suffer death but in his body St. Austin to this purpose also Sacerdos propter victimam quam pro nobis offerret a nobis acceptam that Christ was made or called a Priest by reason of that sacrifice which he took of us that he might offer it for us which could be nothing but our body More plainly and exclusively Fulgentius thus Moriente carne non solum deitas sed nec anima Christi potest ostendi commâ—rtua that when Christ dyed in the flesh neither his Deity nor his soul can be demonstrated to have dyed also with it The greatest Doctors of the Greek Churches do affirm the same Christ saith Theodoret was called an high Priest in his humane nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and offered none other sacrifice but his body only And thus Theophylact A Priest may by no means be without a sacrifice It was necessary then that Christ should have somewhat to offer Quod autem offerretur praeter ejus corpus nihil quippiam erat and there was nothing which he had to offer but his body only Athanasius in his third Oration against the Ariâ—ns and Nazianzen on that text When Iesus had finished all those sayings do affirme the same but not so clearly and exclusively as the others did Now as here is no death of the soul which possibly may be imagined to have happened to Christ if we will be judged by the Scriptures and as the Fathers Greek and Latine do so significantly and expresly disclaime the same so is it such an horrid speech such a pang of blasphemy as should not come within the heart nor issue from the mouth of any Christian. But this I only touch at now We shall hear more of it in the next Article touching the descent into hell where it shall be presented to us in another colour I end this point at this time with that of Augustine There is a first death and there is a second The first death hath two parts one whereby the sinfull soul by transgressing departeth from her Creator the other whereby she is excluded from her body as a punishment inflicted on her by the judgment of God The second death is the everlasting torment of the body and soul. Either of these deaths had laid hold upon every man but that the righteous and immortall Son of God came to die for us in whose flesh because there could be no sin he suffered the punishment of sin without the guilt of it And to that end admitted or endured for us the second part of the first death that is to say the death of the body only by which he ransomed us from the dominion of sin and the pain of eternal punishment which was due unto it But yet there is another argument which concludes more fully against this new device of theirs then any testimonies of the Fathers before produced mamely the institution of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper by the Lord himself in which there is a commemoration to be held for ever both of the breaking of his body and of the effusion of his bloud by which his bodily death is represented and set forth till his coming again but no remembrance instituted or commanded for the death of his soul. Which if it were of such an unquestionable truth as these men conceive and of such special use and efficacie to the worlds redemption as they gave it out would doubtlesse have been honoured with some special place in that commemoration of his Sacrifice which himself ordained Who in the same night he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thankes he brake it and said Take eate this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me and likewise after the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped saying this cup is the new Testament sealed in my bloud which is shed for you this do as oft as ye drink in remembrance of me In which and more then this we finde not in the book there is not one word which doth reflect on the death of his soul or any commemoration or remembrance to be held of that Only we find that as our Saviour by his death which was then at hand did put an end to all the legal rites and sacrifices of the old Testament which were but the shadows of things to come as St. Paul cals them Coloss. 2.17 So having fulfilled in the flesh all that had been fore-signifyed and spoken of him in the Law and Prophets he did of all ordain and institute one only Eucharistical sacrifice for a perpetuall remembrance of his death and passion to his second coming And thus St.
Augustine doth informe us saying Id enim sacrificium est quod successit omnibus sacrificiis quae immolabantur in umbra futuri that this one sacrifice succeedeth in the place of all those which were offered in relation unto Christ to come But before him St. Ireneus did more plainly affirme that same who living in the next age to the Apostles is able to instruct us better in the mysteries of the Christian faith then any other more remote and of lesse antiquity And he tels us this viz. that as God caused his Gospel to be preached over all the world in stead of the innumerable ordinances of the Law of Moses so he ordained that for those several sorts of sacrifices which are there prescribed simplex oblatio panis et vini sufficiat the offering of bread and wine only should be held sufficient More plainly yet as plainly as he could expresse himself by words and writing he doth thus deliver it Sed suis Discipulis dans consilium c. Christ saith he giving his Disciples charge to offer the first fruits of every creature to the Lord their God not that God standeth in need of their oblations but that they might not be esteemed to be either unfruitfull or ungratefull tooke ordinary bread eum qui ex natura panis est and having given thanks said This is my body and taking the cup into his hands such as we use to drink of the fruit of the vine acknowledged it to be his bloud What then for this we know already It followeth Et novi testamenti novam docuit oblationem quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens in universo mundo offert Deo By doing which saith that old Father he taught us the new sacrifice of oblation of the new Testament which the Church receiving from the Apostles doth offer unto God over all the world So that the holy Eucharist was ordained by Christ not only as a Sacrament but a sacrifice also and so esteemed and called by the most antient writers though many times by reason of several relations it hath either severall names or severall adjuncts that is to say a sacrifice a commemorative sacrifice an eucharisticall sacrifice a spiritual sacrifice the Supper of the Lord a Sacrament A sacrifice it is and so called commonly in reference unto the oblation or offering of the bread and wine made unto God in testimony and due acknowledgment that all which we possesse is received from him and that we tender these his creatures to him as no longer ours but to be his and to be spent in such employments and for such holy uses as he shall please to put it to In this respect it is entituled Oblatio panis et vini the offering or oblation of bread and wine as before we saw from Irenaeus the sacrifice offered by us Gentiles hostia quae ipsi a nobis Gentibus offertur of the bread and wine presented in the holy Eucharist as in Iustin Martyr Sacrificium panis vini the sacrifice in plain terms of bread and wine as Fulgentius hath it For clearing of which point we may please to know that antiently it was the custome of the Primitive Christians to bring their bread and wine to the Church of God and offer them to the Lord by the hands of the Priest or Minister part of the which was consecrated for the use of the Sacrament the rest being usually given to the poor and needy as having a letter of attorney from the Lord of heaven to receive our bounties For thus we read in Iustin Martyr who lived the next dore also to the Apostles Prayers being done saith he we salute one another with an holy kisse Then do we offer to the Bishop for such is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom he speaks of there bread and wine mixt with water as the use then was which he receiving offered to God the sacrifice of praise and glory c. And thus St. Cyprian speaking of a rich but covetous Widow who came not with her offering to the Church as her poor neigbours did charged her that she came into Gods house without her sacrifice and eat of that which had been offered or sacrificed unto God by far poorer folke Locuples et dives Dominicum celebrare te dicis but there dominicum signifyeth the Lords day plainly qui corbonam omnino non respicis qui in dominicum there it is the Church sine sacrificio venis qui partem de sacrificio quod pauper obtulit sumis are his words at large Where sacrificium in both places signifyeth the bread and wine which they used to offer to the Lord to be consecrated and employed in celebrating the memorial of our Saviours passion It is called next a commemorative sacrifice a Sacrifice commemorative and representative by Dr. Morton Ld. B. of Durham in his book of the Sacrament in regard that it was instituted by our Saviour Christ for a perpetual memory of that one perfect and al-sufficient sacrifice which he offered of himself upon the Crosse. And to this end it was that Chrysostome having called the Sacrament of the Lords supper by the name of a Sacrifice addes presently not by way of correction or retractation as I know some think but by way of explanation only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was the remembrance rather of a sacrifiâ—e or a commemorative sacrifice as some others call it Which word commemorative as I take it detracts not from the nature of a sacrifice as if it were the lesse a sacrifice because commemorative but only signifyeth the end to which it is specially directed For as the sacrifices of the old law were true and proper sacrifices in respect of the beasts or â—owles or other things which were offered although prefigurative of that sacrifice made upon the Crosse which was then to come so are the sacrifices of the Gospel true and real sacrifices in reference to the oblation made of bread and wine for the service of God although commemorative of the same great sacrifice now already past It was called thirdly a spiritual and Eucharistical sacrifice by reason that Gods servants therein make profession of their due acknowledgements for all the blessings which he hath vouchsafed to bestow on their souls and bodies especially for the redemption of themselves and of all mankinde by the death of Christ and therewith offering up themselves their souls and bodies as a pleasing and most acceptable sacrifice to the Lord their God For thus we finde in Iustin Martyr that the Bishop or President of the Congregation having received the bread and wine from the hands of the faithful offered by them the sacrifice of praise and thanks to God the Father of all things in the name of the Son and the holy Ghost for all those blessings which he hath graciously from time to time bestowed upon them And thus Irenaeus Oportet nos
oblationem Deo facere et in omnibus gratos inveniri fabricatori Deo c. It becometh us saith he to make oblations unto God and to be thankefull in all things to our heavenly maker offering to him the first fruits of his own creatures with a right belief and faith without hypocrisie in hope assured and fervencie of brotherly affection which pure oblation the Church alone doth offer to the maker of all things out of his own creatures with praise and thanks-giving And last of all it is called the Sacrament sometimes the Sacrament of the Lords Supper sometimes the Sacrament of the Altar by reaso that the bread and wine thus dedicated to the service of Almighty God and righly consecrated by his Ministers are made unto the faithful receiver the very body and bloud of Christ our Saviour and do exhibit to us all the benefits of his death and passion Of which it is thus said by the old Father Irenaeus that the bread made of the fruits of the earth and sanctifyed according to Christs ordinance jam non communis panis est sed Eucharistia ex duabus rebus constans terrena Coelesti c. is now no longer common bread but the blessed Eucharist consisting of two parts the one earthly and the other heavenly that is to say the outward elemental signe and the inward and spiritual grace In which respect it was affirmed of this bread by Cyprian if at the least the work be his which is somewhat doubted non effigie sed natura mutatum that though it kept the same shape which it had before yet was the nature of it changed not that it ceased to be what before it was as the Patrons of the Romish Masse do pervert his meaning but by being what before it was not just as an iron made red hot retaineth the proportion and dimensions which before it had and is still iron as at the first though somewhat of the nature of fire which is to warme and burn be now added to it And this was antiently the doctrine of the Church of Christ touching the sacrifice of the Lords supper or the blessed Eucharist before that monstrous Paradox of Transubstantiation was hammered in the brains of capricious Schoolmen or any such thing as a Propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and dead affabulated to the same by the Popes of Rome Now such a sacrifice as this with all the several kinds and adjuncts of it we finde asserted and maintained by the Church of England though it condemn the sacrifices of the Masses in which it was commonly said that the Priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead to have remission of pain or guilt as dangerous deceits and blasphemous fables and censureth Transubstantiation as repugnant to the plain words of Scripture destructive of the true nature of a Sacrament and to have given occasion to much superstition For if a true and proper sacrifice be defined to be the offering of a creature to Almighty God to be consecrated by a lawfull Minister to be spent and consumed to his service as Bellarmine and the most learned men of both sides do affirme it is then is the offering of the bread and wine in the Church of England a true proper sacrifice for it is usually provided by the Church-wardens at the charge of the people and being by them presented in the name of the people and placed on the Altar or holy table before the Lord is now no longer theirs but his and grant that we receiving these thy creatures of bread and wine and being consecrated by the Priest is consumed and eaten by such as come prepared to partake thereof The whole prayer used at the consecration doth it not plainly manifest that it is commemorative and celebrated in memorial of that full perfect and sufficient sacrifice oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world which our Saviour made upon the Crosse for our Redemption And when the Priest or Minister doth call upon us in the Exhortation above all things to give most humble and hearty thanks to God the Father the Son and the holy Ghost for the redemption of the world by the death and passion of our Saviour Christ and that we do accordingly entirely desire his fatherly goodness mercifully to accept that our sacrifice of praise and thanks-giving and therewith offer and present unto him our selves souls and bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively sacrifice unto him do we not thereby signifie as plainly as may be that it is an Eucharistical and spiritual sacrifice Finally that it is a Sacrament I think none denies and that thereby we are partakers of the body and bloud of CHRIST I think all will grant the people giving thanks to Almighty God for that he hath vouchsafed to feed them with the spiritual food of the most precious body and bloud of his Son our Saviour Jesus Christ and calling upon him to grant that by the merits and death of his Son Christ Jesus and through faith in his bloud both they and all his whole Church may obtain remission of their sins and all other benefits of his passion Nor doth the Church of England differ from the Antients as concerning the change made in the bread and wine on the consecration which being blessed and received according to Christs holy institution become the very body and bloud of Christ by that name are delivered with the usual prayer into the hands of the people and are verily and indeed saith the publick authorized Catechisme taken and received of the faithfull in the Lords Supper The bread and wine though still the same in substance which before they were are changed in nature being made what before they were not according to the uncorrupted doctrine of the purest times and the opinion of the soundest and most learned Protestants I add no more but that if question should be asked with which of all the legal sacrifices this of the Church of Christ doth hold best proportion I answer that it it best agreeth with those Eucharisticall sacrifices of the Law which were called peace-offerings made unto God upon their reconciliation and atonement with him In which as the creature offered a sacrifice to the Lord their God might be indifferently either male or female to shew that both sexes might participate of it so being offered to the Lord the one part of it did belong to the Priest towards his maintenance and support as the skin the belly the right shoulder and the brest c. the rest was eaten in the way of a solemn feast by those who brought it for an offering before the Lord. And in the feast as Mollerus very probably conjectureth the man that brought this offering did use to take a cup of wine and give thanks over it to the Lord for all his benefits which was the Calix salutis whereof the Psalmist speaketh saying I will take the
deceit and villanie and mischievous imaginations and invincible malice But of all miracles of Omnipotence mentioned in the Scripture there is not in my judgement any one more eminent then that which he wrought upon the children of Ammon and Moab and those of Mount Seir when they joined all their Forces together against Iehosaphat the good King of Iudah For by a strange misprision which God sent amongst them the children of Ammon and Moab fell upon the inhabitants of Mount Seir and slew them and destroyed them utterly and when they had made an end of the Inhabitants of Seir every one to destroy another Never so great a slaughter made never so signal a deliverance given to the people of God by the swords of their Enemies even by the swords of those who had joined together to root out their memorial from the face of the earth If now we should dâ—scend from Scriptures to Ecclesiastical History shall we not finde the great power of God exemplified as visibly in the protection and defence of the Christian Church and that not only in the miraculous propagation and increase thereof and bringing to calamitous ends her greatest enemies but working on the hearts of the sharpest Persecutors to intermit their rage and lay down their fury Witness the Edict of Trajan the Author of the third Persecution De Christianis non inquirendis that no such Inquisition should be made against them as in former times that of the Emperour Adrian Ne Christianus indicta causa puniatur that no Christian should from thenceforth be punished without some crime laid to his charge in which he had offended against the Laws Antonine adding unto this ut delator poenae subjaceat that the Promoter should be lyable to punishment if he proved it not The like of Marcus as great a Persecuter at the first as any which had been before him who did not onely stay the fury of the Executioners but mortem iis minabatur qui Christianos accusabant but threatned death to the accusers Nor staid God here but for the further manifestation of his mighty power in ruling and over-ruling the hearts of men he wrought so wonderfully and Omnipotently on the hearts of some of their greatest enemies that from their bitter and most violent Persecutors they became their Patrons Witness the Mandate or edict of the Emperor Galienus not only for the intermitting of the persecution which Valerianus his Father had raised against them but authorizing the Prelates and other Ministers Vt cuncta munia pro consuetudine obirent to perform all the sacred Offices which belonged unto them Finally witness the like Edict of Maximinus one of the chief Instruments of Diocletians butcheries and a great slaughterman himself when he came to the Empire commanding that the Christians should be left to their own Religion and not compelled as formerly under pain of death to offer sacrifice to Idols but wonne if possibly it might be blanditiis adhortationibus by the fairest means and the best perswasions that the wit of man could lay before them These things as they were marvellous in the eyes of all men so marvellous that they could not choose but see and say A Domino haec facta that they were all of them of the Lords own doing so was it as easie to be seen that they were the effects of his Omnipotence proceeding from the love and power of a Father Almighty ARTICLE II. Of the Second ARTICLE OF THE CREED Ascribed unto St. IOHN 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Creatorem Coeli et Terrae i. e. Maker of Heaven and Earth CHAP. IV. Of the Creation of the World and the parts thereof that it was made at first by Gods mighty power and since continually preserved by his infinite Providence WITH very great fitness doth the Article of the Worlds Creation come next the Attribute of Almighty as being that act which might alone entitle GOD unto Omnipotence were there none besides For what but an Omnipotent power could out of no praeexistent matter create that goodly edifice of Heaven and Earth and all things in the same contained which every naturall man beholdeth with such admiration that possibly he cannot choose but say with the royall Psalmist The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Earth sheweth his handy work A work so full of wonder to the antient Gentiles that some of them made the world a God Vis illum i. e. Deum mundum vocare non falleris as it is in Seneca others more rationally conceiving GOD to be the soul of the World as giving animation or being to it And though they erred as well in making the World a God as making GOD to be the Soul of the World yet they might very well have said as one since hath done that the World is nothing else but God unfolded and manifested in the Creature Nil aliud Mundus universus quam Deus explicatus as Cusanus hath it And certainly the speciall motions which did induce GOD unto this great work were a desire and purpose to expresse his power to exercise his providence and declare his goodness For though GOD needed not to have made the World in regard of himself for the World we know was made in the beginning of time but GOD is infinite and eternal before all beginnings yet it seemed good to him to create it at last as a thing most conducible to his praise and glory Some measuring the God of Heaven by their own affections and finding nothing so agreeable to their own dispositions as to be in company conceive that God being at last weary of his own solitude did create the World that he might have the company of the Angels in Heaven and make a start into the Earth when he saw occasion to recreate himself with the sons of Men. Quae beata esse solitudo queat What happiness said Hortensius can be in solitude To which Lactantius not being furnished with a better doth return this answer that GOD cannot be said to be alone Habet enim Ministros quos vocamus nuncios as having the society of the holy Angels But then Lactantius must suppose that the Angels have been coeternal with GOD himself which were to make all Gods and no God at all or else his Answer is no answer as to that Objection How much more rightly might we have thus replyed unto them that the supreme contentment possible to Almighty God is by reflecting on himself and in himself contemplating his own infinite glories which being co-aevall with himself even from all eternity he needed no no more company before the World was made then he hath done since Lactantius being a man of a very geat reading though indeed a better Humanitian then Divine could not but know those sweet delights which a man habited in learning takes in contemplation and the society which he hath of his own dear thoughts though never so much removed
said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called Abraham was ready to obey him upon this belief that God was able to raise him again from death to life and that Gods Word concerning him would not fall to ground What saith St. Iames to this great trial of the Patriarchs faith Abraham saith he believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness In all those Texts where the Apostles speak of his Iustification or where the principal acts of his Faith are recited severally there is no intimation of his Faith in Christ nothing that seems to look that way more then that Gods first promise which was made in general to the Womans seed may seem to be restrained unto his particularly Whether these several imputations of the faith of Abraham do necessarily infer such an access of Iustification as is defended and maintained in the Schools of Rome I will not meddle for the present But in my minde Origen never spake more pertinently then where he gives this resolution of that doubt though not then proposed Quum multae fides Abrahae praecesserint in hoc nunc universa fides ejus collecta esse videtur ita in justitiam ei reputatur Whereas saith he many faiths of Abraham that is to say may acts of Abrahams faith had gone before now all his faith was recollected and summed up together and so accounted unto him for righteousness And if no other faith but a faith in God without any explicite relation to the death of CHRIST concurred unto the justification of the faithful Abraham the like may be concluded of the house of Israel that they were only bound to believe in God the Father Almighty till by Christs coming in the flesh and suffering death upon the Cross for the sins of man all that concerns his death and passions with all the other specialties in the present Creed made up together with our faith in God the Father the full and entire object of a Christian faith For this is life eternal saith our Lord and Saviour to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Not God alone but God and Iesus Christ together are since the Preaching of the Gospel made the object of faith So that it is not now sufficient to believe in God unless we also do believe in the Son of God whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins as St. Paul hath told us But here perhaps it will be said that though we do not read expressely in the holy Scriptures that the Patriarchs before Moses and the Fathers afterwards did believe in Christ yet that the same may be inferred by good and undeniable consequence out of the frequent Sacrifices before the Law and the Mosaical offerings which continued after it all which together with the rest of the Levitical Ordinances were but shadows of the things to come the body being only CHRIST That God instructed our first father Adam in the duty of Sacrifice I shall easily grant there being such early mention of them in the Book of God in the several and respective offerings of Cain and Abel And I shall grant as easily that GOD proposed some other end of them in that institution then to receive them as a Quit-rent from the hands of men in testimony that they held their estates from him as the Supreme Land-lord though by Rupertus this be made the chief end thereof Dignum sane est ut donis suis honoretur ipse qui dedit as that Author hath it which possibly may hold well enough in those kinde of Sacrifices which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gratulatory Eucharistical that is the Sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving for those signal benefits which GOD had graciously vouchsafed to bestow upon them But then there was another sort which they tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expiatory or propitiatory ordained by God himself as the Types and figures of that one only real and propitiatory sacrifice which was to be performed in the death of CHRIST who through the eternal Spirit was to offer up himself once without spot to God for the redemption of the world yet were they not bare Types and figures and had no efficacy in themselves as to the taking away of the filth of sin for the Apostle doth acknowledge that the bloud of Buls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean did sanctifie as to the purifying of the flesh Heb. 9.13 but that such efficacy as they had was not natural to them but either in reference to the Sacrifice to be made of CHRIST or else extrinsecal and affixed by the divine Ordinance and institution of Almighty God And that they might be so in this last respect there want not very pregnant reasons in the Word of God For whereas God considered as the Supreme Law-giver had imposed a commandement on man under pain of death although it stood not with his wisdome to reverse the Law which with such infinite wisdome had been first ordained yet it seemed very sutable to his grace and goodness to commute the punishment and satisfie himself with the death of Beasts offered in sacrifice unto him by that sinful Creature Which kinde of Commutations are not rare in Scripture It pleased God to impose a command on Abraham to offer up his only son Isaac for a burnt offering to him upon one of the mountains and after to dispense with so great a rigour and in the stead of Isaac to send a Ram It pleased God to challenge to himself the first born of every creature both of man and beast but so that he was pleased in the way of exchange in stead of the first born of the sons of men to take a Lamb a pair of Turtle Doves or two young Pigeons Now that these commutations were allowed of also in the case of punishment is evident by many Texts of holy Writ And this not only in sins of ignorance the Expiation of the which is mentioned Levit. 5.17 18. but in those which were committed knowingly and with an high hand of presumptuous wickedness Lying and swearing falsely deceiving our neighbour and taking away his goods by violence are sins of high and dangerous nature against both Tables and therefore in themselves deserved no less punishment then eternal damnation yet was God pleased to accept of the bloud of Rams in commutation or exchange for the soul of man If a soul sin and commit a trespass against the Lord and lye unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep or in fellowship or in a thing taken away by violence or hath deceived his neighbour or hath found that which was lost and lyeth concerning it and sweareth falsely in all these he doth sin and that greatly too there 's no question of it And yet of these it is
terris as St. Bernard hath it Who could be fitter to make us the Sons of God by adoption and grace then the word by which we were to be begotten unto life eternal or to repair the image of God decayed in us then he that was the brightnesse of his Fathers glory and the expresse image of his Person Finally who more fit to settle the minds of men in a certain and undoubted perswasion of the truth of such things as are necessary to be believed and thereby bring us into the way of life everlasting then he that was the way the truth and the life as himself telleth us of himself in St. Iohns Gospell Vt homo fidentius ambularet ad veritatem ipsa veritas Dei filius homine assumpto constituit et fundavit fidem as St. Augustine hath it That man saith he might with more confidence travell in the wayes of truth the truth it self even the Son of God taking the nature of man upon him did plant and found that faith which we are to beleive By which it is apparent that it was most agreeable both to our condition and the nature of the word it self that he should take upon himself the office of a Mediator between God and Man but so that he was bound thereto by no necessity but only out of his meer love and goodness to that wretched Creature The Scriptures and the Fathers are expresse in this Walke in love saith the Apostle as Christ hath also loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God a sweet smelling savour And anon after Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved his Church and gave himself for it And in pursuance of this love he took upon himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. So that first out of his love and goodness towards us he offered himself to serve and suffer in our places and after out of the same love submitted himself unto the punishment which our sins deserved God not imposing this upon him by necessity of any inevitable decree but mercifully accepting his compassionate offer which did so powerfully conduce unto mans salvation and the most inexpressible honour of his only Son The sufferings of CHRIST in regard of man do take their value from his Person the excellency of which did prevail so far as to make the passion of one available for the sins of all But the merit of those sufferings in regard of himself is to be valued by that cheerful freedom with which he pleased to undergo them and had not been so acceptable nor effectual neither if they had not been voluntary For Fathers which affirm the same we need take no thought having both Reason and the Scriptures so expresly for it though this be universally the Doctrine of all Catholick wrirers some of whose words I shall recite and for the rest refer the Reader to their Books For the Greek Church thus saith Athanasius CHRIST seeing the goodness of his Father and his own sufficiency and power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was moved with compassion towards man and pitying our infirmities cloathed himself with the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and willingly took up his cross and went uncompelled unto his death And thus St. Augustine for the Latâ—ne The Word saith he was made flesh by his own power and was born suffered died and rose again nulla necessitate sed voluntate potestate by no necessity laid upon him but meerly of his own good will and that authority which he had to dispose of himself See to this purpose the same Augustine in Psal. 8. de Trinit l. 4. c. 10. Chrysost. in Gen. Hom. 55. in Ioh. Hom. 82. Amb. in Psal. 118. Serm. 6. De Fide l. 2. c. 1. Hieron in Isai. cap. 3. in Psal. 68. Not to descend to those of the later Ages The passages being thus laid open we now proceed to the great work of the incarnation wherein the holy Ghost was to have his part that so none of the Heavenly powers might be wanting to the restauration of collapsed man That our Redeemers Incarnation in the Virgins womb was the proper and peculiar work of the holy Ghost is positively affirmed in St. Matthews Gospel first in the way of an historical Narration Before they came together as man and wise she was found with childe of the holy Ghost ch l. 1. 18. and afterwards by way of declaration from an Angel of Heaven saying Ioseph thou son of David fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife for that which is conceived in her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of the holy Ghost vers 20. Nor wanted there especial reason if at least any reasons may be given in matters of so high a nature why this miraculous Conception was committed rather to the holy Ghost then either acted by the sole power of God the Father or by the sole vertue of the Word who was aboundantly able to have wrought his own Incarnation For as the Word was pleased to offer himself to take humane flesh the better to accomplish the great work of the Worlds redemption and as God the Father knowing how unable poor man must be to work out his own salvation otherwise then by such a Saviour was graciously pleased to accept the offer so it seemed requisite that God the holy Ghost should prepare that flesh in which the Word of God was to be incarnate Besides the power of quickning and conferring fruitfulness is generally ascribed to the Spirit in the Book of God who therefore in the Nicene or rather the Constantinopolitane Creed is called the Lord and giver of life For thus saith David for the Old Testament Thou sendest forth thy Spirit and they are created and thus the son of David for the New Testament Spiritus est qui vivificat i. e. It is the Spirit that quickneth The holy Ghost then was the proper Agent in the Incarnation So St. Matthew tels us But for the manner and the means by which so wonderful a conception was brought to pass that we finde only in St. Luke The blessed Virgin as it seemed made a question of it how she should possibly conceive and bring forth a son considering that as yet she had not had the company of her husband Ioseph Quandoquidem virum non cognosco that is to say since as yet I do not know my husband for so I rather choose to read it then to translate it as it stands in our English Bibles seeing I know not a man For that both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek and Vir in Latine do sometimes signifie an Husband every Schoolboy knows and so the words are rendred in our English Bibles Ioh. 4.16 17 18. and in other places And
for sin should he not redeeme us Since therefore he was at this time to bear the burden of our sins in his body and to have the chastisement of our peace laid upon him and did withall behold the fiercenesse of Gods wrath against sinfull man how could he choose but fear the effects thereof and pray against them For though he were assured that this wrath of God would not proceed against him unto condemnation yet he knew well that God had infinite means to presse and punish humane nature above that which it was able to bear And therefore he addressed himself to his heavenly Father being sure that God at his most earnest and fervent prayer would proportion the pain he was to suffer according to the weaknesse of that flesh which he bare about him that neither his obedience might be staggered nor patience overwhelmed and swallowed up in despair Besides there might be somewhat else in the cup provided for him then the wrath of God with all the fears and terrors which depend upon it which might make him so unwilling to tast thereof so earnestly desirous to decline the same For many of the Fathers think that Christ did pray more vehemently to have that cup passe from him because he saw the Iews so eagerly inclined to force it on him and knew that if he drank thereof and took it from their murderous and bloudy hands it could not but draw down upon them such most grievous punishments as the dispersing of their nation and the rejection of them from the Covenant and grace of God For thus saith Origen for those men then whom he would not have perish by his passion he said Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me that both the world might be saved which was the principal matter aimed at and the Jews not perish by his suffering St. Ambrose thus Therefore said Christ take this cup from me not because the Son of God feared death but for that he would not have the Jews though wicked to perish Ne exitialis esset populo Passio sua quae omnibus esset salutaris lest his passion should be destructive to them which was to be healthfull unto all Of the same minde is Hierome also Christ said not let the cup passe from me but let this cup passe from me i. e. this cup provided by the Jews which can have no excuse of ignorance if they put me to death considering that they have the Law and the Prophets which foretell of me So that Christ makes not this request as as fearing to suffer but in mercy to the former people Sed misericordia prioris populi ne calicem ab illis propinatum bibat that he might not drink the cup which was offered by them Whose judgement in this point is so well approved by venerable Bede our Country-man that he is loath to change the words And certainly this consideration of those worthies stands on very good reason For if he so much pitied the ruine of the City and desolation of their land by the hands of the Romans that he wept upon the thought thereof what sorrow and disconsolation shall we think he took to thinke of the perpertual destruction of so many thousands and their posterities for ever thorow their own madnesse in thirsting after his bloud What grief and anguish must it be unto him to foresee the rejection of that people from the favour of God by their rash and wicked desire to have his bloud upon them and upon their children at his arraignment before Pilate For if Moses and Paul so vehemently grieved at the fall of their Brethren according to the flesh that for their sakes the one wished to be wiped out of the book of God the other most sacredly protested the great heavinesse and continual anguish which he felt for them in his heart how much more might it grieve the Saviour of the world who much exceeded both the other in compassion and mercy to see himself who came to blesse them and to save them to be the rock and stone of offence that should stumble them and their children striking them with perpetual blindnesse and bruising them with everlasting perdition through their unbelief But whether this was so or not as it may be probable most sure it is that many things concurred together to make up the measure of those sarrowes fears and terrors which were then upon him and against which he prayed so fervently and with such prostration Insomuch that having offered up his prayers and supplication to him that was able to save him from death with strong crying and tears to him who was able had he pleased to take away that cup from him but howsoever able and willing both to mitigate the sharpnesse of it and abate the bitternesse the Lord thought fit to send him comfort from above by his heavenly Ministers And there appeared an Angel unto him from heaven strengthning him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greek which by the vulgar Latine is translated confortans eum comforting him by the translatour of the Syriack confirmans eum strengthning or confirming him as our last translation The word in the Original will bear both constructions both being of especial use in the present businesse For if we look upon our Saviour in the middest of his anguish praying unto the Lord that if it were possible that cup might passe from him the Angel may be thought to be sent unto him with a message of Comfort touching the mitigation of his sorrows the speedy end they were to have and the inestimable benefit that by his sufferings should redound unto all the world and then it is confortans eâ—m as the vulgar Latine But if we look upon him as resolved to submit himself to his Fathers pleasure not my will but thy will be done and patiently to endure whatever he should lay upon him the Angel may be thought to be sent unto him to strengthen and confirme him in that resolution and then it is confirmans eum as the translatour of the Syriack reads it But which soever of the two it was certain it is that the appearance of the Angel had some special end God doth not use to send about those heavenly messengers but on businesses of great importance And though there be no constat in the book of God what this businesse was on which the Angel was sent down by the Lords appointment yet we may probably conceive that it was to give him this assurance that his prayers were heard whether they tended to the mitigation of his present sorrows or the accepting of his death and passion as a full perfect and sufficient satisfaction for the sinnes of the world For the Apostle having told us in the fift to the Hebrews that when in the days of his flesh he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from
is to be observed that Christ now seeing all was finished which God required at his hands to the satisfaction of his justice for the sins of man and having fulfilled all those things which were spoken of him by the Prophets did voluntarily of his own accord deliver up his soul into the hands of his Father He had before told us of himself that he was the good Shepheard which giveth his life for the sheep Ioh. 10.11 that no man had power to take it from him Si nemo utique nec mors and if none then not death as we read in Chrysostom but that he laid it down of himself vers 18. and that he gave his life as a ransome for many Matth. 20.28 And the event shewed that he was no braggard or had said more then he was able to perform For the Evangelists declare that he had sense and speech and voluntary motion to the last gasp of his breath all which do evidently fail in the sons of men before the soul parteth from the body Which breathing out of his soul so presently upon so strong a cry and so lowd a prayer seemed so miraculous to the Centurion who observed the same that without expecting any further Miracle he acknowledged presently that truly this was the Son of God And this St. Hierom noted rightly The Centurion hearing Christ say to his Father Into thy hands I commend my Spirit statim sponte dimisisse spiritum and presently of his own accord to give up the ghost moved with the greatness of the wonder said Truly this man was the Son of God The Fathers generally do affirm the same ascribing this last act of our Saviours Tragedy not to extremity of pain or loss of bloud to any outward violence or decay of spirits but as his own voluntary deed and that though God the Father had decreed he should die yet he did give him leave and power to lay down his life of his own accord that his obedience to the will and pleasure of his heavenly Father might appear more evidently and the oblation of himself be the more acceptable And to this purpose saith St. Ambrose Quasi arbiter exuendi suscipiendique corporis emisit spiritum non amisit i. e. he did not lose his soul though he breathed it forth as one that had it in his own power both to assume his body and to put it off Eusebius to the same purpose also When no man had power over Christs soul he himself of his own accord laid it down for man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so being free at his own disposing and not over-ruled by outward force he himself of himself made his departure from the body The judgement of the rest of the Fathers touching this particular he that list to see let him consult St. Augustine lib. 4 de Trinit c. 13. Victor Antiochen in Marc. c. 15. Leo de Passione Dom. serm 16. Fulgentius lib. 3. ad Thrasimundum Sedulius in Opere Paschali lib. 5. c. 17. Beda in Matth. c. 27. Bernard in Feria 4. Hebdom poenosae And for the Greeks Athanasius Orat. 4. contra Arianos Origen in Ioh. Hom. 19. Gregorie Nyssen in Orat. 1. de Christi Resurrectione Nazianzen in his Tragedy called Christus patiens Chrysostom in Matth. 27. Homil. 89. Theophylact on the 27. of Matth. and the 23. of Mark. and the 23. of Luke And for late Writers Erasmus on Luk. 23. and Mark 15. Musculus on the 27. of Matthew and Gualter Hom. 169. on Iohn all which attest most punctually to the truth of this that the death of Christ was not meerly natural proceeding either from any outward or inward causes but only from his own great power and his holy will And to what purpose note they this but first to shew the conquest which he had of death whom he thus swallowed up in victory as the Apostle doth express it and secondly to shew that whereas natural death was the wages of sin which could not be inflicted on him in whom no sin was he therefore did breath out his soul in another manner then is incident to the sons of men to make himself a free-will offering to the Lord his God and make himself a sacrifice for the sins of mankinde by yeelding willingly to that death which their sins deserved And to this death this voluntary but bodily death of the Lord CHRIST IESVS and to that alone the Scriptures do ascribe that great work of the worlds redemption For thus St. Paul unto the Romans When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5.11 to the Hebrews thus For this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions which were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Heb. 9.15 if by Christs death it must be by his bodily death by effusion of his bloud and by no other death or kinde of death of what sort soever And to this truth the Scriptures witness very frequently For thus St. Paul we have redemption through his bloud Ephes. 1.7 By his own bloud hath he entred into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us Heb. 9.12 St. Peter thus Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as with silver and gold but with the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Finally thus the Elders say unto the Lamb in the Revelation Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud Apocal. 5 9. Which being so it is most certain that Christ abolished sin and Satan by suffering his body to be slain his bloud to be shed unto the death or the sins of the world and not by any other way or means co-ordinate with it as some lately fable Yet so it is that some men not content with that way of Redemption which is delivered in the Scriptures have fancyed to themselves another and more likely means for perfecting that great work of the death of Christ and teach us that the shedding of his bloud to the death of his body had not been sufficient for the remission of our sins if he had not also suffered the death of the soul and thereby wholly ransomed us from the wrath of God Calvin first led the dance in this affirming very desperately that I say no worse Nihil actum esse si corporea tantum morte defunctus fuisset that Christ had done nothing to the purpose if he had dyed no other then a bodâ—ly death He must then die the death of the soul seeing that his bodily death would not serve the turn and they who pretermit this part of our Redemption never known before and do insist so much externo carnis supplicio in the outward sacrifice of his flesh are insulsi nimis but silly fellows
to proceed with them by the authority of Scripture and of reason both To the old Testament and our proofs from thence we shal challenge an obedience from them because by them confessed for Scripture and reverenced as the Oracles of Almighty God And for the new the writings of the holy Evangelists we shall expect submission to the truths thereof so far forth as it shall appear to be built on reason and unavoydable Demonstration Now the old Testament consisteth in that part thereof which doth reflect upon the birth and actions of our blessed Saviour either of types and figures or else of Prophecies and examples and the first type which looks this way is that of Isaac the only son the only beloved son of a tender father a type both of his death and his resurrection In which observe how well the type and truth do agree together The Altar was prepared the fire kindled Isaac fast bound and ready to receive the blow the knife was in his Fathers hand and his arme stretched out to act the bloudy part of a Sacrificer And yet even in the very act and so near the danger God by his holy Angel and a voice from heaven delivered the poor innocent from the jawes of death and restored him back unto his father when all hopes had failed him How evidently doth this fact of Abrahams stretching out his hand to strike the blow and being withholden by the Angel from the blow it self fore-shadow those sacred fundamentall truths which we are bound to believe concerning the true bodily death and glorious resurrection of our Lord and Saviour The Iews themselves in memorie of this deliverance did celebrate the first of Tisri which is our September usually called the Feast of Trumpets with the sound of Rams hornes or Corners and counted it for one of the occasions of that great solemnity which shews that there was somewhat in it more then ordinary somewhat which did concern their nation in a speciall manner Needs therefore must the Iews of our Saviours time be blinde with malice at the least with prejudice that look upon this story of Isaac the child of promise only as the relation of a matter past not as a type and shadow of the things to come this only son of Abraham this child of promise the only hope or pledge of that promised seed which was expected from the beginning being to come thus near to death and yet to be delivered from the power thereof that so the faith of Abraham touching the death and resurrection of his son the heir of promise might be tryed and verifyed or rather that by experiment our Saviours death and resurrection might be truly represented and foreshadowed in Isaacs danger and delivery And this is that to which St. Paul alludeth saying By faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure i. e. a figure of the resurrection of Christ the promised seed represented by it though Abraham probably looked no further then the present mercy Isaac then was the true representation and foreshadowing of our Saviours death and resurrection And so the wonderfull increase of Isaacs seed in whom all the nations of the world were to be blessed was as full an embleme of our Saviours seed and generation which cannot be numbred he having begotten unto God since his resurrection more sons and daughters throughout all nations then all the children of Abraham or Isaac according to the flesh though like unto the sands of the Sea for multitude But the circumstances of our Saviours selling and betraying his cruell persecution both by Priests and people the whole story of his humiliation unto death and exaltation after his resurrection are more perfectly foreshadowed by the cruel persecutions of Ioseph procured by his brethren by his calamity and advancement in Egypt The story is so well known it needs no repeating And the afflictions laid on both by the sonnes of Iacob in a manner parallel themselves Both of them were the first-born of their several Mothers both of them the best beloved sons of their Fathers and for this cause both of them envied and maligned by their wicked and ill natured brethren by whom they were both severally betrayed and sold for a contemptible piece of money So far the parallel holds exactly goe we further yet The pit whereinto Iosephs brethren cast him as also the pit or dungeon unto which he was doomed by a corrupt and partial Iudge on the complaint of an imperious whorish woman without proof or witnesse what was it but the picture of our Saviours grave to which he was condemned in the sentence of death by as corrupt a Judge as Potiphar on the bare accusation and complaint of an Adulterous generation as the Scripture cals them without proof or evidence And the deliverance of Ioseph from both pit and dungeon his exaltation by Pharaoh over all the land of Egypt and his beneficence to his Brethren whom he not only pardoned but preservation from famine what were they but the shadowes and resemblances of Christs resurrection his sitting at the right hand of God the Father by whom all power was given him both in heaven and earth and finally his mercie to the sons of men whose sins he doth not only pardon but preserve them also from the famine of the word of God The Kings ring put on Iosephs hand the gold chain put about his neck and the vesture of fine linnen or silke wherewith he was arraied by the Kings command what were they as the Antients have observed before but the resemblances of those glorious endowments with which the body or Humanity of Christ our Saviour hath been invested or apparelled since his resurrection More then this yet The name of Zaphnath Paaneah given to Ioseph by the Kings appointment and the Proclamation made by Pharaoh that every knee should bow before him what is it but a modell or a type of that honour which God the King of Kings hath ordered to be given to Christ to whom he hath given a name above every name that at the name of JESUS every knee should bowe of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth Where by the way and that addeth something farther to the parallel also the name of Zaphnath Paaneah as the Hebrew reads it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psonthem Phanech as the Septuagint is naturally as the learned Mr. Gregory very well observeth a Coptick or Egyptian word and signifyeth an Interpreter of hidden things or a revealer of secrets And so not only the Babylonish Targum and others of the Rabbins do expound the word but we finde the same exposition in Theodoret also 〈◊〉
seventh Chapter where we were purposely to treat of our Saviours sufferings And we have looked upon it also as an especial part of his Consecration unto the everlasting and eternal Priesthood after the Order of Melchisedech a Priesthood which consisted not in outward sacrifices but in prayers and blessings For when the Son of God our Saviour did offer himself upon the Cross for our Redemption he neither was a Priest after the Order of Aaron How could that be considering he was of the Tribe of Iudah nor after the Order of Melchisedech He was not qualified for that till his Resurrection but a Priest only in fieri as Logicians call it in the degrees and progress of his Consecration Which Consecration once performed he was no more to offer Sacrifice either bloudy or unbloudy whatsoever that so he might conform more fully to the Type of Melchisedech of whom we no where read that he offered sacrifice further then as it may be intimated in the name of Priest For though I will not say and I think I need not be put to it that Melchisedech never offered any Sacrifice yet since we do not read of any I may safely say that that part of his Sacerdotal function is purposely omitted by the holy Ghost that so he might more perfectly represent our Saviours Priesthood who after he was consecrated to that sacred Office had no more sacrifice to offer And possibly it might be done in the way of prevention to keep the Church from errour in this point of the Sacrifice who not content with the Commemoration of it the Eucharistical and Commemorative Sacrifice of his own ordaining might fall into a fancy of reiterating that one Sacrifice as is now practised and defended in the Church of Rome and make it expiatory of the sins both of quick and dead How guilty they of Rome have been in this particular and what strange positions they have broached in pursuit hereof would appear most fully if one would look no further then the Councel of Trent from the determinations whereof there lyeth no appeal though sometimes they will finde some evasions from it For in that Councel it is said that in the Masi our Saviour Christ is really offered by the Priest unto God the Father that it is the same propitiatory Sacrifice which was offered by Christ upon the Cross that it is propitiatory for all persons both quick and dead serving to purge them of their sins to ease them of their pains and satisfie for the punishment which they have deserved that being so beneficial and meritorious to all sorts of people it is to be reiterated and often offered not only day by day but many times in the same day as often as the Priest shall think fit to do it Which doctrine how plainly contrary it is unto our Apostle the scope and drift of the Epistle to the Hebrews especially the ninth and tenth Chapters of it do most clearly evidence And though it was a very uncharitable guess of our Rhemish Papists that the Protestants would have refused this whole Epistle but that they falsely imagine certain places thereof to make against the Sacrifice of the Mass yet we may finde by that where the shooe did wring them and that they thought there were some passages in this Epistle with which their Mass was inconsistent and which the Protestants might alleadge for I regard not the word falsely to their disadvantage Well therefore was it done of the Church of England not only to assert the true Catholick Doctrine of the one oblation of Christ finished on the Cross but to adde another Proposition to it in condemnation of the errours of Rome The Orthodox truth asserted is St. Pauls expressely viz. The offering of Christ once made is that perfect Redemption Propitiation and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world both Original and actual and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone The conclusion followeth naturally on the former evidence viz. Wherefore the Sacrifices of Masses in which it was commonly said that the Priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead to have remission of pain or guilt were blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits For what fable can be more blasphemous then that a poor Priest should have power to make his Maker that having made him with the breath of his mouth he should fall down and worship what himself had made that having worshipped him as God he should presume to lay hands on him and offer him in sacrifice assoon as worshipped that his oblation thus made should be efficacious both to quick and dead both to the absent and the present and finally that such as be present at it may if they finde their stomachs serve devour their God A thing of such reproach scandal to the Christian faith that Averroes the Moore but a very learned man and a great Philosopher hath laid this stain or brand on the Religion it self viz. that he had travelled over most parts of the world but never found a wickeder and more foolish Sect then that of the Christians His reason is Quia deum quem colunt dentibus devorant because they did devour the God whom they worshipped And what deceit can be more dangerous to a Christian soul then that which leads him blindfold into gross idolatry and teacheth him to give Divine honour to a Deity of a poor Creatures making for though the Elements be sanctified by the Word and prayer and are made unto the faithful receiver the very body and bloud of Christ yet are they still but bread and wine as before they were When therefore we incounter with some passages in the works of the FATHERS in which they either speak of the daily Sacrifice or say that Christ is daily offered on the Altar as sometimes they do we must not understand them of a Real Sacrifice as to the offering up of Christ unto God the Father a Sacrifice propitiatorie to the quick and dead such as is now maintained in the Church of Rome but only of an Eucharistical and Commemorative Sacrifice which by Christs death is represented to the eyes of the people which is the Sacrifice defended by the Church of England But here perhaps it will be asked that if our Saviour be to offer no more Sacrifice and that which he once offered upon the Cross be not to be reiterated as the Priest thinks necessary what use there is to us of his Priestly Office as concerning Sacrifice I answer with St. Paul on another occasion much every way For though he offereth no more Sacrifices then that made already yet the effect and fruit thereof is still to be applyed to the souls of men the merit of it still to be represented in the sight of God Of these the first may seeme to be the Office of the holy Ghost but the later most assuredly is the Office of our High Priest and of him
how to comfort them with the joyfull news of his recovery Sorrow and grief and anguish and disconsolation our Saviour did begin to feel there 's no doubt of that though not in such a high degree as to make him fall into those extremities of passion as neither to know what he did nor for what he prayed He that could come to his Disciples in the middest of his anguish and reprove them for their sloth and sleepiness had neither lost the use of his speech nor senses And if his prayers were full of faith as no doubt they were for the Scriptures say that he was heard in that he prayed for which could not be without a perfect measure of faith assuredly however he was heavily oppressed under the burden of afflictions he knew full well both what he prayed for and to whom But this was only the beginning of his sorrowes as before was said It followeth in the text both in Matthew and Marke My soul is exceeding sorrowfull even unto the death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my soul is compassed round with sorrowes such as doe seem to threaten me with no lesse then death and yet no way to scape them as in both Evangelists And certainly it stood with reason that it should be so For as an eminent Prelate of our own doth observe right well The whole work and weight of our Redemption was now before Christs eyes and apprehension in a more exact and lively manner he now appearing before the judgment seat of God then we in this body can discern For as all things needfull shall be present and patent to us when we are brought to Gods tribunall so Christ presenting himself before the judgement of God to the end that man might be redeemed by the ransome which he was to pay for him and Satan ejected from prevailing against his members by his mediation did fully and perfectly behold the detestation which God had conceived against our sins and the power of his wrath provoked by our defection and rebellion as also the dreadfull vengeance prepared and ordained for sin and our dull and carelesse contempt of our own misery together with the watchfulnesse and eagernesse of the common adversary the brunt and burden of all which he was to bear and to avert them from us by by that satis â—action which the justice of God should then require at his hands as a just price and full recompence for the sins of men The due consideration and intuition whereof being in Christ more clear then we can conceive might worthily make the manhood of Christ both to fear and tremble and in his prayers to God to stir and inflame all the powers and parts both of soul and body as far as mans nature and spirit were able with all submission and deprecation possible to powre forth themselves before his God Here was full cause undoubtedly to make him sorrowful and sorrowful unto the death How could it otherwise be conceived when the just and full reward of our iniquities was thus presented to his sight when he beheld the greatnesse and the justnesse of Gods wrath against it and therewithall considered within himself how dear the price must be and how sharpe the pain which should free us of it And on the other side considered how precious his own person was how infinite his obedience how pure his life and yet how that most precious life must be taken from him that by one death and that death only of the body he might deliver us from the death both of body and soul. So then his soul was â—ull of sorrow there was good cause for it but not oppressed with any pains much lesse tormented and inflanted with the pains of hell as some would fain gather from the text for neither tristitia in Latine nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek either amongst divine or humane writers signifie any such impression of pain and torment but an affection only which afflicts the minde rising upon the apprehension of some evill either past or instant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek amongst the choycest humanitians is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Cicero translates opinio recens mali praesentis a fresh opinion of present or impendent evill And Austin telleth us for the Latines that grief and anguish when it is in the soul is called tristitia that is sorrow but when 't is in the body then 't is molestia pain or trouble Thus is the word taken also in the holy Scripture where St. Paul saith I would not come again unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in sorrow or heaviness for fear he should have sorrow of them of whom he did expect to be received with joy and where it is affirmed of the rest of the servants when they perceived how cruelly their fellow-servant which was pardoned so great a sum dealt with one of his debters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were very sorry And certainly they might be very sorry on so sad an accident out of a fellow-feeling of their Brothers miserie we have no reason to conceive them to be full of pain Hitherto we have met with such griefs and sorrows in our Saviour as never man endured before but yet they prove not to be such as either did confound all the powers of his soul or astonish all the senses of his body or brought him into such amazement that he considered neither what he said or did Some have endevoured to infer this as before was noted out of the texts and words foregoing but with ill successe and therefore they are fallen at last on an other Scripture which they think makes for them How is my soul troubled saith our Saviour and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this houre Here they observe a contrariety or contradiction in our Saviours words which could not possibly proceed but from a soul distracted and a minde confounded and what could work so strange and sensible a confusion in him but the pains of hell which were within him But whatsoever they observe the most eminent men for parts and learning in the times before them could see no such matter Erasmus in his Paraphrases gives this glosse upon them which Bullinger a learned Protestant writer doth extol most highly and calleth an excellent explication I finde my soul troubled for the day of my death approaching and what shall I say For the love of mine own life shall I neglect the life of the world By no means I will apply my self to the will of my Father Mans weaknesse troubled with the fear of death may say unto him Father if it be possible save me from this hour from this danger of death which is now so near me But love desirous of mans salvation shall presently add Nay rather if it be expedient let death which is desired come for as much as wittingly and willingly by the
leading of the Spirit I have offered my self unto the same And thus Theophylact following the constant current of the former writers For this cause came I unto this hour that I might suffer death for all by which he very plainly tels us that though we be troubled and perplxed at it we must not flie death for the truth For I saith Christ am troubled as you see being a true and innocent man and cannot but permit mans nature to shew it self yet do I not say unto my Father that he should save me from this houre but that he glorifie his name Finally thus St. Chrysostom for the antient Fathers out of whose garden Theophylact collected his best flowers Therefore came I unto this houre i. e. as if the Lord had said in termes more particular and expresse though we be moved and troubled yet we flee not death for this I say not as my resolution Father deliver me from this houre but Father glorifie thy name So that these words of Christ being thus expounded according to the true intent and full meaning of them import not such a contrariety or contradiction as these dreamers fancie but only do import a consultation and deliberation held within himself though such indeed as might and did proceed from a troubled soul. And therefore Epiphanius notes exceeding well that our Redeemer spake these words in the way of preparation or dubitation as being scarce thorowly resolved what he had to do For howsoever the inclination of nature induced him to avoid death as much as might be in this debating with himself what was best to be done yet he did presently reject and repell those inclinations saying for this cause came I unto this hour and absolutely resigned them in the words next follwing Father glorifie thy name But it is time I leave these triflers and return back into the garden of Bethsemane where I left my Saviour sorrowing and lamenting under the most calamitous burden of our sins and miseries whom I finde first kneeling on his knees but after prostrate on the ground on his very face and calling earnestly and passionately on the Lord his God and saying Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me It seemes God looked upon him now or on the sins of man which were laid upon him with a wrathful countenance holding his lightnings in his hands and all the vials of his anger to be powred upon him He had not else broak out into these expressions which were indeed the true effects and signes of a soul astonished And yet not so astonished neither as some men would have him who make him pray in this confusion and astonishment against Gods known will which is an irreligious and most dangerous dotage For doth not CHRIST submit immediately to his fathers will doth he not say in termes expresse not my will but thy will be done And call you this a praying against Gods known will How much more orthodoxly is the point resolved by Chrysostom where we read as followeth If this were spoke saith he of Christs divinity then were it a contradiction indeed and many absurdities would thence follow but if it were spoken of the flesh then was there good reason for these words and nothing in them to be blamed And this the Father presseth in the following words For saith he that the flesh would not willingly die is not a thing to be condemned because proper to nature the properties whereof he shewed in himself yet without sin and that very abundantly thereby to stop the mouths of Hereticks When then he saith If it be possible let this cup passe from me and not as I will but as thou wilt he declareth nothing else but that he was invested with true real flesh which feared the inevitable stroke of death that shewing the infirmitie thereof he might confirme the truth of his humane nature yet sometimes covered those feares and other infirmities from being visibly discerned because he was not a bare man Here then we see an easie way to salve that contrariety to the known will of God imputed by these men to our Saviours prayer which yet the Schoolmen have expressed in a clearer and more significant manner There was say they a double apprehension of reason in Christ the one termed the superior which looketh into things with all incident circumstances the other the inferior which presenteth to the minde some circumstances but not all Then they declare that in Christ every faculty power and part was suffered notwithstanding the perfection found in some other to do that which properly pertained to it And thereupon infer that thence it is easie to discern how it came to passe that he should desire and pray for that which he knew would never be granted as namely that the Cup of death might passe from him For the sense say they of nature and inferior reason presented death and the ignominie of the Crosse unto him as they were evill in themselves without any consideration of the good to follow and so caused a desire to decline them which he expresseth in that prayer But superior reason considering them with all the circumstances and knowing Gods resolution to be such that the world by that means should be saved and by no other means whatsoever perswaded to a willing acceptance of them so that between these desires and resolutions there was a diversity but no contrariety a subordination but no repugnance There was no contrariety because they were not in respect of the same circumstances for death as death is to be avoided neither did the superior reason ever dislike this judgment of the inferior faculties but shewed further and higher considerations whereon it was to be accepted and embraced And there was no repugnance nor resistance because the one yeilded to the other For even as a man that is sick considering the potion of the Physitian to be unpleasant to his tast declines it whiles he stayes within the bounds and confines of that consideration but when he is shewed by the Physitian the happy operation of it and the good that is in it doth receive it willingly in that it is beneficial to him in the way of his health So CHRIST considering death as in it self it is evill and contrary to the nature of all mankinde shunned and declined it whilest he staid within the bounds of that consideration and yet did joyfully accept it as the only means of mans salvation embracing what he had refused and refusing what he had embraced Again There is a thing saith Hugo de Sancto Victore which is bonum in se good in it self and the good of every other thing there are somethings good in themselves and yet good but to certain purposes only and some there are which being evill in themselves are to some purposes good Of these the two first sorts are to be desired simply and absolutely for themselves the other in respect only