voluntarily committed by him Christ then beeing frée from all sinne might not suffer the inwarde or euerlasting death of the soule but corporall and temporall reproch and paine which God might and did recompence with eternall ioye and glorie Thirdlie that soule which sinneth that soule shall die This is the setled rule of Gods iustice and therefore Christs soule which sinned not could by no iustice die the death of the soule To laie down his life for vs was loue and thankes with God but willinglie to separate himselfe from God for vs was no waie to reconcile God to vs or to bring vs to God He must therefore cleaue fast to God in soule whose death shall bee pretious in Gods sight as was Christs If the soule bee seuered from God the death of the bodie is detestable in his eies as beeing the wages of sinne and therefore no more acceptable to GOD then sinne it selfe but where the soule hating the infection of sinne and loathing the infirmitie of the flesh resigneth it vnto death for Gods glorie and the good of others And in this respect the death of the bodie maie bee a sacrifice vnto God but not except the soule doe liue and cleaue to God without separation Then hatefull to GOD was the death of Christ if his soule were first hated or accursed if that were beloued and blessed of God it coulde not choose but liue for God is not the God of the deade but of the liuing So that the death of Christes bodie on the Crosse was by no iustice an acceptable sacrifice vnto God if his soule were first deade But his death was so precious in Gods sight that in the bodie of his flesh through death he reconciled vs vnto God his soule was therefore aliue and in fauour with God yea so abundantly blessed and highly accepted for the holines humilitie and obedience thereof that God was pacified and pleased and we all sanctified with THE OBLATION OF THE BODY of Iesus on the altar of the crosse Lastlie the flesh of Christ by Gods iustice must bee as able to purge vs from sinne as Adams was to poyson vs with sinne But the flesh of Adam infected all his posteritie with sinne and death ergo the flesh of Christ must haue as much force to clense and quicken the faithfull both in this life and the next Of this iustice Paul speaketh when he saith since by man came death by man must come the resurrection of the dead For as in Adam all die euen so in Christ shal al be made aliue The first Adam WAS THE FIGVRE of the second Adam that where sinne abounded there grace might abound much more As then by one mans disobedience manie were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many bee made righteous The obedience of Christ which here Paule mentioneth is his obedience vnto death euen to the death of the crosse and the righteousnesse of the faithfull is the forgiuenes of their sinnes through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus I wil not here dispute whether the soule be created and infunded or else traduâ—ed from Adam as well as the flesh I meane not with curious or superfluous questions to busie mens heades that which the scriptures deliuer touching the deriuation of sinne and death from our first parents I may safelie teach and you must necessarily beléeue That we were fashioned in iniquitie and conceaued in sinne the words of Dauid doe exactlie witnesse and no maruaile For who can make that to bee cleane which commeth from the vncleane yea sinne cleaueth so fast vnto our flesh that when the eies of our heart are lightened and the spirit of our minde is renued so that the inwarde man delighteth in the law of God EVEN THEN haue we an other law in our members rebelling against the lawe of our minde and leading vs captiue vnto the lawe of sinne the one so contrarie to the other that we cannot doe the things which we would by reason the affection or liking of the flesh cannot be subiect to the lawe of God This fight betwixt the flesh and the spirit is so durable that it cannot bee dissolued but onelie by death Though Christ bee in vs and the spirit liue for righteousnesse sake yet sinne so dwelleth in vs that is in our â— mortall bodies that whiles we liue in minde we serue the law of God but in our flesh the lawe of sinne From Adams flesh wee deriue this infection of sinne that sticketh so fast vnto vs after we are regenerate and new borne againe of water and the holie ghost and this is the roote and nurse of all sinne and the cause of death to al men If Christ be in you the bodie is dead because of sinne From Christes flesh then we must receiue the purgation of sinne both inherent in vs and committed by vs or else Adams flesh is stronger to wound vs then Christs is to heale vs which is repugnant to the iustice of God by which the grace of God must bee farre mightier vnto saluation in the bodie of Christ then the force of sinne was vnto condemnation in the bodie of Adam vnlesse wee make sinne of more power to kill then God is to quicken which is to exalt the diuell aboue God and his sonne For God was in Christ reconciling the worlde to himselfe by whose bloud the partition wal is broken down and hatred abrogated through his flesh that wee might bee reconciled vnto God in one bodie by his crosse But the death of the bodie they will saie hath no proportion to the death of the soule and therefore the one cannot in iustice excuse the other There is farre greater distance betwixt the sonne of God and the sonnes of men then betwixt the bodies and soules of men These differ as creatures and both inferiour vnto the angels but there is the excellencie of the Creator aboue the creature which is simplie infinite Whatsoeuer therefore it pleased the sonne of God to suffer for our sakes it was most sufficient for our redemption howbeit to demonstrate his loue hee would be partaker of our infirmitie and mortality least we should loath our condition or grudge at the chastisement of our sinnes but if we set a side the dignitie and vnitie of his person then is no waie the death of the soule or the paines of hell which they imagine Christ suffered proportionable in exact iustice to the true wages of our sinne For what equiualence hath one soule with all the soules of the Saints or one daies anguish which Christ felt in soule as they suppose with that euerlasting fire which wee shoulde haue suffered in bodie and soule for euer set aside I saie the respect of the person which suffered for vs and in the rest they shall neuer bee able to prooue anie proportion of iustice diuine or humane But as
of the soule and admitted it as due vnto him to which absurdities if wee come wee leaue nothing sound in our saluation Caâ—â— we him iust that deserueth or holie that desireth to be forsaken of God I thinke not Then all Christs sufferings must be INIVRIOVS before hee can be IVST and VOLVNTARIE before they can be a SACRIFICE vnto God Both which are witnessed by the worde of God as likewise by the ancient fathers THIS IS THANK-VVORTHIE saith Peter if a man for conscience towards God endure grief SVFFERING VVRONGFVLLY For what praise is it if when ye be BVFFETED for your FAVLTS ye take it PATIENTLIE But if when ye doe well ye suffer patientlie this is acceptable vnto God For hereunto are ye called for so CHRIST SVFFERED FOR VS leauing vs an example that we should follow his steppes Christ therfore suffered as well VVRONGFVLLY as PATIENTLY Malefactors may be patient but that is no merit with God He must be both innocent and patient that will haue thanks from God So was Christ He did no sin and so was innocent when he was reuiled he reuiled not againe when he suffered he threatned not which proueth his patience This verie testimonie the theefe on the crosse giueth him We receiue punishment worthie of that we haue done but this maÌ„ hath done nothing amisse Quod iuste debebat Adam Christus iniusté mortem suscipiendo persoluit What Adam iustly owed saith Austen that Christ vniustlie paied by suffering death Pergit ad passionem vt pro debitoribus nobis quod ipse noÌ„ debebat exsolueret Christ goeth to his passion to pay that for vs debtors which hee did not owe. De humanitate suscepta tantum beneficij collatum est hominibus vt à dei sempiterno filio eodemque hominis filio mors temporalis indebita redderetur qua eos a sempiternâ morte debità liberaret Peccata nostra Diabolus tenebat per illanos merito figebat in morte Demisit ea ille qui sua non habebat ab illo immeritó est perductus ad mortem Tantum valuit sanguis ille vt neminem Christo indutum in aeterna morte debita detinere debuerit qui Christum morte indebita vel ad tempus occidit By Christ taking mans nature this benefite men get that the eternall Sonne of God and the same also the sonne of man suffered a temporall death not due to deliuer them from an euerlasting death due The Diuell laide sure holde on our sinnes and by them helde vs deseruedlie in death Those hee remitted that had no sinnes of his owne and was without anie desert brought by the Diuell vnto death But such was the force of Christes bloud that the Diuell had no right to detaine anie man that put on Christ in eternall death due for so much as hee slue Christ with death for the time which was no way due Mediator noster punirâ— pro se ipso non debuit quia nullum culpae contagium perpetrauit Sed si ipse indebitam mortem non susciperet nunquam nos à debita morte liberaret Our Mediatour for himselfe ought not to bee punished because hee neuer sinned But if hee had not suffered a death not due hee coulde neuer haue freed vs from the death that was due If the temporall death of the bodie were not due to our Sauiour much lesse was the death of the soule due vnto him And if no death were due that which hee suffered was wrongfull Then might God bee the permitter directer orderer and accepter of Christes death on the Crosse but hee coulde not bee the immediate inflicter of it because it was wrongfull and vndeserued much lesse might GOD in iustice forsake his soule that with so great obedience patience and innocencie humbled himselfe to the will of his heauenlie father That likewise hee suffered nothing agaynst his owne liking his owne mouth testified when he said Nemo tollit animam meam à me sed pono eam à meipso No man taketh my life from mee but I lay it downe of my selfe And else where The sonne of God loued mee and gaue himselfe for mee Loue your wiues as Christ loued the Church and gaue himselfe for it If it were loue then was it no constraint nor violence that forced him thereto If hee gaue himselfe for vs it must needes bee voluntarie whatsoeuer hee suffered Demonstrauit spiritus mediatoris quà m nulla poena peccati vsque ad mortem carnis accessorit quia non eam deseruit inuitus sed QVIA VOLVIT QVANDO VOLVIT QVOMODO VOLVIT The spirite of the Mediator shewed that without anie punishment of sinne it came euen to the death of the flesh which hee did not leaue agaynst his will but BECAVSE HE VVOVLDE VVHEN HE VVOVLDE AND HOVVE HE VVOVLDE Et natus passus mortuus est nulla sua necessitate sed voluntate potestate Christ was borne and suffered and died not for anie necessitie that vrged him but of his owne will and hauing it in his owne power If Christ might suffer nothing but what hee woulde and as hee would the death of the soule hee did neuer suffer for thereto hee coulde not be willing without sinne by reason it is a separation from God and a losse both of his heauenlie fauour and holie spirite from which Christ willinglie would neuer be excluded The summe is since the TRVTH and IVSTICE of God might not release the sin of man without fulfilling the sentence of the Iudge THOV SHALT DIE THE DEATH and that by man for so much as man was the trespasser God so loued the world when none of the sonnes of Adam was able to restore his owne soule much lesse to ransome others that hee sent his owne sonne to become man and as by the dignitie and puritie of his person to counteruaile and ouerweigh the soules of all men so by his paines and death on the Crosse to verifie and satisfie the iudgement of God pronounced against man and to quit him from all danger following death And to trie the obedience shew the patience and augment the merits of the Redeemer the wisedome of God decreed that his sonne in our substance should violentlie and wrongfullie bee put to death euen by their handes for whose sakes he laid downe his life that his loue might so much the more excéede in praying for his persecutours and dying for his tormentors The shame and sharpenesse of the crosse so iniuriouslie imposed on the holinesse and worthinesse of Christes person and yet so obedientlie and patientlie endured by him God so highlie esteemed and recompenced that hee made his death the ransome of all mankinde and his bloud to bee the purgation and propitiation of our sinnes his obedience wyping awaie our disobedience his fauour quenching the displeasure his blessednesse alâ—ering the curse his death finishing the vengeance that was due to our iniquities This is the
SOVLES From thence you leape to the Reuelation and there when Saint Iohn sawe one sitting on a pale horse whose name was death and HADES followed after him that is saie you the world of the dead It cannot be hell certainely because hel slaieth none in that sort Againe to saie preciselie that the fourth part of the world should go to hell I take it to bee a strange phrase in scripture Here first is a plaine proofe that death and HADES are two seuerall things the one following after the other For nothing doth follow it selfe The doubt is now what HADES importeth The world of the dead saie you The worlde of the dead if thereby you mean dead bodies is al one with death if you vnderstand the world of soules that hath two partes heauen and hell which of these two did follow after death to destroy the fourth part of the earth the kingdome of heauen is neuer proposed in the scriptures as a destroyer but the diuell hath his proper name in this booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the destroyer Againe this vision S. Iohn saw at the opening of the fourth Seale but the world of soules in heauen was shewed him in the opening of the fift Seale which presentlie followeth in the next verse in these words And when the lambe had opened the fift Seale I saw saith Iohn vnder the altar the soules of men slayne for the word of God and for the testimonie of the Lambe The world of soules in heauen was séene in the opening of the fift seale therefore that world of soules was not séene in the opening of the fourth Seale but of force if by HADES you will vnderstand anie world of soules it must be of those that were in HELL Howbeit because hee did accompanie death that was sent to destroy I take it rather to bee the power of the deuill that is there described then anie world of soules as you dreame And that the diuell destroyeth as well the bodie as the soule if it be strange to you you are a greater stranger in the Scriptures then you would seeme to bee Who threw the house vpon the heads of Iobs Children can you tell or who smote Iob himselfe with that loathsome disease But the fourth part of the earth you saie could not go to hell God graunt no more then the fourth part go thither Neuer reade you many called and few chosen and though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the Sea yet but a remnant shall be saued And why might not the dragon as well deuoure the fourth part of y e earth as draw downe from heauē with his tayle the third part of the starres Or if there you take a certayne number for an vncertain which is S. Iohns manner of writing in this booke why not as well here as else where these therefore are a couple of idle quarrels if these be your best you are more willing then able to do harme But by y e same words in the same booke we shall better vnderstand what is ment by HADES then by your wandring and weake gloze Death and HADES saith S. Iohn were cast into the lake of fier It were absurd you adde to saie death and hell were cast into hell True but more absurd and more blasphemous to saie that death and the world of soules shall bee cast into the lake of fier For then not onlie the Saints of God but heauen it selfe should bee cast into hell fier Yet if we take the containing for the contained which is the most vsuall phrase of the Scripture as wo be to thee Chorazin wo to thee Bethsaida thou Capernaum as likewise Ierusalem Ierusalem which killest the prophets it shal be easier for Tyrus Sydon with a thousand such euery wher occurrent then is it an easie true speach that hel to witte the powers of hell euen the diuels themselues shall be cast into the lake of fier And so doth Andreas Bishop of Cesaria expound it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked spirits the possessours of HADES shall be cast into hel fier And so Bede Mors Infernus missi sunt in stagnum ignis Diabolum dicit et suos quem supra in equo pallido sedentem Infernus sequebatur Death hel shall be cast into the lake of fier He meaneth the diuel his whō before sitting on a pale horse hell followed As yet then HADES in the new Testament is not onlie a thing different from death but euen hell it selfe and your world of soules in none of these texts can find any hold or help Let vs sée the rest That Christ triumphed ouer hell and Satan not ouer death onely the Apostle fully affirmeth when he saith Christ spoyled principalities powers made an open shew of them and triumphed ouer them in his owne person that likewise hee hath the keyes of hell and not of death onlie S. Iohn plainlie sheweth when he saw an angell come down from heauen hauing the key of the bottomeles pit and there binding shutting vp the diuell The same key of the bottomeles pit was in the 9 Chapter of the Reuelation giuen to the Star that slidde from heauen This keye must Christ haue for hee saith of himselfe that he hath the key of Dauid which openeth and no man shutteth which shutteth and no man openeth Since then there are keyes not of heauen onlie which Christ committed to Peter and his fellow labourers but of the bottomles pitte where Satan lyeth bound which of force must bee HELL when Christ professeth in the first of the Reuelation that he hath the keyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of death and of HADES who séeth not that HADES there must signifie hell it selfe the key whereof is so expreslie mentioned in that booke And so when the Apostle maketh two parts of Christs conquest against death and hell ô death where is thy sting ô HADES where is thy victorie what reason is there to exclude out of these words Christs victorie ouer HELL since the same Apostle witnesseth that Christ had a glorious triumph against hell and the word HADES in all the places of the new Testament which we haue yet viewed inferreth hell The Apostle you saie speaketh not of the Damnation of the wicked but of the resurrectiō of the dead And so do I and therefore inferre that when the bodies of the saints shall be raised from death whose soules be already saued from hell then shall these words be openlie verified ô death where is thy sting ô hell where is thy victorie For since by sinne hell gate possession of both parts of man as well of his bodie as of his soule the full deliuerance of man must free both parts and the full conquest ouer hell is the losse of both parts which in the resurrection of the dead shall be performed and
nos dicere existimo I think we speake not without reasoÌ„ If respect of his persecutors could thus agonize him what could the regard of his own followers doe how did the weaknesse of his owne disciples afflict him when the wilfulnesse of his enemies did so preuaile with him Hee warned his disciples of the danger and they vaunted of their strength he willed them to praie and they slept and when he was apprehended they did euerie one forsake him yea the stoutest of them did plainelie forsweare him Hee might therefore iustlie be grieued with their infirmitie and earnestlie praie for their securitie His tender care of them and earnest praier for them appeareth in the 17. of Iohn euen as hee entered into the garden hee called vpon them to watch and praie that they entred not into temptation Dormiunt saith Ambrose nesciunt dolere pro quibus Christus dolebat the Disciples slept and caÌ„nottel how to sorrow for whom Christ sorrowed Tristis erat non pro suapassione sed pro nostra dispersione Tristis erat quia nosparnulos relinguebat Hee was sorrowfull not for his owne suffering but for our dispersing He was gréeued because hee left vs yong and weake Hilarie in his tenth booke de Trinitate largely pursueth this occasion of Christo agonie concludeth Non ergo sibi tristis erat neque sibi orat sed illis quos monet orare peruigiles Christ is not sorrowfull for himself nor praieth for himself but for those whoÌ„ he warneth to watch and pray And for their sakes he â—aith the Angell was sent to comfort Christ that hee should take no longer griefe and feare for his Disciples The Angell being sent to protect the Apostles and the Lord receiuing comfort thereby Ne pro his tristis esset iam sine tristitâ—ae mâ—tu ait dormite requiessite That he should no longer grieue for them beginneth nowe to be without griefe and feare and saith to them sleepe now and take your rest Nam quinobis tristis est eâ— est propter nos tristis est necesse est vt proptennos sit comfortatus nobis for he that was sorrowfull for our sakes and in our behalfe must of force be comforted for vs and to our vse The desire and care Christ had to sée his kept safe from the rage of Satan leadeth me to the fourth cause of Christs agonie For if Christ were so sad for our infirmitie how sorrowfull then was he for our iniquitie whereby we â—dde not one lie 〈◊〉 our selues open to danger but euen wound our selues to death and deseruetion Well saith Ambrose of this matter Mihicompatitur mihi trist is est nahi doleâ— Eâ—go pro mo in me doluit qui pro senâ—d habuir quod doleret Dâ—lesâ— igitur domine Iesu non tuâ— sed mea vulnera non tuam mortem sed nostâ—am infirmitaetem Christ is affected for mee sadde for mee and greened for mâ—e Hee sorroweth for mee and in mee who had nothing in himselfe to bee sorowed for Thou grieuest Lord Iesu not at thine owne wounds but at mine not for thy death but for my weakenesse Inward sorrow for sin is preciselie requisite in all remission of sinnes To sinne and not to be sorie for if is first to displease and then to despise God Wherefore it is not possible to appease Gods wrath once prouoked but with earnest and heartie sorrowe that euer we offended Then as corruption is the mother and pleasure is the life of sinne so the inward affliction and contrition of the soule in all the godlie is the death of sinne And since we are neither willing nor able to sorrow sufficientlie for our sinnes why might not the son of God when her tooke vpon him the purgation of our 〈◊〉 in his own person take likewise vnto him that inward earnest sorow for our sins which neuer creature before him or besides him did or could expresse Godly sorrow causeth uâ— vs repentance vnto saluation and a troubled spirit is a sacrifice vnto God Of this kind of sorrow to supplie the weaknes and want of true repentance in vs all and to teach vs heartilie to lament our sins the more wee attribute vnto the soule of our Sauiour the more sufficient euerie way we make his satisfaction for sin that did not onelie render recompenâ—e by his life and suffer vengeance by his death for our sins but for déepelie sorrowed for them that in his agonie aboue nature he sweate bloud after a strange and maruellous maner The fift cause of Christs agonie might be the cup of gods wrath tempered and made readie for the sinnes of men In the hand of the Lorde is a cuppe saith Dauid it is mixed full the wine thereof is redde all the wicked of the earth shall wring and drinke the dregges thereof In this cuppe are all manner of plagues and punishmentes for sinne as well spirituall as corporall eternall as tâ—mporall The mixture of which â—â—ppe Christ perfectlie knowing and carefullie shunning the dregges thereof earnestlie prayed this cuppe might passe from him I knowe diuers men haue diuerâ—â—iâ— expounded these wordes of Christ some thereby collecting two willes shewed in Christ a diuine and humane the one submitting it selfe to the other some noting a difference betwixt the vnwillingnesse of our flesh and readinesse of the spirite euen in the manhoode of Christ some also thinking that Christ corrected and reuoked his petition suddenly â—lipt from him by the vehemencie of griefe which tooke from him the present remembrance of gods heauenly decree In this varietie of iudgements to refuse none that agréeth any way with the rules of truth Christ might behold three things in the cuppe of Gods wrath and by his praier accordinglie decline them to wit eternal malediction corporall castigation aboue his strength and the separation of his bodie by death from the fruition of God What was due to our sinnes Christ could not be ignorant and as he became man to quicken our souls that were dead not to kill his owne and to bring vs to God not to seuer himselfe from God so knowing what our sinnes deserued he might intentiuelie pray to haue That cup passe from him which was prepared for vs was heard in that he declined or feared Christ saith Paule in the dayes of his flesh did offer vp praiers and supplications to him that was able to saue him from death and was heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the reuerence had of him for so Chrysostome Theodorete Oecumenius and others not vnlearned as I thinke in the Gréeke tongue doe interprete the worde or as others delight rather to say He was heard in that he feared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying feare and care as wel as reuerence Paule meaneth that praier saieth Theodorete which CHRIST made before his passion when he said Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me And indéed
obedient to the death euen to the death of the crosse By his humilitie obedience and charity hee purged the pride rebellion and selfe-loue which our first father shewed when he fell and we all expresse in our sinnes and therefore as wee all died in Adams transgression so we are all iustified that is absolued from our sinnes and receaued into fauour by the obedience of Christ. Yea the obedience of Christ did in farre higher degrée please God the Father then the rebellion of Adam did displease him For there the vassall rebelled here the equall obeied there earth presumed to be like vnto God here God vouchsafed to bee the lowest amongst men there the creature neglected his maker here the creator so loued his enemies euen his persecutors that hee tooke the burthen from their shoulders and laid it on his owne contentedly giuing his life for them who cruellie tooke his life from him to conclude those were the sinnes of men these are the vertues of God which doe infinitelie counteruaile the other and for that cause the iustice of God is farre better satisfied with the obedience of Christ then with the vengeance it might iustlie haue executed on the sinnes of men For God hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked neither doth hee delight in mans destruction but with the obedience of his sonne he is well pleased and therein euen his soule delighteth This is my beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased Loe my chosen my soule taketh pleasure in him In which words God doth not onlie note the naturall loue betwixt his sonne and himselfe but he giueth full approbation of his obedience as being thereby throughlie satisfied for the sinne of man By Christs obedience I doe not meane the holinesse of his life or performance of the lawe but the obedience of the person vnto death euen the death of the Crosse which was voluntarilie offered by him not necessarily imposed on him aboue and besides the lawe and no way required in the lawe For it could be no dutie to God or man but onelie mercie and pitie towardes vs that caused the sonne of God to take our mortall and weake flesh vnto him and therein and therby to pay the ransome of our sinnes and to purchase eternall life for vs. He must be a Sauiour no debter a redéemer no prisoner Lord of all euen when hee humbled himselfe to be the seruant of all his diuine glorie power and maiestie make his sufferings to be of infinite force and value And from this dignitie and vnitie of his person which is the maine pillar of our redemption if we cast our eies on any other cause or deuise any new help to strengthen the merits of Christ wee dishonour and disable his diuinitie as if the sonne of God were not a full and sufficient price to ransome the bodies and soules of all mankind On this foundation doe the scriptures build the whole frame of mans redemption GOD purchased his church saith Paule WITH HIS OVVNE BLOVD GOD noting the dignitie HIS OVVNE the vnitie of his person and both importing a price far worthier then the thing purchased God spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for vs all In that he was the sonne of God al nations are counted vnto him or in ballance with him lesse thē nothing and vanitie in that he was giuen for vs the ransome excelleth the prisoner as much as God doth man We are reconciled to God by the death of his sonne Maruell we to sée Christs death of that power price with God that it appeased his wrath when he was angrie with vs as with his enemies when as his owne son being equall with him in the forme of God humbled himselfe to the death of the crosse for our sakes Fairer or fuller causes of our redemption we neede not aske the holie Ghost doth not expresse God cannot haue If the son of God be not able with his bloud to redeeme vs wee must giue ouer all hope and despaire For heauen cannot yéeld vs a greater value and the earth hath none like Wherfore if any man be disposed to seale his own condemnation with his own heart let him distrust the merits of Christs death but all that will be saued must acknowledge the infinite price of his death and bloud aboue our worth and we must learne being sinfull and wretched creatures not to amend the wordes of God in the mysterie of our redemption but suffer him that is trueth to be the guider of our faith and not by figures to frustrate all that is written in the word of God touching our saluation purchased by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus I am not the first that obserued or vrged this doctrine it is auncient and Catholike Cum super omnes esset Dei verbum merito suum ipsius templum corporale instrumentum pro omniū ammis pretium offerens id quod morti debebatur persoluit Where as the word or sonne of God saith Athanasius was aboue al worthily then by offering his owne temple bodily instrument as a price for the soules of all men did he pay that was due vnto death Cyril Si non esset deus quomodo ipse solus sufficeret ad hoc vt sit pretiū Sed sufficit solus pro omnibus mortuus quia super omnes est deus igitur est morte suae carnis à mundo mortē depellens If Christ were not God how could he alone suffice to be the ransome for al but he alone dead sufficeth for all because he is aboue all he is therefore God by the death of his flesh driuing away death from the worlde And againe Redempti sumus Christo proprium corpus dante pro nobis Sed si vt communis homo intelligeretur Christus quomodo corpus eius ad rependendum omnium vitam sufficeret At si deus fuit in carne qui dignissimus sufficiens ad redemptionem totius mundi per suum sanguinē merito fuit We are redeemed Christ giuing his own body for vs. But if Christ be taken to be no more then a man how should his body be sufficient to restore life to al men but if he were God in our flesh worthily thē did he suffice to redeem the whole world with his bloud Austen Si propter hominē mortuus est deus nō est victurus homo cum deo quomodo mortuus est deus accepit ex te vnde moreretur pro te nōposset mori nisi caro nōposset mori nisi mortale corpus If god died for mā shall not mā liue with god but how died god he took of thine wherin to die for thee There could nothing die but flesh there could die nothing but a mortal body And elsewhere an anciēt writer vnder his name if not himselfe Indubitanter credamus quod totum mundum redemit qui plus dedit quā totus mundus valeret
inter redimenteÌ„ redemptum dispensatio non compensatio fuit Let vs vndoubtedly beleeue that hee redeemed the whole worlde which gaue more then the whole world was worth Betweene the redeemer and the redeemed there was a dispensation of humilitie no compensation of equality And to shewe the truth of his spéech he addeth Innocency was arraigned for the guiltie mercie was buffeted for the cruell piety was whipped for the vngodlie wisdom was mocked for the foolish righteousnes was condeÌ„ned for the vnrighteous truth was slaine for the liar life died for him that was dead And doe wee yet remembring who he was and what we were stagger to confesse with these Christian and Catholike Fathers that his bloud was a most sufficient price for all the world or woonder we to see death ouerthrowne by his death who was the fountaine of life and could no more bee swallowed vp of death then God himselfe could be conquered by the power of darkenesse The mightier Christs person the more able he was some will say to suffer death hell he would be partaker of our mortall infirmitie that by suffering death for the time hee might conquer the force thereof for euer but the gates of hel could not preuaile against him because the Prince of this world had nothing in him The inward man may be strongest when the outward man is weakest and when the flesh is nearest vnto death the spirit may cleane fastest vnto God Christ therefore in dying for our sakes shewed a most euident and eminent example of his obedience loue and patience but in suffering hel there is no signe of grace nor shew of vertue Uoluntarilie to forsake God or willinglie to be forsaken of God is the greatest impietie that can bee committed And against his will Christ neuer did nor might suffer anie thing for that had beene violence not obedience vengeance not patience force not loue But all constraint was farre from Christ that his sufferings might be a voluntary sacrifice to witnesse his loue and declare his merits which in compulsion could be none Since then the sonne of God neither willinglie would nor forciblie could be forsaken of his Father it is a dangerous deuise to subiect his soule to hell which is the totall and finall separation of the wicked from God and his kingdome And that wee may a little the better be thinke our selues before we growe too resolute in this assertion that Christes soule suffered the verie paines of hell I will obserue some things which the scriptures affirme of hell may not be applied to Christ without apparaÌ„t iniurie First hel is outward and inward darkenesse nowe Christ was light and in him was no darknesse of the soule As long as I am in the worlde I am sayth hée the light of the worlde Then as the light hath no fellowshippe with darkenesse no more had Christ with hell which is the power of darkenesse from whence hee hath deliuered vs. Secondlie hell is destruction both of bodie and soule Feare not them saith Christ which kill the bodie but cannot kill the soule feare him rather which is able to destroie both soule and bodie in hell In the Sauiour of both wee maie not admitte the destruction of both howe shall he saue vs that could hardlie and as some write MAXIMA CVM DIFFICVLTATEâ—punc with much a do saue himselfe But God sent his sonne to bee the Sauiour of the worlde We must not therefore wrappe him within the destruction of bodie and soule no not for an hower or an instant Thirdlie hell is the second death The first is of the bodie for a time the second is of the soule for euer The lake burning with fire and brimstone this is the second death saith Saint Iohn Of this death Austen saith De prima corporis morte dicipotest quòd bonis bona sit malis mala secunda vero sine dubio sicut nullorum est bonorum ita nulli bona Ideo vero secunda quia post illam primamest The first death of the bodie is good to the good and euill to the euill but the seconde death without doubt as no good man suffereth it so is it good to none and therefore it is called the seconde death because it followeth after the first Before the first death no man suffereth hell which is the seconde death and before wee maie auouch it of Christ wee must take all goodnesse from him for doubtlesse sayeth Austen no good man dooth suffer it And indéede howe pernicious it is to make the soule of Christ lyable to the death of the soule I shall afterwarde haue occasion to speake In the meane time S. Iohn affirmeth that hell goeth not before death but followeth after death I looked saith he and beheld a pale horse and his name that sate on him was death and HEL FOLLOVVED AFTER HIM and therefore it cannot stand with truth to subiect the soule of Christ yet liuing on earth to the very paines of the damned Fourthly their WORME in hell neuer dieth for so much as the remembrance of their sinnes committed against God euerlasting lie biteth and afflicteth the conscience Now in Christ as there was no taint of sinne so could there bee no touch of conscience accusing nor remorse of any transgression agaynst God With compassion of our sinnes he might be moued and troubled but worme of conscience hee could haue none who was priuie to his owne heart that he was holie harmlesse vndefiled and separated from sinners and therefore needed no sacrifice for his owne sinnes but as a faythfull and mercifull high Priest by the offering of him selfe once made an attonement for the sinnes of the people But what the paines of the damned are the sentence of the Iudge will best declare Discedite à me maledicti in ignem aeternum Depart from mee ye cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the diuell and his Angels In which wordes there are foure things which by no meanes can agrée vnto Christ REIECTION MALEDICTION VENGEANCE OF FIRE CONTINVANCE THERIN FOR EVER As sin is a voluntary separation of man from god so hell is a totall and finall exclusion of the sinfull froÌ„ enioying the presence or patience of God anie longer The time of this life is the respite of Gods patience towards all the wicked with the ende thereof beginneth his eternall vengeaunce which wholie and for euer debarreth the workers of wickednesse from the kingdome of God This reiection the soule of Christ could not suffer beeing inseparablie ioyned to the Godhead of Christ. We must not in stead of a naturall and mutuall coniunction beléeue or teach a reall effectuall separation betwixt God and man in the person of Christ no not a perswasion thereof in the soule of our Sauiour which is all one with Desperation and sheweth the condition rather of the Reprobate then of the children of God much lesse of him that
Patriarkes perished in their sinnes by mistaking the true price of their redemption For that they knewe anie thing of Christs suffering Hell paynes I thinke will hardlie bee prooued But out of question their faith was right which was settled on the bloud of Christ to bee shedde for the redéeming of their sinnes and themselues are Saintes in Gods kingdome Wee must therefore take heede that wee doe not rashlie varie from the foundation of their faith and hope which must likewise be ours with this onelie difference that they beléeued in him which should take away the sins of the worlde by his death and crosse and we in him that hath taken them away The time doth differ but the meanes are still the same The lamb was slaine from the beginning of the world not actually but in the counsaile of God which did purpose it and in the truth of God which did promise it as likewise in the faith of al his saints which did rest reioice in it frō whose steps if we swarue we may not looke to be Abrahās children y t refuse Abrahās faith as erroneous chalēge our father for misbeliefe If the offerings and faith of the Patriarks were not pregnant enough to lead vs to the true sacrifice for sinne the Apostle to the Hebrewes doth so purposelie and positiuely handle it that I much muse how any man of iudgement or learning can mistake it For if we marke but thrée conclusions which the Apostle maketh we cannot erre from the truth in this behalfe The true sacrifice for sinne must be but ONE and ONCE OFFERED not often nor iterated by reason it is perfect and able to clense vs from all sinne It must bee BLOVDY for so were all the offeringes of the lawe and without shedding of bloud is no remission It must bee CONFIRMED BY DEATH that redemption purchased might neuer bee reuoked nor altered These thrée positions are mainelie and mightilie vrged by the holie ghost the 9. and 10. to the Hebrues and for this faith are all the fathers of the old Testament from Abel to Samuel praised in the 11. chapter of that Epistle This man saith Paul meaning Christ after he had offered ONE SACRIFICE FOR SINNE sitteth for euer at the right hand of God For with ONE OFFERING had he made perfit for euer those which are sanctified Now where remission of sinne is there is no more offering for sinne Christ then making but one offering for sinne we must not make two but rather learne what that one was which we may do without any difficultie since the Apostle so plainlie teacheth vs that we are sanctified by THE OFFERING OF THE BODY OF IESVS ONCE that BY HIS OWNE BLOVD CHRIST ENTERED in Once into the holy place and FOVND ETERNALL REDEMPTION Almost all things are by the law purged with bloud and without shedding of bloud is no remission It was then necessary that the similitudes of heauenlie thinges in the law should be purified with such thinges as the bloud of bulles and goates but heauenly things themselues with better sacrifices then these euen with the bloud of Christ. For if the bloud of bulles and goates sanctifieth as touching the purifying of the flesh howe much more shall THE BLOVD OF CHRIST who through the eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot to God PVRGE YOVR CONSCIENCES FROM DEAD WORKS to serue the liuing God And for this cause is he the Mediator of the newe Testament that THROVGH DEATH which was for THE REDEMPTION OF THE TRANSGRESSIONS IN THE FORMER TESTAMENT they which were called might receiue the promise of eternal inheritance For where a testament is there must be THE DEATH OF HIM THAT MADE THE TESTAMENT For it is of no force so long as he that made it is aliue wherefore neither was the first testament ordained without bloud Iesus then suffered without the gate that hee might SANCTIFIE the people WITH HIS OWNE BLOVD and this is the bloud of the euerlasting Testament through which God brought againe from the dead our Lorde Iesus Christ confirmeth the same when hee saith This is MY BLOVD of the new testament WHICH IS SHED for many for THE REMISSION OF SINNES The words be plainer then that they néede anie commentarie There was but ONE sacrifice that coulde abolish sinne euen THE OBLATION OF THE BODIE OF IESVS ONCE whose BLOVD purged our consciences from deade works and purchased eternal inheritance by the TESTATORS DEATH FOR THE REDEMPTION of those sinnes which we committed against the former Testament What shift haue we to shun the force of these wordes or to bring in the paines of hell in Christes soule as a part of the propitiatory sacrifice for sinne Christ made but one oblation of himselfe for sinne and that was the suffering of death in his body for the redemption of our transgressions and shedding of his bloud for the remission of our sinnes More then one hee néeded not make for that one obtained eternall redemption and other then this he did not make for his offering was both BODILY and BLOVDIE This is my body which is giuen and broken for you this is my bloud which is shed for manie THE OBLATION OF THE BODY of Iesus once THE SHEDDING OF HIS BLOVD are of strength force enough to clense vs from our sins to procure vs the promise of euerlasting inheritance which beeing confirmed by the death of the testator standeth irreuocable How canne wee then bring in another sacrifice of Christes soule suffering the paines of hell which could be neither bodily nor bloudy but wee must increase the number and confounde the differences of Christs offerings and weaken the force of his externall corporal sacrifice which was the truth that answered accomplished al the signes of the law For the inuisible paines of hel are no where prefigured in the sacrifices of the law that I find nor so much as once mentioned in the Apostles discourse of Christs sacrifice for sinne that I reade therfore if we adde them as a necessary part of our redemption we derogate from the bloud of Christ as insufficient without those torments to clense vs from our sins pacifie the wrath of God that was kindled against vs. What danger it is to depart from y e manifest words of the holy ghost in so high a point of faith by things vnwritten to discredit things written I néede not admonish such as be learned let the simple take héed that they suffer not reason to ouerrule religion obscure and doubtful places in the scriptures to wrest from them the perspicuous and perpetuall doctrine of the holy ghost Howe ful and perfect the redemption is which wee haue by the bloud of Christ if you search the Scriptures you shall easilie see if you doe but hearken you shall presentlie learne The bloud of Christ doth REDEEME CLENSE VVASH IVSTIFIE SANCTIFY the elect It doth PACIFIE and
I haue fullie shewed before the worthinesse of the person is the surest ground of our saluation and chiefest weight of our redemption and therefore his death is of infinite force and his bloude of infinite price euen as his person is For since all mens actions are and ought to bee esteemed according to the giftes which they haue and place which they holde from GOD whie shoulde not the death and bloud of Christ bee valued in Gods iustice according to the height and worth of his person and if in all thinges wee receaue honour not due to our fleshe wherein wee partake with Beastes but fitte for the soule wherein wee communicate with Angels howe seemeth it strange in our eyes that the dooinges and sufferinges of Christ Iesus which hath the natures of God and man in a surer and nearer coniunction then wee haue our soules and bodies shoulde not bee reckned and accepted in GODS iustice as the ACTIONS and PASSIONS of HIS OVVNE SONNE and haue their value from the diuiner and worthier parte of Christ As the death of Christes flesh ONELIE doth more expresse the TRVETH POVVER AND IVSTICE of God then if the death of the soule had beene ioyned with it so the same setteth forth Christes merites namelie his OBEDIENCE PATIENCE and LOVE in farre better sorte then if wee adde vnto it the death of the spirite which is the rewarde of all the reprobate and damned For what a man vnwillinglie suffereth that sheweth neyther obedience nor patience Obedience hath readinesse and patience if it bee perfect hath gladnesse both haus willingnesse If then wee bee forced against our willes to endure that which wee woulde gladlie auoide it is violence it is neither obedience nor patience and consequentlie it hath neither merits nor thankes with GOD. The death then of the soule which is a separation from the fauour and grace of God did Christ suffer it willinglie or vnwillinglie if willinglie there coulde bee no greater neglect of GOD then to bee willing to bee separated from God It were disobedience and insolence in the highest degree to be glad and forwarde to forsake God or to bee forsaken of him Christ therefore must not bee willing to suffer the death of the soule least wee wrap him within the compasse of contemning and reiecting the grace and fauour of GOD which are sinnefull enormities Was hee vnwilling to suffer it then coulde hee bee neither obedient nor patient in suffering it All vertue is voluntarie compulsion hath no merite God loueth a cheerefull giuer and sufferer Hee that murmureth in heart rebelleth though hee holde still his tongue So likewise I must aske if Christ suffered the death of the soule did hee suffer it iustlie or vniustlie if vniustlie God could not be the sole and immediate agent in imposing it and besides God no creature canne bereaue the soule of life Did hee suffer it iustlie then must hee be voide of all vertue for nothing but sinne deserueth the death of the soule Obedience and patience merite thankes with God and cannot wante the blessing of God where the death of the soule is the greatest curse that God inflicteth heere on earth And where they thinke it woulde greatelie increase the loue of Christ towardes vs if hee vouchsafed to taste the death of the soule for our sakes I replie that supposition woulde make Christ a sinner if not a lyar which God forbid shoulde once enter our thoughtes For â—irst Christ saieth Greater loue then this hath no man that one should laie downe his life for his friendes But God commendeth his loue towards vs that whiles we were yet sinners Christ died for vs. If it be loue for a man to loose his soule for his friend then is there found a greater loue then Christ euer knew for he saith there is no greater loue theÌ„ for a maÌ„ to laie downe his life And the Apostle applying it to Christ saith The height of Gods loue was this that Christ died for sinners that is for his enemies not for his friendes sinne beeing enmitie to God and sinners enemies to the holinesse of his will and glory of his kingdome This loue of Christ by which he died for vs we reiect as little worth vnlesse hee endured the losse of Gods fauour for vs which I take to bee sinne and not loue For loue is due first and aboue all to God then to men this order of loue if we breake it is no charitie it is iniquitie What doe all wicked ones but preferre the loue of themselues or of others before the loue of God to loue men so well that wee waxe willing to forsake the fauour and fellowship of God is transgression against God and not compassion towards men and therefore wee maie not bring the sonne of God within the listes of this loue no not for an houre by reason the loue of God afore all others may not faile in the hart of Christ not for a moment bee it neuer so short For our loue then he tooke flesh when he was God which was infinite humilitie and gaue his life for his enemies which was exceeding charitie and in the course thereof referred himself wholie to the wil and pleasure of God which was exact obedience willinglie but wrongfullie suffering whatsoeuer the malice of Satan and rage of the wicked contriued against him the wise and gracious counsell of God so turning the mischiefe of the diuell and his members to the generall good of mankind that Christes innocent and righteous bloud being furiously and vniustly shed by the hands of his enemies became the true sacrifice for sinne and the full price of mans redemption Farther then this if we will force the sonne of God with our fancies as namelie to the death or curse of the soule wee doe not onelie diminish the strength of his loue towardes God but we debase the price of his bloud and make it rather detestable then acceptable in Gods sight For nothing can please God but that which is RIGHTEOVS INNOCENT HOLIE VNDEPILED And in a dead or cursed soule what place leaue we for these giftes and graces of the holie Ghost Since then our high Priest must be holie harmelesse vndefiled and separate from sinners before his sacrifice coulde bee accepted the soule of Christ must necessarilie bee replenished with all goodnesse and embraced with all fauour before the death of his bodie could be an offering of a sweete sauour vnto God and so the power of Christes death is no whitte encreased but altogither weakened if wee conioyne it with the death of the soule The death of the soule then doth not encrease the obedience patience and loue of Christ towardes vs but doth rather decrease and endanger all the vertues of our Sauiour For if Christ suffered the death of the soule which is Gods immediate action since God will offer his owne sonne neither violence nor wrong wee must confesse that Christ deserued the death
to his suffering them for the time he might breake them and dissolue them for euer Naturall infirmities which are outragious in vs by reason of our corruption Christ might suffer to arise within him and there temper them as Cyrill other ancient fathers do teach but sinfull extremities as desperation confusion reiection damnation Christ must conquere by repelling not by suffering least the fellowship of our sinnes be more hainous in him then in vs. For as his faith hope and loue must by manie degrées exceed ours in perfection so the quenching or slaking of these graces in him is greater sinne then in vs. Doubt and distrust is farre more impious in Angels by reason of their excellent knowledge and strength then in men and most impious in the soule of Christ who by his personall vnion with God deriued clearer intelligence in knowing Gods will and greater assurance to persist therein then either man or Angell For the verie Angels haue but the condition of their creation from which some fell and confirmation of grace in which the rest stand but no creature euer had so fast coniunction and full communion with the godhead as the soule of Christ. And therefore DVBITATION DESPERATION TREPIDATION in his soule are more hainous sinnes then in any other creature for somuch as they beleeue not y e truth trust not the promise rest not secured in the VOICE and OATH of God which all are immutable and impossible to bee false and feare least Gods goodnesse and loue will faile and in fine doe depriue him of his diuine nature since without veritie bonitie and constancie there can be no God It then Christs soule could not be infected with sinne nor haue anie societie with euill no not for an instant these doubts and feares of Gods fauour and his saluation must be farre from him and in the full perswasion and steadfast expectation of eternall ioy and blisse howe desperation should lodge I yet vnderstand not God might reueale and the soule of Christ in this life beholde as all ours shall when we appeare before the face of God after this life what cup was prepared for the wicked to drinke and the sight thereof as it is most fearefull so might it make him tremble though he were neuer so frée from it but more then the VISION of Gods wrath and COMMISERATION of mans danger if wee attribute to the soule of Christ we must either grant he was tempted as well with our iniquities through lacke of grace as with our infirmities through want of strength or else cast him into a traunce at the time of his passion as some doe to excuse him from sinne For that in the fulnesse of Gods fauour grace and spirite the soule of Christ shoulde feele the flames of hell fire can neither bee prooued nor defended by the worde of God The proofe I leaue to them that like the position which if anie man affirme he were best bee sure of his footing It is no small arrogancie and blasphemie to sit Iudge in Gods place and to condemne Christs soule to hell fire without a sounde and cleare commission to warrant that assertion Besides hell fire in the Scriptures being ETERNALL by what authoritie will they quench it at their pleasure and make it temporarie And if Christes soule beeing personallie ioyned to the Deitie notwithstanding might feele the furie of hell fire when shall the Saints of God that can neuer bee so vnited vnto his glorie nor assured of his societie nor so endued with his sanctitie bee free from the flames of hell If that vnion and communion which Christ had with God coulde not exclude hell fire what shall hinder but that the Angels in heauen maie for the time likewise feele the flames thereof Can they haue faster coherence or fuller presence of God then hee which was ioyned with God in vnitie of person They come not neere the fauour and grace knowledge and truth power stedfastnes of the manhoode of Christ which here on earth they did serue and adore But none of these things can be intended in the Creede for there the articles are placed in ORDER and TIME as they were performed And therfore when Christ was DEAD AND BVRIED he then DESCENDED INTO HELL The second opinion is that Christs descent to hell is all one with his buriall for that SHEOL in the olde testament doth most commonlie if not continuallie signifie the graue But this is nothing to the Creede whose authoritie and antiquitie if wee reuerence it is soone concluded that hell there doth not signifie the graue For first it is absurde that in a short rehearsall of the faith made for the simplest to conceiue one article shoulde bee twice repeated and after a plaine and knowne worde hee was buried which no man could doubt of a darke and enigmaticall phrase of spéech HE DESCENDED INTO HELL which fewe men did vnderstande should bee added rather to obscure then to expound the former Againe HE DESCENDED signifieth a voluntarie motion where as the bodie dead hath neither VVILL nor MOTION Thirdlie HELL in the new testament is so vnusuall for the graue that I thinke no example can be shewed thereof Though therefore this exposition cannot be charged with falsitie for Christ was trulie buried yet may it not bee endured by reason of the idle repetition and strange circumloquution which troubleth and confoundeth the hearer besides the improprietie and incoherence of the worde that a deade corps should descend and speciallie vnto hell The third opinion doth neither mistake the TIME nor the PART which descended for they referre the words of the Creede to Christes SOVLE after DEATH but they change the name of hell into the state of the deade and so conâ—esse that Christes soule after separation from the bodie endured THE STATE OF THE DEAD To this a number of learned men incline because they would auoyde Limbus patrum disliking by all meanes that the soules of the righteous and faithfull before Christes suffering shoulde be kept in a region or part of hell and thence deliuered by his descent I see well enough what they woulde faine decline but what if by their farre fet exposition they fall into that errour which they seeke to flie Doe they not fairelie profer and quite besides the marke Let vs looke a little into their conceite Christ descended into hell that is saie they his soule after death conuersed among the soules of the iust that were dead before him But where were the soules of the iust In a place or no Without a place can nothing be but onelie God All creatures be they soules or angels are desined with place though they doe not replenish their places as bodies do yea what soeuer is not circumscribed within a place is infinite which no creature can bee The soules then of the righteous must of necesstie bee in a place And what call you that place by your opinion Forsooth euen HELL For Christs
then descended Next that neither paradise nor Abrahams bosome which was the receptacle for y e soules of all the sonnes of Abraham that held the faith and did the works of Abraham was anie part or member of hell So that CHRISTS DESCENDING INTO HELL cannot be expounded of his conuersing with the spirites of the iust and perfect men after his death nor of his enduring the state of the deade since the place where their soules doe rest after death is no where in the scriptures called HELL or SHEOL or as S. Austen speaketh INFERI And this I take to be so cleere that neither Iewish Rabbines with their grammaticall obseruations nor Gréeke poets with their fantasticall imaginations may be suffered to contradict it Howe easie it is to wrangle with the words NEPHESH SHEOL and HADES a meane scholar maie soon perceiue but I hold it no sound course to fetch the explication of the mysteries of christian religion either from such impudent impugners of it as were the Rabbines or from such ignorant deluders of it as were the prophane poets who talke euerie where of heauen and hell according to the false and lewde perswasion of their own hearts And therfore they may spare their paines that promise vs so manie thousand deponentes both Iewish and heathen that Sheol and Hades do not signifie hell It wil trouble them more then they thinke to bring vs but one good proofe out of the scripture that the soules of the righteous before Christs comming were in Sheol or Hades and till they doe I rest on Saint Austens collection out of the wordes of Christ that Abrahams bosome is no péece nor part of Hades or Inferi which the hebrew calleth Sheol as being deuided from it with a mightie distance and that the soules of the iust departing this life before Christs death were CARIED VP BY THE ANGELS INTO ABRAHAMS BOSOME So that as yet wee haue not the true meaning of these words of our creed he was CRVCIFIED DEAD BVRIED HE DESCENDED INTO HEL neither doeth anie of the precedent opinions come nére the plaine and true exposition thereof For in my iudgement they must haue a sense both DIFFERENT in matter and CONSEQVENT in order euen as they lie before we can rightlie vnderstand thē First he must be DEAD then BVRIED in body which was laid in y e earth lastlie the soule after it was seuered by death from the bodie DESCENDED INTO HEL this third point he descended into hell must neither be ALLEGORIZED which in matters of faith is verie dangerous so long as the proper sense containeth a truth nor CONFOVNDED VVITH THE FORMER for so the Créed shal not shortly touch mysteries of religion but darckly trouble vs with phrases of variation And therefore for my part I retaine in expounding this Article 3. things DISTINCTION of matter CONSEQVENCE of order PROPRIETY of words and those thrée considered the sense of the Article maie must be that Christ after his BODY was BVRIED in SOVLE DESCENDED VNTO that place which the scripture properly calleth HEL this sense I find to be so far from any falsity or absurdity that it is more honorable to Christ and more comfortable to christians then any of the rest that we haue yet examined Which that you may the better perceiue giue me leaue somewhat farther to repeat the fruit and force of his glorious resurrection Christ is called the first fruits of them that slept not that neuer none before Christ was restored from the deade to liue héere on earth but though many were so reuiued againe yet from the foundation of the worlde not one was euer raised vnto a blessed and immortall life before Christ. Elias raised the widow of Sareptas sonne Elizeus the Sunamites Christ himselfe restored to life the daughter of Iairus the widowes onlie sonne of Naim and Lazarus yet all these after their returne to life were still subiect to sinne and death as they were before but he whom the scripture nameth the first begotten of the dead was indéede the first that euer rose from the deade into an happy and heauenly life For where man here on earth is beset with thrée dangers with SINNE during life with DEATH shortning life with HEL tormenting after life the iust vengeance of sinne deliuering the body to death the soule to hel the resurrection of Christ being the ful conquest of all his our enemies that impugne either his glory or our safety must ouerthrowe sinne death hel not in his own person onlie to whom no such thing was due but in our stéed for our good y t we might bee likewise fréed from the power of those foes and as members be ioyned vnto our head wholy without any hinderance euerlastingly without anie disturbance and ioyfully without any gréeuance Wherfore Christ rising into a SPIRITVAL IMMORTAL CELESTIAL life fréed vs from the dominion of sinne feare of death and fury of Satan and by quickening vs raising vs vp and setting vs together with himselfe in heauenly places hath not only giuen vs the victorie against sinne and death but euen trodden down Satan vnder our féet Of Christs conquest against sinne death I shall not néed to say much things not impugned require lesse paines to be defended his conquest ouerhel as in himself it shewed most power purchased most honor so from vs it deserueth greatest thanks as bringing vs greatest comfort that though sinne remaine death preuaile against our bodies there is yet no cause to feare or doubt the fulnesse and surenesse of our redemption since the strength of hell is altogether conquered abolished from the faithfull which before was the very sting of sinne and death As therfore Christ was deliuered to death for our sinnes and is risen againe for our iustification so by MERCY REMITTING and GRACE REPRESSING he pareth the branches and drieth the roote of sinne till the bodie of sinne and death turning to dust withering in the graue be restored againe after Christs example to perpetuall celestial life and blisse Insomuch that by lamenting sinne past and resisting sinne to come sin daily dieth in vs and the inward man of the heart being lightened and renewed by grace doth daily more and more by desire and delight of heauenly thinges aspire to the imitation and participation of Christes resurrection The force of sinne then being quenched by Christes dying vnto sinne and his rising againe vnto righteousnesse the power of death is abolished by the pardoning and decreasing of our sinnes that being nowe the passage to glorie for all repenters which before was the gate to hell for all transgressors In his owne person Christ shewed his conquest ouer death not by kéeping his flesh from death which he could easilie haue done but by sauing it from rotting in the sepulchre and by raising it againe into an immortall and glorious state that death being swallowed vp
by the power of his life heé might take from vs the feare of death whiles here wee liue and change the curse of death making it nowe a rest from all labours which before was an entrance into perpetuall paine This enemie because he doth least harme shall bée last destroied euen at the daie of the generall resurrection and not before and serueth now rather to represse sinne then to reuenge sinne the godlie being by death deliuered from the committing louing or fearing sinne and the wisedome of God prouiding that as sinne brought death into the world so death should abolish sinne out of the worlde This is brieflie the victorie that Christ obtained against sinne and death by his dying and rising from the dead His conquest ouer hell as it is more questioned and more expected so will I not refuse to shew you what I thinke maie be safelie beleeued and must not rashlie be reiected of any christian The conquest of Christ ouer hell and Satan may bee no way doubted by any diuine that rightly handleth the mysterie of our saluation In vaine do we speake of releasing sinne or despising death if the right of hell to vs and power of hell ouer vs doe still remaine And therefore the verie ground of Christs conquering sinne and death is his subduing of hell and Satan that they should lay no chalenge to nor haue no force against the faithful It is then on all sides accorded that hell and Satan must be fullie conquered by Christ before the worke of our redemption can be perfectlie setled or assured but as well the time when as the maner how are somewhat questioned and that maketh the whole matter the more néedfull to he discussed To refute euerie mans fansie that speaketh hereof were an infinite labour to search out a truth in this case that maie safelie be receiued and comfortablie embraced if not necessarilie vrged is the summe of mine intention and should bee the ende of your expectation with this prouiso that no man carpe before hee righlie conceiue nor pronounce before hee well examine that which shall be spoken least hee checke the Scriptures before he beware and condemne the whole Church of God without anie cause In expressing Christes conquest ouer hell and Satan I thinke best to obserue these thrée things VVHAT hee did vnto Satan and his kingdome VVHEN and with VVHICH PART OF HIMSELFE hee did execute this triumph VVHAT HE DID vnto Satan wee shall learne by seeing what he suffered at Satans hands Proportionable to Christs humiliation was his exaltation and for the violence which he endured he receiued full satisfaction As then on the crosse Christ suffered at Satans hands and by Satans meanes REPROCHE RAGE VVRONG so in his resurrection he reaped a triple recompence from Satan SVBMISSION whereby his pride was subiected vnder Christ CAPTIVATION whereby his rage was restrained and himselfe chained by Christ RESTITVTION whereby his spoiles were diuided and deliuered vnto Christ. When I say that Satan was SVBDVED TIED and SPOILED by Christ rising from the dead let no vnsetled braine imagine this is superstitious and popish as I mean them and as the scriptures deliuer them they are propheticall and Apostolicall And least you should thinke I delude you with wordes I will shewe you whence I take them first iointlie all in one sentence then seuerallie from sundrie places of the holie scriptures Our Sauiour in the Gospell doth purposelie make this comparison or vtter this parable concerning himself and the kingdom of Satan How can a man ENTER into a strong mans house and spoile his goods except he first BIND the strong man and then SPOILE his house Christ then ENTERED vpon Satans house as a CONQVERER TIED him as the STRONGER SPOILED him as the right OVVNER of that which Satan vniustlie detained from him And albeit it maie not bee denied but Christ whiles hee liued on earth made some proofe of his right and power to dissolue the workes and displace the force of Satan from the bodies and soules of men yet it is euident that the full demonstration of his victorie and perfection of his glorie were reserued to the time of his resurrection when he brake the 〈◊〉 and sorrowes of death and hell and ascended to his father not onelie clothed with honour and immortalitie but armed with power and principalitie all knees bowing vnto him in heauen earth and hell and all tongues confessing that Iesus was the Lord to the glorie of God These verie parts of Christs conquest ouer Satan the Apostle doth comprise in one sentence to the Colossians saying Christ SPOILED powers and principalities and made A SHEVV of them openlie TRIVMPHING ouer them in his owne person That powers and principalities in this place doe signifie wicked and sinfull spirites there can bee no question those names in the scriptures are proper to Angels bee they good or badde as Roman 8 vers 38. Ephes. 3. vers 10. 6. vers 12. Colos. 1. vers 16 1. Peter 3. vers 22. And heere must needes import euill Angels because Christ had no cause to conquere or spoile the elect Angels which serued him and ministred vnto him but the badde that impugned his trueth and enuied his glorie Ouer those then Christ TRIVMPHED as a conquerer those hee OPENLIE SHEVVED as captiues bounde with chains those he STRIPT OR SPOILED of the goodes which they had vnlawfullie gotten And this the Apostle saith he did execute in his owne person as a triumph fit for the sonne of God all things being subiected vnder his feete yea Angels powers and mights subdued vnto him when he ascended into heauen And though some late translators to decline the descent of Christ to hell after death doe imagine that the wicked Angels were CONQVERED SHEVVED and SPOILED by Christ in his suffering the paines of hell on the crosse and to that ende doe alter the ancient and constant reading of the text putting in steade of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his owne person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the same crosse yet since both scriptures and fathers with one consent doe contradict that daungerous speculation I maie not admitte it as consonant either to the faith or truth of the Scriptures For the conquest which Christ had ouer Satan and his Kingdome was not by RESISTING much lesse by SVFFERING the assaults of hell He is no conquerer that with much adoe saueth himselfe and his from the furie of his enemies but hee that subdueth and treadeth his aduersaries vnder his féete and so maistreth them that hee may dispose of them at his will he is truly called a conquerer And since the Apostle saith Christ SPOILED the powers of darknes and made AN OPEN SHEVV of them and TRIVMPHED ouer them it is an euident wrong to Christ to thinke that all the conquest hee had ouer them was at length to REPELL them with mightie feares and cries TO SCAPE their force Yea
righteous departed this life before Christes death to omit the place of the booke of Wisedome alreadie recited which expresselie gaine saieth this supposall of the fathers that the soules of the iust were both in hell and in torments there is nothing exactlie reuealed vnto vs in the scriptures that are canonicall till we come to the xvi of S. Lukes gospell where our Sauiour by the parabolicall historie of the wicked rich man and the godlie Lazarus teacheth vs what became of them both after their deathes and consequentlie what was the state of all the deade before his time to wit that they were either CARIED BY ANGELS TO ABRAHAMS BOSOME or PVNISHED IN THE FLAMES OF HELL These two places as they bee farre distant the one from the other both in SCITVATION and CONDITION the one beeing full of comfort the other of torment so in this they agrée that there coulde bee no ALTERATION in either The rich man in hell coulde neither obtaine anie meanes to bee refreshed no not a drop of water to coole his heate nor expect anie time to bee released Our Sauiour maketh Abraham to say to the rich man which must néedes be true between you and vs there is settled a great gulfe or mightie distance so that they which would go from hence to you cannot NEITHER CAN THEY COME FROM THENCE TO VS After this life there was no changing of places and namelie from hell there was no release This our Sauiour taught for a resolute trueth in his life time howe then coulde the soules of the iust bee released and reduced from hell by his descent If Abraham and Lazarus were not in hell but in a place of rest and comforte farre distant from hell howe then were all the righteous before Christes time not onlie in hell but in the sorrowes and paines of hell yea the son of God with his owne mouth so often in the new testament expressing the fire of hel to be vnquenchable and the worme there neuer to die how dare we without any warrant of the word of God first to bring al y e soules of the righteous before Christ from Abrahams bosome to hell and then to deliuer them thence without anie witnesse of the holie scriptures With one breath our Sauiour doth thrice pronounce in the gospell of Marke that in hell neither the fire quencheth not the worme dieth and presume wee to quench the one and kill the other without any scruple But the scripture saith the soules of the Patriarkes and Prophets were in hell and there to leaue them after Christs descent were euerlastinglie to condemne them The translators mistooke the word Sheôl calling that hel which indéed was the graue where the bodies of all the iust both before and after Christ were laid but the teacher of all truth whose doctrine wee by no meanes may distrust placeth Abraham in rest and maketh his bosome a receptacle for the soules of the righteous and therefore we may striue about words if we list but we must leaue the spirits of iust and perfit men before Christes comming that place which Christ teaching here on earth assured vs was assigned them of God And since by the doctrine of our sauiour they were not in hell it is more then manifest he did not fetch them thence by his descending thither As for the supposall of the fathers that Abraham Iacob Samuel and Dauid with the rest of the Patriarks and prophets were in hell it were easie to shew their varieties contrarieties if I tooke pleasure to discouer their weakenesse S. Austen in his 99. Epistle to Euodius and his 12. booke de genesi ad literam cap. 33. exactlie contradicteth the opinion of Tertullian Basil Hierom Ambrose that Abraham the rest of the Patriarks and Prophets were in hell prooueth that Abrahams bosome must not be thought to be any part or member of hell In his 57. Epistle to Dardanus hee saith non faciledixerim I cannot readily pronounce In his 20. booke de ciuitate dei cap. 15. he saith non absurde credividetur antiquos etiam sanctos apud inferos fuisse it seemeth no absurdity to beleeue that the Saints of the olde testament were in hell vntill the bloud of Christ and his descent to those places did deliuer them And thus he either some times spared the credites of those that were before him or else by writing hee so profited that where at first he doubted or yéelded to others at last he resolued the contrarie vpon the dewe examining the wordes of our Sauiour Tertullian likewise in his booke de anima saith Habes de paradiso à nobis libellum quo constituimus omnem anâ—mam apud inferos sequestrari in diem iudicij We haue written a booke touching paradice where wee defende that all soules are kept in hell vntill the day of iudgement And speaking namelie of Abrahams bosome Omnes ergo animae penes inferos inquis velis ac nolis supplicia iam illic refrigeria habes pauperem diuivem Cur enim non putes animam puniri foueri in inferis Are al soules then in hell you wil aske will you nill you you shall finde there punishmentes and refreshments as in Lazarus and the rich man And why shoulde you not thinke that the soule may bee both tormented and comforted in hell and yet in his fourth booke against Marcion hee contradicteth that false position and commeth soundlie to the truth Aliud inferi vt puto aliud quoque sinus Abrahae Nam magnum ait intercedere regiones istas profundum transitum vtrinque prohibere Sed nec alleuasset diues oculos quidem de longinquo nisi in superiora de altitudinis longinquo per immensam illam distantiaÌ„ sublimitatis profunditatis Eam itaque regioneÌ„ sâ—â—m dico Abrahae etsi non coelestem sublimiorem tamen Inferis Hel is one thing as I thinke and Abrahams bosome is another For Abraham sayeth a great depth is betweene these two regions and suffereth none to passe to and fro Neither coulde the rich man haue lift vp his eies but vnto places aboue him and far aboue him by reason of the infinite distance betwixt that heigth and that depth That region then I call Abrahams bosome which though it bee not heauen yet is it higher then hell Ambrose after the same maner sometimes saith that Abraham was apud Inferos in hell sometimes againe that Lazarus in Abrahae sinu recumbens vitam carpebat aeternam Lazarus lying in Abrahams bosome enioied euerlasting life and hard it is that eternall life should be in hell In the one and the same chapter he alloweth the perswasion of the heathen quod animae liberatae de corporibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peterent id est locum qui non videtur queÌ„ locum Latinè Infernum dicimus that soules departed from their bodies did go to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
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
Feare not saith the Angell to Zacharie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy praier is heard thy wise Elizabeth shall bring thee a sonne Soe the Angell to Cornelius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy praier is hearde with strange toonges will I speake to this people saith the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and neither so will they harken vnto mee The wise man in like manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee that harkeneth vnto the Lord giueth rest to his mother And the Septuagint Whē thou praiest saith Eliphas in the booke of Iob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God will heare thee Earlie saith Dauid to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shalt thou heare my voice So in Esaie the eare of the Lord is not shutte 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to heare Infinite examples might bee brought to the same end but these are sufficient to conuince your ignorant mistaking of the Gréeke tongue yet the Question you saie is granted For fearing is a true feeling and if Christ feared the wrath of God ergo he felt it You recken a pace when you recken alone but when you come for allowance you will lacke a faire deale of your reckning If fearing wore suffering which is most absurd if there were no kind of feare but your amazed and all confounded feare as there be more other kinds of feares if there were noe more parts of the wrath of God but hell paines as there be sundrie more if no man might feare but for himselfe as in charitie wee may and in duty we ought to feare for others and Christ in loue might and did for vs then had you some hope that he which granteth the one would admit the other but if this be all you can saie that feare is a kind of feeling I am as farre from granting the Question as I was in the first beginning For though you dallie with doubtfull words and thinke it enough to catch here and there at a likelihood my course is not so Indéede out of these words I reasoned vppon your owne principles and supposing it for the time to be true which on this place some auouch that Christ feared the paines of hell I concluded if Christ were deliuered from fearing he was certainlie deliuered from suffering the paines of hell And before you answere the argument you triumph as if the Question were granted But Syr remember it is the suffering of hell paines that we talke of and not of a Metaphoricall kinde of féeling which you substitute in stéed thereof Againe all the effects of Gods wrath Christ did not feele nor feare as namelie neither reprobation nor desperation nor eternall damnation which is the chiefest and sharpest effect of Gods iust wrath against sinne Some partes thereof if hee did feare and so in affection feele howe doth it followe hee felt or feared hell paines Thirdlie hee did sustaine as well our person as our cause hee had not onelie compassion on vs but coniunction with vs and in that respect as our head hee might worthilie feare the euerlasting destruction of his bodie if he did not interpose himselfe and auert Gods wrath from them by healing them with his owne stripes and bearing their sinnes in his owne bodie Fourthlie he might feare the power of Gods wrath able to punish euen the bodie of Christ with farre more smart then his humane flesh was able to endure Lastlie hee might carefullie shunne and decline both our sinne and the wages of our sinne which is eternall death with a religious feare as content to redeeme vs but not to destroie both himselfe and vs. And this commeth néerest the signification of the Gréek worde there vsed which is no confused or amazed feare such as you woulde cunninglie conuey vnder the name of a perplexed feare but a carefull and diligent regarde to beware and decline that which wee mislike or doubt And therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not onelie one that feareth God by taking good care not to displease him but a circumspect and warie man in other thinges and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is circumspection and warinesse in priuate or publique affaires as well as Religion to GOD. Nowe because the bolder men are the sooner they aduenture on anie thing and the more fearefull the more héede they take what they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by consequent signifieth an inclination rather to feare then presumption but it is lesse then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the vsuall worde in Greeke for feare as maie plainelie be prooued by Plutarch in his Treatise of Morall vertue where noting howe men couer vitious affections vnder the names of vertues he saieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They call blushing reuerence mirth gladnesse and feare warinesse Euripides in the person of Eteocles king of Thebes saieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Circumspect care is the most profitable Goddesse And where you quote the 23. of the Acts for proofe of your conseit the place is rather against you then with you For when the Councell dissented about Paule and some tumult began to arise the Tribune doubting least some hurt might happen vnto Paule then his prisoner preuented it and sent his souldiers to take him a waie from the midst of the throng This feare of the tribune was for another man not for himselfe neither was a perplexed or amazed feare but a doubt forecasting the worst and preuenting it So is it written of Noah that being admonished by God of the floud which should come vpon the world by saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fearing declining and preuenting what God had threatned to others he made ready the Arke for the sauing of his housholde This could be no distrust full feare what should befall him and his house for his faith is commended by the Apostle in preparing the Arke for the safetie of himself and his children but he shunned that which he saw would light on others and that the scripture there calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The rest that maie concerne Christs praier in the garden or might occasion that agonie which there hee shewed thou hast gentle Reader in the treatise before which I will not here resume least I wearie thee with ouer much tediousnesse For a farewell to his speciall reasons the Confuter hath reserued matters of most speciall moment to the last and because they are weightie and neede good proofe hee hath searched the bottome of his studie and sheweth vs here the depth as well of his reading as vnderstanding Out of the Epistle to the Hebrues he citeth these wordes Christ through death abolished him that had the power of death that is the Diuell From hence hee reasoneth thus Surelie the worde DEATH hath the same meaning in both places verie fonde it were to take it here otherwise Nowe it is questionlesse in this latter place death signifieth the death of the soule the tormentes and sorrowes of the damned which are separated
from the life of God of which death the Diuell is sayde to haue the power and execution Therefore in the former place death signifieth so to euen the death of the soule that is the torments and sorrowes due to the damned and consequently Christ suffered the death of the soule And because this reason will seeme altogether vnreasonable and harsh in the eares of some to saie the least of it let them soberlie consider it and it is most true and euident Or if this will not perswade men to beleeue that Christ died the death of the soule men liuing being surprised with grieuous sorrowes and paines will saie as Terence witnesseth occidi perij interij they die they perish So likewise the death of the soule sometimes maie bee vnderstoode and that most sitlie for the paines and sufferinges of Gods wrath which alwayes accompanie them that are separated from the grace and loue of God And if Terence bee not authoritie sufficient Saint Peter against whome lieth no exception saith that Christ in his suffering for vs was done to death in the flesh but made aliue by the spirite And in the Scripture whensoeuer the fleshe and the spirite are opposed togither the flesh is alwayes Christes whole humanitie I saie not his bodie onelie but his soule also From hence nowe it followeth that Christes soule also died and was crucified according to the death and crucifying which soules are subiect vnto and capable of I haue Christian Reader neither peruerted the reasons nor pared the authorities on which this Confuter groundeth his conclusion that Christ died the death of the soule and that Christs soule was also crucified as well as his bodie I haue onelie sette them togither that thou maiest with one view behold both the deepnes and soundnesse of this vpstart writer and in thy secrete and vpright iudgement is it not patience enough to heare and endure a two legged creature to talke in this sort without all learning religion or discretion controlling all the fathers as fooles for thinking otherwise then hee doth commaunding the Scriptures pretor-like to serue his ignorant and lewd assertions and estéeming none to be sober or considerate except they confesse his shamefull absurdities to bee most true and euident But I haue not learned nor vsed to giue reuiling spéeches the Lorde reprooue his follie Though it bee not worth the answering yet for their sakes that bee simple I will not refuse to speake to it and to let them see what difference there is betwixt truth and errour Your maine reason Sir Refuter is this in these wordes of the Apostle Christ through death abolished the diuell that had power of death This worde DEATH say you hath the same meaning in both places the proofe you make for it is this verie fond it were to take it here otherwise Your assumption is but death in the latter place questionlesse signifieth the death of the soule Therefore Christ died the death of the soule It were as easie for mee to saie it is not so as for you to saie it is so but that course which you holde is but prating of euerie thing it is no proouing of anie thing Howe manie kinds of death there are wee shall better learne by the graue father Saint Austen then by the young louers in Terence Dicitur mors prima dicitur secunda Primae mortis duae sunt partes vna qua peccatrix anima per culpam discessit a creatore suo altera qua indicante Deo exclusa est per poenam à corpore suo Mors autem secunda ipsa est corporis animae punitio sempiterna There is a first death and a second Death Of the first death there be two parts one when the sinfull soule by offending departed from her Creator the other whereby the soule for her punishment was excluded from her bodie by Gods iustice The second death is the euerlasting torment of bodie and soule The same partes and kindes of death are often repeated by him in his 13. booke de ciuitate Dei as namelie Mors animae fit cum eam deserit Deus sicut corporis cum id deserit anima Ergo vtriusque rei id est totius hominis mors est cum anima à Deo deserta deserit corpus Ita enim nec ipsa vixit ex deo nec corpus ex ipsa Huiusmodi autem totius hominis mortem illa sequitur quam secundam mortem diuinorum eloquiorum appellat authoritas Nam illa poena vltima sempiterna recte mors animae dicitur The death of the soule is when God forsaketh her as the death of the bodie is when the soule forsaketh the bodie So y e death of both that is of the whole man is when the soule forsaken of God forsaketh her bodie For so neither she liueth by God nor the bodie by her This death of the whole man that other death followeth which the diuine scriptures call the second death for that last and euerlasting punishment is rightlie called the death of the soule Here are thrée kinds of death sinne which separateth vs from God bodilie death which separateth the soule from the body and eternall damnation which tormenteth body and soule for euer In the Apostles words to the Hebrues that Christ through death abolished y e diuell that had power of death you wil by no meanes haue the death of the bodie intended that is a benefite and gaine to the godlie Then of sinne and eternall damnation the diuell must be said to haue power and indeede so he hath For hee is the perswader and leader to sinne and the executioner and tormentor in damnation And so by your diuinitie Christ must sinne and be euerlastinglie condemned to hell fire before he can abolish the Diuell that hath power of both these For he must abolish him by the same kind of death whereof hee hath power Looke Sir Refuter what an wholsome exposition of the Apostles words you haue made vs which the diuell himselfe durst not aduenture it is so blasphemous God forbid you will say this should be anie part of your meaning But if such bee your ignorant rashnesse that you will so expound scriptures as these consequents shall necessarie followe you must leaue writing and fall to learning an other while till you be able to foresée what may iustly be inferred vpon your positions Deaths of the soule there are none mentioned in anie Scripture or father but sinne and eternall damnation Leaue the patheticall hyperbolicall metaphoricall phrases of Terence to boies in the Grammer schoole speake at least like a diuine though you bee none If your cause bee so holie a truth as you talke of it hath both foundation and approbation in the Scriptures You shall not neede to runne to heathen Poets to prooue that the Sauiour of the worlde died the death of the soule What the death of the soule is what consequentes it hath and what maine
But you did well to prophesie of this conceite of yours that it woulde seeme harsh and altogether vnreasonable in the eares of some to◠saie the least of it In the eares of all that bee wise and learned it will sound worse for it is a flat repugnancie not only to all the Fathere but euen to the christian faith that Christ died as well in soule as in bodie and as meane a man as I am I thinke I shall bee able to make that good which I saie For if the soule of Christ were alwaies perfectlie vnited vnto life fullie possessed of life and aboundantly able to giue life tell me I praie you howe it maie stande with the trueth of the scriptures that the same soule was for anie time deade you may euen as well defende that Christ sinned as that his soule died for the death of the soule is sinne in this life and damnation in the next Certe anima Christi nulla mortificata peccato vel damnatione punita est quibus duabus causis mors animae intelligi potest Surelie the soule of Christ was deade with no sinne nor punished with any damnation which are the two waies that the death of the soule may bee possibly conceaued The death of the soule say you may be vnderstood that most fitly for the paines and sufferings of Gods wrath which alwaies as company them that are separated from the grace and loue of God This death of the soule yee affirme Christ suffered yet hee himselfe neuer separated but most intirely beloued yea most holie most innocent and most blessed You contradict Sir Refuter not onlie the scriptures and fathers but euen your selfe in one and the same sentence and reele like a man whose braines are not steadie Secundum scripturas triplicem esse mortem accepimus Vna est cum morimur peccato deo viuimus Beata mors quae a mortali nos separat immortali conseruat Alia mors est vitae excessus cum anima nexu corporis liberatur Tertia mors est de qua dictum est anima quae peccauerit ipsa morietur Ea morte non solum caro sed etiam anima moritur haec mors non est perfunctio huius vitae sed lapsus erroris By the scriptures saith Ambrose we learne there is a triple death One when we die to sinne and liue to God This is a blessed death which seuereth vs from that which is mortall and ioineth vs to that which is immortall The second is the departure out of this life when the soule is deliuered from the bandes of her bodie The thirde death is that of which it is written the soule that sinneth shall die this death dieth not onelie the flesh but the soule also for it is not the ending of this life but the running into errour The first is the life of the soule and the death of sinne which is SPIRITVALL The second is the ceasing of this life which is NATVRALL the thirde is not onelie sinne but destruction which is PENALL Which of these agreeth to Christ Ambrose himselfe will tell you Quid est Christus nisi mors corporis spiritus vitae What is Christ but the death of the bodie and the Spirit of life Then Christ died not the death of the soule for the spirit of life cannot die vnlesse you will make life it selfe to bee death Yea they which in this worlde die the death of the soule are separated from Christ for did they abide in him they shoulde abide in life he is the waie the truth and not onelie liuing but life it selfe This testimonie our Sauiour giueth of himselfe Verilie verilie I saie vnto you hee that beleeueth in mee hath eternall life If they cannot die the death of the soule which beleeue in Christ howe mush lesse can Christ himselfe die that death And heere Sir Refuter you broch so grosse and palpable an errour that women and children will deride you For if the tormentes of hell and paines of the damned do alwayes accompany them that are separated from the grace and loue of God howe manie hundred thousand thousandes of all sortes sexes and ages in all kingdomes and countries shoulde bee disturbed distracted and confounded in all the powers of their soules and senses of their bodie where are the riches of Gods bounteousnesse patience and long suffering which the Apostle so highlie commendeth as leading vnto repentance How could Abraham with anie truth saie to the rich man in hell Sonne remember thou in thy life time receauedst thy good thinges and Lazarus paines where if your position be true the paines of Lazarus coulde not bee comparable to the tormentes and paines that ALVVAIES ACCOMPANIE the wicked I assure thee christian Reader a man could not with fewer and foolisher wordes then these more crosse the whole tenor of the scriptures For the wicked here in this life abound with all wealth ease and prosperitie insomuch that manie of the godlie haue beene and still are offended with it Reade the 72. Psalme and see whether these intolerable and horrible feares sorrowes paines and tormentes of hell and the damned do alwaies accompanie them heere in this life My feete were almost gone saith Dauid when I sawe the peace of the wicked There are no bands in their death they are Iustie and strong they are not in trouble nor plagued with other men their eies stand out for fastnesse they haue more then their heart can wish Lo these are the wicked yet PROSPER THEY ALVVAIE and increase in riches This was too hard for me till I went into the sanctuarie of God then I vnderstood their ende So that God with much patience suffereth the vessels of wrath prepared vnto destruction who according to their harde and impenitent hearts heape vp wrath vpon themselues against the daie of the declaration of the iust iudgement of God whose suddaine destruction is then nearest when they shal say peace and safety And what maruell you crosse the scriptures in confounding the wrath of God to come with the wrath of God present in this life when you doe not see your owne wordes to be contrarie one to the other For if Christ died the death of the soule which is an alienation from the life of God howe was he neuer separated but alwaies intirely beloued and most blessed If hee were neuer separated from the life of God howe came he to die the death of the soule which must néeds be a separatiō for the time from God vnlesse you can match light and darkenesse death and life together and make the one to be the other and both to cleaue to God himselfe But what cannot you do that can make the paines of the damned and torments of hell the onlie true and perfectlie accepted sacrifice to God These are your words Such a sorrow indeed of a broken and contrite heart is the only true and perfectly accepted
and soule of Christ were both free he did not suffer the true paines of hell nor the same torments which the damned do in hell and which wee should haue suffered had wee not béene redéemed This you saie is great iniquity yea plaine sophistry to amplifie against you and to make your most holie truth odious with the people onely by the ambiguitie of the worde hell Begin you nowe to finde the sensible absurditie of your mishapen fancie if you woulde haue taken the name of hell metaphoricallie for great and excéeding paines this question had béene sooner calmed and our Creede freed from your newe found exposition But to father your opinion vpon the créed with more likelihood where the word hell is properlie taken though you now hatch vs a new signification of hell out of Socrates you then vrged as your selfe in this present confutation do still vrge that Christ must haue the FVL VVAIGHT AND BVRDEN of our sinnes laid vpon him and suffer those sorrowes and paines for sinne VVHICH ELSE VVE SHOVLDE that his price VVAS THE SAME which else wee shoulde haue payde that seeing it was possible for him to feele THE FVLL SMART of our sinnes yea ALL OVR SMART and Gods strict iustice so required IT VVAS SO AND MVST BE SO as also that it is not proportionable with iustice that an easier punishment should satisfie for a greater sinne and of al absurdities the greatest that meere men shoulde suffer more deepelie then Christ did and therefore Christ sustained euen the sense of Gods wrath DVE to our sinnes and had the VVHOLE CVRSE of God for sinne executed on him that is the DEATH OF THE SOVLE and the TORMENTES and sorrowes DVE TO THE DAMNED Without anie Sophistrie Sir what is the FVLL BVRDEN of our sinnes and THE SAME PRICE which we should haue paide what is OVR FVLL SMART yea ALL OVR SMART and the VVHOLE CVRSE OF GOD what is the DEATH of the soule and the TORMENTS DVE TO THE DAMNED but those verie things which I by the warrant of Gods word told the people were prepared and threatned to the wicked and shall bee executed on them in hell as they shoulde haue bin on vs if we had not bin redéemed by the bloud of Christ you must recall all your reasons and vnsaie all these positions before you can auoid that which I obiect If Christ did and must by Gods iustice suffer the VVHOLE the SAME and ALL that was due to vs for our sinnes shewe me good Sir I praie you for I confesse it passeth my reach how you can free him from the darknes destruction reprobation malediction worme or fire of hel yea those words if you looke not well to them and rebate them in time with some fresh write they wil carrie with them both the PLACE and PERPETVITY of hell for both these were DVE to our sinnes and are parts of Gods CVRSE and should haue béene executed on vs as they shall bee on the damned and out of ALL the VVHOLE and the SAME how can you except anie but by an open Vray dire of dotage The local hel of the damned you speake not of Speake of what you will so long as your assertions in full and plaine termes inferre and conclude so much well your words may runne without your wits but I tell you trulie what is the consequent of them and leaue those wordes and then your most holie trueth is left naked without shew or shadow of proofe For these generals the VVHOLE the SAME and ALL giue life such as it is to your childish reasons Without them you cannot open your mouthe to make one conclusion But because hell fire so much crosseth your cause that you would faine be rid of it and burneth your fingers so fast Sir Refuter that you striue to cast water on it giue mee leaue a little to let you vnderstand it flameth more fiercelie then that you can quench it with the licour of your mouth And the rather for that in the eares of all men it is a most sensible reproofe of your vnsauorie position For if Christ suffered not the fire of hell in bodie nor soule then most apparantlie he suffered not the FVLL burden of our sinnes nor paid the SAME price which wee should haue paide nor endured ALL our smart nor felt the VVHOLE curse of God nor sustained the tormentes DVE to the DAMNED and therefore the true kindeling of this fire is the vtter quenching of your new deuised hell paines Knowe you therefore Sir Refuter that your metaphoricall fire in hell is a phantasticall errour of yours and you shall doe well to tremble at the terrible iudgement of God threatned in his worde with more religion then to cast off that fire as a toyish fable I shall not néede to rehearse how often it is denounced in the Scriptures and in what vehement and constant manner let vs learne rather carefullie to shunne the place then cunninglie to shift the word which they shall finde to bee no figure that feele it A fire saith God himselfe is kindled in my wrath and shall burne to the bottome of hell it shall eate through the earth and the depth thereof and shal inflame the foundations of the hils Behold saith Esay the Lord wil come with fire that he may recompence his anger with wrath and his indignation with the flame of fire for the Lorde shall iudge with fire The slaine of the Lorde shall bee manie their Worme shall not die neither shal their fire be quenched Which wordes our Sauiour directlie reffereth to hell It is better to enter into life haulting then hauing two legs to bee cast into hell into the fire that neuer shall bee quenched where their Worme dieth not and the fire neuer goeth out If wee sinne willinglie saieth the Apostle to the Hebrues there remaineth no more sacrifice for sinnes but a fearefull expectation of iudgement and raging fire which shal deuoure the aduersaries As Sodome and Gomorra and the cities about them are set forth for an ensample and suffer the vengeance of eternall fire The fearefull and vnbeleeuing the abhominable and murtherers and whoremongers and sorcerers and Idolaters and all lyars shal haue their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death To whome the Iudge shall saie when they shall see the truth thereof before their eies Depart from mee ye cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the Diuell and his angels For the Lord Iesus shall shewe himselfe from heauen with the Angels of his power in flaming fire rendering vengeāce to them which know not God and obey not the Gospell That the fire with which Christ shall appeare to iudge shall bee corporall and visible to all mens sights can bee no question it shall dissolue the heauens melt the elements and burne vp the earth with the workes that are therein as Peter
CVRSE is powred vpon vs written in the law of Moses because of our sinnes Ierusalem and thy people are a REPROCH to all about vs. If the scriptures were not cleare that shame and reproch is a chiefe part of Gods curse against sinne howe manie wise men and good men choose death before shame What generous nature doth not more decline slandering then wounding In common reason to which you appeale howe can it bee lesse wrong or griefe to whippe the soule with reproches then the bodie with scourges Uerily our Sauiour who best knoweth the waight of both giueth like reward to both Blessed are you when men reuile you and speake all maner of euill against you for my sake falselie reioice and be glad for great is your reward in heauen As you shuffle with the shame which our Sauiour suffered on the Crosse so you doe with his death affirming that Death may in no sort heere be called a curse because death to the godlie is no curse properlie nor punishment of sinne but a benefite and aduantage You are too yoong a Doctor to controll Saint Austen whose wordes I haue alledged in the Treatise at large His resolution is that when Paule saieth Christ was made a curse for vs he meant Christ died for vs. Idem est mortuus quod maledictus quoniam mors ipsa ex maledicto est It is all one to saie Christ died for vs and hee was accursed for vs because death came from the curse This you denie for that the godlie after death goe to heauen which is rather a benefite then a curse to them Good Sir it is no benefite of death it selfe but Christes blessing after death that departing this life wee goe to heauen Did you incourage men to die since of force for sinne dwelling in their bodies they must die it were well said that death is rest from their labours and an entrance into blisse for so Christ hath prouided for his when they goe hence but if you will reason what death is in it selfe you must resolue it to be a part of Gods curse inflicted on Adam for sinne and from him naturallie deriued to all his posterity from which though our soules be exempted and our bodies shall be restored yet it remaineth to this day a part of Adams punishment which can not bee auoided though it must not bee feared because Christ hath ouerthrowne the force and feare therof with his death By one man saith Paul meaning Adam sinne entred into the world and by sin death I hope it entered not as a blessing God doâ—h not vse to blesse sinne but it entered as a part of the wages of sinne or curse for sinne and so it doth and shall continue to the ende The last enemie that shall be destroied saith Paul is death when this mortall hath put on immortalitie then is death swallowed vp in victorie till then the sting of death is sinne If the death of the bodie be an enemie and must be destroied by Christs second comming then is it no blessing for those shall increase when hee appeareth in glorie If Christ be in you saith Paul the spirit is life for righteousnes sake the bodie is deade because of sinne If sinne bee the cause of death yet seazing on our bodies it can bee no blessing that riseth from so badde a cause neither could the resurrection of our bodies which Christ hath promised and we expect at the last day bee so great a ioy as it is if the corruption of our bodies in the meane time were a blessing Gods blessings be not contrarie one to the other S. Austen learnedlie resolueth this question in this sort Boni benè moriuntur quamuis mors sit malum The godlie die well though death be euill Mors hominis ex poena peccati est quia ex peccato factum est vt moriatur The death of mans body commeth from the punishment of sinne because sinne brought it to passe that man dieth This conclusion in exact wordes Prosper collecteth out of saint Austen Mors etiam pâ—orum poena peccati est The corporall death euen of the godlie is the punishment of sinne This collection to bee true S. Austen himselfe confirmeth Si vero quom mouet cur velipsam patiantur si ipsa poenapeccati est quorum per gratiam reatus aboletur tam ista quaestio in alio nostro opere quod inscripsimus de Baptismo paruulorum tractata ac soluta est If it moue any man why they whose sinne is abolished by grace doe yet suffer the death of the bodie if that death bee a punishment of sinne that Question I haue handled and resolued in another worke of mine intituled of the baptisme of infants The effect of his resolution here is this Per ineffabilem dei misericordiam ipsa poena vitiorum transit in arma virtâ—tis sit merituÌ„ iusti etiam suppliciuÌ„ peccatoris NON QVIA MORS BONVM ALIQVOD FACTA EST QVAE ANTEA MALVM FVIT sed tantam deus fidei praestitit gratiam vt mors instrumentum fieret per quod transiretur in vitam By the vnspeakeable mercie of God the verie wages of vice becommeth an instrument of vertue and the punishment of a sinner is made the merite of the righteous not that death VVHICH BEFORE VVAS EVILL IS NOVV BECOME ANIE GOOD THING but God hath shewed so great fauour to our faith that death is the waie or meane by which wee shall passe to life And so concludeth that Pie fideliterque tolerando auget meritum patientiae non aufert vocabulum poenae By induring the death of the bodie religiouslie and faithfullie the merite of patience is increased but the name of the punishment is not altered And if death were nowe no part of the punishment of our sinnes but a gaine to the godlie as you woulde haue it by what meanes I praie you came it so to bee Not by the resurrection of Christ conquering death and changing the nature of it Then till Christ was risen death was a punishment to the faithfull themselues and consequentlie when Christ died for our sinnes hee tooke vpon him a part of our curse which after he turned as you saie into a blessing Primus parens propter transgressionem mortis poenam intulit verum superceniens Christus haec omnia abstulit Neque enim mors vltra mors est sed nomen tantum habet mortis Our first parent by his transgression brought in the punishment of death But Christ comming after tooke all away For death is no longer death but hath onelie the name of death Ipsam mortem quamuis esset poena peccati pro nobis tamen sine peccato Christus per soluit Death it selfe saieth Austen though it were the punishment of sinne yet Christ that was without sinne vndertooke it for our sakes And so for anie thing you haue yet said or shall euer be able to say
Saint Austens assertion which I cited before standeth good that because the death of the bodie was a part of the curse inflicted vpon Adams sinne Christ vndertaking that part of the curse for vs that is dying in his bodie loosed vs from the whole curse of the lawe Against Chrysostomes iudgement that not onelie death but the very kind of death which Christ died was accursed by the very words of the lawe saying accursed is hee that hangeth on a tree you replie Not euery one that is hanged is cursed for manie innocents and martyrs are hanged who are most blessed but euerie one that is iustlie hanged is accursed and so was Christ here condenmed by the iust sentence of the lawe to paie his debts for whome hee had willinglie and aduisedlie vndertaken And so indeede he bare the true curse of the lawe Chrysostoms iudgement is as I reported it Crux signum erat mortis maledictae mortis omnium diffamatissimae Hoc enim soluÌ„ mortis genus maledictioni erat obnoxium The crosse was a signe of a cursed death of a death most infamous This onelie kinde of death was subiected to the curse And againe Non quaeuis mors isti similis est ista namque omnium videbatur esse probrosissima ista plena dedecore ista maledicta Propterea Iudaei satagebant eum ista morte interimere vt sinemo abstineret ab eo quod esset occisus abstineret tamen vel ideo quod hoc pacto esset occisus Not euerie death was like to this This seemed most reprochfull most shamefull and accursed Therefore the Iewes laboured to put him to this kind of death that if no man would refuse him because he was killed at least yet they should forsake him for that he died this vild kinde of death The kinde of death which christ submitted himself vnto was a shameful a cursed kind of death as for the cause of christs death Chrysostom was far from thinking Christ was iustlie hanged he saith Christ thus honoured his father Non coactus nec inuitus sed hoc ex suae ipsius virtute not coÌ„strained nor vnwilling but of his own virtue or humilitie And the Apostle warranteth Chrysostoms speech for he saith Christ humbled himselfe and was obedient to the death euen to the death of the crosse But what warranteth your spéech that Christ was hanged on the tree by the iust sentence of the lawe I had thought he had suffered the iust for the vniust and hauing no sinne had beene willinglie and by no sentence of the law hanged on a tree Is it wrong you aske for the law to lay the penaltie on the suretie when the debtor cannot discharge it But if it be meere and true iustice and no wrong then was Christ by the iust sentence of the lawe hanged on the tree and so he bare indeed the true curse of the law For though God alwayes loued and imbraced Christ in regard of his owne innocent person yet in another regard of our person which he sustained we may say God HATED him God CVRSED him Yea he tooke our person on him and so became by our sins SINFVLL DEFILED HATEFVL ACCVRSED Is this the holines of your cause you haue in hand Sir refuter with a simple similitude against the scriptures against the faith against the fathers against the consciences of gods people openly to pronounce the eternall and euerlasting sonne of God SINFVL DEFILED HATEFVL accursed of his father for that he took vpon him the punishment of our sinnes Your similitude had néed be sound that shall beare the waight of these wordes if you faile can you tell howe déeply you come within the iust sentence of gods law for opening your irreligious mouth against God and his sonne but thereof anon In the meane while because with scorning Chrysostom you make way to your vnholy coÌ„ceit that Christ being truly accursed in soule for the guilt of mans sinne was iustlie hanged by the sentence of the lawe and say it is VAINE and SENCELESSE to thinke the Apostle speaketh there of two kinds of curses as Chrysostom affirmeth but rather that hanging on a tree is set downe as a part for the whole execution of Gods iust curse and argueth the whole to be on Christ let vs see whether you or Chrysostom hee deceiued As many as are of the workes of Gods lawe are vnder the curse saith Paul for it is written Cursed is euery man that continueth not in all things which are written in the booke of the lawe to do them We shall agree I hope that this is Gods curse both temporall and eternall laid on the bodies and soules of sinners for transgressing anie part of Gods commandementes proposed in his lawe and to this all that haue sinned are subiected because it is the GENERALL curse EXECVTED by God himself vpon ALL sinne committed either in deede word or thought From this curse saith Paul Christ hath redeemed vs beeing made a curse for vs as it is written Cursed is euerie one that hangeth on a tree If this be all one with the other then euerie man that transgressed Gods law in thought word or deede was by the sentence of the lawe to bee hanged on a fâ—ée Shewe that sentence in the lawe and Chrysostom shall yeelde vnto you if you caÌ„not then haÌ„ging on a trée is no necessarie part of the generall curse of God vpon all sinners and consequentlie being no part of it it is not all one with it neither can it argue the whole to haue béen in Christ. How standeth the Apostles reason then that Christ was made a curse where in sinne there are two thinges the committing of it and the reuenging of it by God or man in this life or the next and magistrates had vnder Moses as they haue vnder Christ power giuen them from aboue as Gods ministers to take vengeance in this life on him that doth euill the Apostle knowing that Christ though he committed no sinne was yet content to beare the punishment due to sinne in his bodie on the trée and by his smart to abolish our fault citeth a place out of Moses where the Iudiciall and corporall punishment of a man by death is not onelie called a curse but counted a satisfaction for sinne which being suffered the law had ended his forme vpon the sufferer And so concludeth that Christ receauing a Iudiciall and corporall punishment of death for our sinne not onlie therein suffered the curse but satisfied the force of the law by that curse of his suffering redéemed vs from the curse of our transgressing The place cited out of Moses is this if a man haue committed an offence worthy of death and is by the lawe to die and thou hang him on a tree his body shall not remaine all night on the tree but thou shalt bury him the same day for the curse of God is alreadie