graces God gave unto him hee gave them as a king to him and his for ever if hee as a faithfull liege-man should performe those services that were belonging to that state wherein he was infeoffed but if hee performed not that service whereto hee was bound then must he also forfeit that estate for him and his for ever And because contraries are knowne each by other as a crooked line by a straight it may easilie appeare what that originall sinne is whereto all the sonnes of Adam were made lyable by his offence for if Adam were created in originall righteousnesse so that hee had power both to know and to doe that which was pleasing to God and a freedome of his will to continue or not to continue in that state and without any of those conditions he could not be perfect then must it needs follow that by that sin of his both he and his posterity are deprived both of that knowledge of the will of God of the knowedge of the creature also and of all abilitie to doe or will any thing as of our selves that may be pleasing in his sight for as that originall righteousnesse had with it not onely an innocencie harmelesnesse or freedome from sinne but likewise a positive strength to doe that which was good so likewise that originall sinne brought with it a corruption of the understanding a frowardnesse of the will a heavinesse or unablenesse to all good and more than that a concupiscence or ill desire leading the minde captive unto sinne for contrarie causes must have contrarie effects so as God had created that first righteousnesse in the heart of man so when man did willingly forsake his service and of himselfe betooke himselfe to the service of his enemie the devill for to whomsoever a man doth yeeld himselfe to obey his servant he is to whom hee doth obey the devill not onely willingly entertained this new come guest whose service he so much longed for but also gave him his livery and infected his heart with contrarie conditions that he might never after be fit for the entertainment of his former Lord. For of contraries about the same subject one must of necessitie be therein as light or darkenesse in the ayer health or sicknesse in the bodie sight or blindnesse in the eye so that in stead of the former vertues wherby the Spirit of grace did guide mans heart to God he is now not only utterly disabled to doe that whereto his conscience tels him he is bound but also become a thrall of Satan to be guided and governed according to his will And this wretched and sinfull estate with the guiltinesse or obligation unto the punishment thereof which is the death both of bodie and soule is that originall sinne wherein every one of Adams children is conceived and borne and for which he is subject unto death for so was the sentence that in what day hee sinned he should die the death And though Adam instantly did not finde himselfe to die yet by the just sentence of the Law and justice of God did he finde himselfe spiritually dead that is destitute of the grace of God and that strength which he had to doe his will and therefore subject to this necessitie that he must die at last and so in an estate contrarie to that in which he was created neither ought it to seeme strange or unjust that God should punish this sinne of Adam in his posteritie also for as it was personall in respect of himselfe to make himselfe liable to the wrath of God so his naturall gifts being lost and corrupted the contrarie qualities brought in in stead thereof became a naturall contagion to all his posteritie There is heere some little question whether this ignorance frowardnesse heavinesse and concupiscence before spoken of be the effects of originall sinne the wounds of nature as the schooles call them or the sinne it selfe But as their contraries were in originall justice as the parts or as the poperties or as the effects thereof so must these be in originall sinne to mee they see me to bee that spirituall death that was threatned to Adam and so the present punishment of that sinne and in them that are not renewed to the life of grace the assurance of that further punishment that shall come upon the soule hereafter Let us not stay in needlesse questions but looke to the proofes of our conclusion for by the knowledge of originall righteousnesse it will appeare what these things are 1. Because nothing can bring forth naturally any other thing than such as it selfe is If Adam were in himselfe corrupted as hath beene shewed Chap. 16. hee could not beget any other children but such as were corrupted And forasmuch as all men in justice are accounted as one man in respect of the common nature whereof they are all partakers it is just with God to punish all men alike for their common corruption from which no man can say his heart is cleane for doth any man forbeareto kill an adder though he never yet stung any man or beast I thinke not but because the whole nature of adders is venimous therefore will he kill him 2. It cannot stand with the justice of God to punish any one with death who is not lyable to that punishment for some offence Now the sinne of those infants who from their birth are carried to their grave not being any actuall sinne to which any election or consent of the minde could come it is plaine that they are punished for their originall sin And concerning them that have lived to take an account of their owne wayes there needs no other proofe than the testimony of every mans conscience whether they finde not the law of sinne in themselves warring against themselves and leading them captive unto sinne contrarie to the law of their own minds This is that burthen under which the Saints doe groan so as that they hate themselves therfore and desire to be delivered from this bodie of death Rom. 7.18 c. And why of death because the wages of sinne wrought in the body is death Rom. 6.23 yet not of the body onely but of the soule also both in regard of this inbred contagion that bitter root and of that consent which it gives to sinne that I say nothing of them who through custome follow sinne with greedinesse 3. Every creature naturally continues in that estate and followes those things whereto it was created except some great contrarietie befall to the hinderance thereof But man was created to know and to love God and to see his wisdome in the creature and to honour him therfore and doing thus to be happie for ever thereby yet nothing of this is done accordingly by any among all the sons of Adam therefore some great hindrance and contrarietie is come between But nothing that good is could be an hindrance to this great good nor yet any thing which is without the man himselfe Therefore mans sinne
fit to deferre the resurrection longer lest the faith and hope of His Disciples should faile Who trusted that it was Hee that should have redeemed Israel Luke 24.21 9. As Christ was man that He might suffer death Chapter 20. so was He also God the Lord and giver of life Chapter 21. But it was unreasonable that He which is one Person with the Author of life should be subject to death longer then that it might appeare that He was certainely dead and that by His owne life and power He had overcome death Therefore our Lord rose againe the third day from the dead 10. Although by the unseparable union of the humanity with the Person of the Deity the body of our Lord might have beene preserved uncorrupted for if the devills have power to preserue mans bodie uncorrupted for nine dayes Hom Iliad or for a longer time as it appeares in the bodies of the Witches that die not by the justice of the Law much more might the body of the Lord have been preserued Yet because in Him and by His death the whole state of nature was to be restored the soule of Christ returned againe to the body before corruption in the course of nature could seaze on it 11. The signe of Ionas did prophesie as much Matth. 12.40 and Hosea in plaine and direct words Chap. 6.2 After two dayes He will revive us and in the third day He will raise up and we shall live in His sight For in as much as Christ our Lord doth now appeare in the presence of God for us we also are said to have risen with Him Colos 3.1 The word of Christ Himselfe is plaine to this purpose that He would rise againe Matth. 17.23 and 20.19 and Ioh. 2.19 and that even in the understanding of His aduersaries Matth. 27.63 And that it was the same Saviour that had suffered for us who rose againe from the dead the circumstances of the place doe make it evident For therefore was He buryed in a new tombe hewen out of a rocke wherein never any one had been laid because the hard-hearted and brazen-faced Iewes might have no pretext to say That any other had risen in His stead Notes a THen had it beene impossible that any of His beleevers c. Concerning the resurrection of the dead fitter place to speake will bee in the Article following Chapter 38. Here it shall bee sufficient to remember that the beleevers onely are raised up by the vertue and merit of Christs resurrection as it is said Iohn 11.25 but that the rest that shall be raised up in the last day shall rise by the power of the Father that according to the rule of Iustice and that sentence upon Adam and all his seed In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death they may receive according as their workes shall bee b The infidelitie of Thomas made it certaine unto all God that brings light out of darknesse used the unbeliefe of Thomas for a most evident proofe of the resurrection of Christ so that although he would not beleeve the testimonies of so many witnesses as had seene him alive yet his owne tryalls according to his owne manner of proofe by his finger put into the print of the nayles and his hand thrust in his side might make him to beleeve yet was nothing of all this of any availe to them that are without For as Epiphanius not obscurely signifies Haer. 28. and Aug. De Haer. cap. 8. directly affirmes Cerinthus that Hereticke and his followers taught that Christ was onely man and consequently that He was not yet risen from the dead But both the proposition Matth. 13.55 and the conclusion Matth. 28. from verse 11. to 16. were made by the blind-hearted Iewes before our Lords ascension and still is it their errour unto this day But if no man could doe those miracles that He did except God were with Him Iohn 3.2 If God alone doth know the heart If God alone can forgive sinnes Mark 2.7 8. then their seared consciences were bound by their owne words to acknowledge that He was God Yet because they ever resisted the Holy-Ghost Actes 7.51 that their conclusion might stand that He was not risen from the dead therefore with large money hyred they the Souldiers that had watched knowne well to bee takers that they should say that His Disciples had stollen Him away while they slept But this foule lie stinks to him that hath but halfe a nose 1. For if they slept indeed how could they say His Disciples stole Him rather then that Hee rose againe of Himselfe 2. Besides when the Disciples themselves did not beleeve nor when they heard it understood that it was possible that He should rise againe Mark 9.10 and 31. Luk. 18.34 no nor yet after it was come to passe could they beleeve them that had seene Him Mark 16.11 and 13. to what end should they be the auctors of such a device 3. Moreover all other circumstances are against it For if they had stollen Him away wherefore should they offer themselves the second time to a needlesse danger as you reade Iohn 20.4 c. 4. Wherefore left they the fine linnen wherein He was wrapped which either respect to the corpes or covetousnesse or haste or feare of the souldiers or all together would not have given them time to plucke off when all places were full of feare the earth it selfe trembling and quaking Matth. 28.2 5. Beside all this the Priests having such power of themselves such favour from Pilate why did they not call the Apostles in question for the fact That the whole trueth if it were as they said might have appeared and would easily by their wit and greatnesse have beene fish't out of filly fishers if they should have gone about to conceale it But male verum examinat omnis Corruptus Iudex And because they knew well enough that by their further questioning the trueth of God and their lie would bee manifest to all therefore neither then nor at any time afterward durst they endeavour to disproove this trueth to which God Himselfe with so great power of miracles and wonders and gifts of the Holy-Ghost gave witnesse which Christ who five time in that one day and at sundry times afterwards shewing Himselfe alive did confirme which the glorious Angels and the holy Women did assure to which the Apostles who did see and handle Him 1. Iohn 1. that it was Hee Himselfe and not a Spirit which hath neither flesh nor bones with great power gave restimony which His very enemies the Souldiers while they were yet uâ—bribed did confesse Yea all the circumstances of the action it selfe reproove the blindnesse and infidelitie of the Iewes O ye fooles and blind how long will you not understand You see not your signes and wonders any more there is not one Prophet more the signes of your Messiah are fulfil'ed in Iesus the Sonne of the Virgin Mary that great Prophet that was
dignitie which it had naturally over the body and follow the lusts and appetites thereof and for that treason against God lost the power and strength which it had to support the body and moreover must seeke sustenance for the body out of the creature now accursed and deprived of her first strength it was impossible but that according to the curse corruption diseases and death should follow thereupon Yet seeing the merit of Christ is so ful of satisfactiō to the justice of God and He so powerfull to restore all the decay of nature and to destroy all the wrack and mischiefe which the devill hath brought thereinto wee may firmely beleeve as we professe in this Article that wee shall at last be brought to the enjoying of everlasting life better than that to which wee were at first created 1. For although by the craft of the devill sinne entered into the world and death by sinne passed over all man-kind yet seeing man was made immortall and that neither the end which God purposed nor yet the infinite merit of the death of Christ can bee in vaine it is impossible but that man-kind at last should be brought to eternall life 2. The infinite goodnesse of God is the reason and the cause that he is good to all and that His mercy is over all His workes Psal 145.9 Therefore there is an eternall life reserved for man the most excellent of the visible creature and the will of man above all other things desires an eternall life in glory and happinesse according to His promises But if no such eternall life shall bee then the action of God toward His creature shall be in litlenesse and defect neither shall he fulfill the desire of them that feare Him So also the will of man should more desire the accomplishment of the divine goodnes upon the creature than the will of God should desire the accomplishment of it selfe But these things are impossible therefore there shall bee an eternall life in glory and happinesse 3. Virtue and the ready service of man unto God is that thing wherewith God in man is most delighted and which He hath commanded as it is said Be ye holy for I am holy Lev. 11.44 and the desire of this holinesse is found in them especially that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse and hate their sinnes whereby they displease Him But this seruice of man to God hath not hitherto beene duely performed by any living among the sonnes of men neither can be performed both in body and soule by the dead Therefore it shall be performed in the life that is to come wherein both Gods will and the desires of His shall bee fulfilled See Matth. 5.6 4. If there shal be an eternal life for man then man shall receive of the divine goodnesse and power a power whereby he may both bee and doe those things whereto the divine goodnesse and wisedome hath appointed him But if there be no life eternall then the end of mans creation should be onely to privation and not being But it were better never to have beene than after all the miseries of this life in the end to returne to an everlasting not being For so the effect that is man-kind should no way be answerable to the cause nor yet be any proofe or manifestation of that goodnesse infinity eternitie and power by which it was made But this is impossible and against the conditions both of the prime cause and the infinitie of the dignities thereof Object But you will say that this reason doth no more prove that there is an eternall life for man than for beasts and other of the creatures which also ought to continue for the proofe of that wisedome and almightynesse of their cause Answere There is a difference betweene the end and those things which are for the end Man is the end of all the visible creature and therefore it followes that all those things are to bee in man as in the end so far forth as they can be worke or be glorified in Him And from hence also it followeth that man must bee for ever lest all these things which were for him should returne to nothing with him and the image of that infinite goodnesse and wisedome by which they were made should come to nothing eternally Therefore though they shall be in man as the idéa of them all yet not in their severall or distinct beings beside man 5. No naturall desire of the creature which is implanted in every individuall of every kind can bee in vaine because it is implanted therein by a superiour power which cannot bee frustrate But it is implanted in all men naturally both to desire and to hope for eternall life Therefore there shal be an eternall life For if after the resurrection man should not live for ever then there should be in God a will to raise him to life contrary to his will that hee should live for ever So His being should not be simple and one but this is impossible as it was proved Chap. 9. § 6. 6. The more powerfull that any cause is the more manifestly doth the likenesse thereof appeare in the effect And sith God is the first and chiefe cause of all and that the likenesse of man His worke shall be greater in his perpetuall well-being than in not being at all therefore there shall bee an eternall life wherein the greatest likenesse of the effect to the cause shall be perfected that man may live in eternall Righteousnesse Wisedome and Glory Otherwise the infinite justice might seeme defective in reward and punishment if both good and bad should perish alike Moreover the word whereby the punishment was inflicted was neither so generall nor so without exception but that there was grace reserved And now lest he take of the tree of life and live for ever in his sin therefore the Lord God sent him forth of the garden of Eden the type of eternall happinesse till he had tasted of death the punishment of his sinne then should hee live for ever in joy 7. And these reasons for the assurance of everlasting life you may adde to them that are in the Chapter before And above all reason the holy promises of God which cannot faile as Iohn 3.16 God so loved the world that He gave His onely begotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life Titus 3.7 Wee are made heires according to the hope of everlasting life Matth. 19.29 Every one that hath forsaken houses c. or lands for my sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life Psal 37.18 The Lord knoweth the dayes of the upright that their inheritance shall be for ever Psalm 23. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever And that the ioyes of heaven are eternall it may appeare by the torments of the wicked that are in hell of both which see Matth. 25. from vers 31. to 46. And therefore the Apostle
than ill seeing ill neither is but in that which is good nor workes but in the power thereof Therfore if man by one ill deed were able to destroy himselfe much more by many good deeds shall he be able to make satisfaction Answer Ill is in every want or failing of that which is good but Good holds all perfections whether in being or in working Therefore man might easily corrupt himselfe but being corrupted hee cannot possibly repaire himselfe nor yet doe any thing that is good or acceptable Math. 7.18 12.33 3. But the satisfaction being now made are wee not restored unto as good an estate by the suffering of Christ as that which Adam lost so that if Adam for his obedience sake might have lived a naturall life eternally wee also for our workes sake may bee accounted worthy of everlasting blisse For if wee be restored by Christ and for his sake accepted our workes likewise are for his sake both accepted and rewarded according to their merit Answer I say that our estate is farre better than Adams in this that his hope of everlasting life being set in his owne obedience did instantly faile but ours standing in the obedience of Christ who is made to us righteousnesse sanctification redemption and life can never faile For therefore because that pretious treasure of eternall life was so carelesly kept by Adam God who loved the salvation of mankinde better then man himselfe would in no wise commit the keeping of that jewell to man any more Therefore though sinne have no power to condemne them that are in Christ yet is it still suffered to dwell in us that wee should not trust in our selves but in the living God For as the Father saith Multum nobis in hac carne tribueremus nisi usque ad ejus depositionem sub veniâ viveremus Aug. de Civ lib. 10. cap. 22. And although Adam by the grace and favour of his Creator might have continued in the estate in which hee was created if hee had stood in his innocency yet could hee not even then have beene said to merit everlasting life For merit or hire comes ever for that which is above duty which cannot bee in the creature towards the Creator As to a hired servant the wages merit or hire comes for his worke because it was in his power whether hee would labour for that master or no being not bound unto him but for his hire but in a bondman the possession of his Lord all his service and labour is his Lords to require and imploy it as it pleaseth him Luke 17.8.9 and this is the condition of the whole creature to the Lord and Creator of all And if Adam in his innocency could not merit much lesse can sinnefull man merit any thing but affliction and death by his sinne and service to the devill to whom hee is no way bound but by his sinne And this difference the Apostle maketh Rom. 6.23 the wages of sinne is death but the free gift of God is eternall life 4. But are wee not commanded to worke out our saluation with feare and trembling Phil. 2.12 and is not the sentence of everlasting life pronounced for the workes of charity which were foreseene in us and for which the kingdome of heaven was prepared for us from the beginning of the world Math. 25. vers 34.35.36 Answer What merit can any man claime for that which another hath principally wrought in him And if God worketh in us to will and to doe Phil. 2.13 what is our worke but that wee should with joy runne after Him that drawes vs Cant. 1.4 Therefore although good workes are ordained of God that wee should walke in them and that wee are created thereunto Eph. 2.10 and that God who chose us in Christ to bee heires of glory ordained all the meanes thereto and workes in us to bee ready to every good worke and thereby makes our calling and election sure unto us yet is not that worke solely and intirely ours but chiefely of the grace and spirit of Christ that dwels in us and crownes His owne good workes in us with everlasting life 1 Cor. 15.10 So then our workes must vanish that every mouth may bee stopped and the whole world may bee guilty before God Rom. 3.19 So that every man notwithstanding his owne workes even the chiefest among the Saints may with Iob abhorre himselfe and repent in sackcloth and and ashes Iob. 42.6 5. The naturall desires common to all men cannot bee in vaine because they come not unto them out of any particular choyse or present necessity but by influence or direction of that common nature which is in all men which though it cannot effect it yet hath it shewed what is to bee wrought for the uttermost good of every particular by the Lord of Nature But every man by the inclination of his owne will doth desire the uttermost perfection and happpinesse of his owne being which hee acknowledges to bee in being united to that which is the greatest good and the enjoying thereof in eternall life Therefore every man by the guidance of nature it selfe doth returne unto God as the Author and Finisher of his happinesse Answer No agent can worke of it selfe above the proper strength and power of it selfe And eternall life is a thing beyond the limits of naturall knowledge and desire which mindes onely the well-being and continuance of the whole man according to the present estate of this naturall life alone But because Hee that wils not the death of a sinner Ezech. 33.11 would have all men to come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2.4 therefore are all men so farre instructed or at least if they doe not willfully winke may bee so farre instructed either by the voyce of the creature or by certaine inbred notions or by tradition or by an influence of grace denyed to none that they may know the eternall power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 and the immortality of the soule in a better estate then this life can afford as hath beene said before in Pref. And this is that universall grace which wee may yeeld to bee vouchsafed to all not onely without the visible Church but much more within the Church where by the cleare light of the Holy Scripture all may and ought to know particularly whatsoever is meet for their soules health And this universall grace I say further wee ought to yeeld unto because without it neither the pagans and infidels nor yet the false Christians can bee without excuse But that every one that knowes doth of himselfe according to this knowledge frame his will constantly and effectually to desire whatsoever belongs to eternall life Pelagius will never bee able to demonstrate For he that wils any thing constantly and effectually wils also those meanes constantly and effectually without which that thing cannot bee come unto And because without holinesse no man can see the Lord Heb. 12.14 in whose presence onely is the fullnesse
of blessing and joy for evermore Psal 16.11 in the narrow path of which holinesse because the godlesse Pagan and loose living Christian cannot nor will not walke therefore they cannot bee said effectually either to will or to desire everlasting life But this is that speciall grace reserved for the vessels of mercy by which they are not inforced against their will but of naturall men naturally unwilling are made willing to follow Him that drawes them with the cordes of love to love that which is pleasing in his sight and so to will and desire constantly and effectually to follow that which is for their soules health So this desire being wrought in them by Him that is able to fulfill the desire of them that feare Him is a pledge unto them that their hope shall never bee ashamed And thus the weakenesle of the assumption and falshood of the conclusion doe plainely appeare 6. But hee is accounted a cruell creditor that will exact more then his debtor can pay and hee a cruell Lord that requires of his servant that which hee cannot performe Therefore the most mercifull God requires of man no other satisfaction then that which man is able to performe Answer It is just that God should require of man that he enabled him to performe For otherwise His justice should bee deficient or wanting towards Himselfe and his glory likewise unduely esteemed And the cruelty of a Creditor is to require more than a man is able to performe by himselfe or by his suretie Therefore our most mercifull Lord foreseeing the malice of the Devill and the sinne of man thereby to the glory of His infinite grace provided us a Saviour before we had sinned For whose abundant satisfactions sake wee have a doore of entrance as wide as the Valley of Achor set open unto us that by His merit alone wee may come boldly unto the throne of grace there to find helpe in the time of need Of which Mediator we are now to speake in the Articles following ARTICLE II. ⧠And in Iesus Christ His onely Sonne WEE have seene the wretched estate of man to which he is subjected by reason of his sinne whereby he is unavoydably lyable unto the wrath of God which he is utterly unable to indure and from which to escape there is no meanes in his owne power Now consider with thy selfe most wretched caitif that art afraid to die because thou hast no hope but in this life what it were for thee to stand iustly condemned to die and every minute to expect the execution of thy doome if any one could be content to die for thee that thou mightest inioy the usury of this aire but for the time of thy naturall life from which thou knowest thou must part at last But being subject to an infinite wrath to an endlesse punishment the endurance of which but for one houre hath more miserie then the suffering of a thousand untimely deathes what love canst thou owe to him what thankes canst thou give unto him that would free thee from the punishment and instead of that restore thee to an estate of life and ioy eternall And seeing it hath appeared that this cannot bee done by any one that is onely man wee are now in this second place to see what are the conditions of our Mediator who by Himselfe is able to make satisfaction for our sinne For seeing the just sentence on man was that for his owne sinne hee should die the death which because it was the word of an infinite speaker of an infinite truth it must of necessity bee meant according to the uttermost extension of the truth and so meane all death of body and soule temporall and eternall And because the Mediator for man could not endure a temporall or bodily death except hee were man therefore it shall first appeare That the Mediator for the sinne of man must bee man And because eternall death is such a thing as no man onely man can offer himselfe unto with hope or possibilitie by himselfe to overcome therefore it shall appeare in the second place That our most glorious Mediator must bee God who being of infinite life wisdome and power knew how to conquer eternall death that having in the infinite worthinesse of his owne person satisfied the infinite justice for the sinne of man Hee might give eternall life to all them that by true faith should lay hold on His merits and in thankefulnesse for that unspeakeable mercy live in obedience to his commandements And that it may appeare what the superexcellency of the knowledge of our most holy faith in the religion of Christ is and that for the worthinesse and glory thereof it farre surpasseth all knowledge of all things which men or angels can come unto it shall be made plaine in the third place how necessary and agreeing to the wisdome goodnesse and glory of God it was That God should be incarnate Great is the mystery of godlinesse into which the angels desire to looke And because our most glorious Light and guide hath in his Holy word made these things so manifest unto us let us with chearefulnesse and joy in the ready service of our best understanding follow him who in our flesh hath reconciled all things to himselfe and in our flesh hath led captivity captive and triumphed over principalities and all powers of the enemy that we being delivered might serve himin holinesse and righteousnesse all the daies of our life and be accepted of Him in life everlasting CHAP. XX. That the Mediatour for the sinne of Man must bee Man 1. FIat justitia totus mundus ruat But when man sinned it could not stand with the justice of God to punish any for that sinne but man alone And whatsoever is against the justice of God is also against his wisdome his godnesse and power for wee have alreadie proved that all these dignities are in him one most simple and absolute being Chap. 8. And whatsoever is against the power of God is utterly impossible to be therefore it must necessarily follow either that there is no reconciliation of man unto God contrarie to that which hath beene proved in the 18. Chap. or else that this reconciliation must be made by a Mediatour that is man Therefore the Father said fitly hereto Propterea nobis per Mediatorem praestita est gratia ut polluti carne peccati carnis peccati similitudine mundaremur August de Civitate Dei lib. 10. Cap. 22. 2. God might seeme towards man an accepter of persons and towards the Angels that sinned severe and mercilesse if hee should condemne them to the paynes of eternall fire and yet accept man to mercy when no satisfaction had beene made for mans sinne in the nature that had sinned But both these things are utterly impossible and against the justice of God therefore the punishment of the sinne of man must be borne in the nature of man 3. The iust Law and sentence of the most
Saviour that was to come into the world yea so approved by the rule of the Law Deut. 18.22 and their owne expositors Moimony in Iesude hatorah cap. 10. that even because they beleeve not therefore is our Lord Iesus that true Prophet that was to come Because hee foretold both their unbeleefe and the punishment thereof Therefore beside other circumstances and proofes in this abundance not necessary to bee remembred take for another argument the unbeleefe of the Iewes and the destruction of their citty and scattering of that nation as the punishment of that unbeleefe Their hardnes of heart and incredulity was prophesied Ps 118.22 Es 6.9.10 c. 8.14.15 c. 52.1.2.3 The scattering of the whole nation is prophesied Lev. 26. vers 27. to 40. Deut. 28.64 Hos 3.4 9.17 The destruction of the cittie and Temple was foretold Dan. 9.26 and by our Lord himselfe Luk. 19.43.44 ch 21.20 with the continuance of that desolation Luk. 21.24 And of this their unbeleefe and scattering of the Nation and desolation of Ierusalem the Iewes themselves and all the world with them are witnesses unto this day If you desire further conferring of the Texts of the old Testament with the new you may reade Tertul. lib. 3. et 4. adversus Marcionem 11. To the death and sufferings of our Lord whereby wee are redeemed unto God the Father Rev. 5.9 wee may also adde the death and sufferings of his Saints as it is written Psal 44. vers 11. to 23. compared with Rom. 8.36 For even from Abel to Isaacke and so forward they that have beene borne after the flesh have persecuted them that have beene borne according to the Spirit Gal. 4.29 And although these persecutions have beene more common and grievous at some time than other as it may appeare by the bookes of the Maccabees and the ten persecutions of the primitive Church foretold Reu. 2.10 yet that rule holds and still shall till that King doe come that shall reigne in Iustice that all that will live godly in Christ must suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3.12 For whether it bee that God by afflictions and persecutions doth try the constancie and patience of his servants and exercise their faith in his promises or whether by trouble and persecution hee will teach them not to looke for their portion in this life or to make them more conformable to the death of his Sonne that they may also bee partakers of his resurrection or that the reward of their afflictions may bee with an exceeding waight of glory or that in the life to come they may by comparison inioy the fullnesse of their happinesse in more thankefullnesse and the perfection of love to the author thereof or that the devil may in Iustice punish such as forsake his obedience for by the taint of originall sinne wee all became his vassalls and God is not uniust no not to the devill himselfe and therefore suffers him to afflict them whom he himselfe will comfort Iob 1. Reu. 2.10 or whether the devil to keepe his owne vassals in firme obedience doth more eagerly persecute the truth this is a sure conclusion that from Abel to this day the truth of the Religion of Christ and the obedient and faithfull professours thereof have ever beene persecuted whereas all Idolatry and superstition of how different kinds soever hath beene and is freely exercised From whence the reason will follow thus If the Religion of Christ and the faith in him have onely beene persecuted by the devill and his Instruments even from the beginning of the world untill now then the faith in Christ is onely the true faith and Hee the onely Saviour of the world But the first is true by the testimony of the holy Scripture and all those histories both ecclesiasticall and prophane that write any thing concerning this matter and the practice of the Turkes at this day doth approve it Therefore the Faith in Christ is onely the true faith and He the onely Saviour of the world 12. To this argument of the sufferings for the faith of Christ you may take another from the heresies that have beene there about For as a malitious enemy besieging a Castle impregnable poisons the fountaine of which the defenders must needs drinke so the faith of Christ being that onely fountaine of life by which we are sustained in our spirituall warfare hath by the malice of the devill beene troubled g with all kindes of heresies which the devill could possibly forge by the wits of his Instruments whereas in all the false worships that have beene in the world no questions nor dissentions have beene but every man wandred as hee was led in the darkenesse of his foolish heart And yet in all these heresies through the gratious direction of the Spirit of Christ and the light of his word the true faith hath prevailed according to his promise Math. 16.18 That all the devils that passe in and out at the gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it From whence you may reason thus That faith which onely hath beene attempted by all manner of heresies to bee corrupted thereby and yet hath stood uncorrupted and unreproveable in the True Faith But the Christian Faith onely is such Therefore the Christian Faith onely is the true Faith and consequently our Lord Iesus is the Saviour of the world seeing in Him onely wee looke for redemption 13. And this is that pole of the Loadstone whereto we may bee directed by every point within the compasse of the holy Scripture And these pointers that follow are sufficient to shew it Act. 2.36 Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Iesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ Act. 4. v. 10.11.12 There is no salvation in any other for there is no name under heaven given among men whereby wee must be saved save onely the name of Iesus Christ of Nazareth whom God hath raised from the dead Act. 16.31 Beleeve on the Lord Iesus Christ and thoushalt be saved and thy whole house Act. 17.3 Paul opened and proved that Christ must needes have suffered and risen againe from the dead and this Iesus whom I preach unto you is the Christ Act. 18.28 He mightily convinced the Iewes and that publikely shewing by the Scriptures that Iesus was the Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Iesus Christ Gal. 1.8.9 Though we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel to you than that you have received let him be accursed Notes a HE to whom all the Prophesies This argument is the effect of that book which Lud. Crocius entitled Apodixis de Messia which with some alterations and additions hee might in part take out of Iust Mart. his defence of the Christians to Antoninus Pius out of Athanasius orat de incarnat verbi and other of the Fathers but most of all out of Hieronymus de Sancta Fide printed at Francofurt
God did chuse the Fathers the high Saints till Abraham and of Abraham Isaack for in him should the seed be called and of him Iacob and made his seed to be a peculiar people to himselfe onely for his sake who was to come of Iuda and for the manifestation of the truth of his promise to Adam recorded most precisely the times from Adam to the promise made to Abraham by the ages of the Fathers 2078. yeres when Abraham by faith forsook his country Heb. 11.8 Vr of the Chaldees Act. 7. v. 2.3.4 aged 70. yeeres yet some men begin this account five yeeres after at the death of Terah not well interpreting the word Gen. 12.1 said for had said though it be not unlikely that God called him a second time out of Charran into Chanaan See Iohn Speed Cloud of witnesses Chap. 4. and .5 and from the promise unto the Law foure hundred thirty yeeres Exod. 12.40 Gal. 3.17 then from the Law to the Temple built by Solomon foure hundred eighty yeeres 1 King 6.1 and from this fourth yeere of Salomon wherein the Temple began to be built by the exact record of the raigne of the kings of Iuda and Israel foure hundred eight yeeres till Nebuchadnezzar who in the first yeere of his reigne and in the end of the third of Iehoiakim besieged Ierusalem and tooke it in the fourth of the said Iehoiakim when the seventy yeeres of the captivity began Iere. 25.1.18 Dan. 1.1 compared with Dan. 2.1 If the times I say were exactly accounted so farre shall be so wicked as to thinke that the Spirit of God began there in the end of the time to forget or neglect that which had beene so long expected that for which onely the record of the times had beene hitherto so exactly kept that which was the sure stay and anchor-hold of all the faithfull For if this Christ bee not Hee in whom all the Scriptures are fulfilled aswell for the time as for all other circumstances we are yet with the Iewes to looke for one that is to come But shall we to uphold the authority of heathenish records disagreeing betweene themselves from 130. yeeres to 329. in the Persian monarchie onely disanull or question the authority of the holy Scripture Therefore that the linkes of that golden chaine which all the gods can neither breake nor weaken the hands of him that holds it Illi Þgr be rightly fastned one in another to that period of the seventy yeares beginning with the first of Nebuchadnezer and ending with the Chaldean Monarchy put those seventy weekes or seven of yeares and so these foure hundred and ninety yeares having a certaine beginning in the first yeere of Cyrus in Babylon according to that which Esay prophesied of him not Histaspis not Longimanus much lesse of Nothus or Mnemon above an hundred yeeres before hee was borne chap. 44.28 and Ier. 29.10 they shall likewise receive a certaine ending according to the message of the Angell at the death of our Lord. The exactnesse of which account may appeare first by the Subdivision of the whole time vers 25. first into seven weekes a troublous time of fortle nine yeeres to build the citie the Temple and the wall as you may reade at large in Ezra and Nehemiah then into sixtie two weekes a more troublous time not onely in respect of the perpetuall warres betweene Syria and Egypt Palestina being the thorow-fare to both and in particular of the crueltie of Epiphanes that compelled them to idolatrie but also of the often and great changes of their state First their Princes of the familie of David failing then they of the Maccabees after that they were conquered of the Romanes and lastly enforced to acknowledge subjection to Herode and his posterity Of which most heavie and troublous times you may reade Dan. 11. the bookes also of the Maccabees Philo Iosephus and of late writers the briefest and therefore I thinke the best Eberus The last part of this division of the sevens of Daniel is in the twenty seven verse one weeke in the end of which last weeke he should cause the Ceremoniall Law to cease confirme the covenant to the Many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romanes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Babylonians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iavans or Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Medes and Persians for in every one of these chiefe Empires the expectation of the eternall kingdome was proposed Dan. 2.44 and 6.26 and whosoever had faith in the promise of God was accepted of him A second argument for the precisenesse of Daniels account is from the forme of the words Seventie weekes is cut out a word plurall is joyned with a singular shewing an agreement of the whole in every part thereof A third argument may bee from the observation of the time of the evening sacrifice for here is no word emptie or in vaine which as it was answerable to the time of Adams fall to the institution of the Passeover so should Christ by that offering of himselfe once make satisfaction for the one and finish the other that the lifting up of his hands on the Crosse might bee as the perpetuall evening sacrifice Matth. 27.46 From whence I gather that from the last day of the seventie yeeres captivity the first of the going forth of the commandement from Cyrus from the evening of that same day these weekes were to receive their uttermost date in the suffering of Christ that the truth of the promise of God might bee according to all his workes in number weight and measure as it is said Exod. 12.41 and 51. At the end of the foure hundred and thirtie yeeres in the selfe same day God brought out the children of Israel out of Egypt Fourthly and if this time of our Lord had not beene thus defined and certaine by this prophecie for the time of his suffering upon what ground did our Lord preach Marke 1 15. The time is fulfilled and the kingdome of heaven is at hand Upon what ground could Saint Paul say Gal. 4.4 But when the fulnesse of the time was come God sent forth his Sonne If there were no time in all the Scripture limited which was to bee fulfilled and if there be any other fixed for the death of Christ let it appeare how also was his reprehension of the blindnesse of the Scribes and Sadduces just that they could not discerne the times of the Sonne of man Matth. 16.3 Luke 12.56 But by this account from the deliverance out of Babylon they might precisely know the time of his suffering as Rabbi Nehumiah the Sonne of Hacana said that hee wanted but fiftie yeeres to the dayes of Messiah as Galatinus writes out of the Talmud lib. 1. Cap. 3. So Symeon sirnamed the Iust understanding the text of Daniel aright for his hopes sake found that favour from God that he should not see death till he had seene the Lord Luke 2.26 I but Nehemiah had
second Temple built by a small band of poore captives in all but fortie two thousand three hundred sixtie beside their servants a wretched number of seven thousand three hundred thirtie seven and that in a desolate countrey amidst so many enemies that hindred their building was like to bee in comparison of Salomons every man may easily conjecture And therefore this Prophet saith Chap. 2 3. That this new built house in comparison of the former was nothing as you may further see Ez. 2.12 13. Was this house then more excellent in respect of the ornament or priviledges God promises by his prophet Chap. 1. v. 8. that he would take pleasure in it and that hee would be glorified Where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ecabd by the want of the letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in number signifieth five and in sence would be translated I will glorifie it is supposed by the Rabins to intend the want of five things in this latter Temple which were in the former First the Ark with the covering and Cherubims secondly the fire from heaven thirdly Shecinah or the Divine presence manifested in the oracle Levit. 16.2 Numb 7.89 1. King 6.5 Fourthly the holy Ghost which spake not by any Prophet after this Darius in whose dayes the Temple was built fifthly the Vrim and Thummim And this many of our learned doe embrace as you may reade every where but Pet. Galat. lib. 4. Chap. 9. cites the booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yoma or of dayes interpreting the five things to be First the Arke as before secondly the pot of Manna thirdly the oyle of anointing fourthly the rod of Aaron fiftly the box with the offering of the Phlistines by the side of the Arke But the author of that booke was too carelesse as it is apparent 1 King 8.9 2 Chron. 5.10 where it is directly affirmed that nothing was in the Arke but onely the two tables of the Law And is it likely that the offering of the heathen should bee brought into the most holy place before Christ had entred thereinto But howsoever seeing by all confession it appeareth that this house was not to bee compared with that of Salomon either in outward beautie or in riches or in outward holinesse being so often and grievously profaned by Heliodorus the agent of Seleucus then by his brother Epiphanes who set the image of Iupiter in the Temple of God and enforced the Iewes to forsake their Religion after by Pompey by Crassus and others or in the other high and heavenly ornaments and priveleges the glory thereof must needs consist in this that the Lord of glory the Messiah and Saviour of the world would glorifie that Temple with his presence and in that Temple preach peace with God by his owne satisfaction for the sinnes of the world You may reade hereto Ioh. 8.12 to the end and chap. 10.23 to 40. and 18.20 And thus the substance being more excellent than the shadowes and Christ by his suffering having finished the ceremoniall Law in the time while this house did stand according to this prophecie it is necessarie that this Iesus be the promised Messiah seeing this house stood but fourtie yeeres the time of repentance and no more after the death of our Lord. e Haggai 2.7.8 Yet one little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth the Sea and the dry land And I will move all nations and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of hosts Marsilius Ficinus de Rel. Christ cap. 27. interprets this place too slackly according to the letter onely understanding by the shaking of the heavens that Starre which conducted the wisemen at the birth of Christ and a supposed Ecclips at his death The Evangelists tell us of a darkenesse over all that land but no author of sufficient credit avowes any Ecclipse of the Sunne in the full Moone when * See praef Iac. Christ in Cat. Palaest pag. 21. the Passeover was kept by the shaking of the earth he understands that earthquake at the suffering of Christ and another mentioned by Iosephus Hitherto also he brings the taxing of all the Roman provinces by Augustus Luke 2. and the rebellion of Iudas of Galilee mentioned Acts 5.37 By the moving of the Sea hee meanes the miracle spoken of Mar. 4.35 and Iohn 6.16 to 22. when by his word our Lord commanded the winds and seas and they obeyed him And if this interpretation had rested with Ficinus by profession a Physician by sect a Platonick I had said nothing but seeing other profest Divines and they not of the least account doe follow him herein as Crocius aforesaid I thought it fit to cleare this text rather by that interpretation which the Apostle makes hereof Heb. 12.26 27. which is directly to this purpose for which I cite it where by the shaking is signified the removing of those things that are shaken that they which are not shaken may remaine Now the whole drift of that Epistle is to prove that the Law had but the shadowes of things to come but the body was Christ Therefore by the heaven understand the Ecclesiasticall estate of the Iewes as it was ordered under the Law and at Christs suffering utterly finished for the Law made nothing perfect but was onely the bringing in of a better hope Heb. 7.19 and Chap 8. all By the earth understand the civill policie which was likewise so shaken by the Romans that they had not power to put any man to death Iohn 18.31 And after by Adrian were they utterly scattered from being a people These things then being thus shaken and by the shaking removed the sacrifice of Christ and his kingdome must remaine that he may be yesterday and to day and the same for ever Heb. 13.8 that is before the Law and under the Law and after the Law the onely Mediatour betweene God and man And as it was with the Iewes so likewise the inhabitants of the Islands of the Sea and of the maine land were to bee shaken that they might forsake their service of dumbe idoles to serve the living God Acts 14.15 1. Cor. 12.2 that so our Lord might bee the desire and joy of all nations and the Scripture fulfilled which saith Rejoyce thou barren that bearest not breake forth in joy thou that travellest not for the desolate Church of the Gentiles hath many moe children than shee the Synagogue of the Iewes that had the husband Esay 54.1 For he came unto his owne but his owne received him not Iohn 1.11 And therefore was hee made a light unto the Gentiles unto the uttermost ends of the earth Esay 49.6 Acts 13.46.47 that is to us even to us of this Island utterly removed from all the world beside Glory be to thee O Lord most high f Gen. 49.5 6. Simeon and Levi brethren their swords are the instruments of violence Into their secret let not my soule enter Let
25.11 and so lost his head by the sword Therefore He must needs endure that bitter and accursed death of the Crosse 4. The tree through the craft of the devill was unto man-kind a cause of sinne Therefore lest the tree which was created good might become a curse to him for whom it was created and thereby the end of the creation might be perverted it seemed fit to the Wisedome of God that as the tree had beene an instrument in the worke of mans condemnation it should also bee an instrument in the worke of his redemption that man by his wound might also bee healed And therefore that our ransome should bee payed on the Crosse 5. Man by his sinne had made himselfe subject to the curse of the Law Therefore that the promise to Abraham That in his seed all the Nations of the earth should bee blessed Gen. 12.3 might come vpon them it was necessary that the curse should fall vpon that promised seed in whom they were to bee blessed as Saint Paul doth argue Gal. 3.13 and 14. 6. This crucifying of our Lord was prefigured diverslie in the Law as by the Serpent in the Wildernesse if you compare Numb 21.8 with Iohn 3.14 Moses also spreading out his hands in the forme of the Crosse overcame Amalec by his prayer Exod. 17.11 But aboue all other figures that glorious Type of Christ Samson who should begin to save Israel Iud 14.5 most liuely figured our Saviour on the Crosse when he laid his hands upon the Pillars and slew more at his death than he had done in all his life Iud. 16.30 So our Lord the Authour and Finisher of our Salvation though by His Preaching and His miracles He had shaken the Kingdome of the Devill yet by His death upon the Crosse He did triumph over all the power of hell Col. 2.15 David Psal 22.16 prophesies plainely of the wounds wherewith He was pierced in His hands and His feet when He was nailed to the Crosse as the Prophet Zechary Chap. 12.10 of that wound which through His side they made in His heart I the Lord will powre vpon the Inhabitants of Ierusalem the Spirit of Grace and supplication and they shall looke upon mee whom they have pierced And thus according to the Prophesies that were before was our Saviour crucified as you reade in the Gospel 3. Dead VVEe see IESVS made a little lower then the Angels for the suffering of death that He by the Grace of God should taste of death for every man Heb. 2.9 All the reasons for His crucifying confirme thus much And for this cause was Hee conceived and borne that He might redeeme His people from their sinnes The arguments also of the 19. Chapter of the 21.22 and 23. come all to this centre that Christ our Lord and onely Redeemer must die for our sinne 1. For seeing man by his sinne had made himselfe subject unto death according to the just sentence Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die it was necessary that He that had made Himselfe our surety Heb. 7.22 and taken our sinne upon him Esay 52. should die for our sinne 2. It was necessary that the highest degree of obedience should bee in him in whom was also the perfection of Sonne-ship But all the perfection of Son-ship was in Christ both that which is Eternall and that which is in time as hath appeared Therefore also the perfection of obedience But there can be no degree of obedience beyond this that a sonne should die at the will of his father Therefore it was necessary that our Lord should die For God so loved the world that He gave his onely begotten Sonne to die that the world by him might bee saved But because it was impossible that He in his Eternall being should be subject to death therfore was it necessary that He should bee incarnate that Hee should bee conceived of the Holy-Ghost and be borne of a Virgin as it hath beene prooved 3. If Isaac the shadow were content to die at the will of His Father how much more ought Christ the substance to fulfill the will of His Father 4. The manifestation of the infinite dignities of God the Father is the proper and peculiar office of the Son See Iohn 17.6 and 26. And how could either the infinite Iustice or Mercy or Love of God the Father toward His creature or His honour in the creature bee better manifested than in the death of that Son For although it were farre from Injustice to punish the innocent for the wicked when He had set Himselfe to answere for the sinnes of the world yet was it the uttermost the most severe and eminent Iustice that possible could bee to lay upon Him in whom there was no sinne neither was there any guile found in His mouth the burden of vs all to breake him for our sinnes to multiplie His sorrowes and at once to deprive Him of all the comforts of God and life it selfe for our offences Neither could the Mercy or love of God toward His creature be greater than this that when wee were enemies yet spared He not His owne Sonne to worke our reconciliation Neither can the honour of God be more magnified by the creature than for that mercy and love which he hath shewed toward the creature in the Eternall Glory and happinesse which He hath reserved for it through the satisfaction of his Son And because these things could not possibly be brought to passe otherwayes than by the death of the Sonne of God therefore was it necessary that He should die 5. Of contrary effects the immediate causes must needs bee contrary The greatest delight and joy which the naturall man hath is to follow his sinfull lusts Therefore the recovery or restoring of man from his sinfull state cannot bee but by the suffering of the greatest sorrow that is of death 6. The obedience and sufferings of Him who was to make satisfaction for the disobedience and rebellion of all man-kind could not possibly be either exceeded or equalled But if our Lord had not died a most bitter and cruell death in those torments which He endured both in his soule and body then had His sufferings beene equalled if not exceeded by many of the holy Martyrs who for their love and faith in God endured most bitter and exquisite torments Heb. 11.35 c. and that with joy unspeakable and glorious Therefore it was necessary that our Saviour should die a most cruell death and bitter both in the sufferings of His soule and body 7. The greatest exaltation or glory that could come unto the creature was in this that it should become one Person with the Creator which we have proved before to have beene done in the incarnation For the greatest glory and grace done to the creature the greatest love and humilitie is due to the Creator But our Lord who was so exalted had not beene humbled to the lowest degree of humilitie if
sacrifice to offer unto God as nothing could be better then that which was equall to God offered Himselfe God and man for the saving of His people as it is said Ier. 3.23 Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel Thirdly the value was increased by the manner of the offering wherein was the perfection of the obedience of the eternall Son to His Father and the perfect submission of the humane will of Christ unto the will of God that this sacrifice might by all meanes be meritorious in Him for us See Note g on Chap. 24. § 11. No. 4. The second meanes whereby the satisfaction of Christ according to the rigour of Iustice was perfect is the greatnesse of that punishment which He endured for us which in proportion was answerable to that death which in Iustice was due to the sinne of man having the same degrees and parts which punishment Christ so farre foorth as it was possible for the Sonne of God did endure First the bodily death with all the circumstances as I remembred before Then the losse of that Ioy and Comfort of His soule wherewith the fruition of God and the fulnesse of His graces did euer replenish Him And this Ioy Hee lost not finally or fundamentally as the damned for that was impossible both in respect of His innocencie and of His union with God but onely according to the present act and feeling Thirdly he was subjected to the powers of hell not enthralled thereto as a vassall but yet subject for the present vexation and temptation so that His soule and understanding was affrighted in sorrow and horrour knowing Himselfe to be made a curse for us which brought with it a full sence of the Iustice and wrath of God against sinne Fourthly and although it bee most true that God cannot suffer either paine or losse as was shewed even now yet it is as true that God having taken to Himselfe the living Tabernacle of a soule and body offered this soule and body of His to death for us as it is said Act. 20.28 That God purchased His Church with His owne blood and not so onely but for a time left that body under the absolute power of Death and Buriall And thus the Iustice why Christ should die for our sinnes and the plenary satisfaction which Hee hath made unto God thereby doeth plainely appeare Now a reason or two why and how the benefit hereof doth belong unto us 1. First seeing the person of our Redeemer is infinite and therefore His merit also infinite an infinite reward is due thereunto which if God would not give O pardon that we speake in the voyce of reason Thy gift in us then Hee were unjust if He could not then were He unable to requite But both these things are impossible And seeing hee that makes a recompense for any desert either gives to the deserver that which he hath not or forgives that which hee might require and yet our Lord to whom the reward of His obedience and death is due neither needs any thing nor can receive any thing more then He hath having in Himselfe the fulnesse of all perfection and all things which the Father hath Iohn 17.10 Neither yet needs forgivenesse having never offended neither yet can so great obedience and such an infinite merit bee all in vaine therefore doth this infinite reward redound to us so that we which claime by His Title may draw neere unto the Throne of Grace in the full assurance of faith that God doth not nor will not refuse them that come unto Him in the name of His Sonne seeing unto all them that seeke salvation and eternall life by Him all His infinite merit doeth assuredly belong For that which is infinite can no way become divisible for so should it cease to bee infinite So His infinite merit belongs to every one of His according to the infinity thereof See the doore of our hope set open wider then the walles of heaven See how God with Christ hath given us all things See also if the infinite merit of Christ can any way be compatible of any mans merit or the mediation of Saints 2. Seeing our Lord Iesus being God could not become man but by the power of God Chap. 25. 26. who of the whole nature and substance of the Virgin made Him perfect man both soule and body And that He being thus also the Sonne of God and man did perfectly fulfill the law of a Sonne to doe alwayes those things which were pleasing to His Father Iohn 8.29 whereas all other men had revolted from their obedience and so forfeited their state of Son-ship and interest in their Fathers inheritance by the sinne o◠the first Father Adam which was created the sonne of God Luke 3.38 therefore the whole right in that inheritance of glory and happinesse which should have come unto all man-kind is due to Christ onely So that by the right of inheritance no man beside Himselfe can be capeable of heavenly Ioyes But because the possession of eternall happinesse is due to Him by a double right not onely that of Sonne-ship or inheritance but also by purchase through the infinite merit of His most pretious death whereto according to the will of His Father He became obedient for the sinne of man-kind therefore by this right hath He given an infinite right in the heavenly Inheritance to all them that come unto Him by a lively faith their hearts being clensed from dead workes to serve the living God In which right If He had not fully stated man-kind then had the benefit of His purchase beene utterly lost So His Incarnation His sufferings and all His promises made to vs had beene in vaine But all these things are impossible 3. Moreover it is to bee considered that the sinne of man in respect of the sinner must needs bee finite because a finite creature can no way doe an infinite action but the infinitie of the sinne is onely in respect of Him against whom the sinne is because of His infinite Iustice that is offended thereby But the satisfaction and the merit of Christs death was infinite not onely in respect of the infinitie or His Person who performed it but of Him also that did so accept it of Him that was not bound thereto in respect of any neede or debt of His owne but He performed all that obedience which was due for our sakes and in our name where a the merit of all other men being finite could no way be satisfactorie for their sin against an infinite Iustice neither yet can they bee so accepted of God because mans workes how good soever they are yet can they neither be moe nor better than man is bound unto Luk. 17.10 Neither are good workes truely ours but such as God hath done by us 1. Cor. 15.10 But seeing all our righteousnesse is as filthy raggs Esay 46.6 let us looke unto Christ Iesus who alone of God is made unto us
Sheol by the Septuagint translated Hades except by way of prophecy concerning Christ cannot signifie the place of the damned from whence there is no returning but onely extreame dangers griefe or hellish sorrowes of mind or such sicknesses as brought the body in danger of the grave To these words especially in the three last significations 2. Of the state of the Dead 3 Of the Place and 4. Paines of the damned the words Inferi and Infernus in Latin doe answere But hell with us is proper to the place of torment and doth not signifie any thing else but by a trope and is not of Heal as I thinke which sometime signifies to cover much lesse of Helle the Dutch word as much as bright or shining but of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hel a deepe ditch or trench as the word is used 2 Sam. 20.15 They cast up a banke against the City and it stood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bahel in the trench And hee that thinkes not that the Saxon our true language hath many things common with the Hebrew knowes neither the one nor the other as hee might § 2. Sect. 2 Now according to these takings of the words different interpretations have beene made of this Article of which because so much hath already beene written among our selues I may and purpose to be more briefe But because some formes of confession have left this Article out therefore it hath growne questionable whether it was alwayes in this Creed of the Apostles or not Of the Apostles I say or Apostolicall men their hearers gathered as the summe of the Apostles doctrine concerning the Faith And true it is that as it cannot be said by whom where or when this Creed was first composed as being the most ancient in this kind the rest being onely explications of some points herein made upon occasions of heresies or doubts thereabout So doe some men certainely affirme that all the other Articles were not put together at once Yet is it without doubt that this Article is as ancient as the rest that are found in the Creed seeing the most ancient among the Fathers Athanasius Origen Tertullian Irenaeus and others have so received and declared it And therefore that fancy of Eraesmus who suspected that Thomas Aquinas might foy'st it in was farre below both the one and the other seeing it is confest by Ruffinus who lived within the first 400. yeeres after Christ to have beene in the Creed used in the Church of Aquileia and so by him interpreted with the rest But although the Councell at Nice in Bithinia left it out of their Creed because their speciall businesse was against Arius concerning the Deitie of our Saviour and although the Arians in their Councell at Nice in Thracia put it in their Creed nay although Aquinas had first put it in were it therefore fit to leave it out or not to count it an Article of Faith as some would doe I thinke not seeing the holy Scripture gives authority to it Psalm 16.10 referred to Christ by the exposition of Saint Peter Actes 2.27 seeing all the Christian Churches have receiued it and seeing that according to the true and necessary meaning thereof there is no Article of the Creed which doth more clearely and directly overthrow the heresies of Arius and the Dimaeritae concerning the humane soule of Christ of which you read Chapter 26. Note a § 2. 1. Now concerning the different interpretations Some according to the first meaning of Sheol and Hades for the Grave thinke that Christ was truely buried and kept in the Grave three dayes and that this Article had no other meaning but a further declaration of Dead and Buried against the opinion of Marcion Valentin and such other heretickes as denyed the trueth of Christs being and His suffering as you heard before Note a on Chap. 27. 2. Others would that beyond the death and buriall it should impart a disposing of His body to corruption But if their meaning therein be this That the body of our Lord was laid in the grave where corruption doth seaze on the bodies of other men then this blind descent can looke no further then His buriall or if it must needs meane any thing more then would they force us by this Article to beleeve and confesse that which by the Scripture we know to be false For it was impossible that the holy One of God should either see corruption or be brought to any degree or disposition thereunto beyond the death and buriall of His body See Acts 2.24 27. 3. Some other by this descent of Christ will understand the uttermost degree of His humiliation that could come unto Him while His Soule was parted from the Body His honour laid in the dust the devill and his instruments triumphing over Him But the Creed was not framed to teach us the triumph and ioy of His enemies but His victory and their confusion And concerning our Lord Himselfe this goes no further then either of the former interpretations except in that sence which you shall heare anon Therefore none of these can be the meaning of this Article For in the abridgement or summe of our Faith interpretations are not fit especially such as are more darke than that to which they should give light Therefore this Article Hee descended into hell cannot in any of the former meanings be a declaration of that Hee was dead and buryed 4. A fourth interpretation is of them who thinke the descent of Christ meanes thus much onely That His soule being departed out of His body went unto the soules of the faithfull which were in Paradise which they interpret heaven But seeing heaven being taken not metaphorically for Ioy and happinesse but properly for a place must in all sence signifie that which is upward from the earth It must needes bee a very aukward interpretation of He descended into hell to say He ascended or went upward into heaven yet because this interpretation brings both reason and authoritie it shall bee examined by and by 5. A fift interpretation is of them who will have this descent to signifie nothing else but the endurance of those unspeakable sorrowes and torments which He suffered in soule being in His agony and on the crosse 6. A sixt sence is of them who hold that Hee did locally goe downe to hell so that according to the essence or being of His soule He was truely present there And as the former of these denie not but that Christ by His death did utterly spoile the powers of darknesse and so may be said virtually and by the effects of His suffering to have gone downe into hell because that by the eternall offering of Himselfe a ransome for the sinnes of the world and the performance thereof in the time appointed He did utterly free all His beleevers from Hell which was their due and setled them in the inheritance of eternall life so these latter for the most part denie not but that all this
which is said is agreeable to the trueth of the Scripture and the analogie of Faith onely they cannot yeeld that it is the true and native meaning of this Article And betweene these two parties all those texts of Scripture which are brought for the locall descent of Christ are hammered so thinne that may seeme plyable every way But let the strength of the Holy Text for ever stand sure and let us see the reasons a little on all sides with their answeres and exceptions And first of them that interpret this Article by the sufferings of Christs soule Object 1. Sect. 3 As the sufferings of Christ even from the first minute of His Incarnation were meritorious for us yet our ransome from the torments of hell was wrought especially by the suffering of His humane soule which torments of His soule Hee endured not onely by the torture or fellow-feeling of His naturall body nor by compassion onely on the sins and sorrowes of His body mysticall but also He might be said even to feele the sorrowes of eternall death when He saw Himselfe to be now set to suffer the wrath of God due to the sinnes of the whole world And if this bee not the proper and native sence of this Article how are wee taught by our Creed to beleeve more concerning Christ than wee confesse to be true of the theeves of whom wee may say they suffered under Pontius Pilate that they were crucified dead and buryed Al. Hume Rejoynd to Doctor Hil. I answere First the holy Scripture is profitable for doctrine for instruction for reproofe c. But the object of our faith is onely the Holy Trinity in Vnity and the satisfaction of Christ for our Redemption and the benefits which wee receive thereby And therefore although I beleeve and know by the Scriptures that Samson was the Sonne of Manoa yet I neither beleeve in Samson nor Manoa And though I know by the Scriptures that the penitent thiefe suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucifyed and dyed yet I beleeve not in him But concerning Christ as I beleeve that all His merits redound to us so I beleeve that all His sufferings were according to the Scripture a satisfaction to the justice of God for the sinnes of the world which they could not be but by the suffering both of His soule and body as it is said Esay 53. Hee shall see the travaile of His soule and bee satisfied If then wee know that whatsoever befell unto our Lord was that the Scripture might be fulfilled Matth. 26.54.56 and if wee beleeve and confesse in our Creed that He suffered according to the Scriptures and dyed and rose againe according to the Scriptures and that the Scriptures doe plainely testifie that by His sufferings and death the wrath of God against mans sinne is fully satisfied which as I said could not be but by His sufferings in His soule as well as in His body After these sufferings under Pontius Pilate what needes a second remembrance of His suffrings in soule under a title of a descent into hell Therefore when as I am bound to beleeve and confesse that the sufferings of Christ under Pontius Pilate were according to the Scriptures that is in soule and body I am bound to deny that the suffering of Christ in His soule is the native meaning of this Article He descended into hell 2. Beside the doctrine of Faith being a catechisme doctrine Heb. 6.1 and the sum thereof being for the use of children and novices it is not likely that the Church would have so generally received a creed wherin the thing to be beleeved should be laid down inwords that were tropicall and obscure when plaine and proper termes were necessary and at hand But hell cannot signifie the torments of hell but by a metonymia of the place for the adjunct of the place neither yet could it properly be said That our Saviour went down into bell when He was lifted up upon the Crosse where the especiall endurance and expression of His hellish torments were both in soule and body 2. Neither can it truely be said He descended into hell that is He suffered in soule the torments of hell but by a Synecdoche of the whole man for one part Neither were these torments of His soule more properly or truely called torments of hel then those torments of His body which we confesse He suffered under Pontius Pilate 3. Moreover after He was dead and buried it comes in unduly againe to make mention of His sufferings in soule a great part of which were endured in the garden before He came to the hands either of Pilate or of the Priests 4. And yet beyond all these reasons there is another argument that the Church did not interpret this Article by the sufferings of Christs Soule because as Gerrardus Vossius puts it De statu animae separatae Qu 1. It was the received opinion of the ancient Fathers even to this our time That the soules of the faithfull before Christ entred not into Paradise till Christ by His death had set it open and entred thereinto according to His promise to the thiefe on the Crosse And if all the soules of the faithfull were in hell taken in the second sence before mentioned though in a place of rest as Theophilus speakes and that by the comming of Christ thither they were brought to Paradise or a place of further joy then certainely this Article must in their iudgement be interpreted by the descent of Christ into hell after his death rather then by the sorrowes of His soule before it And to this purpose the learned Vossius brings some 20. Fathers from Tacianus the schollar of Iustin Martyr about the yeere of Christ 180. before whom He might have put His master Iustin as it is plaine in his Triphon Among those Fathers are Irenaeus Tertullian Origen Eusebius Athanasius Ambrose Ierom Epiphanius Chrysostom Augustin Cyril and beside them whom he reckons up he ads innumerable others and with them the sentence of the Councill of Toledo in the yeere 633. He descended into Hell that He might free them which were there detained Aug. Ep 99. writes thus If the reason be asked why our Saviour would come into hell where those sorrowes are of which He could not be held it was Because He was free among the dead Psal 88.5 Moreover concerning the first Father of mankind almost the whole Church agrees that He freed him there which may not be thought that the Church beleeved without cause although the expresse authority of the Canonicall Scripture be not alleadged He saith almost the whole Church because the heretickes called Tacians denyed that Adam was saved De Haeres Cap. 25. Vossius beside all these brings the consent of the Africane and of the Easterne Churches both of the Greekes and of the Nestorians with divers later writers as Zuinglius P. Martyr and others Obiect 1. Sect. 4 But the Fathers agreed not all in one judgement Answer True Neither
unto that place where the soules of the faithfull were before His comming This I thinke none will denie the Doctors old and new come all hereto The Reverend P. Martyr in Symb. saith thus Descendit anima Christi ad inferos c. The soule of Christ descended into hell meanes no other thing but that it did undergoe the same estate which other soues being separate from the body had experience of So Musculus in Eph. 4.9 Descendit ad nos in hunc mundum c. He descended to us in this world unto the grave and unto hell He descended to them whom He came to redeeme and as farre as they either living or dying had descended so farre also did He Himselfe descend that He might lift them up from below unto those places above from which He had descended Irenaeus said as much long agoe Lib 5. Cap. ult The Lord kept the law of the dead that He might bee the first-begotten from the dead Hitherto it seemes all parties are agreed But the assumptions set them at oddes againe as farre as heaven and hell For the old Interpreters inferre that the faithfull before Christ were in Abrahams bosome or in hell taken in the second sence But the new Interpreters inferre thus But the faithfull which were before Christ were in Abrahams bosome that is ascended into heaven properly so called For so the word Paradise doth signifie by the expresse authority of the Scripture 2. Cor. 12. verse 2. and 4. where the third heaven by Saint Paul is called Paradise For the first heaven is this of the Ayre to the Moone The second heaven is that of the Planets and Starres and the third heaven is Paradise the place of the blessed soules And this is one of the Arguments of them that reject the Iudgement of the Fathers and the ancient Church and holde the tropicall interpretation of hell for hellish torments of the mind And because I am here fallen into these bryars I will first put fire to them and afterward goe forward to the conclusion Therefore I answere The first heaven is this of the foules of heaven Gen. 1.20 The second is that of the cloudes of heaven Revel 1.7 So the third heaven for Paradise is in the Moone But this conclusion you laugh at Therefore you see on how weake and ungrounded principles they dispute 2. Beside is there no difference between a thing really performed and a vision as that of Paul which is not by things actually being but represented onely for instruction to the Prophet that sees it 3. But to grant all that the third heaven is Paradise and that the third heaven must signifie that which is above all the starres is there no Paradise beside when every place of pleasure is a Paradise Therefore though Saint Paul were in the third heaven yet the faithfull soules might bee in another Paradise before they came thither as Adam was 1. Objection This is contrary to the first conclusion of Vossius That the faithfull before Christ were not in Paradise till Christ opened it by His comming thither with the thiefe Answere It crosses not the opinion of the Fathers For though they put all the soules of the Saints in hell whither they also sent the soule of Christ yet they put them there into a place of rest and refreshing into a higher place in death free from torments and the tyranny of the devill and that by the authority of that historicall parable in Luke 16. where Lazarus on the one side of the gulph was in Abrahams bosome comforted the rich man in flames on the oâ—â—er side tormented So that first place or Paradise was that state or quiet wherein the faithfull soules rested from their labours of this life Iob 3. from verse 13. to 20. in Ioy and hope of Him that was to come But that Paradise which the Fathers meant was a more free state and the enjoying of a fuller happinesse by the presence of Christ the worke of their redemption being accomplished they having their Redeemer with them a sure pledge of their enterance into heaven after their resurrection as He should forthwith bee raised and ascend to heaven whither till that time they had no hope to come 2. Objection The same Faith hath the same fruits the same effects But the Fathers before Christ had the same Faith Therefore they went to Heaven as they that have beene since Christ. Answere The same faith hath the same fruits the same effects concerning the uttermost end of faith which is the salvation of the soule and the consummation of that blisse which is to be in eternall life but not concerning all the degrees and circumstances betweene For many Prophets and Kings desired to see the day of Christ yet saw it not but as they saluted the promisses afarre off by their Faith The bodies also of divers Saints were raised at the resurrection of Christ and appeared to such as had knowne them alive for proofe of all that benefit whereof all the faithfull shall bee partakers Which blessing neither Daniel Dan. 12.13 nor Paul are yet partakers of And this answere may serve for divers texts of Scripture which are unfitly brought to this purpose as that of Iohn 5.24 Heb. 13.14 and such others And therefore though it bee most certaine and true according to the Scriptures that the Gospel of Christ was an eternall Gospel and that His death was available to eternall life to all that beleeved in Him since the beginning of the world So that their soules after they were delivered from the burden of the flesh were in Ioy and felicitie yet is it as true which the trueth saith Iohn 14.2 In my Fathers house are many Mansions So that although the soules of the faithfull departed before Christ were in Paradise in Abrahams bosome in the Kingdome of God in Everlasting life yet were they not in heaven properly so called neither could they have the presence of their Redeemer when Hee was not yet incarnate by whom they might enioy the vision of God as now they doe 3. Obiect 3 Objection By this answere you grant then that they suffered the penaltie of losse as they call it though not of sence of losse I say because they were not in heaven in full happinesse as after their ascension with Christ which could not bee but either the merit of Christs sacrifice was not of force enough because it was not yet accomplished or else because their faith was not accepted I Answer Neither for the one reason nor for the other but because of that disposition and order which God had appointed to His creature into the reason of which no man may â—â—esume to enquire Then concerning the losse which you speake of it is denyed to be a penalty if it be not found Can the pint pot say I am not full because I cannot hold a gallon or shall the gallon say I am not full because I hold not a tun Doth not one starre differ from
hath it no power of any of His because His promise is that the gates of Hell shall not prevaile against his Church and that the Prince of this World hath nothing in Him Iohn 14.30 He speaketh not of His naturall but of His mysticall body so that every member thereof may say with David Psal 13.8 Though I make my bed in hell Thou art there there shall the wings of thy protection cover mee and I shall be safe under thy feathers For as thou hast died for me so hast thou gone downe to hell for me to spoile the powers therof that Thy Euridice may follow thee from thence without any feare of turning back againe 4. Moreover if it were necessary in the Articles of our Faith to bind us to beleeve that His body was buryed is it not much more necessary to know what became of His soule especially seeing the redemption of our soules and the freedome of them from hell doth much more concerne us and hath much more comfort therein then to be assured that our bodies shall rest in hope Skin for Skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life and ten bodyes would he forsake that his soule might bee partaker of eternall life But when the summe of our faith helpes us to give no reckoning what became of the soule of our Saviour more than this that it was afflicted with hellish torments while He was alive wee cannot say of our owne soules whether they die or sleepe as some have dreamed till the resurrection Therefore having confessed Him to bee dead that is His soule to have departed from His body His body to have beene laid in the grave let us also beleeve as we confesse that His soule went down into hel which none but an Infidell will deny 5. For the greatest benefit and deliverance the greatest glory and thankes are due to God which the creature is able to give But the greatnesse of the deliverance is not knowne to man but by the danger which hee hath escaped Therefore that man may bee truely humbled and truely thankfull to God therefore it is necessary that hee doe know what that vengeance and wrath of God against sin is and what that punishment which is due thereunto which he cannot doe but by the true sight and knowledge of that punishment which cannot be possibly in this life wherein we know nothing but by the sence Therefore as it is necessary that man doe know in the state after this life what the torments and paines of hell are by the true sight and perfect knowledge thereof that is in his spirit and understanding which with the acknowledgment of hell as his due is that actuall descent unto hell whereto every man is bound so for the assurance of our hope is it alwayes necessary to know that our ransome from thence was wrought and manifested by the most certain proofe and declaration that might be which could not bee by any messenger or tidings but by the presence alone of Him that wrought it For as it had bin of no availe for our Lord to have gone to hell before the satisfaction for sinne was made so being made and manifested unto the powers of hell it was not possible but that it should bee available for all them for whom it was made And thus was that fulfilled which in Hosea 13.14 O death I will be thy plagues O sheol hell I will be thy destruction repentance is hid from mine eyes 6. As it is impossible that the end of all the sufferings of our Lord should not follow when all those things were performed which were for the effecting of the end which was the delivery of the beleevers from the power of death so was it impossible that the end should follow till all things were performed that were for the end For so some of the meanes had bin ordained in vaine But that is impossible for His worke is before Him so that He leaveth nothing without the perfect accomplishment Therefore it was necessary that as our Lord had redeemed us by His death so He should also goe downe to hell for the delivery of His captives * 〈…〉 as it was spoken of Cyrus the type concerning the temporall captivitie but the highest trueth was verefied in our Lord concerning the eternall delivery He shall let goe my captiues not for price nor reward Esay 45.13 and as it followes more cleerely in the 14. verse compared with histories and most plainely by verse 15. Thou art God that hidest thy selfe c. 7. It was proved before § 5. and 6. That the soules of the faithfull before Christ had not ascended into heaven From whence it followes that they were in some other definite place which by the common consent of men heathen and Christians and the Holy Scripture it selfe is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hell as it was shewed before § 1. nu 2. to which place the soules of all men could not come but by the decree of God upon all mankind Now if the soule of our Saviour had not gone downe to them then had He not beene made like to His brethren in all things except their sinne Then had He not bin subject to the decree of God upon all mankind Then had not His love to man-kind bin perfected that having payd their ransome would not see them set at libertie without which the merit of His satisfaction had bin in vaine But all these things are impossible And therefore our Redeemer did really and actually goe downe to hell or the place of the beleevers being dead that Hee might free them from the power of death as by the vertue of the eternall offering of Himselfe He had preserved them from the hell of the damned Thus according to the meaning of the Church of England as far as I understand it have I faithfully declared and proved the meaning of this Article That our Lord after his death as concerning His soule went downe into hell and that not onely because I was baptized into this faith as this Church doth hold and professe it But also because I know that this Church holy and beloved of her Lord is faithfull unto Him and to Him alone For though she hold other Churches her sisters called faithfull and beloved and esteemes of their true Pastors and Doctors as beautifull and shining lights yet followes shee nothing of any mans because it is his whether Luther or Calvin or any other but Christ her Lord alone doth she follow according to his owne rule My sheepe heare my voice a stranger will they not follow for they know not the voice of strangers But therfore as I said before so doe I still professe that of this Church upon any light from God shall hereafter declare the meaning of this Article otherwayes than I have done I forsake my selfe to follow her so far as she shall follow Christ And if any faithfull man be otherwise minded concerning the meaning of this
Article then I have shewed yet doe not I therefore hold him of another Church or faith so long as he doth hold fast the foundation one God and one Mediator betweene God and man the man Iesus Christ For the Kingdome of God is not in the excellency of knowledge much lesse in wilfulnesse of opinion in matier of doubt but in joy and peace and comfort of the Holy-Ghost while a man doth those things which he knowes in himselfe he is bound to performe ARTICLE V. ⧠The third day Hee rose againe from the dead CHAP. XXIX THe sufferings of Christ were fulfilled as wee have seene now it followes that wee see the glories that should follow after of which the first is His triumph over death by His resurrection from the dead set against that in the Article before Hee was dead and buried And although by His death He is said to have triumphed over the principalities and powers of death and hell in His Crosse Col. 2.15 that is by the power and vertue of His merit as a champion by His valour and courage in the field overcame His enemie yet the actuall manifestation of His triumph was not solemnized till by His resurrection the power and glory of His victory did appeare But it may here be asked How Christ our Lord is said to have risen againe seeing Saint Paul saith Rom. 6.4 That Hee was raysed againe by the glory of the Father To which the answere is easily returned that Christ our Lord by His owne active power as He was God raised Himselfe from the dead and as man by a passive or received power was raised againe as He said of Himselfe Iohn 10.18 I have power to lay downe my life of my selfe and I have power to take it up againe This commandement have I received from my Father For for this end was it necessary that our Mediatour should be both God and man in one Person that that which was not fit nor possible for the God-head might bee endured in the humanity as those things which concerned His death and suffering and that which was impossible to His pure humanity might yet therein be perfected by His divinitie as Saint Paul saith Rom. 1.3.4 that He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to bee the Sonne of God by His resurrection from the dead But there is a great difference betweene the state or manner of His being before His death and after His resurrection For although the unitie of the humanitie with the God-head were alwayes before in and after His death the same yet was not that unitie alwayes manifested in the same glory and excellency For in the first state while He bare our infirmities His body was subiect to hunger cold wearinesse death and other accidents of a naturall body His soule also though according to the principall or first acts endued with the excellencie of reason and knowledge yet according to the second acts or practise not knowing the grave of Lazarus the day of Iudgement c. In the second state also His body was deprived of sence and life His soule of the proper habitation But in His resurrection His body was raysed immortall spirituall 1. Cor. 15.44.45 glorious and as in al the perfection of grace and compassion on us so with the fulnesse of Wisedome and Knowledge to see our miseries and to make intercesSion for us according to the will of God Rom. 8.26 27. Now concerning the trueth of this Article that our Lord Iesus rose againe from the dead though it be most powerfully witnessed by God Himselfe by Angels and men as you may read yet because the authoritie of the Scriptures wherin those things are recorded is set at nought by Iewes Turkes Infidels Hereticks and such God lesse people let not us endeavour to leade them like sheepe that follow their shepherd but drive them like asses with the cudgell of reason And as Saint Peter Actes 2.24 takes his first argument from the impossibility of not performing those things which are contained in the Scripture so our arguments shall be from the impossibilities in reason 1. It hath been prooved before that man was created innocent Chapter 15. That by his sinne he became subiect to death Chapter 16. That there is a restoring to a better estate Chapter 18. And that the restorer of mankind must be both God and man Chapter 20. and 21. Then that this restorer was Iesus our Lord the Sonne of the Virgin Mary Chapter 24. who by His sufferings and death made satisfaction for the sinnes of the world Whence I argue thus For the greatest good that can be done for mankind the greatest ill may not be rewarded for that were unjust with God The greatest good that could come to mankind was the ransoming of man from eternall death both of the body and soule The greatest ill and basenesse is to be left continually in the state of death wherein if Christ had still continued then had He suffered the greatest ill for the greatest good which could bee performed But this was impossible Therefore our Lord did rise againe from the dead 2. If Christ who sinned not should have borne the punishment of sinne that is to be subject to the power of death yea when the satisfaction was fully ended then should His obedience to God the Father have beene not onely without reward but also for the satisfaction of the justice God had He suffered from God I speake after the manner of men extreame injustice who had neither sinne of His owne for which He should suffer and had fully satisfied for their sinnes whose surety He was But this was utterly impossible For he that fulfilleth the Law shall live therein Levit. 18.5 ergo It was necessary that Christ having fulfilled the Law Iohn 19.30 Luk. 24.44 should rise againe 3. If Christ after His suffering and death had not risen againe then had He not prooved Himselfe to be the Saviour of the world seeing none would have beleeved Him to be able to give life unto others that was not able to quicken Himselfe So His suffering had beene in vaine and His satisfaction if not beleeved should have beene to no purpose So His greatest and best worke had effected no good to us but a perpetuall ill unto Himselfe But all these things were impossible Therefore Christ our Lord did rise againe 4. It is impossible but that where the greatest union is there should be the greatest love and consent The greatest union that may be is in our Mediator seeing the humane nature is sustained in the Person of the Deity But the soule of Christ being separate did naturally desire to bee united to the body for otherwayes should it not have desired the perfection of it selfe that is to give life and sence and to be one with that body which was peculiar to it selfe as the desire of all humane soules is and therefore depart so unwillingly from the body But if this were
the naturall desire of the soule no way sinfull the Deity infinite in power and in regard of the unity consenting thereto it must follow of necessity that our Lord was raised againe from the dead 5. Contrary causes must have contrary effects The devill by the sinne which he wrought in Adam had caused death to prevaile over life in all mankind Therefore Christ who came to destroy the workes of the deuill must cause life to prevaile over death But this could not be done in the members before it was perfected in the head Therefore Christ being dead must of necessity bee the first fruits of them that are raised from the dead And if it were necessary that Christ should first rise Ergo it was impossible that He should not rise See Log chap. 26.11.1 6. If Christ our Lord had not beene raised from death a then had it beene impossible that any of His beleevers should bee raised againe by the power and merit of His resurrection 1. And so the naturall desire of the soule to dwell with the body should be created in vaine 2. So the debt being paid the prisoner should ever be detained 3. So the afflictions of the Saints which they have suffered in body should be in vaine as cold hunger nakednesse reproach and shame imprisonment stripes yea and death it selfe willingly sustained for the love of God should be without reward But it were against the justice of God to cause the body and soule to suffer together and not to glorifie them both together 4. So also the death of Christ should not be meritorious and effectuall for the procuring of all that good which might and ought to come thereby both to Himselfe and all His beleevers For although the soules of the faithfull for the merit and full satisfactions sake of His death being separate might enjoy an eternall though not a full happinesse without the body yet the body should be left eternally to the power of death and so the workes of the devill should not be destroyed by Christ 5. So also the body should be created in vaine if to sorrow onely without the hope of happinesse 6. So God should lose His right in His creature if Hee were not Lord both of the living and of the dead both of the soule and of the body 7. So the one sinne and disobedience of Adam should be more powerfull to condemne mankind then the everlasting and most perfect obedience of the Sonne of God should be to save it But all these things are impossible And therefore Saint Paul saith Rom. 4.25 That Christ was delivered to death for our sinne and raised againe for our Iustification For if Christ be not raised againe then are we yet in our sinnes 1. Cor. 15.17 not that any addition was made by His resurrection to that satisfaction which He made by His death but because the resurrection of Christ is a sure and manifest proofe of His conquest over sinne death hell and all the power of the devill and that His suffering and death was a full and sufficient sacrifice whereby the wrath of God against sinne was fully satisfied so that we are now justified in His sight whereas if in the conflict of our Redeemer with death and hell He had been overcome then could we have had no faith nor hope that our sinne by His death had beene done away But now knowing that He hath overcome death and is returned to life againe in all the troubles and sorrowes of this life and in the agonies of death wee may be secure as the feet or toes that are lowest under the water may hope at last to come to land because they know that their head being above the water the body cannot be drowned 7. Now concerning that impossibility of Saint Peter it stands thus It is impossible that the Scripture being the declaration of Gods trueth made by Himselfe 2. Pet. 1.21 2. Tim. 3.16 should faile But it hath beene declared by the Scripture that Christ should be raised againe from the dead Therefore it was impossible that He should still be held under the power of death The text cited by Saint Peter is found Psal 16.10 to which you may adde the types of the old Testament whereby the death and resurrection of our Lord was signified as that of Noah Gen. 9. ver 20. c. When our Saviour being as it were drunken with the love of His Church and desire of mans salvation tooke our state upon Him and for us became subject to the death of the Crosse when being seene by the Iewes those Chumits in the nakednesse or infirmity of our estate He was set at nought by them that thought that their Messiah could not die Iohn 14.34 But when Noah our Rest and Comforter awaked out of His grave He brought on them that destruction which was foretold as the punishment of their hardnesse of heart and unbeliefe See Psalm 41.10 Dan. 9.26 So the Ram taken by his hornes in the bush Gen. 22. was the type of His death and Isaac taken alive from the Altar the figure of His resurrection Ioseph also taken out of the dungeon to be ruler over all the land of Egypt To the same purpose was the law of the two goates Levit. 6. the one slaine for a sinne offering the other sent alive into a land of separation to make an atonement for all iniquity transgressions and sinne of the people So by the two Sparrowes Levit. 14. He that was like to the solitary sparrow on the house top Psalm 102.7 shed His blood for the cleansing of our leprosie yet by the other that was sent alive into the open ayre His resurrection was figured Sampson the Nazarite asleepe in Gaza signified our Lord in the sleepe of death for the love of His Church yet waking and having opened the gates of death He carryed them away and ascended in triumph to the top of the mount Iudg. 16.3 And because the strong gates of death are carryed away we are assured that all they that sleepe in the dust of death shall rise to give an account of their workes Beside these types you have also the prophecies of the old Testament as Psalm 68.20 That to Him belonged the issues of death both to passE out of death Himselfe and also to bring out His from thence Esay also Chap. 53. after He had declared His sufferings and death proves His resurrection by His dividing the spoile with the strong Our Lord also foretold His resurrection Himselfe in Mat. 12.49 and Luk. 18.33 and the b infidelity of Thomas made it certaine unto all Vpon all which texts we may firmely conclude with Saint Peter that it was impossible that our Lord should be held in the bands of death 8. And why the third day was appointed for His resurrection a reason or two are rendered Hee rose not before that none might doubt but that He was certainely dead See the 27. chap. for His death and buriall Neither was it
raysed unto you as Moses of your brethren is there not one man among you that understands any more Doe you not heare the words of your Prophet Hosea 1.7 I will save them saith GOD by IEHOVA their God and will not save them by bow nor by sword nor by battell by horses nor by horse-men as you still dreame But which is the greater deliverance that from hell and the power of sinne and eternall death or from any temporary and worldly thraldome If the greatest deliverance bee performed why doate you on the lesse Which cannot bee till you forsake your infidelitie and returne Returne therefore unto Iesus your God for whom you are fallen by your unheliefe Take with you words and turne to the Lord your God and say unto Him Take away our iniquity and receive us graciously so will wee render the calues of our lips But you will say why did not Christ shew Himselfe alive to all the Iewes at once that they might all beleeve I answere that the life to which our Lord redeemed us is a spirituall life unto which we must walke by faith and not by sight And if it bee not sufficient proofe of His resurrection that He beside other times shewed Himselfe alive to five hundred at once 1. Cor. 15.6 neither would it have beene sufficient to them that seeing would not see and hearing would not heare who said that His great workes were done by the power of the devill though Hee had conversed among five hundred thousand of them every day ARTICLE VI. ⧠He ascended into heaven c. CHAP. XXX § 1. THough the Iustification of the Articles of our Creed bee my onely worke Yet heere I heare two questions demanded of mee The first who those were which are said Matth. 27.52 and 53. to have risen at the resurrection of Christ and to have shewed themselues to many in Irerusalem The second where our Lord was in that time of 40. dayes betweene His resurrection and ascension seeing it is manifest that He conversed not wholely with His Disciples but shewed Himselfe unto them at severall times and that especially on the first dayes of the weeke as on that day He had risen from the dead To these I answere where I have the authority of the Scripture boldly where I have not I leave you at your libertie to thinke with mee First therefore in the number of them that rose immediately after the resurrection of our Lord I put those high Saints which are reckoned in the Genealogie of our Lord from Adam unto Ioseph His nursing Father except Henoch and with them many of the Saints who had slept in the faith of Christ to come in the memory and knowledge of such as were yet alive in Ierusalem as Zechary and elizabeth Simeon Hanna and many others who by speciall grace were raysed againe shewed themselues alive unto such as were appointed thereto and to them bare witnesse not onely of the resurrection of Christ but by experience in themselues did also testifie that the power and vertue of His Resurrection was of force and availe for the raising up of all them that should beleeue in Him And of these especially you must understand that speech of our Lord which is Iohn 5. Chapter from verse 19. to 30 where He saith that the houre was comming and was even then at hand when the dead should heare the voice of the Sonne of God and should live As you may remember how it was said Note a on the last Chapter that the faithfull are raised by the vertue of Christs resurrection but they that shall be raised up to judgement at the last day are raised up by the power of the Father Of these faithfull that had dyed was that word of our Saviour spoken as it is manifest by the text And this is that captivitie or number of Captives which till then had beene held under the bands of death but by the victory of Christs resurrection were freed from death and ascended with Him on high when Hee gave gifts unto men Eph. 4.8 And although some will needes interpret that resurrection only of a new life by repentance from dead workes yet the arguments in that place will not so hold All that are in the graves shall heare the voyce of the Father and shall come foorth some to life some to damnation ver 28.29 Therfore some shall heare the voice of the Sonne and live verse 25. For the Father quickneth the dead so the Sonne verse 21. And whatsoever the Father doth the same things doth the Sonne likewise But to raise the dead and to give Repentance are not the same things So then that which is heere spoken by our Lord is no other thing than that which was prophesied by Hosea 6.2 The third day He will raise us up and wee shall live in His sight and was here fulfilled by the testimony of the Evangelists And if the first fruits be holy then also the whole lumpe Rom. 11.16 So that we which have the same faith shall at last receive the end of our hopes and have our parts in that holy resurrection whereof whosoever is partaker on Him the second death can have no power For as that prophesie of Ioel 2.18 was fulfilled in part after the ascension of our Saviour It shall be in the latter dayes that I will powre out of my Spirit upon all flesh c. Act. 2.17 and for a proofe or assurance of that which shall be fulfilled not in 120. Persons but in all flesh when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea Es 11.9 Hab. 2.14 So likewise was that resurrection a pledge and assurance of that holy resurrection of the dead in Christ which shall rise first 1 Cor. 15.23 1 Thes 4.16 but the rest of the dead shall not rise till the time be fulfilled that they shall be judged according to those things that are written in the bookes Revel 20.4.5.12 Whereas of these it is said Iohn 5.24 That they shall not come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into iudgement much lesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into condemnation but are passed from death unto life For he that judgeth himselfe and condemneth himselfe and brings no other plea unto Christ but that for mercy may be sure to find mercy in the time of need See 1 Cor. 11.31 Heb. 4.16 Now for the second question although it seeme more curious then profitable to aske where our Saviour was after the time of His resurrection during His absence from His Disciples yet I will answere what I thinke and leave you upon better consideration to give a better answere First therefore it is manifest by the Scripture that our Lord shewed Himselfe Eleven times after His resurrection if oftner yet is it not manifest by the text Of this number five manifestations of Himselfe were on the day of His resurrection 1. To Mary Magdalen alone Mar. 16.9 2. To her againe and the other
of the ordinary means which in the Church is the Word read and preached and the Sacraments by which all men are called to repentance and faith in Christ which if they refuse their condemnation is just Also out of the visible Church nature calls in a softer voyce upon all nations and people of the world and upon every one in particular to feare God and to give Him glory which made the heaven and the earth and all therein And moreover the light of every mans conscience accusing or excusing him for those things which he doth contrary or according thereto is the witnesse of God in every mans heart to excuse or condemne him And in respect of these meanes God may be said to will that all men should be saved in that he doth offer his mercy to all and call upon them to turne unto Him that they might be saved if they want not grace to accept it Object 4. The want of that is not imputed to any man which is onely in the power of another to give and seeing that without repentance faith hope and perseverance in vertue no man can attaine to happinesse which vertues of repentance c. are onely in God to give as the Prophet saith Lam. 3.21 Turne Thou us unto thee ô Lord and so shall wee bee turned it may seeme that the want of these things ought not to be imputed to any man Answere If any man refuse a good thing when it is offered the want of that shall be imputed to himselfe as to the wicked that saith to God Depart from us for wee desire not the knowledge of thy wayes Iob 21.14 and these are they whom God is said to harden because they have hardened their owne hearts through the custome of sinne that they cannot repent Therefore though the predestinate that the mercy of God may appeare are conuerted by the inward and effectuall calling their hearts being renewed by repentance to follow him that calleth yet that the order of Iustice may be observed they that forsake their owne mercy are still left to the punishment of their sinne both originall and actuall because they neglect the outward calling and wilfully shut their eyes against the light of their naturall knowledge and conscience See Rom. 9.21 c. And according to this sence is it that in Scripture the hardning of man in sinne and the preseruing man from sinne seemes to be attributed to God both wayes as where he is said to harden Pharaohs heart and to Abimelech a Gen. 20.6 I have kept thee from sinning against me § 2. Sect. 2 And thus it being manifest what this holy Church is and of what persons it doth consist it followes first to proove that there is such a Catholike Church as wee say wee doe beleeve to bee then to see the differences which are betweene this Catholike Church and other particular Churches and Congregations 1 If there were not a number of holy people which God hath chosen unto eternall life then the end of Christs sufferings for us were all in vaine and the whole race of mankind should have beene created onely to destruction So the mercy of God toward His creature that had sinned should be without effect Neither should His glory be magnified in saving that which was lost So the devill the enemy of mankind might magnifie himselfe against God in that he had destroyed His creature irrecoverably But all these things are impossible Therefore there is a holy Church chosen of God unto eternall life And if this holy Church in the parts or members thereof had not continued in all ages since God made His promise of a Savior to Adam then faith had fail'd from among men and the promises of God being either not beleeved or forgotten the sons of God begotten by the immortall seed had failed So the throne of Christ when there was no faithfull heart wherein He reigned should not have beene established for ever contrary to the promise Psalm 89. ver 4 29 36. and Luke 1. ver 33. So the seed of the enemy onely had flourished in the earth contrary to the disposition of that wise husbandman Matth 13.30 Let both grow together untill the haruest But these things are impossible Therefore the holy Church is also Catholike or continuing from the beginning to the end of the world For your better understanding you may take these arguments apart 2. If the goodnesse of God being essentially one with His infinity were not diffusive or spreading it selfe upon the creature for the succour and aid thereof in the greatest misery then should it be exceeded by the malice and wickednes of the devill which though it be the greatest that may be yet must it needs be finite as having the originall from a finite creature But it is impossible that God should be exceeded by the malice of the devill therefore there is a restoring of man to that blessednesse and glory from which he fell by his sinne as you have seene it prooved before in the 18. Chapter and from all the reasons there brought to that conclusion you may bring reasons for the proofe of this Article 3. If man were created according to the will of God innocent and without sinne then that present estate of sinne and death the punishment thereof wherein he now is must needs have beene brought upon him since his creation contrary to the revealed will of God wherein though for the declaration of the justice of God against sinne some be suffered to continue yet because sinne is contrary to the will of God and death contrary to the end of His creation of mankind it is necessary that there be a redemption or freeing of some appointed thereunto from the thraldome both of sin and death But it hath beene prooved Chap. 15. that man was created innocent Therefore there is a Church or a number knowne unto God of them that are so redeemed 4. There is a God who hath made His promises of everlasting life There is faith hope and repentance and other vertues both Christian and morall whereby the promises of God are apprehended and obedience performed to His Commandements Therefore there is a holy Catholike Church For it is impossible either that the promises of God should faile of their performance or that faith and other vertues should be without their reward For so the Spirit of grace which wrought these vertues in man should worke in vaine But this is impossible 5. This holy Catholike Church is declared in sundry places of the holy Scripture and in special according to all the causes thereof in the Epistle to the Ephes 4. chap. 1. from vers 2. to 15. And although Saint Paul in that place write to a particular Church yet is the Catholike Church no other than such as is there described no more then the Brittish or Spanish Seas are different from the great Ocean either in substance or qualities For there is but one body and one Spirit one Lord one faith