for it pleased the father that in him should dwel the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily and in truth being the sonne of his father not by adoption as are we but by essence not by grace but by nature being the very image of the father and the engrauen forme euen of his substance he could not but be God For as euery creature bringeth forth their yong after their kinde so the creator of all must needes bring forth after his kinde God of God euen of the substaunce and essence of himselfe And therefore Paul speaking of our sauiour saith that he was in the forme of God and thought it no robbery to be equall with God for although the person of the father is distinct from the person of the sonne yet in the essence and nature of the dietie they are one I and my father are one wherefore as Christ spake to the disciples of Iohn which came to know whether he were that Messiah that should come goe tell Iohn what you haue heard seene Euen so may we answere to them that doubt of the dâ—etie of our Sauiour goe tell what you haue heard of him For when thou hearest that the dead were raised by him and restored to life that the diuels were cast forth and stood at his commaund that he cured all sicknes by his worde that he calmed the waters when they did rage and made the windes be hush when they did bluster how caÌ„st thou but with Thomas fall at his feete speake to his glory and thy soules good My Lord my God how canst thou crie out with that elect vessel of a truth great is the mistery of godlinesse God is manifested in the flesh Now as our Sauiour is God of the same nature with his father so it is worth our labour to consider that it was most expedient that he so should be For otherwise how could he satisfie the wrath of his father due to our sins for when our sins were infinite according to the infinite maiestie of God whom they did trespasse it must needs be that he which is to satisfie for those infinite sinnes must either be of an infinite nature or must for all infinity be for euer punished But now since the sorrowes of death are fully losed in our Sauiour and he himself spake of them Consummatum est it is finished it must needes be since he conquered death and him that had the power of death which is the deuill also as S. Paule speaketh hee abolished death and brought life and immortalitie vnto light it must needes be that he should be of an infinite nature and therefore God For as none can forgiue sinnes but God so none can beare the burden of sinne but God for it draue Adam out of paradise and the angels out of heauen So that since Christ was to beare the burden of our sinnes which man and angell was not able to doe it must needes be that he should be greater then man or angell and that is God Nay when he willed vs which beleeued on his father to beleeue also on him and when we may not beleeue on any sauing on the Lorde of host for if we do we bring a curse vpon our soules most conuenient it is that our sauiour should be God especially since the Lord saith of himselfe that beside him there is no Sauiour To conclude if he were not God how should his eares be open to our prayers how should he see our sighes and inward gronings how should his merite be auailable to all except he were omnisufficient of himselfe and and through the infinitie of himself did make his merite of infinite price Wherfore that he might be able to beare the burden of our sin and to satisfie for the infinitie of the same that we might beleeue on him as we do on the father that his merite might bee made auailable to all it is expedient that he should bee God Now as he was God so is he also man therfore the Apostle when he had shewed that their was but one mediator betwixt God man he after addeth the maÌ„ Christ Iesu for who was to bruise the Serpentes head but the seede of the woman in whom was al nations to be blessed but in the seed of Abraham and this seede as the Apostle speaketh was Christ from whence came that righteous braunch that should reigne as king but from the seed of Dauid according to the flesh So that if to be the fruit of Maries wombe the which he was although most blessed if to be made of woman the which he was became for vs most cursed if to be the sonne of man with which name he often intituleth himselfe doth proue him to be man nay if to haue flesh bloud and bone the which we haue if to hunger and thirst the which we doe if to die and goe the way of all flesh doth proue our sauiour to be man then was he man in al things like to vs his brethren except only sinne euen man not in phancie but in truth of the very substaunce of his mother not of her shadow which had not onely a bodie but a soule too so that we may truely speake of him as we do of Adam Abraham all the rest he was man And as you haue heard out of the Scripture that he was man see was it most necessarie that he should so be for how could he die if he were onely God since the godhead is impossible and can no more suffer then doe the beames of the sunne which shineth on a tree suffer when the tree is fallen and cut downe Surely as Alamandurus answered the Manichees that would enforce him to beleeue that Christ was not man that he receaued a letter that Michael the archangell was dead to whom when they replied that that could not be because he was an angell In like sort said he no more can Christ die if he be as you say onely God And although he had some other nature than the nature of man wherein hee might suffer yet when man in his nature had offended and trespassed God it standeth in reason that God in mans nature should be satisfied For as Chrysostome reasoneth that Christ could not bee the Sauiour of our soules except he had a soule in which he might satisfie for such sins we had committed in our soules euen so we may conclude that he could not satisfie for the sinnes of man except that he had beene also man Nay wheÌ„ this was the end of his comming to make vs of the sonnes of men the sonnes of God for but by Christ we haue no power to be called his sonnes how could hee effect this to our good except hee which was the sonne of God should first become the sonne of man wherfore that
needes follow there is no more temporall punishment to be suffered and endured by vs. And therefore Austin in his boke against Faustus discourcing on those words of the Apostle he was made a curse for vs saieth for Christ without all guilt of sinne tooke vpon him our punishment that he might from thenceforth do away the filth of our sinnes and made an end of our punishment The same Austin after many wordes Prorsus prorsus Christus dominus noster without all doubt Christ our L. Iesus our Sauiour our redeemer was made sin for vs that we might be made the righteousnes of God in him if thou aske how sayeth that father heare the lawe for in the law the sacrifices which were offered for sinne were called sinnes for thou hast that when the sacrifice for sinne was brought that the lawe said let the preestes put their handes vpon the sinne that is as he expoūdeth vpon the sacrifice for sinne and what is Christ else but sinne it is a sacrifice for sinne If Christ then be made sinne that is a sacrifice on whom the punishment of sinne was inflicted and so made sinne that he may put an end vnto our punishments without all question there is now no punishment for our sinne left to be endured and suffered by vs. Thou wilt say what are our inward griefes and torments of mind what the conscience of our sinne and feare of Gods iustice what the calamities and miseries of our friends what our sicknesses yea death nay sinne it selfe and a thousand other euils more common to the saints of God then other but punishments of our sinne I graunt whatsoeuer other saith that the Scripture calleth these the punishments of sinne after a sort they are because they are the very fruites and effects of sin although God sendeth not these to punish sinne in vs which he hath punished in his sonne But either to make triall of our patience as he did of Iobs or to shew how he hates sinne as he did to Dauid or to driue vs from our sinne as he did Manasseth or to winne vs to himselfe as he did the prodigall child or to make vs loth the world as he did the godly and to grieue that we cānot serue him with that puritie we should and as he requireth Wherefore as Chrysostome speaketh Why doest thou wayle that thou doest suffer it is a medicine to thee not a punishment a castigation no damnation But yet they reply that God sendeth miseries on his children for none of these endes but to punish sinne which they haue committed be it so as they say yet I denie as is before made manifest that which all the Papist do so greatly labour that these endured punishments make any recompence to God for our sinne or any whit satisfie the wrath of the father conceaued against them True it is that in the infancie of the Church certaine temporall punishments were inflicted on offenders canonicall satisfaction was required but yet not to satisfie God but the Church not to make due recompence for the sinne cōmitted but by this publike submission to declare their vnfained sorrow repentance for their sinne the which kind of discipline as then so now it is most behouefull for the church and house of God For by those means not only the Church is in some sorte satisfied which much grieueth at the fall of her children but the offendant himselfe is better occasioned to consider his wretched miserable estate and forced as it were to hate his sinne and to take held of the great mercy of his God And not onely is this discipline behoueful for these but for other also whereof some are in other out of the Church of God For they that are in the church by the punishment of other are made more wary lest happily that which they see in other should be also sāpled in thēselues they that are out haue no cause to slander the good word of God or to speake euill of his spouse because shee winketh not at the faultes of her children or proposeth vnto them liberty to sin but guideth their steps in the way of righteousnes punisheth thē when they goe awrie But to let this passe as a matter not pertinent to our purpose out of that which hath bin spokē you see that Christ Iesus hath our sins imputed vnto him that by his obedience blessed passion he hath deliuered vs not onely frō some sins but from all not from the guilt and filth of them but from the paine punishment too that not from the paine eternal only but also from all paine temporall in this life Now then as you haue heard how that he was made sinne for vs so now it foloweth that we should declare how we are made the righteousnes of God in him where not what the Apostle speaketh he was made sinne not a sinner but sinne nether was he made by man but by God and to what end that wee should be made we cannot make our selues for we are Gods workmāship what not righteous but righteousnes not of man but of God and that not in our selues but in Christ The which speach of the Apostle doth most manifestly declare the meanes by which wee are reputed righteous in the sight of God the father euen by the righteousnes which is in Christ not in vs yet by Gods mercy imputed to vs thorough faith receaued of vs neither is not this sence enforced on the Apostle besides his meaning but witnessed by most auncient catholicke fathers before this question of inherent righteousnes was euer moued and debated in the church And therefore Austin In the olde law the sacrifices for sinne were called sinnes the which sacrifice for sinne he that is Christ was truly made of whom the sacrifices of the lawe were but shadowes And after shewing how Christ was made a sacrifice for sinne he saith God to whom we were to be reconciled made him sin for vs that is a sacrifice for our sin by whom he might reconcile vs so to himselfe he therefore was made sin that we might be made righteousnes not ours but Gods not in our selues but in him euen as he that is Christ was made sin not his owne but ours not in himselfe but in vs. And in the end he concludeth this is that righteousnes of God not by which he himself is iust but by which we are made righteous before him So that as our sins cannot be said to be inherent in Christ but onely imputed vnto him no more is his righteousnes inherēt in vs but only by Gods mercy imputed to vs. Yet so that as he actually indured the paines of our imputed sins so shal we also actually inioy yea in part now do the fruite of his imputed righteousnes neither was this once barely spoken of this godly father but as the Apostle Paule in his
epistles shewed that Christ was made vnto vs our righteousnes that we are iustified onely by faith that is by Christ apprehended by faith So he speaking of Christ saieth he is onely iust and the iustifier made that he sayeth the only iustifier And againe in an other place Blessed are they that thirst after righteousnes for they shal be satisfied now the Apostle Paule saith he doth shewe that Christ is our righteousnes and therfore he that hūgreth after this bread hungreth after righteousnes that came downe from heauen which God giueth not which man maketh to himself And in the end concludeth This is righteousnes of God not by which God is righteous but by the which God giueth vnto man that mā might be righteous before him Thus then you see that if we seeke to be found righteous before God wee must bring not that righteousnes which is of our workes but that righteousnes which we haue not in our selues but by faith in Christ Iesu For as Chrysostome speaketh this is Gods righteousnes since not of our workes And as vertuous Bernard discoursing on the merite of man the comfort of christians in the midst of their troubles My merite saith he is the mercy of God and so long as he shal not be without mercy so long I shall not be without merite what then shall I sing of my righteousnes nay I wil remember thy righteousnes onely euen the righteousnes of God which he giueth in Christ for by this he iustifieth the world For as there is no sitting at the supper of the great king except we are clothed with our wedding garmēt so there is no comming into the presence of the Father but with this robe of righteousnes the righteousnes of the sonne The which Pighius seing in this wise writeth Therfore it is that our righteousnes is placed in Christs obediēce because the same is imputed to vs which are incorporated into him as though it were our owne so that by it euen we are accounted righteous And as Iacob being not the first borne yet couering him self with his brothers sweet smelling garmēt did so insinuate himselfe vnto his father that vnder an other person he obteined the blessing of the first borne euen so is it meet that we lie hid vnder the purenes of Christ our elder brother that wee smell of his sweet couer our imperfections with his perfections that so comming into the presence of God our father we may receiue the blessing of righteousnes frō him And the same Pighius after not well vnderstanding the fauorers of the truth would seeme in this cause to conclude against them but with them as his words do speake But we say if we speake formally and properly that we are not iustified before God either by our faith or by our loue but by the onely righteousnes of God which is in Christ And that which Pighius speaketh the same we speake with our Apostle we are made the righteousnes of God in him Wherfore as Beda noteth out of Austin vpō the 126. Psalme Away with thy selfe away I say with thy selfe for thou doest but hinder thy selfe if thou shalt build thy selfe thou buildest thy ruines for except the Lord builde the house in vaine doe they labour that doth build the same do not therfore wil to haue thy righteousnes least thou be voided of the righteousnes of Christ What then wilt thou say shall I liue losely be nothing studious of good works God forbid for you are Gods workemanship created to good works which God hath prepared that you should walke in them Although those thy workes doe not make thee righteous before God yet they are fruites of that righteousnes which thou hast in Christ by them thou causest thy father to be glorified sealest vp thine election to thy selfe A good tree is knowen by his fruit a true faith by his loue What should we say they that are iustified in Christ doe liue in Christ nay Christ liueth in them his good spirite maketh them fruitfull vnto euery good worke but this is not questioned at this time what we should be in this life or how we should be iustified before man but by what meanes we should stand iustified before God and that wee say is not by our workes but by the righteousnes of God which is found by faith in Iesu Christ But yet the weake Christian will say how can this be one man may pay an others debt but how can one satisfie for an others sinne the Scripture sayth the father shall not eate a sower grape and the childes tooth shal be turned an edge but that euery one shall beare his owne burden and that the soule which sinneth shall die the death How then is the iustice of God satisfied that he which knew no sinne should be punished for our sinne that we which are full of sinne should reape the fruite of that righteousnesse that is in him How euen very well because he is not an other from thee but is one with thee for if we looke vpō that blessed vnion by which al faithfull soules are iayned vnto Christ the man is not more ioyned to his wife nor the science to the stocke nor the foode vnto the body which it doth nourish nor in the body one member to one other or they al vnto the head as is Christ Iesu vnto his Church and to euery faithfull soule that trusteth and beleeueth in him And therefore sometime we are said to be one bodie in him sometime to growe vp into him which is our head sometime to be members of Christ sometime to be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh sometime to dwell in him and he in vs sometime to be one with him what should I say this the faithful know and thus wee must know except as S. Paule speaketh we be reprobats know ye not your owne selues how that Iesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates Thus beloued are we his vnworthy members vnited vnto him which is our head by those two most blessed handes his spirit which he giueth vnto vs and our faith which we reach to him Then goe to let this bee graunted that Christ and the faithfull are but one that he is the head of that misticall body whereof they are members then let vs see how the iustice of God is violated whilest he is punished we rewarded Thou sayest in thy vsuall speach that man seeth and man heareth yet it is his eare that heareth and eye that seeth euen so thou mayest say that it is man that hath borne the punishment of sin although it is his head Christ Iesu that hath borne and endured the same For as in the naturall body that which is proper to the eye and to the eare is attributed vnto the whole in