vs his owne Pawne the presence of the Comforter to supplie his owne presence to guide comfort and to assure vs of our adoption and saluation The tenth and last is Perseuerance in hauing holding the former gaines For thus faith the Lord I will put my feare into their hearts that they shall not depart from me And it must be remembred that these wordes are not spoken onely in generall to the church but also in singular to euery true member thereof because they are the words of the couenant Againe Dauid saith that the righteous man is like a tree planted by the waters side whose leafe neuer withereth who therefore hath alwaies sappe of grace in the heart to the ende Againe as Christ is our gaine in life so is he also our gaine in death in as much as he hath taken away the sting of death and hath changed the condition of it by making it of the gate of hel to be the way to eternall life Thirdly he is our gaine after death three waies Our first gaine is the resurrection of our bodies to eternall life in the day of iudgement The second is a priuiledge to iudge the world For first of all iudgement shall passe vpon the godly which done they shall be taken vp to Christ and there as witnesses and approouers of his sentence of condemnatioÌ„ iudge togither with him the wicked world The third is the eternall retribution in which God shall be all in all first in Christ and then in all the members of Christ and that for euer and euer The next point to be handled is How Christ is our gaine For the answering of this two questions are to be opened The first is According to what nature is Christ our gaine I answer following the ancient catholik doctrine That whol Christ is our gain according to both natures The godhead of Christ profits no sinner without the manhood nor the manhood without the godhead And as Leo saith each nature worketh that which is proper vnto it hauing coÌ„munication with the other Againe God may be considered two waies God absolute or God made man God absolute that is God absolutely considered without respect to Christ is indeede a fountaine of righteousnes and life but this fountain â—s closed sealed vp and not to be attained vnto because our sinnes make a separation betweene God and vs and God thus considered is a Maiestie full of terrour to all sinnefull men But God considered as he was made man and manifested in our flesh is also a fountaine of goodnes yea the same fountaine opened vnsealed and flowing forth to all mankind Hence it is that Christ is called the light of the world the bread and water of life the way the truth the life Here againe we must remember to make a difference or distinction of the natures of Christ. For the Godhead of Christ is our gaine not in respect of essence but in respect of vertue and operation shewed in or vpon the manhood of Christ whereby it makes things which were done and suffered in the said manhood apt and sufficient to appease Gods anger to merit eternall life for vs. As for the manhood it is not onely in effect and operation but also really communicated to the faith of the beleeuing heart and herupon it is as it were a Treasurie and storehouse of all the rich graces of God that serue to iustifie saue or any way to inrich the Elect of all ages and times through the whole world If any doubt of this let them consider three things of this most glorious manhood The first is the grace of personall vnion whereby it is receiued into the Vnitie of the second person hath no beeing or subsisting but onely in the subsistance thereof And hence it is truly tearmed the humanitie of the Sonne of God or of the Word The second is that this manhood hath in it all fulnes of grace commonly called in schooles habitual grace Now this fulnes of grace containes in it all the gifts of the holy Ghost and that in the highest degree of perfection It hath therefore in it gifts more for number greater for measure then all men and angels haue The third is that it receiueth this excellencie of gifts and graces not for it selfe but that it may be as it were a pipe or conduit to conuaie the same graces to all the Elect. Our saluation and life depends on the fulnesse of the Godhead which is in Christi neuerthelesse it is not conuaied vnto vs but in the flesh by the flesh of Christ. Thus much Christ signifieth when he saith My flesh is meate indeede And Except ye eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drinke his blood ye haue no life in you And He which eateth my flesh abideth in me and I in him And Iohn the Baptist saith Of his fulnes we receiue grace for grace The supper of the Lord is ordained for the increase and continuance of grace and life and of it Paul saith The bread which we breake is a fellowship or coÌ„munion with the very bodie of Christ. On this manner Christ is said to be made vnto vs of God wisdome righteousnesse sanctification redemption Wisdom not because the essential wisdome of the godhead is giuen to vs for that is infinit and incommunicable Neither againe because he is the author of our wisdome giuing vs knowledge of our saluation as the Father and holy Ghost doe Nor because he is the matter of our wisdome the knowledge of whome is eternall life but for an higher cause then all these Our mediatour the man Iesus Christ who is also God is an head vnto vs and a Roote of our wisdome For he was annointed with the spirit of wisdome in the assumed maÌ„hood not priuatly for himselfe but that we also which beleeue might be partakers of the same annointing that wisdome from him by his flesh might be conueied vnto vs. Therefore from his wisdome there is wisdome deriued in some measure to all that are mystically vnited to him as light in one candle is deriued to an hundred or as heate is deriued from heate Againe he is our iustice not onely because he is the author and giuer of our iustice with the father and the holy Ghost neither because the essentiall iustice of Christ is giuen to vs for then we should be all deified but because that iustice which is in the maÌ„hood coÌ„sisting partly in the puritie of nature partly in the puritie of actioÌ„ whereby he obeyed his fathers will and suffered all things to be suffered for vs this iustice I say is imputed to vs and accounted ours according to the tenour of the couenant as if it were inherent in vs. He is our Sanctification not onely because he is the author of it neither because the sanctitie or holines of the godhead is communicated to vs but because he was sanctified in his maÌ„hood about all men
is in our hearts Secondly we learne by this which hath bin said to comfort our selues in our sufferings For in them Christ and we are partners and he vouchsafes to make vs his fellowes Hence it followes that all our afflictions are well knowne to Christ and that they are laid on vs with his consent and for this cause we should frame our selues to beare them with all meekenes And hence againe we learne that he beeing our partner will helpe vs to beare them either by moderating the waight of them or by ending them for our good Lastly here we learne that our afflictions are either blessings or benefits and such may we discerne them to be though not by the light of reason yet by the eie of faith because they are meanes to make vs conformable to our head Christ Iesus Benefits of God are of two sorts positiue and priuatiue Positiue whereby God bestowes somthing on vs. Priuat◠whereby God takes away a blessing and couertly giues another Benefits of this kind be afflictions Of the twaine these are the rifer for the time of this life and the other for the life to come And therefore while we liue in this worlde our dutie is with Paul to labour to attaine to this conformitie with the sufferings of Christ whē vpon any occasion we shall be afflicted for then shall we be fashioned like vnto him and reape much comfort thereby Thus much of the second gaine nowe followes the third in these words If by any meanes I may attaine to the resurrection of the dead The word resurrection here signifies the reward of eternall life the antecedent beeing put for the consequent For to rise againe of it selfe is no gaine considering it is cōmon both to good and badde but eternal life that followes is the reward And the forme of speech if by any meanes doth not signifie or imply any doubting in Paul of his owne resurrection to life for he was perswaded that nothing should seperate him from Christ and it is an article of our and Pauls faith to beleeue the resurrection of the bodie to eternall life Wherefore it signifies properly a difficultie to obtaine the gaine desired and an earnest affection in Paul to obtaine the same And when he saith By any meanes we must knowe that there be three waies or meanes to come to eternall life One is by peaceable life and death the other is by a life ladē with many afflictions the third is by a violent cruell and bloody ende And Pauls mind and desire is to obtain the crowne of eternall glorie by any of these waies and if not by the first or second yet by the third In these wordes foure things are to be considered The first is the gaine it selfe and that is the Reward of eternall glorie And that we may the more with Paul be stirred vp to a desire thereof I will stand a while to declare the excellencie and the conditions of it It is nothing els but a certaine estate of life in which all the promises of God are in by Christ accomplished vnto vs in heauen And it will the better be conceiued by the answering of three questions What shall ceafe in this estate What we shall haue What we shall doe For the first seauen things shal cease The first is the Exequution of the Mediatorship of Christ or of the offices of a king priest prophet Thus much teacheth Paul when he saith that Christ in the last daie must giue vp his kingdome to his father And though the exequution shall then cease yet nothing shall be wanting to them that beleeue because then shall be the full and eternall fruition of all the benefits of our redemptiō Secondly then shall cease all callings in familie church and common wealth because Christ shall then put downe all power rule and authoritie In this blessed estate there shall not be magistrate and people master seruant husband and wife parents and children pastor and people but all such outward distinctions of persons shal cease and we shall be as the angels of God Thirdly all vertues that pertaine to vs as we are pilgrimes here vpon earth shall haue an end as faith hope patience because the things beleeued and hoped for shall thē be obtained Withall that part of inuocation called Petition shall cease as also the preaching and hearing of the word and the vse of sacraments The fourth thing that shall cease is originall sinne with the fruites thereof because no vncleane thing may enter into the heauenly Hierusalem Fiftly then shall cease all miseries and sorrowes all infirmities of bodie and mind for then all defects of eies armes and legges shall be restored The fixt thing that shall cease is naturall life with the meanes thereof as meate drinke clothing phisicke recreation For then our bodies shall be spirituall that is immediately eternally preserued by the operation of the spirit of God as nowe the bodie of Christ is in heauen The last thing to be abolished is the vanitie of the creatures specially of heauen and earth which i◠the last iudgement shal againe be restored to their former excellency The second question is what we shal haue and inioye in this estate I answer three things The first is immediate and eternal fellowship with God the father sonne and holy ghost For in this happie estate the tabernacle of God shall be with men as Saint Iohn saith God shall be all things that heart can wish to all the elect Augustine saith notably There shall be exceeding peace in us and among vs and with God himselfe Because we shall see him and inioy him alwaies and euery where Therefore blessed shall that life be for the thing which we shall inioy for we shall inioy God himselfe For the manner of inioying him for we shall inioy him by himselfe all other meanes ceasing For the measure of our inioying him for we shall fully inioy him For the time for we shall eternally inioy him For the certenty whereby we shall knowe that it shall be so For the place for we shall inioy him in heauen Lastly for the companions ioyned with vs for they shall be the elect From this fruition of God shall arise endlesse and vnspeakable ioy Psal. 16. 11. In thy presence is fulnesse of ioy at thy right hand are pleasures for euermore In the Transfiguration of Christ which was but a shadow of the eternall glorie Peter was rauished with ioy delight the ioy therefore which shal be in heauē must needs be vnspeakable The secōd thing which shall be inioyed is Glory both in minde and bodie In mind because we shall thē be partakers of the Diuine not essence for then we should be deified but nature that is diuine vertues and qualities more excellent then those which God bestowed on Adam though of the same kinde The glory of the body is to be changed and made like the glorious
losse of all his workes and vertues whatsoeuer in the cause of his owne iustification Nowe then if this doctrine be so certaine and infallible as it is thē also must we be setled in this point without doubting that the present church of Rome erreth grieuously in that it magnifieth the merit of workes Yea in this regard it reuerseth the very foundation of true religion For if they make aduantage in the matter of saluation by their workes Christ must needes vpon infallible certentie be their losse because Paul makes all workes losse that Christ may be aduantage Therefore farre be it from vs all to haue any dealing or contract of societie with that church least we be partakers of her dangerous and fearefull losses Againe in that all vertues workes of grace are but losses for Christ. We must not onely in our first conuersion but euer afterward though we be iustified and sanctified euen in the pang of death by meere faith rest on the meere mercie of God and apprehend naked Christ that is Christ seuered in the case of saluation from all respect of all vertues and workes whatsoeuer For there is nothing that may be opposed to the seuere iudgement of God but meere Christ. If we doe presume to oppose any of our doings to the sentence of the law hell death condemnation we are sure to goe by the losses Thus much of the certentie of Pauls losses now follows the necessitie of thē They are necessarie in as much as without thē no man can haue part in Christ. For the merit of our vertues and good workes and the grace of God in Christ can not stand together yea they are cōtrarie as fire and water and one ouerthroweth the other in the cause of iustification and saluation Paul to signifie this contrarietie saith If Election be of grace it is not of workes and if it be of workes it is not of grace And againe If ye be iustified by the law ye are abolished from Christ. And to the same purpose Ambrose saith Grace is wholly receiued or wholly lost and Augustine It is no way grace that is not freely giuen euery way Hence it followes that the present religion of the church of Rome abolisheth Christ in as much as it maintaines and magnifies the merit of good workes And this may be gathered by the very doctrine of that church For it teacheth that men must be saued by their praiers fastings almes pilgrimages buildings of churches chappels bridges c. What then shall the passion of Christ doe whereto serues it They answer that it frees vs from death and giues to our works the merit of eternall life and makes them meritoriously to increase our iustification Hence it followes that Christ is no more but the first cause of our saluation and that we our selues are secondarie causes vnder him and with him And thus he is made of a Sauiour no Sauiour For either he must be a full and perfect Sauiour in himselfe or no Sauiour Secondly by the former necessitie we learne that whosoeuer will be saued by the merit of Christ must come vnto him without vertues or workes of his owne not carrying in heart so much as the least confidence in them esteeming himselfe to be a most vile wretched and miserable sinner as the Publican did who praied Lord be mercifull to me a sinner Hitherto of Pauls losses now follows the second part of the comparison touching Pauls gaine But Christ is my gaine A sentence to be remembred and to be written in the tables of our heart for euer And the reason thereof is manifest Christ our Mediatour God and man is the onely Fountaine of all good things that are or can be thought on whether spirituall or temporall Saint Iohn saith Of his fulnes we receiue grace for grace Againe Paul saith In him al the treasures of knowledge and wisdome are hidde and Ye are complete in him And he calls Christ our Ransome or counterprice And as he makes Adam the roote of all euill in mankinde so makes he Christ the roote of all grace and goodnes For the better clearing of this doctrine two points are to be handled When Christ is our gaine and how Touching the time when I set downe three things He is our gaine in this life he is our gaine in death and he is our gaine after death To returne to the first He is our gaine in life if we turne from our euill waies and beleeue in him in as much as he hath gained for vs many benefits which I will reduce to tenne heads The first is pardon of sinne without tearme of time whether past present or to come Yet must we here remēber that pardon of sinne is not giuen absolutely whether men repent or no but vpon condition of repentance The second is the imputation of Christs obedience in fulfilling the law for our iustification before God From the former benefit ariseth our freedome from hell and from the law in respect of the curse thereof and from the second ariseth a Right to eternall life whereof the possession is reserued to the life to come The third is our Adoption whereby we are the children of God and brethren of Christ. And hence haue we a Right of lordship or dominion ouer the whole world and all things contained therein whether in heauen or in earth which right was lost by Adam and is now restored by Christ. Indeede wicked men and infidels haue and vse the things of this life at their wills and that by Gods permission but yet they receiue and inioy them no otherwise then children of traytours doe the goods of their parents who peraduenture are suffered to take benefite of some part of them for the preseruing of their liues though title and interest to them be not restored The fourth is the ministerie that is the presence aide and protection of the good angels The fifth gaine or benefit is that all the miseries and calamities of this life cease to be curses and are made blessings beeing turned to the good of them that are to be saued by Christ. The sixth is the mortification of originall sinne with all the parts thereof by the vertue of the death of Christ. The 7. is a spirituall life whereby we liue not but Christ liues in vs making vs partakers of his Annointing and thereby inabling vs to liue as Prophets Priests kings Prophets to teach and make confession of our faith in Christ Priests to dedicate and present our bodies and soules to God for the seruice of his maiestie Kings to beare rule and dominion ouer the corruptions and lusts of our hearts The eight gaine is that Christ presents all our praiers and good workes to his Father in his owne name and thus by his own Intercession makes them acceptable vnto him The ninth gaine is the presence of his spirit For when Christ ascended he tooke with him our pawne namely our flesh and left with
but by Adams disobedience imputed to vs are we made sinners therefore we are made iust by the obedience of Christ imputed Bernard vsed this reason Whome saith he another mans fault defiled another mans water washed Yet in calling it another mans fault I doe not denie it to be ours otherwise it could not defile vs. But it is another mans because we all not knowing of it sinned in Adam It is ours because we haue sinned though in an other and it is imputed to vs by the iust iudgement of God though it be secret Yet that thou maist not complaine ô man against the disobedience of Adam there is giuen thee the obedience of Christ that beeing sould for naught thou maist be redeemed for naught Again the doctrine of imputed iustice he teacheth expresly saying Al are dead that the satisfaction of one might be imputed to all as he alone bare the sinnes of all Againe Death is put to flight by the death of Christ and the righteousnes of Christ is imputed to vs. Fourthly Paul saith Christ is made vnto vs of God iustice that is iustice imputed for in the next words he saith he is made our sanctification that is our iustice not imputed but inherent Fiftly as Christ was made sinne so are we made the iustice of God but Christ was made our sin not by any conueiance of any corruption into his most holy heart but by imputation We therefore are made the iustice of God by like imputation And least any man should yet surmise that this iustice is not imputed but infused into vs Paul saith We are made the iustice of God IN HIM that is in Christ. Hence it followeth manifestly that there is no vertue or worke within vs which iustifieth before God and that our iustice whereby we are iust in the fight of God and accepted to life eternall is out of vs placed in Christ. Thus much haue the Fathers obserued vpon this text of Paul Augustine saith that Christ was made sinne that we might be made iustice not our iustice but Gods iustice neither in vs but in him as he declared sinne not to be his but ours not placed in him but in vs. Hierome saith Christ being offered for vs tooke the name of sin that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him not ours nor in vs. In the same manner speake Theophilact Anselme Sedulius presbyter and others Lastly mā considered as a creature before his fall owed vnto God the fulfilling of the lawe which as a certaine tribute was daily to be paid vnto him After the fall he doubled his debt because he then became debter to God of a satisfaction due for the breach of the lawe Now the not paiment of this double debt is our vnrighteousnes But where may we find a sufficient paiment for this debt We our selues by our sinnes daily increase the said debt And our owne workes though proceeding of faith are no conuenient paiment because we cannot by one debt paie an other And if we shall search through heauen and earth there is nothing to be found that may stand for paiment with God but the obedience of the Redeemer which he hath presented and laid downe before the throne of the Almightie as an endlesse treasure to make paiment in our behalfe And because the said obedience is a satisfaction for our vnrighteousnes it is also our iustice in the acceptation of God By these and other reasons it appeares that nothing can absolue vs before God and procure the right of eternall life but the onely obedience of the Mediator Christ God and man that without any vertue or worke of ours Hence it followes that the present Church of Rome corrnpts the article of iustification by mingling things togither which can no more be compounded and mingled togither then fire and water namely the iustice of the gospell with the iustice of the law For it makes a double iustification the first containes two parts pardon of sinne by the death of Christ and the infused habit of charitie The second is by workes which they say do meritoriously increase the first iustification and procure eternall life Here we see the soueraigne medicine of the Gospel namely remission of sinnes tempered with the poison of the lawe For though vertues and workes prescribed in the lawe haue their place as good giftes God in our liues and cōuersations yet whē they are set vp higher and brought within the circle of iustification as meritorious causes they are put quite out of their place and are no better then poison and hereupon are tearmed of Paul losse and dongue But such as desire to be tearmed Catholickes alleadge for themselues against vs that the obedience of Christ that is the righteousnesse of an other cannot possibly be our righteousnesse I aunswer that the iustice of another may be our iustice if it be really made ours And this is true in Christ. For when we begin to beleeue in him though our persons remaine euermore distinct and vnconfounded yet are we made one with him and according to the tenour of the Euangelicall couenant are we giuen to him and he to vs so as we may truely say Christ is mine as we can truly say this house or this land is mine Now if Christ be ours then also his obedience is not onely his but ours also his because it is in him ours because with him it is giuen vs of God Againe they alleadge That when Paul refuseth the righteousnesse of the lawe he means nothing els but the workes of the lawe that are perfourmed by the strength of nature and that he doth not exclude the workes of Grace I answer it is false for he speakes of himselfe in the time present when he was a Christian Apostle and therefore he excludes all righteousnes of his own which he had by the law euen when he was an Apostle And the obiection Rom. 6. 1. what then shall we sinne that grace may abound cannot be inferred vpon iustification by workes of grace but vpon a iustification by the obedience of Christ imputed to vs without all workes of our owne Againe that we are iustified not by the iustice of the lawe but by the iustice of faith here is the foundation of our comfort For hereupon if we be tempted in the time of this life we may oppose against the tempter this our iustice If Satan plead against vs that we are sinners and therefore subiect to eternall damnation let vs answere him that the obedience of Christ hath freed vs from this damnation If he plead further that we neuer fulfilled the lawe and consequently that we haue no right to eternal life we must answer him that Christ fulfilled the lawe for vs. If he shall vexe and vpbraid vs with the consideration of our manifold wants and corruptions let vs tell him that so long as we turne vnto God from all our euill waies bewaile our corrupttions and beleeue
as the first Adam makes vs like himselfe in sinne and death so Christ the second Adam renewes vs and makes vs like to himselfe in righteousnes and life And the head quickned with spirituall life will not suffer the members to remaine in the death of sinne The seauenth effect is to preserue safe sound the gifts and graces which he hath procured by his death and bestowed on them that beleeue and this he doth by the vertue of his resurrection For to this ende hath he conquered all our spirituall enemies and doth by his power conquer them still in vs so as none shal be able to take his sheepe out of his hands The last effect is to raise the bodie from the graue in the day of iudgement to eternall glorie If it be obiected that the wicked are also raised then by the power of Christ I answer that the power of Christ is twofold One is the power of iudgement the other a power of a Sauiour By the first Christ as a iudge raiseth the vngodly that he may exequute on them the curse denounced from the beginning of the world at what time thou shalt eate the forbidden fruit thou shalt die the death The second power is here tearmed the power of Christs resurrection and it belongs to him as he is our Sauiour and by it will he raise to life eternall all those that by the bond of the spirit are mystically vnited to him For by meanes of this vnion this raising power shall flow from the head to the dead bodies of them that are in Christ. Thus we see what the vertue here mentioned is and what Paul desires namely that he may haue experience of these effects in himselfe The vse of the doctrine followeth First of all in that Christ rose for vs and in that his resurrection is of endlesse efficacie here is the foundation of all our spirituall comfort For by this vertue of Christs resurrection frō death to life all our spiritual enemies are conquered and subdued and by the said vertue doth he daily more and more subdue them in vs. Vpō this groūd said Christ Ye shal haue affliction in the world but be of good comfort I haue ouercome the world And this victorie is for vs and it is made ours by our faith as Iohn saith This is the victorie which ouer commeth the world euen your faith Art thou then terrified and afraied with the conscience of thy sinnes with the crueltie of tyrants the rage of the world the paines of hell the pangs of death the temptations of the deuill be not dismaied but by thy faith rest on Christ that rose againe frō death to life for thee therby shewed himself to be a rocke for thee to rest on and to be the lyon of the Tribe of Iuda and thus shalt thou finde certen remedie against all the troubles and miseries of life and death Againe here we are taught to rise with Christ from our sinnes and to liue vnto God in newnes of life and for this ende to pray that we may feele the vertue of Christs resurrection to chaunge and renew vs. Great are the benefites which we reape by this vertue and we are to shew ourselues thankfull to God for them which we can doe no way but by newnes of life Againe the ende why Christ rose for vs was that we might rise from our sinnes and corruptions in which we lie buried as in a graue to a new spirituall life And the reward is great to them that make this happie change For he that is partaker of the first resurrection shall neuer see the second death as on the contrarie he which neuer riseth from his owne sinnes and euill waies shall certenly feele and indure the second death And further it must be knowne that the vertue of Christs resurrection and the merit of his death are inseparably ioyned together and therefore he that findes not the vertue of Christ to raise him to an holy and spirituall life acceptable to God falsly perswades himself of the merit of his death in the remission of his sinnes Christ by rising put vnder his feete all our enemies and ledde captiuitie captiue euen sinne it selfe It is therefore a shame for vs to walke in the waies of sinue and to make our selues slaues and captiues to it Christ by rising from death made himselfe a principall leader and guide to eternall life What wickednes then is it to walke in the waies of our owne heart and not to ' follow this heauenly guide The care and purpose to keepe a good conscience is a certen fruit and effect of Christs resurrection Thus S. Peter saith that the effect of our baptisme is the stipulation of a good conscience by the resurrection of Christ. Where the word which I translate Stipulation signifies an interrogation vpon an interrogation For the Minister in the name of God demandes whether we renounce the world the flesh the deuill and take the true God for our God And we vpon this demaund doe further in our hearts demaund of God whether he will vouchsafe to accept vs being wretched sinners for his seruants and thus we make profession of our minde and desire When Christ rose by the vertue of his resurrection the earth trembled and thereby this bruit creature in his kinde professed his subiection and homage to Christ that rose againe If then we beleeue that Christ rose from death for vs much more should our hearts tremble and we yeeld our selues in subiection to him in all spirituall obedience Some man may say you bid vs rise from our sinnes as Christ rose to the glorie of his Father whereas this is wholly Gods worke in vs and not ours I answer it is so indeed yet can we vse the outward meanes of hearing and reading and if we haue any sparke of grace we can aske and desire the spirit of God that worketh this in vs. Againe exhortations admonitions and such like are meanes appointed of God whereby he worketh in vs the thing which he requireth and commandeth Wherefore let vs listen to the voice of Christ Awake thou that sleepest stand vp from the dead and Christ shall giue thee life And worldly cares must not hinder vs in this worke for as Paul saith they which are risen with Christ must seeke the things that are aboue Againe here we are taught that we may not content our selues if we know Christ in the braine and can speake well of him with a glibbe tongue we must goe yet further and by all meanes labour that we taste and feele by experience how good and sweete a Sauiour Christ is vnto vs that our hearts may be rooted and grounded in his loue This is the thing which Paul aimed at which also we must seeke by all possible meanes to attaine vnto To proceede that we may haue right knowledge of our communion with Christ in his death two points are to be
and angels And from this holinesse of his our holinesse is deriued and springs as a fruit as the corruption in Adams posteritie is deriued from the corruption of Adam Christ saith For their sakes sanctifie I my selfe that they also may be sanctified through the truth Cyril saith As God he giues himselfe the spirit as man he receiues it which he doth not for himselfe but for vs that the grace of sanctification out of him and in him first receiued might passe to all mankind Againe he saith that the bodie of our Lord being sanctified by the vertue of the Word ioyned to it is made so effectuall for mystical benediction that it can send forth his sanctification into vs. Lastly Christ is our Redemption or life on this manner In the person of the Mediatour beeing one and the same there is a double life one vncreated and essentiall agreeing to Christ as he is God And this life is not giuē to vs at all saue in respect of the efficacie thereof For in god we liue mooue and haue our beeing The other is the created life of the manhood and it is either naturall or spiritual Naturall is that wherewith he liued in the estate of humiliation by ordinary means as all other men doe Spirituall is that whereby he nowe especially liueth in the estate of exaltation and glorie And this life he liueth not onely for himselfe but also for vs that we beeing partakers thereof may liue togither with him Thus the ancient church hath taught the flesh of Christ vnited to the Word is made quickening flesh that it might further quicken them with spirituall life that are vnited to it The next question is in what estate Christ is our Gaine The estate of Christ is twofolde the estate of humiliation from his birth to his death and the estate of exaltation in his resurrection ascension and his sitting at the right hand of god In the first estate he works and procures our gaine Christ lying basely in the manger and crucified ignominiously on the crosse gained our deliuerance from hell and a right to life euerlasting In the second estate he communicats to vs the gaine before named and by degrees puts vs in prossession of it And for this ende he nowe sits at the right hand of God and makes request for vs. The vse of this doctrine that Christ is our gaine is manifold First it sheweth that we in our selues are poore and altogither destitute of all spirituall good things For to this ende is Christ our gaine that he may supplie our want fill them with graces that are otherwise emptie and euen hunger starued Secondly it teacheth that men doe in vaine seeke for so much as the least droppe of goodnes out of Christ who alone is the storehouse of all good things Heauen and earth men and angels and all things are but as nothing to vs if by them we seeke to inioy any thing out to Christ yea God is no god to vs without Christ. Thirdly we learne to detest the Treasurie which the Church of Rome maintaines and magnifies It is as it were a chest in which is contained not onely the ouerplus of the merits of Christ but also of martyrs and Saints to be dispensed in pardons at the Popes pleasure But Christ is alone our full and perfect gaine and therefore in himselfe there is an al-sufficient Treasurie of the church and as Paul saith in him we are complete As for the merits of martyrs and Saints they bring no aduantage to the people of God but are indeed matter for the dounghill Fourthly if Christ be our treasure and gain our hearts must be set on him Our mindes vse to be vpon our pennie and we hunger after gaine let vs therefore hunger after Christ he is out pennie and he is our gaine Nay we must aboue all pleasures honours profits loue him and reioice in him yea we should be swallowed vp with loue of him Lastly here is matter of cōfort In the losse of goods and friendes and all calamities of this life we may not be dismayed all the losses of this life are but pettie losses so long as we haue Christ for our gaine Nothing can be wanting vnto vs in the middest of all our losses and miseries so long as we receiue of his fulnesse who is the fountaine of goodnes neuer dried vp To proceed further the second part of the comparison Christ is my gaine is amplified by a gradatiō on this manner I esteeme the knowledge of Christ Iesus my Lord an excellent thing I desire to gaine Christ I desire to be foūd in Christ. Of these in order By the knowledge of Christ we are to vnderstand the doctrine of the gospell or the doctrine of the person offices of Christ cōceiued known of vs. To this knowledge an excellency is ascribed of which I will speake a little This excellencie appeares partly in the matter and contents partly in the effects thereof Touching the matter it is ful of excellent mysteries which Paul reduceth to fixe heads in his epistle to Timothie The first is the Incarnation of the sonne of God in these wordes God made manifest in the flesh And here two wōders offer themselues to be considered the first whereas Adams flesh and Adams sinne are inseparably ioyned togither in respect of all that nature can doe yet did the sonne of God take vnto him mans nature and flesh without mans sinne because he was conceiued of a virgin by the operation of the holy ghost whereas if he had beene cōceiued by naturall generation he had with Adams flesh taken Adams corruption The other wonder in the Incarnation of Christ is that the flesh of man is vnited to the person of the sonne of God thence hath his subsistance otherwise hauing no subsistance of his owne The like example is not to be found in the world againe sauing that we haue some resemblance thereof in the plant called Miscelto which hath no roote of his own but grows as a branch of the oake or some other tree and hath his life and sappe from the roote thereof The second mysterie in the knowledge of Christ is the Iustification of Christ in these wordes iustified in the spirit and it was on this manner Christ made man became our Suretie and was subiect to the law for vs. Hereupon our sinnes were imputed to him and the punishment due thereto laid vpon him that is the first death with the paines of the secōd yea further death in the graue had dominion ouer him After all this by his spirit or power of the godhead he raised himselfe from death and therby acquit himselfe of our sinnes and this acquitall or absolution is his iustification whereby he declareth himselfe to be a Sauiour perfectly righteous For if he had not satisfied the wrath of God to the full and brought perfect righteousnes he had neuer risen againe considering he was iudged and
condemned for our sinnes The third mysterie is the sight of Angels who desired to looke into the Incarnation of Christ in which they sawe three things as Luke testifieth The first that it was a means to manifest the glorie of God the second that it brought peace and good successe to men vpon earth the third that it was a meanes to reueale the good will of God to the world The fourth is the preaching of Christ to the Gentiles This appeares to be a great mysterie because the knowledge of Christ was kept secret from the nations for the space of more thē 4000. yeares For from the creation to Moses the church of God was shut vp in a litle familie from Moses to Christ it was included within the precincts of Iewrie which was not so much as the fourth part of England The fift mysterie was the Conuersion of the world to the faith of Christ. And this is so much the greater wonder because this conuersion was wrought by the preaching of the gospel which is flatte against the naturall reason and will of man and therefore vnfit to perswade and the preachers hereof were simple and silly men to see to and some of them which were converted were the very Iewes that crucified Christ. The last mysterie was the ascension of Christ into glorie The greatnes of this mysterie appeares in two things The first that Christs ascension was a reall and full opening of the kingdome of heauen which had formerly bin shut by our sinnes The second that the ascension of Christ was no personall or priuate ascension for he ascended in the roome and stead of all the Elect and they ascended together in and with him and now after a sort are together in and with him in glorie Thus we see the excellencie of the knowledge of Christ in respect of the Mysteries contained therein the like excellencie appeares in the effects thereof which are two the knowledge of God and of our selues For the first by the knowledge of Christ we know God aright Hence Christ is called the brightnes of the glorie of the Father and the ingrauen image of his person and the image of the inuisible God And Paul saith notably that when God shineth in our hearts by the light of the Gospel his glorie is to be seene in the face of Christ. The wisdōe power goodnesse of God is made manifest in Christ and that more fully then euer it was in the creation In the creation Adam beeing but a meere man was our head but in the estate of grace Christ is our head God and man By creation we receiue but a naturall life to be continued by foode by Christ we receiue a spirituall to be preserued eternally without foode by the operation of the spirit As the spouse of Adam was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh so is the spouse of Christ bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and that in more excellent manner because euery particular man as he is borne anew and the whole catholike church the true spouse of Christ springeth ariseth out of the merit and efficacie of the blood that distilled out of the heart side of Christ. In the creation God makes life of nothing but by Christ he drawes our life forth of death and changeth death it selfe into life Againe in the law the iustice of God is set downe and reuealed in Christ we see more namely perfect iustice and perfect mercie reuealed to the full yea which is a wonder iustice and mercie reconciled Lastly in Christ we see the lēgth the breadth the height the depth of the loue of God in that God vouchsafeth to loue the Elect with the very same loue wherewith he loueth Christ. As by Christ we know God so also by Christ we know our selues and that on this manner First we must consider that in the Passion he tooke our person vpon him and that vpon the crosse he stoode in our place roome and stead Secondly we are to consider the greatnes of his agonie and passion set forth vnto vs especially by fiue things The first is the testimonie of the Euangelists who say in emphaticall wordes that he was full of sorrow and grieuously troubled The second his complaint that his soule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnto the death and that he was forsaken of the father The third his praier with strong cries saue me frō this houre let this 〈◊〉 passe The fourth the comming of an Angel to comfort him The last his sweate of water and thicke or clotted blood Now in Christ thus considered we see the greatnes of Gods anger against vs for our sinnes we see the greatnes of our sinnes we see the vilenes of our persons we see the hardnes of our hearts that neuer so much as sigh for our offences for which the sonne of God swette water and blood we see our vnthankfulnes that little respect or regerd this worke of Christ. Lastly we see our dutie that we are to be throughly touched with true repentance and to humble our selues as it were to the very pit of hell for if the son of God mourne and crie for our sinnes imputed we are much more to crie and to bleed in our hearts for them seeing they are ours properly and by them we haue pierced Christ. And thus the excellencie of the knowledge of Christ is manifest Hence we learne sundry things first if the knowledge of Christ be so excellent we may not maruell that by the mallice of the deuill it hath bin corrupted many hundred yeares in the Romish church which teacheth that the Gospel is nothing else in effect but the law of Moses perfected Now if this were so Christ doubtlesse died in vaine and we might place our hope in our owne righteousnes and the promise of life eternall by Christ should be of none effect For the law neuer iustifies before God till it be perfectly kept which condition of perfection if men could performe there should be little neede of Christ or of the Gospel Secondly if this knowledge be of such excellencie it must be learned of vs and that in speciall manner If to other inferiour learning we lend the vnderstanding and memorie to this we are to applie the whole man The minde must learne it by opening it selfe to conceiue it the memorie must learne it by storing it vp the will and affections must learne it by resigning and conforming thēselues in their kinde vnto it Thus Paul teacheth that to learne Christ as the truth is in Christ is to put off the old man and to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and holinesse Thirdly by this we learne to value prize the knowledge of Christ aboue all things in the world The Angels of God themselues desire to profit in this knowledge Dauid who in the darknes of the old Testament desired to be a dorekeeper in the house of God
if he were now liuing on earth would be content with an office a thousand fold more base that he might inioy this cleere light of the knowledge of Christ. But alas there is no such Dauids now a daies It is our fault and the fault of our times that this knowledge is of little or no value and account among men and little fruit thereof to be seene And therfore it is to be feared that God will take this Treasure of knowledge from vs and send strong illusions to beleeue lies because it is little or nothing loued Paul yet further cōmends this knowledge in that he calls it The knowledge of Christ HIS LORD Now he is our Lord foure waies First by the right of donation because all the Elect are giuen to him of the Father in the eternal counsell of Election secondly by creation thirdly by the right of Redemption fourthly by right of headship in that as a liuing head he giues sense and spirituall life to all that beleeue in him And Paul calls Christ his Lord because he beleeued his owne election in which he was giuen to Christ his creation and redemption by him and his mysticall coniunction with him as with his head And here Paul in his example teacheth vs two things The first how we should know Christ and the doctrine of the Gospell For the right knowledge whereof there is required beside generall vnderstand of Christ his benefits with generall assent a speciall Application thereof It is not sufficient to beleeue the election redemption iustification glorification of Gods people but we must goe further and beleeue the very same things in our selues The reason may be taken from the contents of the Gospel For it containes two parts the first is a promise in which Christ with all his benefits is offered and propounded vnto vs. The second is a commandement to applie the said promise and the substance thereof to our selues and that by our faith And he that takes away this second part ouerthrowes halfe the Gospel of Christ. Here is the foundation of sauing knowledge which iustifieth and bringeth life eternall and the foundation of speciall faith The second thing to be learned in Pauls example is that we are to resigne our selues our bodies soules and to render all subiection to Christ. For in that he calleth him Lord he professeth himselfe to be the seruant of Christ. The ende of all preaching is to bring not onely our words and deedes but also our secret thoughts in subiection vnto him And the ende why Christ sits in glorie at the right hand of the Father is that euery knee may bowe vnto him of things in heauen and earth It behooues vs therefore to liue and carrie our selues in our places as true and vnfained seruants of Christ. The second degree in Pauls gradation is That he desires to Gaine Christ. Now to gaine Christ is nothing els but to make Christ his gaine as appeares by the opposition of the wordes For he saith he had deprined himselfe of all things that is made all things his losse that he might gaine Christ. And he is made our gaine if two things be done First he must be made ours that is thy Christ or my Christ in particular secondly we must put our confidēce in him For the first that Christ may be ours a double consent is required Gods consent to giue Christ and our consent to receiue him Gods consent that Christ shall be ours is giuen in the reuelation of the promise touching the womans seed made to our first parents in the continuall renewing of the said promise to our forefathers in the incarnation and birth of Christ in his passion in the preaching of the Gospell in the administration of both the sacraments baptisme and the Lords supper Our consent to receiue Christ is giuen when we beginne to beleeue in him yea when we beginne to be touched in our hearts for our sinnes and to hunger thirst after Christ. And thus by the concurrence of these two consents is Christ really made ours And further yet that he may be not onely ours but also our gaine we must set and fixe the whole confidence of our hearts vpon him alone for the forgiuenesse of our sins and the saluation of our soules For where the gaine is there must the heart be When riches increase we may not set our heartes on them because though they be good things yet are they not our gaine or treasure nowe Christ is not onely a good thing vnto vs but our gaine and the very fountaine of all good things therefore we must bestowe our hearts on him Hence we learne that the Popish religion teacheth wickednesse For it maintaineth that we are not onely to beleeue in God but also in the church it maintaineth an hope and confidence in Saints specially in the virgin Marie it maintaineth lastly a confidence in our owne workes so it be as they say in sobrietie This is to make the creature our gaine and to put downe Christ our Redeemer Againe Paul had said in the former chapter that Christ was his gaine both in life and death and yet nowe he saith that he still desires to gaine Christ. And by his example we learne that in this life our affectious must neuer be satisfied filled with the desire of Christ till we haue the full fruition of him Naturally our desires be insatiable in respect of riches honours pleasures but we must learne to moderate and stinte our selues in seeking earthly things beeing content with the portion that God doth alot vs and the insatiablenesse of our affections must be directed and turned vpon Christ. The woman in the Gospel that had the bloodie ishew desired but to touch the hemme of his garment we must goe further not onely to touch him but also by our faith to lay hold on him as it were with both the hands and to hang vpon him Thomas desired for his contentation but to put his finger into his side we must sette before our eies Christ crucified and his pretious blood as it were a fresh distilling from his handes feete and side and we must not onely touch this blood but sprinkle our selues with it yea dip and as it were diue out selues into it bodie soule and all The third and last degree in Pauls gradation is that he desires to be founde in Christ. And here his desire is twofold the first to be in Christ the second to be found so of God in the daie of iudgement The first To be in Christ is to be taken out of the first Adam and to be vnited vnto Christ as his very flesh or as a true mēber of his mysticall bodie Now this Incorporation and vnion into Christ is a mysterie and for the better vnderstanding of it foure rules must be obserued The first that not onely our soules are vnited to the soule or godhead of Christ but also that
saith It is eternall life to know thee the only God c. The knowledge of experience is to haue a sense and feeling of our inward fellowship with Christ and vpon often obseruation of his goodnesse to growe more and more in experience of his loue Nowe this knowledge is here meant and not the first which was before mentioned verse 8. And therefore Pauls desire is that he may grow more and more in holy experience of the endlesse loue of God and fellowship with Christ. The partes of this desired communion are two fellowshippe with Christ in his resurrection and fellowshippe with him in his death The former is expressed in these wordes and the vertue of his resurrection And for the better cōceiuing of it we are to consider what the resurrection of Christ is and what is the vertue thereof That the resurrection of Christ may be rightly conceiued fiue points are to be skanned The first touching the person of him that rose and that was Christ God and man Indeede properly the bodie alone did rise and not the soule or godhead yet by reason of the vnion of the two natures in the vnitie of one person whole Christ arose or God himselfe made man arose This commends vnto vs the excellencie of Christs resurrection and makes it to be the foundation vnto vs of our resurrection The second point is For whome he rose He rose not as a priuate person for himselfe alone but he rose in our roome stead and that for vs so as when he arose all the elect arose with him and in him Thus saith Paul that the Fphesians were raised togither with him His resurrection therefore was publike and this is the ground of our comfort The third point is When he arose He arose then when he lay in bondage vnder death that in the graue which is as it were the castle hold of death Whē Peter saith that God loosed the sorrowes of death he signifieth that Christ was made captiue for a time to the first death to the sorrows of the second Now in the midst of this captiuity bōdage he raised himself this argues that his resurrectiō is a ful victorie conquest ouer death and all our spirituall enemies The fourth point is That he rose by his own power as he saith of himselfe I haue power to lay downe my life and to take it vp againe If this had not bin though he had risen a thousand times by the power of another he had not beene a perfect Redeemer The last point is Wherein stāds the resurrection of Christ Answer it consistes in three actions of Christ. The first is the revniting of his bodie to his soule both which were seuered for a time though neither of them were seuered from the godhead The second action is the change of his naturall life which he led in the estate of humiliatiō into a heauenly and spirituall life without infirmities and not maintained by food as before For we finde not that after his resurrection he euer tooke meate for necessitie but onely vpon occasion to manifest the trueth of his manhood And this life he tooke vnto himselfe that he might conuey it to all that should beleeue in him The third action is his cōming forth of the graue whereby death it selfe did as it were acknowledge him to be a conquerour and that it had no title or interest in him These fiue things considered the article of Christs resurrection shall be rightly vnderstood Touching the vertue of Christs resurrectiō it is nothing els but the power of his god head or the power of his spirit whereby he raised himselfe mightily from death to life and that in our behalfe The excellencie of it may be known by the effects which be in number eight The first that by it he shewed himselfe to be the true and perfect Sauiour of the world For it was foretolde of the Messias that he should die rise againe Psal. 16. Matth. 12. And all this was accordingly accomplished by the vertue of Christs resurrection The second effect is that by it he shewed himselfe to be the true and naturall sonne of god Paul saith He was declared mightily to be the sonne of God by the spirit of holinesse in his rising from the dead The third effect is that by this vertue he declared himselfe to haue made a full and perfect satisfaction for the sinnes of the world For if he had not satisfied to the full he had not risen againe And Paul saith If Christ be not risen we are yet in our sinnes On the contrarie then seeing he is risen such as beleeue in him are not in their sinnes Againe Who shall condemne vs it is Christ which is dead yea or rather which is risen againe The fourth effect is iustification as Paul testifieth He died for our sinnes and rose againe for our iustification and that was on this māner When he was vpon the crosse he stood there in our roome hauing our sinnes imputed vnto him and when he rose from death he acquit and iustified himselfe from our sinnes and ceased to be any more a reputed sinner for vs and thus all that doe or shall beleeue in him are in him acquit absolued and iustified from all their sinnes If any demaund how they which liued in the time of the old Testament before the resurrection of Christ could be iustified thereby considering the effect must followe the cause I answer that they were iustified by the future resurrection of Christ which though it followed in time yet did the value vertue therof reach euē euen to the beginning of the world The fift effect is the conferring and bestowing of all such gifts and graces as he had merited procured for vs by his death and passion Thus Christ testifieth that the giuing of the spirit in large plentifull manner was reserued to the glorification of Christ which beganne in his resurrection And the preaching of Repentance and remission of sinnes is reserued till after his resurrection And S. Peter saith that the Elect are regenerate to a liuely hope by the resurrectiō of Christ. By reason of this bestowing of graces and gifts the resurrection of Christ is the beginning of a new and spirituall world which the holy Ghost calls the world to come in which shall be a new heauen and a new earth as Isai speaketh and a peculiar people of God zealous of good works keeping an eternall sabbath vnto God This one effect alone sufficiently declares the excellencie of this vertue of Christ. The sixth effect is viuification which is a raising of vs frō the death of sinne to newnes of life And the reason hereof is plaine For Christ in his resurrection put away his natural life which with our nature he receiued from Adam and tooke vnto him a spirituall life that he might communicate the saide life to all that beleeue in him Againe