at the best be they what they will neither the Fathers nor Apostles no nor Christ himself for ought I can see to be excepted Which error being thus sprung up did in an Age so apt to novelties and innovations meet with many followers and some too many indeed in this Church of England some of them teaching as it is affirmed by their learned Adversary that Christ redeemed our souls by the death of his soul as our bodies by the death of his body Now whereas the soul is subject to a twofold death the one by sin prevailing on it in this life which is the natural depriving or voluntary renouncing of all grace the other by damnation in the world to come which is the just rejecting of all the wicked from any fellowship with God in his glory and fastning them to everlasting torments in hell fire I would fain know which of these deaths it was the first or second which our Saviour suffered in his soul. I think they do not mean the last and am sure they cannot prove the first for to talk as some of them have done that there may be a death of the soul a curse and separation from God which of it self is neither sin nor conjoyned with sin is such a Monster in Divinity as was never heard of till this Age. Certain I am the Scripture only speaks of two kindes of death the first and the second both which we finde expressed in the Revelation where it is said the fearful and the unbeleeving and the abominable and murtherers and sorcerers and whoremongers and Idolaters and all lyers all which no doubt are under the arrest of the first death whereof he speaketh chap. 2. vers 11. shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death And sure I am the Fathers if they may be credited are contrary in tearms express to this new device not only acknowledging no death in Christ but the death of the body but also utterly disclaiming this pretended death of the soul. In quo nisi in corpore expiavit populi peccata in quo passus est nisi in corpore Wherein saith Ambrose did he expiate the sins of the people but in his body wherein did he suffer death but in his body St. Austin to this purpose also Sacerdos propter victimam quam pro nobis offerret a nobis acceptam that Christ was made or called a Priest by reason of that sacrifice which he took of us that he might offer it for us which could be nothing but our body More plainly and exclusively Fulgentius thus Moriente carne non solum deitas sed nec anima Christi potest ostendi commâ—rtua that when Christ dyed in the flesh neither his Deity nor his soul can be demonstrated to have dyed also with it The greatest Doctors of the Greek Churches do affirm the same Christ saith Theodoret was called an high Priest in his humane nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and offered none other sacrifice but his body only And thus Theophylact A Priest may by no means be without a sacrifice It was necessary then that Christ should have somewhat to offer Quod autem offerretur praeter ejus corpus nihil quippiam erat and there was nothing which he had to offer but his body only Athanasius in his third Oration against the Ariâ—ns and Nazianzen on that text When Iesus had finished all those sayings do affirme the same but not so clearly and exclusively as the others did Now as here is no death of the soul which possibly may be imagined to have happened to Christ if we will be judged by the Scriptures and as the Fathers Greek and Latine do so significantly and expresly disclaime the same so is it such an horrid speech such a pang of blasphemy as should not come within the heart nor issue from the mouth of any Christian. But this I only touch at now We shall hear more of it in the next Article touching the descent into hell where it shall be presented to us in another colour I end this point at this time with that of Augustine There is a first death and there is a second The first death hath two parts one whereby the sinfull soul by transgressing departeth from her Creator the other whereby she is excluded from her body as a punishment inflicted on her by the judgment of God The second death is the everlasting torment of the body and soul. Either of these deaths had laid hold upon every man but that the righteous and immortall Son of God came to die for us in whose flesh because there could be no sin he suffered the punishment of sin without the guilt of it And to that end admitted or endured for us the second part of the first death that is to say the death of the body only by which he ransomed us from the dominion of sin and the pain of eternal punishment which was due unto it But yet there is another argument which concludes more fully against this new device of theirs then any testimonies of the Fathers before produced mamely the institution of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper by the Lord himself in which there is a commemoration to be held for ever both of the breaking of his body and of the effusion of his bloud by which his bodily death is represented and set forth till his coming again but no remembrance instituted or commanded for the death of his soul. Which if it were of such an unquestionable truth as these men conceive and of such special use and efficacie to the worlds redemption as they gave it out would doubtlesse have been honoured with some special place in that commemoration of his Sacrifice which himself ordained Who in the same night he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thankes he brake it and said Take eate this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me and likewise after the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped saying this cup is the new Testament sealed in my bloud which is shed for you this do as oft as ye drink in remembrance of me In which and more then this we finde not in the book there is not one word which doth reflect on the death of his soul or any commemoration or remembrance to be held of that Only we find that as our Saviour by his death which was then at hand did put an end to all the legal rites and sacrifices of the old Testament which were but the shadows of things to come as St. Paul cals them Coloss. 2.17 So having fulfilled in the flesh all that had been fore-signifyed and spoken of him in the Law and Prophets he did of all ordain and institute one only Eucharistical sacrifice for a perpetuall remembrance of his death and passion to his second coming And thus St.
not then be cheated by this new distinction that Kings are Gods Vice-roys but not Iesus Christs though the distinction be much hugged by our great Novators Who intend nothing else thereby but to throw down Crowns and lay them at the foot of their Presbyteries and to set up instead of the Regal power their own dear Tribunal a Soveraignty in all causes Ecclesiastical to over-rule it first and extirpe it afterwards as the right learned Bishop of Kell-Alla very well observeth In these ways and by these several means and subordinate Ministers doth Christ administer the Kingdome committed to him And this he doth continually sitting at the right hand of God the Father and there to sit untill his enemies be made his footstool This David did fore-see by the spirit of Prophecy The Lord saith he said unto my Lord i. e. the Lord God almighty said to my Lord CHRIST IESVS Sit thou on my right hand untill thy enemies be made thy footstool This the Apostle also verifieth and affirms of Christ. But this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins is set down for ever on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool And this he also telleth us in another place saying of Christ that he must reign till he shall have put all his enemies under his feet Till then his Kingdome is to last and till that time he is to sit at the right hand of God in all power and Majesty If it be asked when that will be that all his enemies shall be subdued and subject to him we answer at the end of this present world when there is no enemie left to be destroyed Now the last enemie which is to be destroyed is death saith the same Apostle And thereupon we may inferre that while death reigneth in opposition to the Lord of life and sin in a defiance to the Lord of righteousness that hitherto we have not seen all things put under him and therefore must expect yet a little longer before he shall deliver up the Kingdome unto God the Father But then indeed when Death is utterly destroyed and all the Saints admitted to the glories of eternal life when all things are subdued unto him then also shall the Son himself be made subject to him that did put all things under him that is God the Father Then when he hath put down all rule and all authority and power then cometh the end and then he shall deliver up the Kingdome unto God the Father that God may be all in all This is the summe of St. Pauls argument in that point In which there being many things not easie to be understood I shall not think my time ill spent to make a short Paraphrase and discourse upon it that so we may perceive more fully the Apostles meaning And first he saith that CHRIST must reign till he hath put all things under his feet that being one of the especial parts of the Kingly function as before was shewn to save and defend his Church from the hands of her enemies and for the enemies themselves to crush them with a Scepter of iron and break them in pieces like a Potters vessel When this is done when he hath trodden under foot all his mortal enemies the persecutors of his Church false Prophets false Apostles and the great Antichrist himself which labour to seduce even the very Elect when he hath subjugated the powers of Hell and that sin hath no more dominion over us yet we shall still lie under the power of death untill the last and general Resurrection Death therefore is the last enemie to be destroyed that being delivered from his thraldome raised from the grave which is his prison and all those bonds and fetters broken by which we were held captive under his command we may be made partakers of eternal life and reign with Christ for ever in his heavenly glories When that time cometh when there are neither enemies from which to protect his Church nor any Church to be instructed in the wayes of godliness according to the Nomothetical part of the Regal Office then cometh the end the end of all things in this world which shall be no more the end of Christs Kingdome as the Mediator between God and man man having by the power of his mediation attained the end of his desires the guerdon and reward of his faith and piety This being done the rule of Satan and the authority of sin and the power of death being all broken and subdued he shall first raise our mortal bodies in despight of death pronounce the joyful sentence of absolution on them in despight of sin and finally advance them to that height of glory from which Satan fell to the confusion of the Devil and all his Angels And having so discharged the Office of a Mediator for executing which he sate at the right hand of God he shall deliver up unto God the Father the right and interest which he had in the Kingdome of Grace consisting in the building up of his Elect in faith hope and charity that they with him and he with them may reign forevermore in the Kingdome of glory Where there shall be no use of Faith for they shall see God face to face and faith is the existence of things not seen and less of hope for hope is the expectancy of things desired which being once obtained puts an end to hope Charity onely shall remain for that never ceaseth and therefore said to be the greatest of the three Theological vertues of which the Apostle there discourseth 1 Cor. 13.13 And so Primasius hath resolved it In this present life saith he there are three in the life to come onely the love of God and his Augels and of all the Saints That therefore is the greater which is alwayes necessary then that which once shall have an end The like St. Austin before him The greatest of all is charity because when every one shall come to eternal life the other two failing charity shall continue with increase and with greater certainty And finally before both thus St. Chrysostome and these three witnesses enough The greatest of these is Charity because they passe away but that continueth I must confess there is hardly a more difficult Text in all the Scripture then this of Christs delivering up the Kingdome unto God the Father nor which requires more care in the Exposition for fear of doing injurie unto God or Christ conceive me still of Christ in his humane nature For neither must we so understand the place as if God reigned not now at the present time nor was to reign at all untill this surrendry of the Kingdome by Christ our Saviour That were injurious to the power and Majesty of Almighty God by whom all things were made and by whom all made subject unto Christs command for he it is who did put all things
us and his ear still open to our prayers which he hath both the will and the power to grant so far forth as he seeth it fitting and expedient for us He suffered for our sins as he is our Priest forgives them as he is our God and mediates as our Head with his Heavenly Father for the remission of those sins which he suffered for The medicine for our sins was tempered in his precious blood and therein we behold him in his Priestly Office the application of this medicine was committed to the sons of men whom he by his Prophetical Office authorized unto it The dispensation of the mercy thereof still remains in God as an inseparable flower of the Regal Diadem for who can forgive sins but God alone said the Pharisees truly And this forgiveness of our sins as it is the greatest blessing God ca◠give us in this present life because it openeth us a door to eternal glory so is it placed here as the first in order of those signal benefits which do descend upon the Church from her Head Christ Iesus For we may hopefully conclude that since Christ was not onely pleased to die for our sins but doth intercede also with his Heavenly Father that we may have the benefit of his death and passion those prayers of his will make that death and passion efficacious to us in the forgiveness of those sins under which we languish With the like hope we may conclude from the self-same Topick That if we have our part in the first Resurrection that namely from the death of sin to the life of righteousness we shall be made partakers of the second also that namely from the death of nature to the life of glory For Chrysostom hath truly noted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That where the Head is will the members be If therefore Christ our Head be risen from the grave of death the members shall be sure of a Resurrection If Christ our Head be glorified in his Fathers Kingdom the members in due time shall be glorified also So that as well the Article of the Forgiveness of sins as those of the Resurrection of the body and The life everlasting depend upon Christs being Head of this Mystical Body and that too in the method which is here proposed The forgiveness of sins being given us as a pledge or assurance that we shall have a joyful Resurrection in the day of judgment as that is but a way or passage to eternal life First then we are to speak of the Forgiveness of sins and therein we will first behold the whole body of sin in its own foul nature that so we may the better estimate the great mercies of God in the forgiveness of the same And for beholding the whole body of sin in its own foul nature we must first take notice That it pleased God in the beginning to exhibite to the world then but newly made a lively copy of himself a Creature fashioned ad similitudinem suam after his own Image saith the Text. In the creating of the which as he collected all the excellencies of inferior Creatures so did he also crown him with those heavenly graces with which he had before endued the most holy Angels that is to say a rectitude or clearness in his understanding whereby he was enabled to distinguish betwixt truth and error and with a freedom in his will in the choice of his own ways and counsels Ut suae faber esse possit fortunae That if he should forsake that station wherein God had placed him he might impute it unto none but his wretched-self It is true God said unto him in the way of Caution That in what day soever he did eat of the fruit forbidden he should die the death But he had neither undertaken to preserve him that he should not eat and so by consequence not sin much less had he ordained him to that end and purpose that he should eat thereof and so die for ever And true it is that God fore-knew from before all eternity unto what end this Liberty of man would come and therefore had provided a most excellent remedy for the restoring of lapsed man to his grace and favor Yet was not this foreknowledge in Almighty God that so it would be either a cause or a necessity or so much as an occasion that so it should be And it is therefore a good rule of Iustin Martyr seconded by Origen and divers others of the Fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Prescience of God say they is not cause or reason why things come to pass but because these and these things shall so come to pass therefore God fore-knows them So that God dealt no otherwise in this case with our Father Adam than did the Father in the Parable with his younger son gave him that portion of his goods which fell to his share and after left him to himself And as the Prodigal childe being an ill husband on the stock which his Father gave him did quickly waste the same by his riotous living suffered the extremities of cold and hunger and was fain to cast himself again on his Fathers goodness so man not using well that stock which the Lord had given him gave himself over to the Epicurism of his eye and appetite By means whereof he lost those excellent endowments of his first Creation was shamefully thrust out of Paradise without hope of return and in conclusion fain to cast himself on the mercies of God as well for his subsistence here as his salvation hereafter The story of mans fall makes this plain enough and wholly frees Almighty God from having any hand or counsel in so sad a ruine For there we finde how God created him after his own Image placed him in Paradise commanded him not to meddle with the Tree of good and evil threatned that in case he did eat thereof he should surely die and lastly with what grievous punishments he did chastise him for violating that Commandment All which had been too like a Pageant if God had laid upon him a necessity of sin and death and made him to no other end as some teach us now but by his fall to set the greater estimate on his own rich mercies So excellently true is that of Ecclesiasticus though the Author of it be Apocryphal That God made man in the begining and left him in the hands of his own counsels And this is the unanimous doctrine of the New Testament also where it is said That by man came death and that not onely of the body but of the soul 1 Cor. 15.21 That by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin Rom. 5.12 That by one mans disobedience many were made sinners Vers. 19. That all die in Adam Vers. 22. And in a word That no man ought to say when he is tempted that he is tempred of God for God tempteth no man but every
body CHAP. VII Of the crucifying death and burial of the Lord JESUS CHRIST with the diquisition of all particulars incident thereunto THe death of Christ prefigured both in that of Abel and of Abels lamb The definition of a Sacrifice how abused by Bellarmine and on what design The Sacrifices of the Law how accounted expiatory Several resemblances between the Sacrifices of Christ and the legal sacrifices A parallel beawixt Christ and Isaac and betwixt Christ and the Brazen Serpent Calvins interpretation and the practise of the Papists much alike unsound How Christ is said to be made a curse The cruel intention of the Iews to prolong Christs miseries under the false disguise of pity Several sorts of Dereliction and in what sort our Saviour Christ complained that he was forsaken Whether Christ spake those words in his own Person or in the person of his members the Schoolmen in this point very sound and solid Why vinegar was given to Christ at the time of his passion The meaning of those words Consummatum est That the death of Christ is rather to be counted voluntary then either violent or natural and upon what reasons The death of Christ upon the Cross a full Propitiation for the sins of man both in the judgement of Scriptures and the Antient Fathers That Christ suffered not the death of the soul as impiously is affirmed by some The Eucharist ordained for a Sacrifice by our Lord and Saviour The Sacrifice or Oblation of Bread and Wine used antiently by that very name in the Church of Christ why called Commemorative and why an Eucharistical sacrifice and why the Sacrament of the Altar The Sacrifice asserted by the Antient Writers corrupted by the Church of Rome and piously restored by the Church of England St. Cyprian wrested by the Papists to defend their Mass. A parallel between the Peace-offerings and the blessed Eucharist The renting of the Vail at our Saviours passion what it might portend The Earthquake and Eclipse then happening testified out of Heathen writers The reconciliation of St. Mark and St. Iohn about the time and hour of our Saviours suffering Various opinions in that point and which most improbable Vniversality of redemption defended by the Church of England Both Sacraments how said to issue from our Saviours side The breaking of our Saviours body in the holy Eucharist how it agreeth with the not breaking of his bones The true and proper meaning of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Certain considerations on our Saviours buriall and of the weekly fasting dayes thereupon occasioned That Iudas hanged himself made good from the antient Fathers against the new devise of Daniel Heinsius The fearfull and calamitous ends of Pontius Pilate Annas Cajaphas and the whole nation of the Iews CHAP. VIII Of the locall descent of Christ into hell Hades and inferi what they signifie in the best Greek and Latine authors and in the text of holy Scripture an examination and confutation of the contrary opinions CHrists descent into hell the first degree of his Exaltation and so esteemed by many of the antient Fathers The drift and project of this Chapter Severall Etymologies of the Greek word HADES The Greek word HADES used most commonly by the old Greek writers to signifie hell the place of torments sometimes to signifie Pluto the King of hell the word so used also by the sacred Penmen of the new Testament The faultinesse of our last translators in rendring the Greek HADES by the English grave 1 Cor. 15.55 c. contrary to the exposition of the best interpreters By HADES in the Ecclesiasticall notion of it is meant only hell in the opinion of all Greek writers of the elder and middle times The Latine word inferi whence derived and what it signifyeth Inferi generally used by the Antient writers for the place of torments not for the receptacles or repositories of the righteous souls The Greek word Hades generally rendered in the new Testament by the Latine inferi The meaning of these words viz. He descended into hell Grammatically gathered from the Premises Arguments for the locall descent of Christ into hell from St. Pauls words Rom. 10.6 7. and Ephes. 4.8 9 c. with the explication of both places The leading of captivity captive Ephes. 4. and the spoiling of principalities and powers Col. 2.15 used by the antients as arguments for Christs descent into hell the like proved by St Peters argument Act. 2.27 c. the pains of death mentioned vers 2.24 in the latter editions of that book the very same with the pains of hell in some antient copies The Locall descent of Christ into hell proved by the constant and successive testimonies of the old Greek Fathers and by the general current of the Latine writers together with the reasons which induced him to it Considerations on this point viz. whether Christ by his descent into hell delivered thence the souls of such holy men as either dyed under or before the Law Bullengers moderation in it CHAP. IX The Doctrine of the Church of England touching Christs descent into Hell asserted from all contrary opinions which are here examined and disproved THe Doctrine of the Church of England touching the local descent of Christ into Hell delivered in the book of Articles in the book of Homilies and Catechismes publickly allowed The errour of Mr. Rogers in that point charged upon the Church The Doctrine of a locall descent defended by the most eminent writers in the Protestant Churches and of some of the Reformed also The first objection against the locall descent viz. that there was no such clause in the old Creed or Symbol of the Church of Rome The second objection that our Saviour went on the day of his passion with the Theef to Paradise The third objection that Christ at the instant of his death commended his soul into the hands of God the Father The pertinency and profitablenesse of the locall descent declared and stated and freed from all the Cavils which are made against it The false construction of this Article by our Masters in the Church of Rome Brentius and Calvin falsly charged by Bellarmine The Article of Christs descent by whom first made the same with his burial the inconvenience of that sense and the absurdities of Beza in indevoring to make it good The new devise which makes the descent into hell to be nothing else but a continuance for three days in the state of death proposed and answered A Theologicall Dictionary necessary for young Divines The Author and progresse of the new opinion touching the suffering of hell paines in our Saviours soul. A particular of the torments in hell that is to say remorse of conscience 2. rejection from the favour of God 3. despaire of Gods mercy 4. the fiery flames there being That none of all these could finde place in our Saviours soul. The blasphemy of some who teach that Christ descended into hell to suffer there the torments of
hath it that if he would he might continue in Gods grace and favour and attain all the blessedness which he could desire or otherwise might fall from both and so deprive himself of that sweet contentment which is not any where to be found but in God alone A greater liberty then this he had not given unto the Angels a more glorious creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Iustin Martyr And he as some of them before abused this liberty so given to his own destruction For being placed by God in the garden of Eden in Paradiso voluptatis as the vulgar reades it he had free power to eat of every tree but one in that glorious place and that tree only interdicted that God might have some tryall of his free obedience the interdiction being seconded with this commination that whensoever he did eat of it he should surely die What lesse could God have laid upon him unlesse he had discharged him of all obedience to his will and pleasure and left him independent of his supreme Power Father said the wise servant unto Naaman if the Prophet had commanded thee a great thing wouldst thou not have done it how much more then when all he saith unto thee is no more then this that thou shouldest wash and be clean Had God commanded Adam some impossible matter he might have been excused from the undertaking because it was a matter of impossibility Or had God bound him to the fruit of one tree alone and debarred him from the tast of all the rest he might have had some more excusable pretence for his flying out and giving satisfaction to a straitned appetite But the commandement being small makes his fault the greater the easiness of the one much aggravating the offence of the other For so it was that either out of unbelief as if God did not mean to sue him for so small a trespasse or that he had a proud ambition to be like to God or yeelded to the lusts of intemperate appetite or that he was not willing to offend his wife by whom he was invited to that deadly banquet he took the forbidden fruit into his mouth and greedily devoured his own destruction and so destroyed himself and his race for ever Not himselfe only but his race even his whole posterity For being the root and stock of mankinde in general which is descended from the loynes of this wretched man what he received of God in his first creation he received both for himself and them who descended from him and what he lost he lost like an unthrifty Father for the childe unborn And as the Scriptures say of Levi that he payed tithes in Abraham to Melchisedech because he was in the loynes of his father Abraham when Melchisedech met him so may we say of the posterity of this prodigal father that they were all undone by his great unthriftiness because they were all of them in his loynes when he lost Gods favour when he drew sin upon them all and consequently death the just wages of it And so saith Gregory Nazianzen surnamed the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We were so made saith he that we might be happy and such we were being made when first placed in Paradise in which we might have had the fruition of all kinds of happiness but forfeited the same by our own transgression If any aske St. Augustine makes the question and the answer too what death God threatned unto man on his disobedience whether the death of the body or of the soul or of the wholeman which is called the second death we must answer All For if saith he we understand that death only by which the soul is forsaken of God surely in that all other kinde of deaths were meant which without question were to follow For in that a disobedient motion rose in the flesh for which they covered their privy parts one death was perceived in which God did forsake the soul. And when the soul forsook the body now corrupted with time and wasted by the decaies of age another death was found by experience to ensue upon it that by these two deaths that first death of the whole man might be accomplished which the second death at last doth follow except Man be delivered by the grace of God And by the grace of God was poor man delivered from this body of death For as there is no deep valley but near so me high hill so near this vale of misery this valley of the shadow of death as the Psalmist calleth it was an hill of mercy a remedy proposed in the promised seed to Adam and the sons of Adam if with unfained faith they lay hold upon it God looketh upon them all at once in that wofull plight and when he saw them in their bloud had compassion on them and out of his meer love and mercy without other motives offered them all deliverance in a Mediator in the man CHRIST IESVS and that too on conditions far more easie then that of workes the condition and reward being this in brief that whosoever did believe in him should not perish but have life everlasting And this I take to be the method of Election unto life eternal through CHRIST IESVS our Lord. For although there be neither Prius or Posterius in the will of God who sees all things at once together and willeth at the first sight without more delay yet to apply his acts unto our capacities as were the acts of God in their right production so were they primitively in his intention But Creation without peradventure did foregoe the fall and the disease or death which ensued upon it was of necessity to be before there could a course be taken to prescribe the cure and the prescribing of the cure must first be finished before it could be fitted to particular persons And for the Fall which was the medium as it were between life and death the great occasion of mans misery and Gods infinite mercy God neither did decree it as a meanes or method of which he might make use to set forth his power in the immortal misery of a mortal creature nor did he so much as permit it in the strict sense of the word in which it differeth little from a plain command Quam longe quaeso est a jubente permittens How little differeth permitting from commanding saith devout Salvian considering he that which doth permit having power to hinder is guilty of the evill which doth follow on it God did not then permit the fall of unwary man as Moses did permit the Israelites a bill of divorce which manner of permission carryeth an allowance with it or a toleration at the least but so permit it only as the father in our Saviours parable permitted his younger Son to see strange Countries and having furnished him with a stock on which to traffick suffered him to depart and make up his fortunes whether good
reconciled to man as Peace had desired And so that was fulfilled which the Psalmist speaks of Mercy and truth are met together righteousness or justice and peace have kissed each other Arminius followeth this conceit a little further and addes that when the different parties had pursued their interesses Wisdome was called on to advise what was best to be done to give satisfaction to them all whose advise was that the punishment due to the sin of man should be changed into an Expiatory sacrifice by the voluntary oblation of the which justice might be appeased and place made for mercy But then began a new debate where they should finde a Priest fit for such a sacrifice Angel it could not be because it was not reasonable that an Angel should suffer for the sin of Man And Man it could not be because being terrifyed with the guilt of his own transgressions he had not confidence enough to draw near to God nor had he any thing of his own which was held worthy to be offered to so high a Deity Wisdome was therefore called again by whom it was finally resolved that there must be some man begotten who being made in all things like unto his Brethren might be the more sensible of their infirmities but so that he should be free from sin and not obnoxious to the power and criminations of Satan Holy he was to be or rather holiness and therefore to be conceived only by the holy Ghost by whose great power the ordinary course of nature was to be supplyed and in this flesh the Word it self to be incarnate who offering up that flesh in sacrifice for the sins of the world might so performe the work of poor mans redemption But leaving these conceits though indeed very ingenious there is no question to be made but God had other means to save us then by the incarnating the word and humbling his only begotten Son unto the death even the death of the Crosse if he had so pleased But a better and more convenient way to demonstrate his love and mercy towards us to manifest his Power and wisdome and yet withall to shew his justice against sin and Satan the Scriptures have not laid before us The Fathers have resolved it thus Et â—ine hoc holocausto poterat Deus tantum condonasse peccatum sed facilitas veniae peccatis laxaret habenas effraenatis quae etiam Christi vix cohibent passiones God saith St. Cyprian was able to have pardoned this great sin without this sacrifice but the sacrifice of the pardon would have loosned the reines to unbridled sins which even the sufferings of Christ are scarce able to represse The like saith Nazianzen It was possible for God saith he to save man by his only will without taking of our flesh upon him as he did and doth work all things without help of a body Damascene to the same effect He was not otherwise unable that can do all things by his Almighty power and strength to take man from the tyrant that possessed him The like occurreth in St. Ambrose St. Augustine and Pope Gregory also In the darke ages of the Chrurch the same truth was held For thus St. Bernard in those times Was not the Creator able to restore his work without this difficulty Able he was but he chose rather to wrong himself then the most lewd and hateful vice of unthankfulnesse should finde any colourable place in man And it holds also since the times of the reformation Calvin affirmes it in plain terms Poterat nos Dominus verbo aut nutu redimere nisi aliter nostra causa visual esset the Lord saith he might have redeemed us with a word or beck but that for our sakes he thought good to do otherwise Zanchius comes very close to Calvin What saith he could not mankind be delivered by any other means then the death of Christ No doubt but that he might have done it solo nutu et jussu et voluntate divina by the only beck commandement and will of God Conforme to which expression of the antient and modern writers the Church of England hath declared in the book of Homilies that it was the surest pledge of Gods love to man to give us his own Son from Heaven For otherwise he might have given us if he would an Angel or some other Creature and yet in that his love had been far above our deserts They who conceive that God was not able otherwise to effect this work or had no other meanes to bring it to passe then that which he made choise of to effect the same do wilfully intrench upon his Omnipotence which is larger then either his will or his works For though his works be alwayes measured by his will yet must his Power be limited unto neither of them because God is able to do many things which he never did nor will do as hath been shewn before in the first Article And in his works to bind him unto any necessity to do as he did and not to leave him at his own liberty to do what he pleaseth and in a way which seemeth most agreeable to his heavenly wisdome were to revive the accursed errour of the Manichees Against whom St. Augustine thus resolveth it Nullam ergo necessitatem patitur Deus neque necessitate facit quae facit sed summa et ineffabili voluntate ao potestate God saith the Father is not bound by any necessity nor is he necessitated to do those things which he doth but doth them by his supreme and unspeakable power As then there was not any necessity on the part of God the Father Almighty to send his only begotten Son into the world to take our humane nature on him and suffer an accursed death for the sins of the world so neither was there any necessity on the part of the word by which he was enjoyned or compelled to take upon him the office of a Mediator and be incarnate in our flesh That it was agreeable to the work in hand that the word should be made flesh and in that flesh accomplish the whole mystery of our redemption there are many reasons to perswade For who was fitter to be cast out into the Sea to stay the tempest of Gods anger against sinful man then the Ionas for whose sake it rose Almighty God was first displeased for the wrong offered to the word in that man desired to be like unto God and to know all things in such sort as is proper to the only begotten Son of the Father The sin was caro verbum then vile flesh aspired to be made like unto the word therefore the remedy now must be verbum caro the word so farforth humbling it self as to be made flesh Verbum caro factum Who fitter to become the son of man then he that was by nature the Son of God Patrem habuit in coelis Matrem quaesivit in
how to comfort them with the joyfull news of his recovery Sorrow and grief and anguish and disconsolation our Saviour did begin to feel there 's no doubt of that though not in such a high degree as to make him fall into those extremities of passion as neither to know what he did nor for what he prayed He that could come to his Disciples in the middest of his anguish and reprove them for their sloth and sleepiness had neither lost the use of his speech nor senses And if his prayers were full of faith as no doubt they were for the Scriptures say that he was heard in that he prayed for which could not be without a perfect measure of faith assuredly however he was heavily oppressed under the burden of afflictions he knew full well both what he prayed for and to whom But this was only the beginning of his sorrowes as before was said It followeth in the text both in Matthew and Marke My soul is exceeding sorrowfull even unto the death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my soul is compassed round with sorrowes such as doe seem to threaten me with no lesse then death and yet no way to scape them as in both Evangelists And certainly it stood with reason that it should be so For as an eminent Prelate of our own doth observe right well The whole work and weight of our Redemption was now before Christs eyes and apprehension in a more exact and lively manner he now appearing before the judgment seat of God then we in this body can discern For as all things needfull shall be present and patent to us when we are brought to Gods tribunall so Christ presenting himself before the judgement of God to the end that man might be redeemed by the ransome which he was to pay for him and Satan ejected from prevailing against his members by his mediation did fully and perfectly behold the detestation which God had conceived against our sins and the power of his wrath provoked by our defection and rebellion as also the dreadfull vengeance prepared and ordained for sin and our dull and carelesse contempt of our own misery together with the watchfulnesse and eagernesse of the common adversary the brunt and burden of all which he was to bear and to avert them from us by by that satis â—action which the justice of God should then require at his hands as a just price and full recompence for the sins of men The due consideration and intuition whereof being in Christ more clear then we can conceive might worthily make the manhood of Christ both to fear and tremble and in his prayers to God to stir and inflame all the powers and parts both of soul and body as far as mans nature and spirit were able with all submission and deprecation possible to powre forth themselves before his God Here was full cause undoubtedly to make him sorrowful and sorrowful unto the death How could it otherwise be conceived when the just and full reward of our iniquities was thus presented to his sight when he beheld the greatnesse and the justnesse of Gods wrath against it and therewithall considered within himself how dear the price must be and how sharpe the pain which should free us of it And on the other side considered how precious his own person was how infinite his obedience how pure his life and yet how that most precious life must be taken from him that by one death and that death only of the body he might deliver us from the death both of body and soul. So then his soul was â—ull of sorrow there was good cause for it but not oppressed with any pains much lesse tormented and inflanted with the pains of hell as some would fain gather from the text for neither tristitia in Latine nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek either amongst divine or humane writers signifie any such impression of pain and torment but an affection only which afflicts the minde rising upon the apprehension of some evill either past or instant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek amongst the choycest humanitians is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Cicero translates opinio recens mali praesentis a fresh opinion of present or impendent evill And Austin telleth us for the Latines that grief and anguish when it is in the soul is called tristitia that is sorrow but when 't is in the body then 't is molestia pain or trouble Thus is the word taken also in the holy Scripture where St. Paul saith I would not come again unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in sorrow or heaviness for fear he should have sorrow of them of whom he did expect to be received with joy and where it is affirmed of the rest of the servants when they perceived how cruelly their fellow-servant which was pardoned so great a sum dealt with one of his debters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were very sorry And certainly they might be very sorry on so sad an accident out of a fellow-feeling of their Brothers miserie we have no reason to conceive them to be full of pain Hitherto we have met with such griefs and sorrows in our Saviour as never man endured before but yet they prove not to be such as either did confound all the powers of his soul or astonish all the senses of his body or brought him into such amazement that he considered neither what he said or did Some have endevoured to infer this as before was noted out of the texts and words foregoing but with ill successe and therefore they are fallen at last on an other Scripture which they think makes for them How is my soul troubled saith our Saviour and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this houre Here they observe a contrariety or contradiction in our Saviours words which could not possibly proceed but from a soul distracted and a minde confounded and what could work so strange and sensible a confusion in him but the pains of hell which were within him But whatsoever they observe the most eminent men for parts and learning in the times before them could see no such matter Erasmus in his Paraphrases gives this glosse upon them which Bullinger a learned Protestant writer doth extol most highly and calleth an excellent explication I finde my soul troubled for the day of my death approaching and what shall I say For the love of mine own life shall I neglect the life of the world By no means I will apply my self to the will of my Father Mans weaknesse troubled with the fear of death may say unto him Father if it be possible save me from this hour from this danger of death which is now so near me But love desirous of mans salvation shall presently add Nay rather if it be expedient let death which is desired come for as much as wittingly and willingly by the
death he addeth in the very next words that he was heard in that he feared that is to say the prayers and supplications which he made to God were not ineffectuall but he obtained that of the Lord for which he prayed so earnesly and devoutly to him in regard that his said prayers proceeded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the text from a godly and religious fear such as the School men call by the name of the fear of reverence Now that the matter of these prayers might be in reference to his offering of himself for the good of mankinde many of the Fathers say expressely St. Paul here saith as Ambrose writeth that Christ offered prayers and supplications non timore mortis sed nostrae causa salutis not so much for the fear of death as for mans salvation and thereupon Paul saith in another place that the bloud of Christ cryed better things for us then the bloud of Abel so saith Primasius Totum quicquid egit Christus in carne c. All that Christ did in the flesh were prayers and supplications for the sins of mankinde and the shedding of his bloud was a strong cry in which he was heard of God his Father in regard of his reverence i. e. for his voluntary obedience and most perfect charity The like saith Haymo on the text a writer of the middle times but of very good worth who keeps himself in the particular to the words of Primasius But above all Sedulius comes most home to the point in hand a writer of good credit under Theodosius the 2. Ann. 430. or thereabouts Christ saith he prayed with tears not shed for fear of death but for our salvation and was heard of God the Father when the Angel did comfort him for his reverence either his with his Father or else his Fathers towards him So that if either the mitigation of those feares and terrors which were then upon him or the acceptance of his death in ransome for the sins of the world were any part of those prayers which he made in the Garden as in all likelihood they were it could not but be most comfortable news unto him that his prayers were granted and the Angel a most welcome messenger by whom such comfortable news was sent And this we may the rather think to be the message which the Angel brought in regard that after this we finde no more mention of those fears and sorrows which formerly had seized upon him but that he cheerfully prepared himself for the stroke of death and called up his Disciples to go forth to meet it So carefull was his heavenly Father of his dearest Son as not to hold him in suspence but to impart unto him upon all occasions how grateful his obedience was how infinitely he was pleased with that zeal constancy which he had manifested in his greatest and most fiery trials In which regard no sooner had he driven away the Devil in that great temptation which at first he suffered in the Wilderness but behold the Angels came and ministred unto him as St. Matthew telleth us And here no sooner had he overcome the difficulties which flesh and bloud and humane frailty had proposed unto him and called upon the Lord for strength to goe through with so great a work and for the acceptation of that offering he was then to make but straight an Angel came from Heaven to strengthen him in his sufferings and comfort him in his afflictions No mention after this of those fears and sorrows which formerly had seised upon him and of the which he had complained so sensibly unto his Disciples But then perhaps it will be said If on the coming of the Angel he received such comforts what then could bring him to that Agony which the Gospel speaks of and speaks of in the very next words to those of the appearance of the holy Angel an agony so sharp and piercing that his sweat was as it were great drops of bloud I know indeed that many do impute this Agony to that extremity of grief which our Saviour suffered and others to those hellish and infernal torments which they conceive according to the new devise to have been within him and that the bloudy sweat which the Scriptures speak of was an effect or consequent of those griefs and torments But on a further search into the business we shall finde it otherwise the Agony into which he fell proceeding not from the extremity of pain or sorrow but from a greater vehemency in prayer And being in an agony saith the Text he prayed more earnestly in which he was so zealously inflamed against sin and Satan that he powred forth not only the strength of his soul but the very spirits of his body For though the word Agony be sometimes improperly taken for fear yet properly it is affirmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of him that is ready to descend to any combat or conflict as Orion a most antient Grecian observeth in which regard Damascen gives this exposition of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 standing in doubt or fearing lest we fail in our undertakings we are said to be agonized or to be in an agony And hereto Aristotle that great and wise Philosopher agreeth also where he sheweth not only that an agony may be where there is no fear as when we attempt things honest and commendable though difficult to be attained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for which men strive and are agonized without fear but also that sweating in an agony proceeds not from fear but rather from zeal and indignation An agony saith he is not the passing of the natural heat from the higher parts of the body to the lower as in fear but rather an increase of heat as in anger and indignation and he that is in an agony is not troubled with fear or cold which crosseth ex diametro this new devise but with expectation of the event So that an agony to speak properly inferreth neither fainting fear nor deadly pain as some misconceive it but noteth a contention or intension of body or minde whereby men labour to perform their desires and strive against the dangers which may defeat them of and in their enterprise And for this agony of Christs if we compare it with those circumstances which attend the text we shall plainly see that it proceeded not from the extremity of grief or sorrow against both which he had received strength and comfort by the hands of the Angel but from that fervency of zeal and contention of minde to prevail in that which he desired and to remove all rubs and difficulties which were set before him The Devil as we know did attempt our Saviour at the first entrance on his Ministery when he was first proclaimed to be the Son of God though then he had no more quarrel to him then to finde out the truth of that proclamation whether he were the Son of God or not
to have a speciall place in this short compendium this abstract of the Christian faith of our whole religion and that it had not been enough to have expressed his being crucifyed dead and buryed unlesse his sufferings under Pontius Pilate had been mentioned also Of which three points viz. his crucifying death and burial being the consummation of his sufferings and the last acts of his humiliation for the accomplishing of mans Redemption we are next to speak ARTICVLI 5. Pars 2da 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Crucifixus mortuus sepultus i. e. Was crucified dead and buryed CHAP. VII Of the Crucifying death and burial of the Lord JESUS CHRIST with Disquisition of all particulars incident thereunto HItherto have we spoken of those afflictions which our Redeemer suffered under Pontius Pilate in his soul and body precedent to his Crucifixion We are now come to speak of those which he suffered on the Cross it self together with his death and burial being the last acts of his Humiliation for being dead and buryed once he could fall no lower But being his death upon the Cross was that only all-sufficient Sacrifice made for the satisfaction of Gods justice and the redemption of all mankinde from the powers of darkness typified in so many acts and figures of the Old Testament whereof some relate unto his death and others to the manner of it I shall first speak a word or two of those rites and sacrifices and other figures which might or did relate in Gods secret purpose to the coming of the promised Seed and all the benefits redounding to the world by his death and passion First for those types which might fore-signifie and represent the Messiahs death they did consist especially in those legal sacrifices which God himself had instituted in the Iewish Church for the expiation of the sins of that people and their reconciliation to their God yet so that even before the law there wanted not a type and figure of it every way as proportionable to the substance signified as any of the Legal and commanded sacrifices No sooner had God raised up seed to Adam thereby to give him hopes of the accomplishment of his deliverance and redemption by the seed of the woman but he was taught to represent the same in a solemn sacrifice assoon at least as his sons were come to age to assist him in it And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruits of the ground an offering to the Lord and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flocks and the fat thereof An offering from the hands of Cain to shew that even the wicked owe an homage to the Lord God Almighty from whose hands they receive all their temporal blessings and therefore were to pay back something in the way of a quit-rent or acknowledgment Donis suis honorandus est ipse qui dedit as Rupertus hath it A Sacrifice from the hands of Abel of righteous Abel as our Saviour did vouchsafe to call him who not long after was made a Sacrifice himself by his wicked brother As if the Lord intended in this double sacrifice to represent the death and passion of his Son Christ Iesus in that of Abel by his brother the bloudy and most barbarous fact of the wretched Iews upon their countryman their brother of the house of Iacob in that of Abels lamb the sacrifice of the Lamb of God slain from the beginning of the world as the Apostle in the Revelation Now for the Legal sacrifices prescribed the Iews and those which had been offered by Gods faithful servants before the giving of the Law they do so far agree in one as to be comprised in the same general definition For generally a sacrifice may be defined to be the offering of a creature to Almighty God by the hands of a lawful Minister to be spent or consumed in his service Which definition I desire the Reader to take notice of because we shall relate unto it when we come to speak of the Christian sacrifice or the Commemoration of this sacrifice in the Church of Christ. Bellarmine in more words saith no more then this His words be these Sacrificium est externa oblatio soli deo facta qua per Legitimum ministrum creatura aliqua sensibilis permaneâ—s ad agnitionem Divinae Majestatis infirmitatis humanae ritu mystico consecratur transmutatur Only the last word transmutatur was put in of purpose to countenance the change or transubstantiation of the outward Elements into the natural body and bloud of Câ—rist which notwithstanding he is fain after to expound by the word destruitur i. e. consumed or destroyed to make his Mass as true as proper and as real a Sacrifice of Christ our Saviour on the Altar as that which he himself once offered on the accursed Cross. But all the Sacrifices of Gods people before the Law were principally if not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as were offered unto God by way of thankefulness and due acknowledgement for all his benefits conferred on their souls and bodies Of which kinde also were the peace-offerings Levit. 3. v. 1. the sacrifice of thanksgiving Levit. 7.12 and the free-wil offering vers 16. in use amongst the Iews when the Law was given in celebrating which they were left at liberty to offer either male or female as they would themselves God giving his increase of their flocks and herds by both the sexes male and female and pouring on both sexes man and woman both temporal and spiritual blessings Under the law the case was otherwise For then besides the Eucharistical sacrifices before remembred which for the substance and intent were before in use amongst their Ancestors the holy Patriarchs though not accompanied with so many ceremonies they had sacrifices of another kindâ— which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say expiatory or propitiatory for the taking away of their sins In which as they did signifie by the death of the beast the wages due to their iniquities for the wages of sin is death saith the great Apostle so by the shedding of his bloud did God please to intimate that they should have the pardon and forgiveness of their sins and acceptation of their service by the bloud of Christ. These then and only these were Typi venturae victimae the types and shadows of that great and perfect Sacrifice which Christ our Saviour was to offer for the sins of mankinde and were called expiatorie and propitiatorie non proprie sed relative not properly and in themselves as if there were in them any power or vertue either to expiate our offences or be a Propitiation for our sins for the bloud of Buls and Goats cannot take away sins saith the same Apostle but relatively in relation to the Ordinance of Almighty God by whom they had been instituted to that end and purpose as Baptism after was in the Church
is to be observed that Christ now seeing all was finished which God required at his hands to the satisfaction of his justice for the sins of man and having fulfilled all those things which were spoken of him by the Prophets did voluntarily of his own accord deliver up his soul into the hands of his Father He had before told us of himself that he was the good Shepheard which giveth his life for the sheep Ioh. 10.11 that no man had power to take it from him Si nemo utique nec mors and if none then not death as we read in Chrysostom but that he laid it down of himself vers 18. and that he gave his life as a ransome for many Matth. 20.28 And the event shewed that he was no braggard or had said more then he was able to perform For the Evangelists declare that he had sense and speech and voluntary motion to the last gasp of his breath all which do evidently fail in the sons of men before the soul parteth from the body Which breathing out of his soul so presently upon so strong a cry and so lowd a prayer seemed so miraculous to the Centurion who observed the same that without expecting any further Miracle he acknowledged presently that truly this was the Son of God And this St. Hierom noted rightly The Centurion hearing Christ say to his Father Into thy hands I commend my Spirit statim sponte dimisisse spiritum and presently of his own accord to give up the ghost moved with the greatness of the wonder said Truly this man was the Son of God The Fathers generally do affirm the same ascribing this last act of our Saviours Tragedy not to extremity of pain or loss of bloud to any outward violence or decay of spirits but as his own voluntary deed and that though God the Father had decreed he should die yet he did give him leave and power to lay down his life of his own accord that his obedience to the will and pleasure of his heavenly Father might appear more evidently and the oblation of himself be the more acceptable And to this purpose saith St. Ambrose Quasi arbiter exuendi suscipiendique corporis emisit spiritum non amisit i. e. he did not lose his soul though he breathed it forth as one that had it in his own power both to assume his body and to put it off Eusebius to the same purpose also When no man had power over Christs soul he himself of his own accord laid it down for man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so being free at his own disposing and not over-ruled by outward force he himself of himself made his departure from the body The judgement of the rest of the Fathers touching this particular he that list to see let him consult St. Augustine lib. 4 de Trinit c. 13. Victor Antiochen in Marc. c. 15. Leo de Passione Dom. serm 16. Fulgentius lib. 3. ad Thrasimundum Sedulius in Opere Paschali lib. 5. c. 17. Beda in Matth. c. 27. Bernard in Feria 4. Hebdom poenosae And for the Greeks Athanasius Orat. 4. contra Arianos Origen in Ioh. Hom. 19. Gregorie Nyssen in Orat. 1. de Christi Resurrectione Nazianzen in his Tragedy called Christus patiens Chrysostom in Matth. 27. Homil. 89. Theophylact on the 27. of Matth. and the 23. of Mark. and the 23. of Luke And for late Writers Erasmus on Luk. 23. and Mark 15. Musculus on the 27. of Matthew and Gualter Hom. 169. on Iohn all which attest most punctually to the truth of this that the death of Christ was not meerly natural proceeding either from any outward or inward causes but only from his own great power and his holy will And to what purpose note they this but first to shew the conquest which he had of death whom he thus swallowed up in victory as the Apostle doth express it and secondly to shew that whereas natural death was the wages of sin which could not be inflicted on him in whom no sin was he therefore did breath out his soul in another manner then is incident to the sons of men to make himself a free-will offering to the Lord his God and make himself a sacrifice for the sins of mankinde by yeelding willingly to that death which their sins deserved And to this death this voluntary but bodily death of the Lord CHRIST IESVS and to that alone the Scriptures do ascribe that great work of the worlds redemption For thus St. Paul unto the Romans When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5.11 to the Hebrews thus For this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions which were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Heb. 9.15 if by Christs death it must be by his bodily death by effusion of his bloud and by no other death or kinde of death of what sort soever And to this truth the Scriptures witness very frequently For thus St. Paul we have redemption through his bloud Ephes. 1.7 By his own bloud hath he entred into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us Heb. 9.12 St. Peter thus Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as with silver and gold but with the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Finally thus the Elders say unto the Lamb in the Revelation Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud Apocal. 5 9. Which being so it is most certain that Christ abolished sin and Satan by suffering his body to be slain his bloud to be shed unto the death or the sins of the world and not by any other way or means co-ordinate with it as some lately fable Yet so it is that some men not content with that way of Redemption which is delivered in the Scriptures have fancyed to themselves another and more likely means for perfecting that great work of the death of Christ and teach us that the shedding of his bloud to the death of his body had not been sufficient for the remission of our sins if he had not also suffered the death of the soul and thereby wholly ransomed us from the wrath of God Calvin first led the dance in this affirming very desperately that I say no worse Nihil actum esse si corporea tantum morte defunctus fuisset that Christ had done nothing to the purpose if he had dyed no other then a bodâ—ly death He must then die the death of the soul seeing that his bodily death would not serve the turn and they who pretermit this part of our Redemption never known before and do insist so much externo carnis supplicio in the outward sacrifice of his flesh are insulsi nimis but silly fellows
oblationem Deo facere et in omnibus gratos inveniri fabricatori Deo c. It becometh us saith he to make oblations unto God and to be thankefull in all things to our heavenly maker offering to him the first fruits of his own creatures with a right belief and faith without hypocrisie in hope assured and fervencie of brotherly affection which pure oblation the Church alone doth offer to the maker of all things out of his own creatures with praise and thanks-giving And last of all it is called the Sacrament sometimes the Sacrament of the Lords Supper sometimes the Sacrament of the Altar by reaso that the bread and wine thus dedicated to the service of Almighty God and righly consecrated by his Ministers are made unto the faithful receiver the very body and bloud of Christ our Saviour and do exhibit to us all the benefits of his death and passion Of which it is thus said by the old Father Irenaeus that the bread made of the fruits of the earth and sanctifyed according to Christs ordinance jam non communis panis est sed Eucharistia ex duabus rebus constans terrena Coelesti c. is now no longer common bread but the blessed Eucharist consisting of two parts the one earthly and the other heavenly that is to say the outward elemental signe and the inward and spiritual grace In which respect it was affirmed of this bread by Cyprian if at the least the work be his which is somewhat doubted non effigie sed natura mutatum that though it kept the same shape which it had before yet was the nature of it changed not that it ceased to be what before it was as the Patrons of the Romish Masse do pervert his meaning but by being what before it was not just as an iron made red hot retaineth the proportion and dimensions which before it had and is still iron as at the first though somewhat of the nature of fire which is to warme and burn be now added to it And this was antiently the doctrine of the Church of Christ touching the sacrifice of the Lords supper or the blessed Eucharist before that monstrous Paradox of Transubstantiation was hammered in the brains of capricious Schoolmen or any such thing as a Propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and dead affabulated to the same by the Popes of Rome Now such a sacrifice as this with all the several kinds and adjuncts of it we finde asserted and maintained by the Church of England though it condemn the sacrifices of the Masses in which it was commonly said that the Priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead to have remission of pain or guilt as dangerous deceits and blasphemous fables and censureth Transubstantiation as repugnant to the plain words of Scripture destructive of the true nature of a Sacrament and to have given occasion to much superstition For if a true and proper sacrifice be defined to be the offering of a creature to Almighty God to be consecrated by a lawfull Minister to be spent and consumed to his service as Bellarmine and the most learned men of both sides do affirme it is then is the offering of the bread and wine in the Church of England a true proper sacrifice for it is usually provided by the Church-wardens at the charge of the people and being by them presented in the name of the people and placed on the Altar or holy table before the Lord is now no longer theirs but his and grant that we receiving these thy creatures of bread and wine and being consecrated by the Priest is consumed and eaten by such as come prepared to partake thereof The whole prayer used at the consecration doth it not plainly manifest that it is commemorative and celebrated in memorial of that full perfect and sufficient sacrifice oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world which our Saviour made upon the Crosse for our Redemption And when the Priest or Minister doth call upon us in the Exhortation above all things to give most humble and hearty thanks to God the Father the Son and the holy Ghost for the redemption of the world by the death and passion of our Saviour Christ and that we do accordingly entirely desire his fatherly goodness mercifully to accept that our sacrifice of praise and thanks-giving and therewith offer and present unto him our selves souls and bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively sacrifice unto him do we not thereby signifie as plainly as may be that it is an Eucharistical and spiritual sacrifice Finally that it is a Sacrament I think none denies and that thereby we are partakers of the body and bloud of CHRIST I think all will grant the people giving thanks to Almighty God for that he hath vouchsafed to feed them with the spiritual food of the most precious body and bloud of his Son our Saviour Jesus Christ and calling upon him to grant that by the merits and death of his Son Christ Jesus and through faith in his bloud both they and all his whole Church may obtain remission of their sins and all other benefits of his passion Nor doth the Church of England differ from the Antients as concerning the change made in the bread and wine on the consecration which being blessed and received according to Christs holy institution become the very body and bloud of Christ by that name are delivered with the usual prayer into the hands of the people and are verily and indeed saith the publick authorized Catechisme taken and received of the faithfull in the Lords Supper The bread and wine though still the same in substance which before they were are changed in nature being made what before they were not according to the uncorrupted doctrine of the purest times and the opinion of the soundest and most learned Protestants I add no more but that if question should be asked with which of all the legal sacrifices this of the Church of Christ doth hold best proportion I answer that it it best agreeth with those Eucharisticall sacrifices of the Law which were called peace-offerings made unto God upon their reconciliation and atonement with him In which as the creature offered a sacrifice to the Lord their God might be indifferently either male or female to shew that both sexes might participate of it so being offered to the Lord the one part of it did belong to the Priest towards his maintenance and support as the skin the belly the right shoulder and the brest c. the rest was eaten in the way of a solemn feast by those who brought it for an offering before the Lord. And in the feast as Mollerus very probably conjectureth the man that brought this offering did use to take a cup of wine and give thanks over it to the Lord for all his benefits which was the Calix salutis whereof the Psalmist speaketh saying I will take the
consequently punishments in hell With whom Theodoret consents commending much the piety of the old Philosophers in that they sent all the souls of all those to heaven who lived well and vertuously 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but those that did the contrary unto hell below and saying particularly of Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in many places he speaks of hell or Hades as a place of torments In which it is to be observed that when the Prepositions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are joyned with the word Hades in the Genitive case it is to be supplyed with some other word to make up the Grammaticall construction as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. in the house or regions of Hades Let us next see what use the writers of the new Testament have made of Hades and in what sense and signification we shall finde it there And first we may observe that it is sometimes used not often to signifie the Prince of darknesse the very Beelzebub himself the king of Devils as in the 20. Chapter of the Revelation v. 14. were it is said according to the English translation that death and hell were cast into the lake of fire But in the Originall it runs thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that death and Hades that is to say the Gonervours of death and the Prince of hell received their finall condemnation and were cast into the lake of fire and brimstone And in this sense as I conceive it is also used in a former place of the said book in which we finde mention of a pale horse death sitting on his back and Hell or Hades saith the Greek that is to say the Prince of hell following after On which the antient Expositer in St. Augustines works gives this Glosse or Comment Hell followeth after i. e. Expectantes devorationem multarum animarum expecting to devour the souls of many of those who are slain by death And this doth very well agree with that of the Apostle saying that the Devill is like a roaring lyon walking up and down and seeking whom he may devoure But generally the word Hades is used in the new Testament to signifie hell it selfe or the place of torments according to the meaning of the word in common speech Thus read we in St. Matthews Gospel that the gates of hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek or the gates of Hades shall not prevaile against the Church and in St. Lukes Gospel it is said of the great rich glutton that he was in hell in Hades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Original which in in the same verse is affirmed to be a place of torments And in hell he lift up his eyes being in torments saith the text v. 23. and in the next verse he complaines to Abraham that he was tormented in those flames Now these two places are confessed on all sides to be so clearly meant of hell or the place of Devils that there is no exception to be made against them May we not prove the like also of all the rest I beleive we shall In the 11. Chapter of St. Matthew it is affirmed of Capernaum that it was exalted unto heaven but should be brought down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hell or Hades What should the meaning of this be but that whereas the Gospel of Christ was now preached unto them whereby that City was exalted above all the Cities of Iewrie their not receiving of the same being offered to them made them obnoxious to the righteous judgment of Christ and liable to everlasting damnation in hell in the day of doom which day should be more tolerable to the Land of Sodome then it would be to them In the first Epistle to the Corinthians we finde this question O death where is thy sting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where is thy victory O Hades Here Hades in the new translation authorized by K. Iames is I know not why translated grave O grave where is thy victory But then you must observe with all that hell is added in the margin to shew that they abandoned not the old Translation where in plain termes we finde it thus Death where is thy sting Hell where is thy victory and so it standeth in the lesson appointed by the Liturgie to be read at burials And this translation of the word in that place to the Corinthians seems most agreeable to some Protestant Doctors of good name and credit Interim videas ordine quodam inimicos nostros recenseri infernum sive gehennam mortem peccatum legem In the mean time saith Peter Martyr we may behold our enemies here mustred in their rank and order that is to say hell or gehenna death sin and the law With whom agreeth Hyperius and Bullinger in their Comment on the words in question So then by Hades is meant hell in that place of St. Paul and so it is no question in two more of the Revelation in the first whereof Christ doth appear unto St. Iohn saying of himself that he had the keyes of hell and of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where we finde Hades englished hell by the new translators and nothing added in the margin as in that before to shew the place admitted of a different reading And that we may be sure to know that nothing is there meant by hell but the house of torments the place allotted to the damned Andreas B. of Caesarea an old Orthodox writer gives this Scholie on it I have the keyes of death and Hades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say of the death of the body and of the soul. An other old Latine writer to this purpose also I have the keyes of death and hell because he that believeth and is baptized is delivered both from death and hell This writer whosoever he was is yet not resolved on but it goes for Augustines and is extant in the ninth Tome of that Fathers works With him agreeth Primasius Haymo and Lyra amongst the Authors of the middle and declining times of the Church of the late writers of the Protestant and reformed Churches Bullinger Chytraeus Osiander Aretius and Sebastian Meyer And last of all we have the word thus used in the 20. of the Revelation where it is said that death and Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greek delivered up the dead which were in them Where though we finde the word grave added in the margin to shew that the Translators did admit of that reading yet by retaining hell in the text it self they shewed withall that they preferred the same before it And they had reason so to do so many of the antient writers expounding it of hell the place of the damned For so it is interpreted by venerable Beda Primasius St. Augustines Scholar and Haymo for the Latines by Aretas and Andreas Caesariensis for the Greeks all
of them in their severall Commentaries on the text saying the same thing though in divers words And finally it is so interpreted by St. Augustine also Nec frustra fortasse non satis fuit ut diceret mors aut infernus sed utrumque dictum est c. that is to say Nor happily without cause did he not think it enough to say that death or hell divisively had cast up their dead but he nameth both death for the just who might only suffer death and not also hell hell for the wicked and unrighteous who were there to be punished Thus have we looked over all those places where the word Hades doth occurre in the new Testament except that one which is in question whereof more anon and finde it constantly both englished and interpreted by that of hell according as we commonly understand the word for the place of torments T is true the word admits of other notions amongst some Greek Authors But that makes nothing to us Christians who are to use it in that sense in which it is presented to us in the book of God interpreted and expounded by the Antient Fathers and the tradition of the Church For though the sacred Penmen of the new Testament writing in Greek were of necessity to use such words as they found ready to their hands yet they restrained them many times to some certain and particular meaning which they retain unto this day as words of Ecclesiastical use and signification Of this kinde are Ecclesia Evangelium Episcopus Presbyter Diaconus Martyr and the like which being words of a more general signification in their first original are now restrained to such particular notions as the first Preachers of the Gospel thought most fit to reserve them for Of this kind also is Diabolus which properly and originally did signifie no more then an Accuser but is now used by all writers both in Greek and Latine to denote the Devil And of this kind is Hades also which whatsoever it might signifie in some old Greek writers more then the Place or Region of hell or the Prince thereof is now restrained in general speech to signifie only hell it self or the house of torments the habitation of the Devill and his Angels But this we shall the better see by taking a short view of the use and signification of the word amongst the best and most approved of the old Greek Ecclesiastical writers And first Iosephus though no Christian yet one that very well understood the difference between heaven and hell telleth us of those whose souls were cleansed and favoured of God that they inhabit in the holiest places of heaven but that they whose hands wax mad against themselves or who laid hands upon themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their soules were to be received in the dark vaults of hell or Hades Theophilus the sixt B. of Antioch about 170. years after Christ citeth this verse out of the works of the Sibyls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they sacrificed to the Devils in hell or Hades In the same times lived Iustin Martyr who doth thus informe us After the soul saith he is departed from the body straightwayes there is a separation of the unjust from the just both being carryed by the Angels into places meet for them that is to say the souls of the just into Paradise where is the fellowship and sight of Angels and Arch-angels with a kind of beholding of Christ our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the souls of the unjust to places in hell or Hades of which it was said in Scripture unto Nebuchadnezzar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Hades below was stirred to meet him Isa. 14. And to this purpose he both citeth and alloweth those words of Plato where he affirmes that when death draweth near to any man then tales are told 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the things in Hades how he that here doth deal unjustly shall there be punished c. Next him Eusebius speaks thus in the person of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I see my descent to hell or Hades approach and the rebellion against me of the contrary powers which are enemies to God And that we may be sure to know what he means by Hades he tels us out of Plato in another place that the souls of wicked men departing hence immediately after death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 endured the punishments of hell or Hades of their doings here After man was fallen saith Athanasius and by his fall death had prevailed from Adam to Christ the earth was accursed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hell or Hades opened Paradise shut up and heaven offended but after all things were delivered by Christ the earth received a blessing Paradise was opened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades or hell did shrink for fear and heaven set open to all believers And in another place he speaketh of two severall mansions provided by Almighty God for the wicked man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grave and Hades whereof one is to receive his body and the other his soul. St. Basil thus Death is not altogether evill except you speak of the death of a sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. because that their departure hence is the beginning of their punishments in hell or Hades and besides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the evils which are in hell or Hades have not God for their cause but our selves c. And after shewing that Dathan and Abiram were swallowed up of the earth he addes that they were never a whit the better for this kind of punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for how could they be so that went down to Hades or hell but they made the rest wiser by their example Infinite more might be alleaged from the Fathers of the Eastern Church to shew that when they spake of Hades they meant nothing but hell and should be here produced were not these sufficient Only I shall make bold to add the evidence of two or three of the most eminent of the latter writers to shew that in all times and ages the word retained that notion only which had been given it in the Scriptures and the old Greek Fathers Thus then Cydonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that there is in Hades hell vengeance for all sinnes committed not only the consent of all wise men but the equity of the divine justice doth most fully prove Aeneas Gazaeus he comes next and he tels us this that he who in a private life committeth smal sins and laments them escapeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the punishments that are in Hades And finally Gregentius thus Christ took a rod out of the earth viz. his precious Crosse and stretching forth his hand struck all his enemies therewith and conquered them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that is to say Hades or hell death sin and that subtile serpent So
the meaning of this text will be briefly this that according to the Christian faith these actions which to men seemed so impossible those namely ascending up into heaven and descending down into the deeps of hell were performed for us in the person of Christ and therefore now to doubt of either were nothing else but to enervate and weaken the power of Christ who most perfectly hath accomplished both to save us from the one and bring us to the other Besides the Reader may take notice that that which our Translatours have rendred by these words the deep is called in the Greek Original by the name of Abyssus which signifieth a bottomlesse pit and is so taken and translated in the Revelation Chap. 9.2 11.7 where it can probably meant of no place but hell In the next place we meet with that of the Ephesians where it is said When he ascended up on high he led captivitie captive and gave gifts unto men Now that he ascended what is it but that he also descended first into the lowest parts of the earth He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fil all things Now in these words we may observe First that before Christs ascending by way of relation the Apostle putteth Christs descending Secondly that because descending and ascending must have contrary extremes from which and to which the motion is made therefore St. Paul opposeth the lowest parts of the earth to which Christ first descended unto the highest heavens of all above which he ascended Thirdly that these lowest parts of the earth could not be the grave as some men would have it which is seldome two yards deep in the ground and so not opposite in that respect to the height of the heavens according to the words and inference of the Apostle And Fourthly that the end of his descending was to lead captivity captive to beat them from the place of their chiefest strength even as the end of his ascending after he had led captivitie captive was to give gifts to men For what place fitter for the scene of so great an action as the full conquest of death sin and Satan the final dissolution of the kingdome of darknesse then the chief seat and fortresse of their whole empire which is hell it self situate in the lowest parts of the earth as before was shewn And hereunto agreeth the exposition of the antient Fathers St. Irenaeus citing these very words of the Apostle that Christ descended into the lower parts of the Earth makes them equivalent with those words of David concerning Christ viz. thou shalt not leave my soul in the neathermost Hell saying Hoc David in eum prophetans dixit and so much David said of him by way of prophesie Tertullian alleadging the same words of the Apostle concludeth thence Habes ergo Regionem Inâ—erum subterraneam i. e. by this thou mayst perceive that the place of Hell is under the earth Chrysostom thus Christ descended to the lower parts of the earth beneath which there are none other and he ascended above all higher then which there is nothing St. Ambrose on these words of Paul gives us this short gloss After death Christ descended to Hell whence rising the third day he ascended above all the heavens St. Hierome on the same saith thus Qui descendit in anima ad infernum ipse cum anima corpore ascendit in Coelum that is to say he that descended to Hell in his soul only ascended into Heaven both with soul and body Primasius doth not only concur with Hierom in his Exposition of the place but repeats also his very words Oecumenius out of Photius thus To the lower parts of the earth he meaneth Hell beneath which place there is no lower Next Haymo Christ descended first into the lower parts of the earth that is into hell and after ascended into heaven Which said he gives this reason of his Exposition as Hierom and Primasius had done before that by the lower parts of the earth he must needs mean hell which is called infernus in the Latine because it is lower then the earth or rather under it And finally Theophylact thus asks the question Quem in locum descendit into what place did Christ descend And presently returns this answer in infernum c. into hell which St. Paul calleth the lowest parts of the earth after the common opinion of men There is another part of this Text of Scripture touching the leading of Captivity Captive of which we have said nothing from the antient Writers because I purposed to consider it with another Text neer of kin unto it where it is said that having spoyled principalities and powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them In both which texts we must distinguish between the taking of Captivity captive and the leading of them as in triumph being once so taken between the spoyling of those principalities and powers the Apostle speaketh of and the open shew or triumph which was made upon it The first was only the great work of Christs descent into Hell the other the chief pomp and glory of his Resurrection and Ascension For clearing of which point we may please to know that the Devil since the fall of man laid a claim to mankinde and held him like a captive in the bonds of sin by means whereof as he drew many after him into the pit of torments so he presumed to have the like advantages over all the rest And though Christs over-mastering Satan began here on the earth when he cast him out of such as he had possessed yet his full and final conquest could not be accomplished till he had followed and pursued him over all the world driven him at last into the very heart and seat of his Dominion which was Hell it self and there in the presence of his Angels and other instruments of mischief destroyed his power dissolved his Empire and put a period to his tyranny over the sons of men And this is that to which the Fathers doe attest both with heart and hand but none more clearly to this purpose then St. Athanasius The Devil saith he was fallen from Heaven he was cast from the earth pursued through the ayr every where conquered and every where straightned in which distress 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he determined to keep Hell safe which was all that was left him But the Lord a true Saviour would not leave his work unfinished nor leave those which were in Hades as yeilded to the enemie so that the Devil thinking to kill one lost all and hoping to carry one to Hell or Hades was himself cast out By means whereof Hades or Hell is abrogated death no more prevailing but all being raised unto life neither can the Devil stand any more against us but is fallen and indeed creepeth on his brest and belly Which
most secret seats of Tartarus or the dungeons of Hell Then comes the Renowned Athanasius There are saith he no other places but the grave and Hell out of which man was perfectly freed by Christ. And this appeareth not only in us but in the death of Christ also the body going to the grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and the soul descending unto Hell being places severed with a very great distance the grave receiving his body for there it was present and Hell or Hades his soul. Else how did Christ present his own soul to the souls in bands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might break in sunder the bands or chains of the souls detained in Hell St. Basil next When David said God will deliver my soul from the power of Hell he doth plainly prophesie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the descent of the Lord to Hell or Hades to redeem the Prophets souls with others that they should not be detained there So Nazianzen Christ dyed but he restored to life and by his death abolished death he was buryed but he rose again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He descended into Hell but he brought back souls and ascended into Heaven Macarius to the same purpose also When thou hearest that Christ delivered souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of hell and darkness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that the Lord descended to Hell and performed an admirable work think that these things are not far from thine own soul. St. Chrysostom then being one of the Presbyters of the Church of Antioch composed two Homilies upon the Creed in one of which after he had spoken of the death and burial of our Saviour he addes this descendit ad infernum that he descended unto Hell that this also might not want a wonder Epiphanius though in other points his Enemie doth agree with him in this particular touching the descent of Christ into Hell though he differ both from him and others in making the Deity of Christ to be united with his soul in the performance of that action to the end that Hades so he calls the Devil the chief Ruler thereof thinking to lay hands on a man and not knowing that his Deity was united to his sacred soul Hades himself might be surprized and death dissolved and that fulfilled which was spoken Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell To this agrees St. Cyril of Alexandria thus The soul which was coupled and united to the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 descended into hell or Hades and using the power and the force of the Godhead shewed it self to the spirits there For we must not say that the Godhead of the only begotten which is a nature uncapable of death and no way conquerable by it was brought back from the dark caverns of the earth To the same also saith Iohn Damascene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i. e. The deified soul of Christ descended to Hades that as to those upon the earth the Sun of righteousness was risen so to those who sate under the earth and in shades and darkness light might also shine Next look we on the Fathers of the Western Church and we shall finde as general consent amongst them for proof of Christs descent into hell as before we had amongst the Fathers of the Eastern And first beginning with Tertullian the most antient of the Latine Writers he doth not onely tell us in plain tearms Christum inferos adiisse that Christ went into hell but addes this reason of it also ne nos adiremus that we might not go thither St. Cyprians judgment in the point we have seen before where he declareth that Hell had been broken open in the presence of Christ when he led captivity captive c. Spolians inferos captivos praemittens ad superos first spoyling hell and then sending the captives before towards Heaven Arnobius thus Postea vidit inferos c. in Abyssi profunda descendens After his Passion he visited hell and not only became far off from heaven but even from the earth it self descending into the depth of the bottomeless pit Lactantius if the verse be his shewing how the darkness of hell vanished at the brightness of Christ then addes Hinc tumulum repetens post Tartara carne resumpta c. that after his being in hell he returned to his grave and resuming his body went to heaven like a noble Conquerer St. Hilarie of Poictiers next The powers of heaven saith he do incessantly glorifie the Name of God for conquering death and breaking the gates of hell for in hell he conquered death Christ saith St. Hierom destroyed and brake open the inclosed places of hell and put the Devil which had power over death out of his Kingdom and Dominion And in another place more plainly Hell saith he is the place of punishments and torments ad quem descendit Dominus ut vinctos de carcere dimitteret to which the Lord descneded to release those from prison who were therein bound St. Ambrose to the same effect Expers peccati Christus cum ad Tartari ima descenderet c. Christ saith he being void of sin when he descended to the lowest pit of hell destroying the Dominion of death recalled out of the Devils jaws to eternal life the souls of those who there lay bounden for their sins St. Austin living in those times though he assert as much as any the descent into hell yet gives a more unquestionable reason for it Quaeri solet si non nisi poenalia intelligantur inferna c. It is demanded if Infernus Hell be taken for no other then the place of punishment how we may safely believe that the Soul of our Lord Christ descended thither But it is answered ideo descendisse ut quibus oportuit subveniret that he descended into hell to succour those that were to be succoured And in another place more clearly as unto the reason There is saith he a lower hell whither the deceased use to go from whence God would deliver our souls by sending his Son thither Ideo enim ille usque ad infernum pervenit ne nos in inferno maneremus for therfore went Christ even unto hell that we should not remain in hell Vigilius shewing how our Saviour could be both in Hell and in the grave doth resolve it thus Dicimus ergo Dominum jacuisse in sepulchro sed in solo corpore descendisse ad infernum sed in sola anima viz. that the Lord lay in the grave as to his body alone but descended down to Hell in his soul only Ruffinus commenting on this Article of the Creed gives it briefly thus Quod in Infernum descendit audenter pronunciatur in Psalmis that Christs descent into hell is evidently foretold in the Psalmes and then eo usque ille miserando descendit usque quo tu
nought else but the Port of Salvation which whether it were formerly in the heavens above an apud Inferos or in the places under the earth I determine not Yea I had rather be still ignorant of it then rashly to pronounce of that which I finde not expressed in the Scripture In these things as I will not be too curious so neither will I define any thing therein nor will I contend with any man about this matter It shall suffice me to understand and confess that the godly of the Old Testament were in a certain place of rest and not in torments before the Ascension of Christ although I know not what nor where it was So he with great both piety and Christian modesty and with him I shut up this dispute CHAP. IX The Doctrine of the Church of England touching Christs descent into Hell asserted from all contrary opinions which are here examined and disproved THus have we seen the doctrine of the Primitive Church touching the Article of Christs descent into hell so much disputed or indeed rather quarrelled in these later times Let us next look upon the Doctrine of of this Church of England which in this point as in all the rest which are in controversie doth tread exactly in the steps of most pure Antiquity And if we search into the publick monuments and records thereof we shall finde this doctrine of Christs local descent into hell to have been retained and established amongst many other Catholick verities ever since the first beginning of her Reformation For in the Synod of the year 1552. being the fourth year of King Edward the sixt it was declared and averred for the publick doctrine of this Church to be embraced by all the members of the same that the body of Christ until his Resurrection lay in the grave but that his soul being breathed out was with the spirits in prison or hell and preached to them as the place of Peter doth witness saying For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the Spirit By which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison c. 1 Pet. 3.18 19. But being the Articles of that year were set out in Latine take them according as they stand in the Original Nam corpus usque ad Resurrectionem in sepulchro jacuit Spiritus ab illo emissus cum spiritibus qui in Carcere sive in Inferno detinebantur fuit illisque praedicavit ut testatur Petri locus c. So also in the year 1562. When Q. Elizabeth was somewhat setled in her state she caused her Clergy to be called together in a Synodical way to the intent they might agree upon a Body or Book of Articles for the avoiding of diversities of opinions and for the establishing of consent touching true Religion Who being met and having agreed upon the two first Articles touching Faith in the holy Trinity and the Word or Son of God which was made very man and having declared in this second that Christ who is very God and very man did truly suffer and was crucified dead and buryed to reconcile us to his Father addes for the title of the third of the going down of Christ into hell Which being an entire Article of it self runs thus in terminis viz. As Christ dyed for us and was buried so also it is to be believed that he went down into hell Which Article with the rest being publickly agreed upon and passed in the Convocations of both Provinces and confirmed under the broad Seal as the law required became the publick authorized Doctrine of this Church of England and afterwards received such countenance in the high Court of Parliament that there was a statute made unto this purpose that all who were to be admitted unto any Benefice with cure of souls or unto any holy Orders should publickly subscribe the same in the presence of the Bishop or Ordinary The like care was also taken after for subscribing to it by all such who were matriculated in either of the Universities or admitted into any Colledge or Hall or to any Academical degree whatsoever and so it stands unto this day confirmed and countenanced by as high and great authority aâ— the power of the Prince the Canons of the Church and the Sanctions of the Civil State can give it Nor stands it only on Record in the Book of Articles but is thus touched in the Book of Homilies specified and approved of for godly and wholesome Doctrine by those Articles and ratified and confirmed together with them Thus hath his Resurrection saith the Homilie wrought for us life and and righteousness He passed through death and hell to the intent to put us in good hope that by his strength we shall do the same He paid the ransome of sin that it should not be laid to our charge He destroyed the Devil and all his tyranny and openly triumphed over him and took away from him all his captives and hath raised and set them with himself among the heavenly Citizens above So far the Homily There was also published in the beginning of the said Queens Reign a Catechisme writ in Latine by Mr. Alexander Nowel Dean of Pauls and publickly authorized to be taught in all the Grammar Schooles of this kingdome though not by such a sacred and supreme authority as the books of Articles and Homilies had been before in which the doctrine of Christs descent into hell is thus delivered viz. That as Christs body was laid in the Bowels of the earth so his soul separated from his body descended ad inferos to hell and with all the force and efficacie of his death so pierced unto the dead atque inferos adeo ipsos and even to the spirits in hell that the souls of the unfaithful perceived the condemnation of their infidelity to be most sharp and just ipseque inferorum Princeps Satan and Satan himself the Prince of hell saw all the power of his tyranny and of darknesse to be weakned broken and destroyed and contrariwise the dead who whilest they lived believed in Christ understood the work of their Redemption to be performed and felt the fruit and force thereof with a most sweet and certain comfort So that the doctrine of Christs descent into hell being thus positively delivered in the Articles and Homilies and Catechisme publickly authorized to be taught in Schools and being thus solemnly confirmed and countenanced both by Laws and Canons and by the subscriptions of all the Clergie and other learned men of this Realm of England how great must we conceive the impudence to be of the Romish Gagger who charged this upon this Church that we denie the descent of Christ into hell Nor do I wonder lesse at the improvidence of those who were then in authority in licensing Mr. Rogers comment on this Book
for all that to call God his own It was still Deus meus Deus meus to the very last gasp And he that hath the confidence as to say my God to appropriate God unto himself as his own God is far enough off from being in despair there 's no question of it Nothing can then be left but the fires of hell and they could work no further then upon his body or the outside only of his soul if I may so call it the inward man being senseless of the heats thereof since it was neither subject to rejection or remorse at all though to say truth he suffered not the fires of hell neither in body nor in soul nor in both united Not in his Person in this life nor his soul singly by it self whilest he lived amongst us For hell fire is not to be found but in hell it self and neither soul nor body were in hell when he was alive Not in his body after his death and burial for that lay quiet in the Grave neither touched nor troubled Nor in his soul neither when he went to hell for none do suffer hell torments in the place of torments but they which are sentenced to DAMNATION and I have so much confidence of their Christianity as to believe they dare not say and as yet they do not that Christ was damned No Christian could endure such an horrid blasphemy especially if it were delivered in tearms express Yet I must tell you by the way that some come very neer it to a tantamont whose doctrine it is and 't is a doctrine built upon Calvins principles that Christ did locally descend to the place of torments ibi quoque poenas nostris peccatis debitas luisse and did there suffer the very pains which are due to us for our sins For otherwise say they which is Calvins reason non plena fuisset ipsius pro nobis satisfactio his satisfaction for our sins had not been sufficient Which were it true as Beza very well observeth Ne corpori quidem parcendum erat he was not to have spared his body but was to have descended into hell both in body and soul in regard that death eternal is the wages of sin and that not of the soul only but the body also Such horrible absurdities doe men fall into if once they stray aside from the paths of truth If then he neither suffered remorse in conscience nor rejection from the fight and favour of God nor had any reason to despair of Gods love to him which are properly the punishments or torments which do belong unto the damned if he suffered not so much as for a moment the very fire of hell in the place of torments assuredly he tasted no more of hell pains in his soul then his body in the grave did of grief and sorrow But then they say that he did struggle hard with the powers of darkness and trembled at the horrour of Gods dreadful judgements This we acknowledge to be true but this is short I trow of the pains of hell He struggled hard no doubt with the Prince of darkness both in his Temptation in the Wilderness and all those conflicts which he had with the powers of hell both in the Garden and on the Cross. He trembled also it is probable upon the apprehension of Gods anger against sinful man whose person he had taken on him and on the fight and knowledge of those dreadful punishments even eternal death which God in his just judgement did denounce against wilful and impenitent sinners If Calvin mean no more then this by his Oportuit eum cum inferorum copiis aeternaeque mortis horrore quasi consertis manibus luctari we assent unto him But who knows not that hath but common sense and reason how much the greatest conflict with the powers of Satan the greatest apprehension that a man can have of Gods wrath and anger against sin the greatest trembling that can possibly invade him on that apprehension fals short of all the least of those infinite torments which are prepared in hell for the damned souls But then the question will be asked whether Christ did not suffer all those punishments for the redemption of man which man himself must needs have suffered had not Christ come to redeem him if yea he must then suffer also the pains of hell which can be understood in no other sense then in that they take it if not there wanted somewhat to make up the scale for satisfaction of Gods justice To this I answer first in the way of negation in plain tearms he did not for he neither was nor could be damned and what else but damnation is the final punishment belonging to impenitent sinners I answer secondly with a limitation that he did suffer all those things which either were beseeming him or behooful for us all kinde of punishments whatsoever which did neitherâ— prejudice that plenitude of sanctity or science which was vested in him For further clearing of which point we must distinguish with the Schoolmen of three sorts of punishments whereof the first is called culpa which is plainly sin as when God punisheth one sin with another as the proud with envy the covetous man sometimes with miserable parsimony sometimes with ambition the second is ex culpa ad culpam something proceeding from sin and inducing to it as natural concupiscence an inclination to do evill a contrariety in the faculties of the soul c. The third is ex culpa sed nec culpa nec ad culpam as they phrase it that is to say that which proceeds from sin but neither is sin in it self nor doth incline him unto sin in whom it is As hunger thirst weakness and death it self which are the consequents of sin since the sin of Adam Of this sort only are the punishments which our Saviour suffered and they are likewise of two sorts for they are either suffered for sin imputed or for sin inherent a man being sometimes punished for his own offences and sometimes for anothers fault imputed to him He that is punished for his own faults hath remorse of conscience condemning himself of drawing such guilt upon his soul and with that guilt such miseries both on soul and body but he that suffereth for the fault of another man of which he is no cause at all either by perswasion help consent or example hath no such remorse Now our Redeemer suffered for the sins of other men and not for any of his own and consequently was not touched with remorse of conscience though it be generally found in all men at one time or another and be neither sin nor inducement to sin Lastly these punishments which are punishments only and not sin such as are common to the whole nature of man and suffered for the faults of another man are of two sorts also either the punishments of sin eternally remaining in stain or guilt or ceasing at the least broken off
resurrection of our Lord and Saviour there came a signall benefit unto all the world which else had been fast bound for ever in the bonds of death without any hope of rising to a better life For being risen in our nature then our nature is riâ—en and if our nature be then our persons may be especially considering that he and we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Paul hath told us so graffed into one another that he is part of us and we part of him And therefore very well said Bernard Resurrexit solus sed non totus Though he be only risen by his own proper power yet as yet he is not risen wholly nor will be untill we be raised together with him He is but risen in part by this resurrection and that he may rise all of him he must raise t is also In this respect our Saviour is entituled Primogenitus omnis Creaturae the first born or first begotten of every creature viz. first in the order of time he being the first that was ever raised from death unto life immortall and first also in the order of causality all others which have been or shall be raised or begotten to immortall life being so raised and begotten by vertue of his resurrection And in the same respect he is called Primitiae dormientium or the first fruits of them that sleep because his rising is not only the pledge and earnest of our rising also but that we shall be raised to the same state of happinesse and eternall glory which he hath attained since his rising The offering of the first fruits drew a blessing upon all the rest For if the first fruits be holy the lumpe saith the Apostle is also holy If then the first fruits of the dead be offered to Almighty God in Christ our Saviour no question but the after-fruits or the whole increase will be very acceptable and laid up in the barn of that heavenly husbandman according to the scope of our Saviours Parable And yet perhaps St. Paul might have a further aime in calling our Saviour the first-fruits of them that sleep then hath yet been spoke of it hapning so by the sweet disposition of Gods special providence that the day of his glorious resurrection did fall that year upon the second day of the feast of unleavened bread or the morrow after the Sabbath of that great solemnity upon which day the first-fruits were to be offered unto God by his own appointment Of which see Levit. 23.10 11. Here then we have the principall effect and fruit of Christs resurrection the resurrection of our own bodies from the power of death the resurrection both of soul and body to eternall life And yet there are some other intermediate benefits which redound to us some other motives and inducements which relate to him For his part first had he not risen from the dead he had still lain under the guilt of that imposture wherewith the Priests and Elders charged him when he was interred And who would then have preached his Gospel or embraced his doctrine or yeelded belief to any thing he had said before For if Christ be not risen from the dead again as St. Paul reasoneth very strongly then were our faith in vain and their preaching vain Had he not risen from the dead and manifested it by such signes and wonders he never had attained to the reputation of being generally accounted and believed in for the Son of God or such a God at best who doth die like men and fall like others of the Princes some earthly Magistrate at the most and no great one neither Nor was it necessary to his glory only but to our justification For how could we assure our selves of salvation by him or of redemption in his bloud had he been swallowed up in death and not appeared alive again for our consolation Manens in morte peccata non expiasset mortem non vicisset as the Father hath it and then how could we hope to be saved by him qui se ipsum servare non potuit who was not of ability to save himself How could we Christians of all men most miserable be possibly assured of this saving truth that Christ was delivered for our sins if he had not risen again for our justification that is to say if by his rising from the dead he had not setled and confirmed us in that assurance The reason is because the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour was as it were his actual absolution from those sins of ours for the which he dyed and his deliverance from that death which as the wages of sin we had all deserved Calvin hath very Orthodoxly resolved it so Resuscitatio Christi a mortuis ejus est actualis absolutio a peccatis nostris pro quibus mortuus est as he there determineth And he determineth it according unto that of the great Apostle saying if Christ be not risen your faith is vain yee are yet in your sins that is to say still under the command and the guilt of sin from which you have no other assurance to be absolved and quitted in the day of judgment then only by the vertue of his resurrection How wretched then is the condition of the Iews and those other Hereticks who either utterly denie the resurrection as did Simon Magus and the Maniches or post it off as not yet past till some further time which was one of the heresies of Cerinthus or make it but an allegory no true reall action as do the Family of love Assuredly the least we can affirme of them and the like vile miscreans is that they have no inheritance in the house of Iesse nor any portion at all in the son of David that they who wilfully deny his resurrection shall never finde other resurrection but to shame and torment But on the contrary the Orthodox Professors in the Chrrstian Church not only have believed this Article and stood up in defence thereof to the last drop of their bloud as often as the Princes of the earth have conspired together against the Lord and his anointed but for the better imprinting of it in the souls of simple and unlearned people and for perpetuall commemoration of so great a mercy did institute the feast of Easter A festival of all others the most antient in the Christian Church ordained and celebrated in the purest ages of the same while some of the Apostles were yet living A feast received with so unanimous affection throughout the world that though some difference happened about the time when it should be celebrated yet there was never any question made of the feast it self All of them kept an Easter though not all at a time some of the Eastern Churches in compliance with the Iews amongst whom they lived keeping it on the 14. day of the Moon as the Iews did the Passeover â—ll other
mereri is no more then consequi to obtain or procure and in that sense the word is generally used in antient writers of which we may see more hereafter in a place more proper Take this of Tacitus once for all where speaking of Agricola he gives this Item Illis virtutibus iram C. Caesaris meritus est that by those vertues he procured the displeasure of Caius Caesar. That Christ did merit for himself in this sense of the word I take to be a matter beyond all controversie For first he merited or procured to be adored by his Apostles with religious worship the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek Original which he never could procure at their hands before Maldonates note upon this Text and the reasons of it are in my minde exceeding apposite but then his inference thereupon is like mors in olla an herbe that poysoneth the whole pottage His note is this Non legimus nisi hoc loco Christum a discipulis suis adoâ—atum we do not read saith he but in this place only that Christ was worshipped or adored by his Disciples His reason of it is this because whilest he conversed amongst them they looked upon him only in his humane nature as one made of the same mould that themselves were of Nunc demum adorant cum in calum eum ferri vident c. But when they saw him taken up into heaven they could not but acknowledge that he was a God also and therefore was to be adored which they did accordingly So far the Iesuite hath done well none could do it better His inference is if I rightly understand his meaning that the Eucharist is to be adored though they of Rome are for so doing quarrelled by the modern Hereticks Assuredly were Transubstantiation an Article of the Christian faith as that of Christs ascension is well known to be or could I see Christ in the the Eucharist with my bodily eyes as the Apostles saw him when he went up into heaven none should be forwarder then my selfe to adore the Eucharist But our great Masters in that Church do affirme unanimously that there is nothing to be seen but the outward elements the accidents of bread and wine as they please to phrase it And Suares one of the greatest of their Clerks doth affirme in Terminis Hoe tantum pendet ex principiis Metaphysicis Philosophicis ad fidei doctrinam non pertinet that Transubstantiation doth depend only on Metaphysical and Philosophical principles and is not de fide or a matter of faith Nay in the Church of Rome it self neither the Pastors nor the people were bound to believe it till Innocent the third defined it in the Lateran Councell about 400 years agoe upon whose definition it doth wholly rest as many of their Schoolmen cannot chuse but grant it being free till that time saith the learned Tunstal once Ld. B. of Durram to follow their own conjecture concerning the manner of the presence How all this doctrine doth agree with the Lords ascension and how one overthrowes and destroyeth the other we shall more fully see in the close of this Chapter Now therefore leaving these disputes let us follow Christ in his Ascension and see what he did further merit or procure for himself thereby That he obtained to be adored by his Disciples we have seen already the next point that he gained was this to be acknowledged by his followers for their Lord and King So witnesseth St. Peter in his first Sermon saying Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus whom ye have crucifyed both LORD AND CHRIST Made him both Lord and Christ but when After his ascension after he had exalted him and placed him at his own right hand as the foregoing verses ballanced and compared together do most clearly evidence What then was he not Lord and Christ before No not in fact but only in the way of designation as first begotten Son of God and his heir apparent Him he made heir of all things from the first beginnings but being as he was in the forme of a servant he was to do his Fathers businesse and attend his leasure Who having raised him from the dead exalted him but not before with his own right hand to be a Prince and Saviour to give repentance unto Israel and forgivenesse of sins Shall we have more then to the Apostle of the Iews add we him of the Gentiles and he will tell us more at large how first God raised him from the dead then set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come lastly that having so exalted him he did put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the Church which is his body Now as he gained this power and Empire from the hands of God so he obtained or merited obedience at the hands of men the reverence of the knee in their adoration the tribute of the tongue in their acclamations Christ saith the same Apostle humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Which being suffered and subdued God also highly hath exalted him and given him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth And that every tongue should confesse that IESVS CHRIST is the Lord to the glory of God the Father But here I must be understood of speaking all this while of the man CHRIST IESVS as he appeared in our likenesse and was found in the fashion of us men in which nature as he only suffered and humbled himself unto the death even the death of the Crosse for the remission of our sins so in that nature only was he capable of an Exaltation of being raised from the dead and caried up into heaven and placed there at the right hand of the Father almighty Which sitting at the right hand of the Father Almighty though it be another of those high preheminences which Christ did merit for himself in his humane nature yet being he was not actually possessed of it untill his ascension shall be considered by it self in the following Chapter which is designed particularly to that branch of the Article In the mean time to shew that all the steps of Christs exaltation are spoken and intended of his humane nature whereof we shall speak more anon on the like occasion take this of Ruffine as a taste of what others say as well concerning this point of the Lords ascension into heaven as that of sitting there at the right hand of God both which he understandeth as the antients did of the manhood only Neque enim ulli
of the Church is confirmed unto them Those in the world to come are the fruits of these that is to say A Resurrection of the Body held by the chains of sin in the shades of death and a more full Communion with the Saints departed than in this life can be enjoyed that Fellowship which we have with them being here but inchoate and imperfect there compleat and absolute Of these the first is the Communion which the Saints have with one another and with Christ their Head whereof before I shall discourse as it lieth before me I shall first take the words asunder and shew what is the true meaning of the word communio then who they be that are presented to us by the name of Saints First for the word communio it signifieth that sacred action in which the faithful do communicate of the Body and Blood of Christ in the holy Eucharist Thus Hugo Cardinalis hath it Post hoc dicatur communio quae appellatur ut omnes communicemus i. e. After this let the communion be said so called because all should communicate or let it be so said That all my communicate Micrologus before him to the same effect Non potest propriè dici communio c. It cannot properly be called a Communion unless many do receive together Cassiodorus before either in his Tripartite History Stant rei velut in lamentationibus constituti cum sacra celebratio fuerit adimpleta communionem non recipiant i. e. They which lay under the Churches censures stood a far off full of great heaviness and lamentation and when the service was concluded received not the Communion but when they had fulfilled the course of their penance Cum populo communionem participant they were then suffered to communicate with the rest of the people More antient than them all is that Dionysius whether the Areopagite or not I dispute not here who wrote the Books De Hierarchia Caelesti Ecclesiastica in whom we do not onely finde the name but the reason of it Dignissimum hoc Sacramentum c Most worthy saith he is this Sacrament and far to be preferred before any other and for that cause it is deservedly and alone Meritò singulariter saith the Latine Copies called the Communion For although every Sacrament aims at this especially to unite those that are divided to the Lord their God Attamen huic Sacramento Communionis vocabulum praecipuè peculiariter contingit yet to this Sacrament the name of the Communion doth chiefly and properly belong as that which doth more nearly joyn us unto Christ our Saviour and entirely unite us unto one another And so his meaning is expressed by Pachymeres an old Greek Writer who hath paraphrased on the whole works of this Dionysius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore saith he did Dionysius call it the Communion because all which were worthy did communicate of the holy Mysteries From which Communion of the Faithful in those holy Mysteries not onely the profession of the Christian Faith but that sweet Fellowship and Conjunction of heart and soul which was amongst them got the same name also and was generally called Communio from that sacred Action which was most solemnly used amongst them at their publick meetings In this sense it is used by St. Augustine saying Mulier illa est communionis nostrae That the woman which he there speaketh of was of their Communion And in another place to the same effect Donatus non nisi in sua communione baptismum esse credit That Donatus thought that Baptism was onely to be had in the Churches of his Profession In the same sense it is used by Ierome speaking of his relations to the same St. Augustine It is not meet saith he that I who have been trained up in a little Monastery from my youth till now Aliquid contra Episcopum Communionis meae scribere audeam should presume to write against a Bishop of the same Communion or Profession with me and such a Bishop whom I began to love before I knew him The like he writes also to Pope Damasus where saying that he followed no chief but Christ he yet acknowledgeth Beatitudini tuae i. e. Cathedrae Petri communione consâ—cior That he was joyned in communion or in love and fellowship or consent of Doctrine and Religion with his Holiness or Chair of Peter In both acceptions of the word that is to say In the communion or communication of the holy Mysteries and in that union of affections which usually is held by those of the same Profession There is a Communion of the Saints whether they be Activè or Passivè Sancti whether triumphant in the Heavens or finishing their natural course upon the Earth For the word Sancti also hath its various notions and must be looked upon in each or the chief at lest before we can proceed to a certain issue And first the word Sancti hath been used for those who onely have the outward calling called to be Saints as they are stiled by the Apostle Rom. 1.7 and 1 Cor. 1.2 Though neither Saints by the infusion of inherent holiness nor by the piety and sanctimony of their lives and actions In this sense all the Romans and Corinthians to whom St. Paul wrote his Epistles were Saints by calling or called to this end and purpose that they might be Saints though there were many profane and carnal persons amongst them Next it is used for those who are Sancti renovati Saints by the renovation of the holy Spirit by which co-operating in the Laver of Regeneration they are washed and sanctified And such were also some of you But ye are washed but ye are sanctified saith the same Apostle that is to say By the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he hath shed abundantly in us as himself expounds it These are Passivâ— Sancti as before I called them because both in the outward calling and the effusion of the inward graces of the Holy Ghost we are simply passive But if we do obey that calling and manifest the grace which is given unto us by our lives and actions If from our hearts we do obey that form of doctrine which hath been delivered and yeeld our members as servants of righteousness to holiness then are we not passivè but activè sancti right Saints indeed walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord without reproof And if the fruit be unto holiness there is no question but the end thereof will be life everlasting when we shall stand before the Throne of the Lord our God and serve him day and night in his holy Temple advanced to those felicities of eternal glory which is designed by White Robes and the Palms of victory in the Revelation Never so fully Saints as then though we must first be Saints in the Militant Church before we can
all them that are sanctified Blotting out the hand-writing of Ordinances which was against us and nailed it to his cross for ever to the end that being mindful of the price wherewith we were bought and of the enemies from whom we were delivered by him We might glorifie God both in our bodies and our souls and serve the Lord in righteousness and holiness all the days of our lives For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh in the time of the Mosaical Ordinances How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God in the time of the Gospel This is the constant tenor of the Word of God touching remission of our sins by the Blood of Christ. And unto this we might here adde the consonant suffrages and consent of the antient Fathers If the addition of their Testimonies where the authority of the Scripture is so clear and evident might not be thought a thing unnecessary Suffice it that all of them from the first to the last ascribe the forgiveness of our sins to the death of Christ as to the meritorious cause thereof though unto God the Father as the principal Agent who challengeth to himself the power of forgiving sins as his own peculiar and prerogative Isai. 43.25 Peculiar to himself as his own prerogative in direct power essential and connatural to him but yet communicated by him to his Son CHRIST IESUS whilest he was conversant here on Earth who took upon himself the power of forgiving sins as part of that power which was given him both in Heaven and Earth Which as he exercised himself when he lived amongst us so at his going hence he left it as a standing Treasury to his holy Church to be distributed and dispensed by the Ministers of it according to the exigencies and necessities of particular persons For this we finde done by him as a matter of fact and after challenged by the Apostles as a matter of right belonging to them and to their successors in the Ministration First For the matter of fact it is plain and evident not onely by giving to St. Peter for himself and them the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven annexing thereunto this promise That whatsoever he did binde on Earth should be bound in Heaven and whatsoever he did loose on Earth should be loosed in Heaven But saying to them all expresly Receive the Holy Ghost Whose sins soever ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained And as it was thus given them in the way of fact so was it after challenged by them in the way of right St. Paul affirming in plain terms That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself by not imputing their trespasses unto them but that the Ministery of this reconciliation was committed unto him and others whom Christ had honored with the title of his Ambassadors and Legates here upon the Earth Now as the state of man is twofold in regard of sin so is the Ministery of reconciliation twofold also in regard of man As he is tainted with the guilt of original sinfulness the Sacrament of Baptism is to be applied the Laver of Regeneration by which a man is born again of water and the Holy Ghost Iohn 3.5 As he lies under the burden of his actual sins the Preaching of the Word is the proper Physick to work him to repentance and newness of life that on confession of his sins he may receive the benefit of absolution Be it known unto you saith St. Paul that through this man CHRIST IESUS is preached unto you remission of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses And first for Baptism It is not onely a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christian men are discerned from others which be not Christned as some Anabaptists falsly taught but it is also a sign of regeneration or new birth whereby as by an instrument they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church the promises of the forgiveness of sin and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost are visibly signed and sealed Faith is confirmed and Grace increased by vertue of Prayer unto God This is the publick Doctrine of the Church of England delivered in the authorised Book of Articles Anno 1562. In which lest any should object as Dr. Harding did against Bishop Iewel That we make Baptism to be nothing but a sign of regeneration and that we dare not say as the Catholick Church teacheth according to the holy Scriptures That in and by Baptism sins are fully and truly remitted and put away We will reply with the said most Reverend and Learned Prelate a man who very well understood the Churches meaning That we confess and have ever taught that in the Sacrament of Baptism by the death and Blood of Christ is given remission of all manner of sins and that not in half or in part or by way of imagination and fancy but full whole and perfect of all together and that if any man affirm that Baptism giveth not full remission of sins it is no part nor portion of our Doctrine To the same effect also saith judicious Hooker Baptism is a Sacrament which God hath instituted in his Church to the end That they which receive the same might thereby be incorporated into Christ and so through his most precious merit obtain as well that saving grace of imputation which taketh away all former guiltiness and also that infused divine vertue of the Holy Ghost which giveth to the powers of the soul the first dispositions towards future newness of life But because these were private men neither of which for ought appears had any hand in the first setting out of the Book of Articles which was in the reign of King Edward the Sixth though Bishop Iewel had in the second Edition when they were reviewed and published in Queen Elizabeths time let us consult the Book of Homilies made and set out by those who composed the Articles And there we finde that by Gods mercy and the vertue of that Sacrifice which our High Priest and Saviour CHRIST IESUS the Son of God once offered for us upon the Cross we do obtain Gods grace and remission as well of our original sin in Baptism as of all actual sin committed by us after Baptism if we truly repent and turn unfeignedly unto him again Which doctrine of the Church of England as it is consonant to the Word of God in holy Scripture so is it also most agreeable to the common and received judgment of pure Antiquity For in the Scripture it is said
in the Pharisees For Christ who knew their hearts found their cunning also And therefore did so shape his answer as by declaring the true nature of the Resurrection against the Pharisees to justifie the Immortality of the Soul against the Sadduces 1. Then he tells them how much they were mistaken in the nature of the Resurrection for want of a right understanding of the holy Scriptures Erratis nescientes Scripturas as the Vulgar reads it The Scriptures which do speak of a Resurrection not being to be understood in such an Animal and Carnal sense as the Pharisees did understand them Those bodies which were sown in corruption were to be raised again incorruptible and therefore not to live by the food which perisheth Those bodies which were sown in their mortality by reuniting with the Soul should become immortal and therefore not to stand in need of any Seminal or Carnal way of Propagation For in the Resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they die any more but are as the Angels of God in Heaven in the condition of their being as to those particulars This said and so much of their doubt resolved as concerned the error of the Pharisees he lets them see the weakness of their own opinion touching the annihilation or extinguishment of the Immortal soul of man And that too from the works of Moses which themselves embraced without consulting any other of the holy Pen-men For when God said to Moses in the present tence I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob it must needs be that Abraham Isaac and Iacob must be accounted of as living at that present time and living otherwise they were not at that present time but as their blessed Souls did live in the sight of God their Bodies being long before consumed and perished though even those bodies by the infinity of comprehension which is in God might be looked upon as living also in reference to that eternal life which was prepared for them in the day of the Resurrection And this I take to be the meaning of St. Luke who doth not onely say in the present tence That the dead are raised but addes these following words to the other Evangelist viz. For all live in him that is to say All men though buried in their dust are living in the sight of Almighty God who sees at once all things that have been are and shall be unto all eternity as if present with him and consequently beholds the Souls of his righteous servants Abraham and Isaac and the rest in the bliss of Paradise as if apparrelled with those bodies which before they had So then the Immortality of the Soul being so fully proved by our Saviours Argument The Resurrection of the dead being the thing which seemed to be scrupled by the Sadduces was concluded also and yet not such a Resurrection the Pharisees dreamed of in which there should be marrying and giving in marriage that is to say In which things should be ordered by the rules of this present life but such a one wherein the Saints of God should be like the Angels discharged from all relations incident to flesh and blood exempt from all humane affections of what sort soever For certainly had not the Argument concluded strongly and convincingly to the point proposed neither the Scribes men better studied in the Scriptures than any of the rest of the Iewish Nation had given this testimony to it Magister dixisti benè as we see they did nor had the mouths of such curious and captious Sophisters been muzzled as we see they were from asking him the like Questions for the time to come both which the story tells us in the close of all But I have staid too long on this Text of Scripture it is now time I should proceed to the rest that follows ARTICLE XII Of the Twelfth Article OF THE CREED Ascribed to St. MATTHIAS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Et Vitam Aeternam Amen i. e. And the Life Everlasting Amen CHAP. VIII Of the Immortality of the Soul and the glories of Eternal Life prepared for it As also of the place and torment of Hell Hell-fire not metaphorical but real The conclusion of all MOrs non extinguit hominem sed ad praemium virtutis admittit Death saith Lactantius doth not put an end to the life of man but rather openeth him a way to receive the recompence of his wel deservings For though the body be returned unto the earth out of which it was taken and that there were no Resurrection to be looked for for it yet in the better part the soul he is incorruptible and immortal not subject to the stroke of death nor to be made a prey unto worms and rotâ—enness In this respect it is to be disposed of in some suitable place and to be punished or rewarded in a suitable manner none but an Everlasting Life or eternal punishments being the doom thereof in the world to come according to the good or evil which in this world it hath projected or accomplished Now that the Soul of man is not onely a spiritual essence which actuates the body in the which it is but an immortal essence too which shall over-live it we have good proof in holy Scripture and that both from the Old Testament and from the New The souls of the righteous saith the wise man are in the hands of the Lord And though the Body go down into the Earth yet the Soul returneth unto him that gave it saith a wiser than he But behold a greater than Solomon or the wisdom of Solomon even CHRIST the wisdom of the Father hath affirmed the same not onely commending his own Soul to Almighty God but teaching St. Stephen and all the rest of the Saints in him how to do the like This day saith he to the good Theef thou shalt be with me in Paradise And more than so he doth convincingly conclude the immortality of the Soul from those words in Exod. I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob which sufficiently doth prove that point This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Not in their bodies either of them for the body of the one was on the cross and the other in the Grave till the resurrection It must be therefore in their Souls which neither the Cross could crucifie nor the Grave bury St. Iohn affirmeth the same as a matter of fact which in the former Texts except that of Exodus we finde but in hope or promise For speaking of the estate of the Saints departed which he beheld as clearly in an heavenly Rapture as if it had been a thing done before his eyes he telleth us that he saw under the Altar the soules of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they had And they cryed with
from the Virgin Mary The only Son and the best beloved Son equivalent in holy Scripture Christ why entituled the first born of every creature The rights of Primogeniture what they were and how vested in him CHRIST so to be accounted the Son of God as to be also God the Son That the Messiah was to come in the form of man The testimony given by Christ to his own Divinity cleared from all exceptions The story of Theodosius the Iew in Suidas touching Christ our Saviour justified The testimony given to Christs Divinity by the Heathen Oracles The falling of the Egyptian Idols the Poet Virgil and the Roman Centurion The Heresies of Ebion Artemon and Samosatenus in making Christ our Saviour a meer natural man briefly recited and condemned The perplexed niceties of the School avoided purposely by the Author The name of LORD appropriated in the Old Testament unto God the Father but more peculiar since the time of the Gospel to God the Son The title of LORD disclaimed by the first Roman Emperours and upon what reasons CHRIST made our LORD not only in the right of purchase but also by the law of Arms. CHAP. III. Of Gods free mercy in the Redemption of man the WORD why fitted to effect it The Incarnation of the Word why attributed to the holy Ghost the Miracle thereof made credible both to Jews and Gentiles THe controversie between Mercy Peace Truth and Iustice on the fall of man made up and reconciled by the oblation of Christ then designed and promised That God could have saved mankinde by some other means then by the Incarnation and death of Christ had he been so minded The Oblation of Christ rather a voluntary act of his own meer goodness then necessitated by imposition or decree Some reasons why the work of the Incarnation was to be acted chiefly by the holy Ghost The manner of the Incarnation with a more genuine explication of the Virgins answer The miraculous obumbration of the holy Ghost made more intelligible by two parallel cases The impure fancies of some Romish Votaries touching this Obumbration and the blessed Virgin The large faculties of Frier Tekell Sleidan corrupted by the Papists The strange conceit of Estius in making Christ the principal if not only Agent in the Incarnation The miracle of the Incarnation made perceptible to the natural man to the Iews and Gentiles The Virgins Faith a great facilitating to the Incarnation The Antiquity of the feasts of Annuntiation Christ why not called the Son of the holy Ghost The body of Christ not formed all at once as some Popishs writers doe affirm and the reasons why CHAP. IV. Of the birth of CHRIST the Feast of his Nativity Why born of a Virgin The Prophesie of Esaiah the Parentage and priviledges of the blessed Virgin NO cause for the WORD to be made flesh but mans Redemption Our Saviour Christ not only born but made of the Virgin Mary and the manner how That several Heresies in the Primitive times touching this particular The time and place made happy by our Saviours birth That Christ was born upon the five and twentyeth day of December proved by the general consent of all Christian Churches The high opinion of that day in the Primitive times The miracle of Christ being born of a Virgin Mother made perceptible by some like cases in the Book of God A parallel between Eve and the Virgin Mary The promise made by God to Eve The clearest Prophesie in Scripture that Christ our Saviour should be born of a Virgin-Mother That so much celebrated Prophesie Behold a Virgin shall conceive c. not meant originally and literally of the birth of Christ. The genuine meaning of the Text and how it was fulfilled in our Saviours birth Whether Christ were the direct heir of the house of David The Genealogie of Christ why laid down in such different wayes by the two Evangelists The perpetual Virginity of Christs Mother asserted against the Hereticks of former times defended on wrong grounds by the Pontificians The Virgin freed from Original sin by some zealous Papists and of the controversie raised about it in the Church of Rome What may be warrantably thought touching that particular The extreme errours of Helvidius and the Antidicomaritani in giving too little and of the Collyridians and the Papists on the other side in giving too great honour to the blessed Virgin Some strange extraâ—vigancies of the learned and vulgar Papists The moderation in that kinde of the Church of England The body of Christ a real not an imaginary substance and subject to the passions and infirmities of a natural body CHAP. V. Of the sufferings of our Saviour under Pontius Pilate and first of those temptations which he suffered at the hands of the Devil ANnas and Caiaphas why said to be High Priests at the self same time Of Pontius Pilate his barbarous and rigid nature and of the slaughter which he made of the Galileans By what SPIRIT for what reasons and into what part of the Wilderness Christ was led to be tempted A parallel between Christ and the Scape-goat Reasons for our Redeemers fast why neither more nor less then just forty days Of the Ember weeks The institution and antiquity of the Lenten fast and why first ordained St. Luke and St. Matthew reconciled A short view of the three temptations with a removal of some difficulties which concern the same How Satan could shew Christ our Saviour from the top of a mountain and in so short a space of time the Kingdomes of the earth and the glories of them In what respects it is said of Christ that he was or could be tempted of the Devil CHAP. VI. Of the afflictions which our Saviour suffered both in his soul and body under Pontius Pilate in the great work of MANS REDEMPTION THe heaviness which fel on Christ not so great and terrible as to deprive him of his senses In what respect it is said of Christ in his holy Gospel that his soul was sorrowful to the death The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it signifieth in the holy Penmen The meaning of our Saviours words Ioh. 12.27 No contrariety in Christs Prayer to the will of God Why death appeared so terrible in our Saviours eye The judgement of the Antients on that Prayer of Christ. The doctrine of the Schools touching the natural fear of death Why Christ desired not to receive that Cup from the hands of the Iews Of the comfort which the Angel brought unto our Saviour in the time of his heaviness A passage of St. Paul expounded Heb. 57. The meaning of the word Agony in the best Greek Writers and in the usual style of Scripture Christs Agony and bloudy sweat rather to be imputed unto a fervency of zeal then an extremity of pain The sentence put upon our Saviour in the High Priests Hall and at the Iudgement Seat of Pilate A brief survey of Christs sufferings both in soul and
the Greeks and the antient Fathers The ireconcileable differences amongst the Papists and the fluctuation of St. Augustine in the point of Purgatory CHAP. V. Of the first Introduction of sin God not the Author of it Of the nature and contagion of Original sin No actual sin so great but it is capable of forgivenesse In what respect some sins may be accounted venial and others mortall FOrgivenesse of sins the first great benefit redounding unto mankind by our Saviours passion Man first made righteous in himself but left at liberty to follow or not to follow the ways of life Adam not God the author of the first transgression proved by the Scriptures and the Fathers The heresie of the Cataphrygians and of Florinus in making God the Author of sin as also of Bardesenus and Priscilian imputing sin to fate and the stars of Heaven The impious heresie of Florinus revived by the Libertines The Founder of the Libertines a member of the Church of Rome not of Calvins Schoole Calvin and his Disciples not altogether free from the same strange tenets The sin of Adam propagated to his whole posterity Original sin defined by the Church of England and in what it specially consisteth That there is such a sin as original sin proved by the testimony of the Scriptures by the light of reason and by the Practise of the Church Private Baptisme why first used and the use thereof maintained in the Church of England Not the day of their birth but of the death of the Saints observed as Festivals by the Church and upon what reasons The word natalis what it signifyeth in the Martyrologies Original sin how propagated from one man to another and how to children borne of regenerate Parents The sin of Adam not made ours by imitation only but by propagation Of the distinction of sins in venial and mortal and how far abominable Equality of sins a Paradox in the Schoole of Christ. No sin considered in its self to be counted veniall but only by the grace and goodnesse of Almighty God No sin so great but what is capable of Pardon if repented of no not the murdering of Christ nor the sin against the holy Ghost Arguments from the holy Scriptures as Heb 6.4 6. and Heb. 10.26 27. and 1 Ioh. 5.16 to prove some sins to be uncapable of pardon produced and answered The proper application of the severall places with the error of our last Translators in the second Text. CHAP. VI. Of the remission of sins by the bloud of Christ and of the Abolition of the body of sin by Baptisme and Repentance Of confession made unto the Priest and the authority Sacerdotal GOD the sole Author Christ the impulsive meritorious cause of the forgivenesse of sins Remission of sins how and in what respects ascribed to the bloud of Christ. Power to forgive sins conferred upon and exercised by the Apostles The doctrine of the Church of England touching the efficacy of Baptisme in the washing away of sin confirmed by the Scriptures and the Fathers and many eminent Divines of the reformed Churches Baptismal washings frequently used of old both by Iews and Gentiles as well to expiate their sins as to manifest and declare their innocence The waters of Baptisme in what respect made efficacious unto the washing away of the guilt of sin What it is which makes Baptisme to be efficacious unto the washing away of sin The rigor of the Primitive Church towards such as sinned after Baptisme The Clinici what they were and how then esteemed of The institution and antiquity of Infant Baptisme The old rule for determining in doubtfull cases how applyed to this Proofs for the Baptisme of Infants from St. Augustine up to Irenaeus inclusively What faith it is by which Infants are Baptized and justifyed Of the necessity of Baptisme the want thereof how supplyed or excused in the Primitive times and of the state of Infants dying unbaptized Repentance necessary and effectuall in men of riper years for remission of sins Confession in the first place to be made to God satisfaction for the wrong done to be given to man Satisfaction for sin in what sense to be given to God by the Penitent sinner Private confession to a Priest allowed of and required by the Church of England The Churches care in preserving the seal of confession from all violation Confession to a Priest defended by the best Divines of the Anglical Church approved by the Lutheranâ— not condemned by Calvin The disagreement of the Papists in the proofs of their auricular confession from the Texts of Scripture The severity of exacting all particular circumstances in confession with the inconveniences thereof That the power of sacerdotall Absolution in the opinion of the Fathers is not declarative only but judicial and that it is so also both in the Doctrine and the practise of the Church of England CHAP. VII Of the Resurrection of the body and the proofs thereof The objections against it answered Touching the circumstances and manner of it The History and grounds of the Millenarians THe resurrection of the body derided and contemned by the Antient Gentiles Proofs for the resurrection from the words of Iob from the Psalmes and Prophets and from the Argument of our Saviour in the holy Gospels Our Saviours Argument for the resurrection against the cavils of the Sadduces declared expounded and applyed to the present purpose Several Arguments to the same purpose and effect alledged by St. Paul in his Epistles and that too of the same numerical not another body Baptizing of or for the dead a pregnant proof or argument for the resurrection severall expositions of the place produced and which most probable Baptizing or washing of the dead antiently in use amongst the Iews the Gentiles and the Primitive Christians with the reasons of it Practical and natural truths for a resurrection The resurrection of the same bâ—dy denyed by Hereticks and justifyed with strong reasons by the Orthodox Christians Two strong and powerfull arguments for the resurrection produced from the Adamant and the art of Chymistry That the dead bodies shall be raised in a perfect stature and without those deformities which here they had and in their several sexes also contrary to the fancies of some vain disputers Considerations raised on the Doctrine of the resurrection with reference unto others and unto our selves The Doctrine of the Millenarians originally founded on some Iewish dotages by whom first set on foot in the Church of Christ how refined and propagated The Millenarian Kingdome described by Lactantius and countenanced by many of the antient writers till cryed down by Hierome The texts of Scripture on which the Millenarians found their fancies produced examined and lâ—yed by as unusefull for them The disagreement of the old Millenarians in the true stating of their Kingdome CHAP. VIII Of the immortality of the soul and the glories of Eternal life prepared for it as also of the place and torment of hell Hell
Synagogue to be the holy Son of God IESVS the Son of God in another place What benefit do they expect from this Confession what recompence for that Belief so professed and published â— but an assurance that they have no part in David nor any inheritance at all in the Son of Iesse How so Because they knew full well no mere Creature better that CHRIST took not on him the nature of Angels but that he took on him the seed of Abraham And if he took not on him the nature of Angels as they knew he did not he could not be a Mediator between them and God and if no Mediator between them and God they have no interest in his merits nor can claim any profit by his death and passion but must continue in that state wherein God hath plunged them for their sins without hope of remedy The Devils then believe but withall they tremble and good reason for it that belief making them assured that their case is desperate and that there is no mercy for them in Gods heavenly Treasury Besides admit the Devil did believe all those sacred truths which are affirmed of CHRIST in the Book of God what will this avail them For must they not then believe this truth amongst the rest that without true repentance there can be no entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven and if they do believe that truth must they not conclude that there can be no place for them in the heavenly glories because the dore of repentance is shut against them and that the Baptism of Repentance is a way to Heaven whereof their nature is not capable Small comfort doubtless in this faith but of anguish plenty So far I had proceeded in this discourse when I incountred with a Treatise of Doctor Iacksons the late Dean of Peterburgh containing the Original of Vnbelief misbelief c. In which I finde so strong a confirmation of my opinion herein that I have thought it not unnecessary to lay down his words for the clear evidence thereof Thus then saith he To believe in God hath gone currant so long for so much as to put trust or confidence in him that now to make it go for less will perhaps be an usurpation of authority more then critical and much greater then befits us Notwithstanding if on Gods behalf we may plead what Lawyers do in cases of the Crown Nullum tempus occurrit Regi that the Antient of days may not be prejudiced by antiquity of custom or prescription especially whose Orignal is erroneous the case is clear That to believe in God in their intention who first composed this Creed is no more then to believe there is a God or to give credence to his Word For justifying this Assertion I must appeal from the English Dialect in which the manner of speech is proper and natural if it were consonant unto the meaning of the Original as also from the Latine in which the phrase being forain and uncouth is to be valued by the Greek whose stamp and character it heareth Now the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also the Hebrew phrase whereunto by sacred Writers it was framed is no more then hath been said To believe there is a God Otherwise we must believe not only in God the Father in Christ the Son and in the holy Ghost but in the Catholick Church in the Communion of Saints in the forgiveness of sins and in the resurrection of the body and in life everlasting seeing the Greek particle usually expressed by the Latine In is annexed after the same manner to all these objects of our belief as is apparent in the Antient Greek Creeds And he that diligently readeth the Translation of the Septuagint shall finde the Greek phrase which is verbatim rendred by the Latine in Deum credere to believe in God promiseâ—ously used for the other credere Deo i. e. to believe God Or if besides the evident Records of the antient Copies personal witnesses be required amongst the Antients I know few amongst Modern Writers none more competent then those that are expresly for us as Beza Mercer Drusius unto whom we may adde Ribera Lorinus also Now as to use the benefit of a truth known and testified is always lawful so to us in this case it is most expedient almost necessary For either I did not rightly apprehend whilest I read it or at least now remember not how the Schoolman removes the stumbling block which he had placed in the very entry to this Creed If to believe in God be as much as to put trust or confidence in him by exacting a profession of this Creed at all mens mouths we shall inforce a great many to profess a ly For of such as not only out of ordinary charity but upon particular probabilities we may safely acquit from actual Atheism or contradicting infidelity a great number do not put their trust or confidence in God this being the mark at which the belief of Novices must aim not the first step they are to make in this progress And not long after he makes answer unto this Objection touching the belief of Devils or of wicked Angels of whom we cannot say say some that they do believe in God though they believe his being more firmly then we can do and know his Word as clearly For as he handsomely illustrates If the Kings Majesty should proclaim a general pardon to a number of known Rebels and vow execution of judgement without mercy upon some principal offenders which had maliciously and cunningly seduced their simplicity I suppose his will and pleasure equally manifested unto both and so believed would as much dishearten the one as incourage the other to relye upon his clemency Such notwithstanding altogether is the case between men and wicked angels The one believes CHRIST took the Womans seed and therefore cannot without such wilful mistrust of the promise of life as was in his first Parents to Gods threats of death despair of Redemption by the eternal Sacrifice The other as firmly believe or rather evidently know that CHRIST in no wise took the Angelical nature and without this ground the better they believe his Incarnation the less are their hopes of their own Redemption As for the third and last Objection touching the overthrow of the distinction of Faith into Historical Temporary saving or justifying faith and the faith of Miracles so generally received and countenanced in the Protestant Schools it works no effect at all in me who am resolved not to hazard the loss of a truth to save the credit of a distinction Nor are the membra dividentia as Logicians call them so well choyced and stated as either to require such care of their preservation or not to bring them into question For all faith is Historical there 's no doubt of that and the other members of the distinction either are coincident or but degrees only of the same one faith Vrsinus the
Roman Emperours who though they ruled the people by the advice of the Senate yet ruled the Senate as they pleased and made the intimation of their own will and pleasure to pass as currant as Law Quod Principi placuerit Legis habet valorem saith the book of Institutes And such almost is the conclusion of those Royal Edicts which daily is set out by the French Kings which generally ends with these formal words Car tel est nostre plaisir for such is our pleasure But this in these and other Princes of the like authority is rather a character of power then a Rule of justice the Rule of justice being to be straight and even and always constant to it self not alterable on occasions or turned aside by passions and humane affections The will of God is subject to no such vicissitudes to such turns and changes as the wils of men but an unalterable and most constant rule without variation such as the rule of equal and impartial justice is of right to be And by this rule it is that the Lord proceedeth in executing justice over all the World Which justice either doth consist in the performance of his promises for even a just and righteous man is as good as his word and then it may be called veracitas and is a species or kinde of Commutative justice or else in punishing or rewarding the sons of men according to the exigence of their several works and then it hath the name of distributiva or distributive justice That part thereof which doth consist in the performance of his promises and is called Veracitas may be defined to be a constant and unalterable purpose in Almighty God of bringing every thing to pass which he hath either promised to the sons of men or spoke concerning them by his holy Prophets which have been since the World began In the first sense it is said so often of him in the holy Scipture that he remembred the Covenant made with Abraham Isaac and Iacob performing to their seed and their children after them whatsoever he was pleased to promise more generally by the Royal Psalmist Custodit veritatem in seculum that he keepeth his promise for ever Psal. 146.6 And in the other sense it was said unto the Virgin Mary by her Cousin Elizabeth that there should be a performance of all those things which had been told her by the Lord Luk. 1.45 by the Apostle that all the Promises of God in Christ Jesus are yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 by CHRIST himself that Heaven and earth should pass away but that there was not one Iod or title in the Word of God which in due time should not be accomplished If it consist in punishing the impenitent sinner or chastising his own dear children for their wilful follies we then call it punitive and so it comes within the compass of Gods heavenly anger which as St. Augustine doth define it non aliud est quam voluntas puniendi is nothing but the will of God to punish such as do offend against his Commandements If in rewarding those who conform themselves as far as humane frailty will permit to his laws and precepts it is called Remunerative and hath a great admixture in it both of love and mercy in passing by our faults to reward our faith that saying of St. Bernard being always true Semper invenies Deum benigniorem quam te culpabilem Nay even his anger or his punitive justice is so mixt with goodness that in the midst of judgement he remembreth mercy and dealeth not so extremely with us as we have deserved it being as true which I finde noted by Nicephorus Deum vindictae gladium oleo misericordiae semper acuere that God doth always scour the sword of his vengeance with the oyl of his mercy The World had been reduced by this time to its former nothing had not he sweetned the severity of his judgements by the balm of his mercies and grown into a Wilderness or vast confusion had he not held in by his Iustice the exorbitant power of those who make their lusts and their wils a Law And certainly if we consult the Monuments and Records of former times we shall finde no Age nor State of men or Nations which do not give us evident and plain examples of Gods proccedings in this kinde when the necessities of his Church or the sins of men do require it of him The subtle tyrannie of the Egyptians had not only taught them to oppress Gods people for the present but to extinguish the whole race of them for the time to come and therefore a command was given to the Midwives of Egypt to murder all the Male Children which were born to Israel Did not God scourge them with their own rod and pay them in their own coin as we use to say when he slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt And possibly the piety compassion of the Midwives of Egypt in sparing many of the Male children whom they might have murdered occasioned God to lay the fury of his vengeance on the first-born Male not on any of the Females throughout the Countrey When David surfeiting on plenty and the sweets of power not only had defiled the wife but destroyed the husband how fitly did God square the punishment unto the offence For presently a violent mixture of rape and incest is committed by one of his own sons on his daughter Tamar that rape revenged not long after in the death of the Ravisher the Murderer getting in short time such a potent party as to drive his Father out of Hierusalem and to defile his Wives and Concubines in the fight of the people When David was restored to his Crown again and growing vain in conceit of his own great power must needs command a general muster to be made of all his subjects that all the World might see of what strength he was and stand in fear of his displeasure how justly did God punish him and take down his pride in cutting off so many thousands of his people in whose strength he trusted and bringing him to this confession that all his strength and power was from God alone The loss of so many of his subjects was a loss to David the glory of a King consisting in the multitude of his subjects as the Wise-man tels us And though David interceded for them and took all the fault upon himself saying in the affliction of a troubled soul At oves istae quid fecerunt what had those sheep done yet was there none at all of that seventy thousand who had not many ways offended against Gods Commandements and therefore had deserved death as the wages of sin How patiently did God bear with the house of Iudah in their Idolatries and apostasie from his Laws and Precepts how frequently did he command them to rely on him in all times of danger By consequence how justly did
against Gods Elect. That they do compass the earth to seduce poor man we have it in the book of Iob where he is said to go to and fro in the earth to walk up and down in it and that he wandereth in the ayr we are told by St. Paul by whom he is called the Prince of the power of the ayr But that he was cast down into Hell besides those places of the Old Testament produced before we are assured by St. Peter and that they are reserved there in chains like prisoners is affirmed expressely by St. Iude Not in material chains we conceive not so but that they are restrained by the power of God and are so bridled and tyed up by his mighty hand that they are neither masters of their own abilities nor have the liberty of acting what they would themselves but only so far forth as he shall permit as is most clear and manifest in the case of Iob. And from thence came no doubt this Proverbial speech that the Devil cannot go beyond his chain And though they feel some part of that dreadful torment to which they are reserved in the house of darkness yet is it but initium dolorum or the beginning of sorrows compared with those they are to suffer in the world to come In this regard the Devils did not only cry out against Christ our Saviour that he was come to torment them before their â—ime Mat. 8.29 but they did so abominate the conceit of the bottomeless Pit that they most earnestly besought him Ne imperaret ut in Abyssum irent not to command them down to that deep Abysse Luk. 8.31 Praesentia Salvatoris est tormentum Daemonum Our Saviours presence saith St. Hierom was the Devils torment who seeing him upon the earth when they looked not for him ad judicandos se venisse crederent conceived that he was come to bring them to judgement And to say truth it is no marvel that they were so afflicted at the sight of our Saviour considering that they knew full well that howsoever he might bring Salvation to the sons of men yet for themselves they were uncapable of that mercy and were to have no part in the Worlds Redemption The reasons of which so great difference as the Schoolmen think are these especially First because the Angels fell of themselves but man at the suggestion or perswasion of others Et levius est alienamente peccaffe quam propria as S. Augustine hath it 2. The Angels in the height of their pride fought to be like God in Omnipotencie which is an incommunicable property of the Divine Nature and cannot be imparted unto any other but man desired to be like him only in Omniscience or in the general knowledge of things created which may be communicated to a creature as to the humane â—oul of Christ. Thirdly the Angels were immaterial intellectual Spirits inhabiting in the presence of God and the light of his countenance and therefore could not sin by errour or misperswasion but with an high hand and affected malice which comes neerest to the sin against the holy Ghost and so irremissible but man was placed by God in a place remote left to the frailty of his own will and wanted many of those opportunities for persisting in Grace which the others had Fourthly because the Angels are not by propagation from one another but were created all at once so that of Angels some might fall and others might stand and that though many did apostate yet still innumerable of them held their first estate but men descend by generation from one stock or root and therefore the first man falling and corrupting his nature derived the same corruption upon all his race so that if God had not appointed a Redemption for man he had utterly lost one of the most excellent creatures that ever he made Fiftly the Angels have the fulness of intellectual light and when they take view of any thing they see all which doth pertain unto it and thereupon go on with such resolution that they neither alter nor repent but man who findeth one thing after another and one thing out of another dislikes upon consideration what before he liked and so repents him of the evil which he had committed Sixthly because there is a time prefixt both to men and Angels after which there is no possibility of bettering their estate and altering their condition whether good or bad which is the hour of death in man and unto Angels was the first deliberate action either good or evil after which declaration of themselves unto them that fell there was no hope of grace or of restitution For hoc est Angelis Casus quod hominibus mors that which in man is death was this fall to the Angels as most truly Damascene Finally the Angels had all advantages of nature condition place abilities and were most readily prepared and fitted for their immediate and everlasting glorification whereas man was to pass through many uncertainties to tarry a long life here in this present World and after to expect till the general Judgement before he was to be admitted to eternal Glories In some or all of these respects Christ did not take upon him the nature of Angels nor effect any thing at all towards their Redemption but he took on him the seed of Abraham that so the heirs of Abrahams faith might be made heirs also of the Promises of eternal life So that these Angels being desperate of their own Salvation and stomaching that a creature made of dust and ashes should be adopted to those glories from which they fell have laboured ever since to seduce poor man to the like apostasie and plunge him in the gulf of the same perdition Et solatium perditionis suae perdendis Hominibus operantur saith Lactantius truly This to effect as the same Lactantius there affirmeth per totam terram vagantur they have dispersed themselves over all the World and as mankinde did increase and propagate so had they still their Instruments and Emissaries to work upon the frailty of that perishing creature by all means imaginable The principal and proper Ministery of these evil Angels whom we will hereafter call by the name of Devils is to tempt men to sin and to this end they improve all their power and those opportunities which sinful man is apt to give them And to this trade they fell assoon as the World began working upon the frailty of Eve by a beautiful fruit but more by feeding her with a possibility of being made like to God himself and by her means corrupting the pure soul of Adam to the like transgression In this regard from this foul murder perpetrated on the soul of Adam which he made subject by this means to the death of sin and consequently to the death of the body also our Saviour calleth him Homicidam ab initio a murderer from the beginning Ioh. 8.34 And as he
or bad The ill successe that followed the young Prodigals journey was no part of his fathers purpose of his will and absolute decree much lesse no nor so much as to be ascribed unto his permission which was but causa sine qua non as the Schooles call it if it were so much Only it gave the Father such an opportunity as Adams fall did GOD in the present case of entertaining him with joy at his coming home and killing the faâ—ted Calfe for his better welcome T is true that God to whose eternal eye all things are present and fore-seen as if done already did perfectly fore-know to what unhappy end this poor man would come how far he would abuse that natural liberty wherewith he had endowed him at his first Creation Praescivit peccaturum sed non praedestinavit ad peccatum said Fulgentius truly And upon this fore-knowledge what would follow on it he did withall provide such a soveraign remedy as should restore collapsed man to his primitive hopes of living in Gods fear departing hence in his favour and coming through faith in Christ unto life eternall if he were not wanting to himself in the Application For this is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that CHRIST IESVS came into the World to save sinners of whom every man may say as St. Paul once did that he is the chief And it is as worthy of acceptance which came though from the same Spirit from a worthier person that God so loved the World the whole world of mankinde that He sent his only begouten Son into the World to the intent that whosoever did believe in him should live though he dyed and whosoever liveth and believeth in him should not die for ever but have as in another place everlasting life But what it is to believe in him and what a Christian man is bound to believe of him as it is all the subject of the six next Articles so must it be the argument of another book this touching our belief in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and all things therein with most of the material points which depend upon it beginning now to draw to a final period Chap. VI. What Faith it was which was required for Justification before and under the Law Of the knowledge which the Patriarchs and Prophets had touching Christ to come Touching the Sacrifices of the Jews the Salvation of the Gentiles and the Justifying power of Faith ANd yet before we pass to the following Articles there are some points to be disputed in reference to the several estates of the Church of God as it stood heretofore under the Law and since under the Gospel the influence which Faith had in their justification and the condition of those people which were Aliens to the law of Moses before Christs coming in the flesh For being that the Patriarchs before the time of Moses and those holy men of God that lived after him till the coming of Christ had not so clear and explicite a knowledge of the particulars of the Creed which concern our Saviour or the condition of the holy Catholick Church and the Members of it as hath been since revealed in the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles it cannot be supposed that they should have universally the same object of faith which we Christians have or were bound to believe all those things distinctly touching Christ our Saviour and the benefits by him redounding to the sons of men which all Christians must believe if they will be saved And then considering that there is almost nothing contained in Scripture touching God the Father his Divine Power and Attributes the making and government of the World and all things therein which was to be believed by those of the line of Abraham but what hath been avowed and testified by the learned Gentiles it will not be unworthy of our disquisition to see wherein the differences and advantages lay which the Patriarchs and those of Iudah had above the Nations or whether the same light of truth did not shine on both through divers Mediums for the better fitting and preparing of both people to receive the Gospel In sifting and discussing of which principal points we shall consider what it is in faith it self which is said to justifie of what effect the Sacrifices both before and under the Law were to the satisfying of Gods wrath and expiating of the sins of the people by whom they were offered to the Lord and the relation which they had to the death of Christ the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world and finally what is to be conceived of those eminent men amongst the Gentiles who not extinguishing that light of nature which was planted in them but regulating all their actions by the beams thereof came to be very eminent in all kindes of learning and in the exercise of Iustice Temperance Mercy Fortitude and other Acts of Moral vertue Some other things will fall in incidently on the by which need not be presented in this general view And the mature consideration of all these particulars I have reserved unto this place that being situate in the midst between the Faith we have in God the Father Almighty and the belief required of us in his Son Christ Iesus it may either serve for an Appendix to the former part or a Preamble to the second or be in stead of a bond or ligament for knitting all the joints of this body together in the stronger coherence of discourse And first Faith being as appeareth by the definition before delivered a firm assent to supernatural truths revealed we cannot but conceive in reason that the Object of it is to be commensurable to the proportion and degree of the Revelation For as our Saviour said in another case that to whom much is given of him the more shall be required so may we also say in this that to whom more divine supernatural truths have been revealed of him there is a greater measure of belief expected Till the unhappy fall of Adam there was no faith required but in God alone For without faith it is impossible to please God saith the Apostle which Adam by the Law of his Creation was obliged to endeavour Nor could he come before the Lord or seek for the continuance of his grace and favours had he not first been fitted and prepared by faith For he that cometh unto God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him as in the same text saith the same Apostle Which words we may not understand of Faith in Christ at least not primarily with respect to Adam of whom such faith was not required in the state of Innocency for where there was no sin there was no need of a Saviour but only of a faith in Almighty God the stedfast confession and acknowledgement of whose beeing and bounty was to speak
said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called Abraham was ready to obey him upon this belief that God was able to raise him again from death to life and that Gods Word concerning him would not fall to ground What saith St. Iames to this great trial of the Patriarchs faith Abraham saith he believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness In all those Texts where the Apostles speak of his Iustification or where the principal acts of his Faith are recited severally there is no intimation of his Faith in Christ nothing that seems to look that way more then that Gods first promise which was made in general to the Womans seed may seem to be restrained unto his particularly Whether these several imputations of the faith of Abraham do necessarily infer such an access of Iustification as is defended and maintained in the Schools of Rome I will not meddle for the present But in my minde Origen never spake more pertinently then where he gives this resolution of that doubt though not then proposed Quum multae fides Abrahae praecesserint in hoc nunc universa fides ejus collecta esse videtur ita in justitiam ei reputatur Whereas saith he many faiths of Abraham that is to say may acts of Abrahams faith had gone before now all his faith was recollected and summed up together and so accounted unto him for righteousness And if no other faith but a faith in God without any explicite relation to the death of CHRIST concurred unto the justification of the faithful Abraham the like may be concluded of the house of Israel that they were only bound to believe in God the Father Almighty till by Christs coming in the flesh and suffering death upon the Cross for the sins of man all that concerns his death and passions with all the other specialties in the present Creed made up together with our faith in God the Father the full and entire object of a Christian faith For this is life eternal saith our Lord and Saviour to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Not God alone but God and Iesus Christ together are since the Preaching of the Gospel made the object of faith So that it is not now sufficient to believe in God unless we also do believe in the Son of God whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins as St. Paul hath told us But here perhaps it will be said that though we do not read expressely in the holy Scriptures that the Patriarchs before Moses and the Fathers afterwards did believe in Christ yet that the same may be inferred by good and undeniable consequence out of the frequent Sacrifices before the Law and the Mosaical offerings which continued after it all which together with the rest of the Levitical Ordinances were but shadows of the things to come the body being only CHRIST That God instructed our first father Adam in the duty of Sacrifice I shall easily grant there being such early mention of them in the Book of God in the several and respective offerings of Cain and Abel And I shall grant as easily that GOD proposed some other end of them in that institution then to receive them as a Quit-rent from the hands of men in testimony that they held their estates from him as the Supreme Land-lord though by Rupertus this be made the chief end thereof Dignum sane est ut donis suis honoretur ipse qui dedit as that Author hath it which possibly may hold well enough in those kinde of Sacrifices which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gratulatory Eucharistical that is the Sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving for those signal benefits which GOD had graciously vouchsafed to bestow upon them But then there was another sort which they tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expiatory or propitiatory ordained by God himself as the Types and figures of that one only real and propitiatory sacrifice which was to be performed in the death of CHRIST who through the eternal Spirit was to offer up himself once without spot to God for the redemption of the world yet were they not bare Types and figures and had no efficacy in themselves as to the taking away of the filth of sin for the Apostle doth acknowledge that the bloud of Buls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean did sanctifie as to the purifying of the flesh Heb. 9.13 but that such efficacy as they had was not natural to them but either in reference to the Sacrifice to be made of CHRIST or else extrinsecal and affixed by the divine Ordinance and institution of Almighty God And that they might be so in this last respect there want not very pregnant reasons in the Word of God For whereas God considered as the Supreme Law-giver had imposed a commandement on man under pain of death although it stood not with his wisdome to reverse the Law which with such infinite wisdome had been first ordained yet it seemed very sutable to his grace and goodness to commute the punishment and satisfie himself with the death of Beasts offered in sacrifice unto him by that sinful Creature Which kinde of Commutations are not rare in Scripture It pleased God to impose a command on Abraham to offer up his only son Isaac for a burnt offering to him upon one of the mountains and after to dispense with so great a rigour and in the stead of Isaac to send a Ram It pleased God to challenge to himself the first born of every creature both of man and beast but so that he was pleased in the way of exchange in stead of the first born of the sons of men to take a Lamb a pair of Turtle Doves or two young Pigeons Now that these commutations were allowed of also in the case of punishment is evident by many Texts of holy Writ And this not only in sins of ignorance the Expiation of the which is mentioned Levit. 5.17 18. but in those which were committed knowingly and with an high hand of presumptuous wickedness Lying and swearing falsely deceiving our neighbour and taking away his goods by violence are sins of high and dangerous nature against both Tables and therefore in themselves deserved no less punishment then eternal damnation yet was God pleased to accept of the bloud of Rams in commutation or exchange for the soul of man If a soul sin and commit a trespass against the Lord and lye unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep or in fellowship or in a thing taken away by violence or hath deceived his neighbour or hath found that which was lost and lyeth concerning it and sweareth falsely in all these he doth sin and that greatly too there 's no question of it And yet of these it is
ordained that having made compensation to his neighbour for the injury done he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord a Ram without blemish out of the flock And the Priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord and it shall be forgiven him In which we finde that satisfaction for the wrong in regard of man was to be made by restitution but the forgiveness of the sin in regard of God to be procured by the sacrifice of the bloud of Rams But what need search be made into more particulars when the atonement for their sins and sanctifying them to the Lord their God is generally ascribed to the sacrifices and bloud of beasts as if the burden of mens sins had been laid on them For thus saith God by Moses to the sons of Aaron Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin-offering in the holy place seeing it is most holy and God hath given it you to bear the iniquity of the Congregation to make atonement for them before the Lord Thus when he doth restrain that people from eating bloud he gives this reason of the same because I have given it to you upon the Altar to make atonement for your souls for it is the bloud that makes an atonement for the soul Thus also saith S. Paul that both the Book and all the people the Tabernacle and all the vessels of the Ministry and almost all things by the Law were purged with bloud and that without shedding of bloud there was no remission If without shedding of the bloud of beasts there was no remission then certainly it followeth by St. Pauls illation that by shedding of their bloud there was Or that the sacrifices both before and under the law may seem to have the same effect in remission of sins which is conferred on Baptism in the time of the Gospel A power not natural to either ex natura sua for naturally it is as impossible for water as for the bloud of Buls and Goats to take away sins but Ex vi divinae institutionis conferred upon them by the Institution of Almighty God who being the Physitian of the soul of man might choose what medicines he thought fittest for the Patients ease And possibly enough it is that besides this Expiatory power affixed to these legal Sacrifices they might occasionally produce repentance in the hearts of the people when they beheld the innocent dumb beasts brought unto the slaughter and brought unto the slaughter for no other reason but to make reconciliation for the sin of man For if a generous young Prince that sees his negligences punished on the back of another according to the usage of former times doth thereby both grow more industrious in his course of studies and more conform and regular in his course of life why may we not conceive so favourably of the people of Israel that seeing the brute beasts punished for mans offences they might repent with shame and sorrow of their former wickednesses and cry out passionately and afflictedly in the words of DAVID It is I that have sinned and done wickedly but what have these sheep done that they should be slaughtered Me me adsum qui feci in me convertile ferrum Let thy hand be against me that have done this wickedness So that for ought appeareth unto the contrary the Sacrifices both before and under the Law had in themselves a power of Propitiation by vertue of the ordinance and justification of Almighty God and not a relative vertue only in reference to the Al-sufficient sacrifice of our Saviour CHRIST But then admitting that those Sacrifices were ordained but as types and figures of that which Christ was in the fulnesse of time to make for the sins of mankind yet is this to be understood of Gods minde and purpose and not of any such respect which the people had of them For that the people when they brought their sacrifices before the Altar had any such relation to the death of CHRIST as to conceive the same to be represented in the slaughter of beasts is no where to be found I dare boldly say it in all the Volume and context of the book of God Or if the people in their sacrifices had respect to CHRIST or looked upon them but as types and figures of that perfect sacrifice which he was afterwards to offer unto God the Father think we that God would have rejected or disliked them professe himself to be full of the burnt offerings of Rams and the fat of fed beasts that he delighted not in the bloud of bullocks or of lambs and goates and more then so that their sacrifices were become such an abomination to him that he who sacrificed a lamb was as if he had cut off a dogs neck and he that sacrificed an Oxe as if he had killed a man Assuredly God could not entertain such a vile esteem of the Iewish sacrifices however they might have some mixture of impure affection had they been offered only in relation to the death of Christ. And though the Lord Du Plessis seem to be of opinion that the sacrificing of men and women was first taken up upon some knowledge that the bloud of the son of man would prove a fuller expiation for their sins and wickednesses then of all the sheep upon the hils and the beasts of the forrest and therefore that their sacrifices did relate to Christ howsoever horribly mis-applyed in that particular yet is this only gratis dictum without proof at all there being another cause as bad of such humane sacrifices which we shall touch upon hereafter If it be asked in the mean time how CHRIST is said in Scripture to be the end of the Law Rom. 10.4 or how the Law is said to be our Schoole-master to bring us to Christ Gal. 3.24 except the sacrifices of the Law were as types and figures of the sacrifice which was made by Christ I answer that the Law had other and more proper means to bring men to Christ then to conduct them by the hand of such types and figures in case the sacrifices of the Iewes had been only such For CHRIST is therefore said to be the end of the Law for righteousness unto those that believe for so it followeth in the Text because he doth performe that unto those which believe which the Law propounded for its end but could not attain that is to say the Iustification of a sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what did the Law aime at saith St. Chrysostome to make man righteous but it could not because man will not keep the Law To what end served the feasts and ordinances the sacrifices and the rest of the Mosaical institutes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that they might contribute to mans Iustification Which when they could not bring to passe then was CHRIST fain to undertake it and so became the end of the Law for righteousness Theophylact following him in this as
look to finde it in any writings or records of the antient Gentiles So that we may affirme of the knowledge of CHRIST as Lactantiuss did in generall of the ttue Religion Nondum fas esse alienigenis hominibus Religionem Dei veri justitiamque cognoscere the time was not yet come in which the Gentiles should be made acquainted with those heavenly mysteries which did concern the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour T is true the Sibylline Oracles cited by Lactantius and others of great eminence in the Primitive times speak very clearly in some things concerning the life and death of CHRIST in so much that they seem rather written in the way of History then in that of Prophesie And though the learned Casaubon and others of our great Philologers conceive them to be pious fraudes composed of purpose by some Christians of the elder ages and added as a supplement to the true Originals the better to win credit to the faith of CHRIST yet dare I not so far disparage those good Catholick writers as to believe they would support so strong an edifice with so weak a prop or borrow help from falshood to evict the truth Or if they durst have been so venturous how easie had it been for their learned Adversaries Porphyrie Iulian and the rest of more eminent note to have detected the Imposture and silenced the Christian Advocates with reproach enough Letting this therefore go for granted as I think I may that the Sibylline Oracles are truly cited by the Fathers and that they do contain most things which hapned to our Saviour in his life and death yet could this give but little light to the Heathen people touching CHRIST to come because they were not suffered to be extant publickly and consequently came not to the knowledge of the learned Gentiles till by the care and diligence of the Christian Writers they were after published For so exceeding coy were the antient Romans of suffering the Sibyls or their works to go abroad having got into their hands the best copies of them that those times afforded that they commanded them to be kept closely in the Capitol under the care and charge of particular Officers whom from the number of fifteen for so many they were they called Quindecemviri and to whom only it was lawful to consult their papers Nec eos ab ullo nisi a Quindecemviris fâ—s est inspici as Lactantius notes it very truly And it is also very true that many of the antient and most learned Grecians had a confused notice of a second Deity whom they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Word making him aiding and subservient to Almighty God in the Creation of the world and therefore giving him the attribute of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the worlds Creator The several testimonies to this purpose he that lists to see may finde them mustered up together in that laborious work of the Lord du Plessis entituled De veritate Religionis Christianae cap. 6. So frequently occurs this notion in the old Philosophers especially in those of the School of Plato that Porphyrie an Apostate Christian and a Platonick in the course of his sect and studies blasphemously averred that St. Iohn had stollen the first words of his Gospel viz. In the beginning was the Word c. from his Master Plato And though the affirmation of that vile Apostata intended only the disgrace of the holy Evangelist and of the Gospel by him written for the use of the Church yet had it been a truth as indeed it was not it could have been no greater a disparagement to St. Iohn to borrow an expression from a Greek Philosopher then to St. Paul to use the very words of three Grecian Poets But the truth is that both St. Iohn and the Platonicks together with the rest of those old Heroes borrowed the notion from the Doctors of the Iewish Nation as Maldonate hath proved at large in his Comment on that Text of the blessed Evangelist who withal gives it for the reason why S. Iohn made choyce rather of this notion then of any other in the front or entrance of his Gospel because it was so known and acceptable both to Iew and Gentile Philosophos non dubium est ab antiquis Hebraeis hausisse sententiam vocabulum accepisse Proinde voluit Johannes accommodate ad usum loqui saith the learned Iesuite But then withall we must observe that though we finde such frequent mention of the Word or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the writings of the antient Gentiles yet finde we almost nothing of him but the name or notion nothing that doth relate to the salvation of man the taking of our nature upon him or being made a propitiation for the sins of mankinde That as before I noted was a secret mysterie not to be manifested to the sons of the Gentiles till CHRIST himself was come to make one of both and call them to the knowledge of his grace and faith in him Being so called they were no longer to be differenced by the name of Gentiles but fellow-heirs and of the same body whereof CHRIST is Head and as the members of that body to joyn in the Confession of the self same faith not only as to God the Father in the acknowledgement of which Article all the Nations meet but as unto his only Son IESVS CHRIST our Lord from whence the faith hath properly the name of Christian. Now that which we believe touching CHRIST our Saviour and is to be the argument of this present Book is thus delivered by the pen of our Reverend Iewell in the name and for the use and edification of the Church of England Credimus Jesum Christum filium unicum aeterni patris c. i. e. We believe that IESVS CHRIST the only Son of the eternal Father as it had been determined before all beginnings when the fulness of time was come did take of that blessed and pure Virgin both flesh and all the nature of man that he might declare unto the world the secret and hidden will of his Father and that he might fulfil in his humane body the Mysterie of our Redemption and might fasten our sins unto the Cross and blot out that hand-writing which was against us We believe that for our sakes he dyed and was buryed descended into Hell and the third day by the power of his God-head rose again to life and that the fortieth day after his Resurrection whiâ—est his Disciples looked on he ascended into Heaven to fulfil all things and did place in Majesty and glory the self same body wherewith he was born in which he lived upon the earth in which he was scornfully derided and suffered most painful torments and a cruel death and finally in which he rose again from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father above all principalities and powers and might and dominion that there he
but Dominus nosier our Lord the Lord of all that doe confess his holy Name and agree in the truth of his holy Word A title which accreweth to him in many respects as first in regard of our Creation For if all things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made as St. Iohn affirmeth If by him all things were created both in Heaven and Earth visible and invisible as St. Paul informs us good reason that he should have the Dominion over the work of his own hands and that we should acknowledge him for the Lord our Maker In the next place he is our Lord in jure Redemptionis in the right of Redemption Concerning which we must take notice as before was said that man was made by God in his first Creation just righteous and devoide of malice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the words of Damascen Created to this purpose after Gods own Image Vt imitator sui autoris esset that so he might more perfectly imitate his Creators goodness But falling from this happiness in which he might have served the Lord with perfect innocency he made a new contract with the Devil and became his servant and put himself directly under his dominion Do ye not know saith the Apostle that unto whom you yeild your selves servants to obey his servants ye are whom ye obey If then they were the Devils servants the Devil of necessity was their Lord and Master for Dominus servus sunt relata as our Logick teacheth us A miserable and most wretched thraldome from which there was no other way to set mankinde free but by the death and passion of our Saviour CHRIST which he being willing for our sakes to undergo did by the offering of himself once for all become the propitiation for our sins and obtain eternal redemption for us cancelling the bond or obligation which was against us and nayling it to his Cross for ever Nor were poor mankinde only servants to this dreadful Tyrant but for the most part they had listed themselves under him and became his souldiers fighting with an high hand of presumptuous wickedness against the Lord God and the Hosts of Heaven And they continued in that service taking part with the Devil upon all occasions till he received his final overthrow at the hands of our Saviour who by his death overcame him who had the power of death which is the Devil and having spoiled principalities and powers made a shew of them openly and triumphed over them By means whereof another title did accrew unto him of being the sole Lord over all mankinde and that is jure belli by the laws of war that rule of Aristotle being most unquestionably true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say those which are taken in the wars are in the power and at the disposal of the Conquerour And by the same right also of successful war men became servants unto him whose service as our Church hath taught us is perfect freedome For Servi are so called a servando from being saved and preserved in the day of battail Vocabuli origo inde ducta creditur quod ii qui jure belli possint occidi a victoribus conservabantur as St. Augustine from the Lawyers hath it because although they might be slain by the Law of Armes yet by the clemency of the Victor they were saved from slaughter and so made servants to the Conquerour And last of all he is our Lord jure Promotionis by the right of promotion because we hold of him all those temporal and eternal blessings which we enjoy in this life and expect in that which is to come He is the Lord of Life as St. Peter telleth us Act. 3.15 the Lord of glory saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 2.8 the Lord of joy Enter into the joy of the Lord as St. Matthew hath it 25.21 And he conferreth on us his servants life joy and glory out of the abundant riches of his mercy towards us and whatsoever else is his within the title and power of Lord. For having thereto a double right first by inheritance as the Son whom God appointed heir of all things Heb. 1.2 and then by purchase as a Redeemer for therefore he dyed and rose again that he might be Lord of all Rom. 14.9 contenting himself with the first alone he is well pleased to set over the latter unto us and to advance us to an estate of joynt-purchase in Heaven of life joy and glory and whatsoever else he is owner of For to that end it pleased him to come down from Heaven and be made man and be incarnate by the holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary which is the first of those great works which were performed by him in order to our Redemption and next in order of the Creed ARTICLE IV. Of the Fourth ARTICLE OF THE CREED Ascribed to St. ANDREW 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Qui conceptus est de Spiritu sancto natus ex Virgine Maria. i. e. Which was conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary CHAP. III. Of Gods free mercy in the Redemption of Man The Word why fittest to effect it The Incarnation of the Word why attributed to the holy Ghost The miracle thereof made credible both to Iews and Gentiles IT is a very ingenious conceit of Cameracensis that when God first created Adam he gave him all precious and excellent endowments as truth to instruct him justice to direct him mercy to preserve him and peace to delight him but that when he was fallen from God and forgot all the good which the Lord had done for him they returned back to him that gave them making report of that which had happened on the earth and earnestly moving the Almighty but with different purposes concerning this forlorn and unhappy creature For Iustice pleaded for his condemnation and called earnestly for the punishment which he had deserved Truth pressing for the execution of that which God had threatned on his disobedience But on the other side Mercy intreated for poor miserable man made out of the dust of the earth seduced by Satan and beguiled under faire pretences and Peace endevoured to take off the edge of Gods displeasure and reconcile the creature unto his Creatour When God had heard the contrary desires and pleas of those excellent Orators there was a councell called of the blessed Trinity in which it was finally resolved that the Word should be made flesh and take unto himself the nature of Man that he might partake of his infirmities be subject to the punishments which man had deserved and so become the propitiation for the sins of the world By this means the desires of all parties were fully satisfyed For man was punished according as Iustice urged the punishment threatned on mans disobedience inflicted as Truth required the offender pitied and relieved as Mercy intreated and God was
terris as St. Bernard hath it Who could be fitter to make us the Sons of God by adoption and grace then the word by which we were to be begotten unto life eternal or to repair the image of God decayed in us then he that was the brightnesse of his Fathers glory and the expresse image of his Person Finally who more fit to settle the minds of men in a certain and undoubted perswasion of the truth of such things as are necessary to be believed and thereby bring us into the way of life everlasting then he that was the way the truth and the life as himself telleth us of himself in St. Iohns Gospell Vt homo fidentius ambularet ad veritatem ipsa veritas Dei filius homine assumpto constituit et fundavit fidem as St. Augustine hath it That man saith he might with more confidence travell in the wayes of truth the truth it self even the Son of God taking the nature of man upon him did plant and found that faith which we are to beleive By which it is apparent that it was most agreeable both to our condition and the nature of the word it self that he should take upon himself the office of a Mediator between God and Man but so that he was bound thereto by no necessity but only out of his meer love and goodness to that wretched Creature The Scriptures and the Fathers are expresse in this Walke in love saith the Apostle as Christ hath also loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God a sweet smelling savour And anon after Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved his Church and gave himself for it And in pursuance of this love he took upon himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. So that first out of his love and goodness towards us he offered himself to serve and suffer in our places and after out of the same love submitted himself unto the punishment which our sins deserved God not imposing this upon him by necessity of any inevitable decree but mercifully accepting his compassionate offer which did so powerfully conduce unto mans salvation and the most inexpressible honour of his only Son The sufferings of CHRIST in regard of man do take their value from his Person the excellency of which did prevail so far as to make the passion of one available for the sins of all But the merit of those sufferings in regard of himself is to be valued by that cheerful freedom with which he pleased to undergo them and had not been so acceptable nor effectual neither if they had not been voluntary For Fathers which affirm the same we need take no thought having both Reason and the Scriptures so expresly for it though this be universally the Doctrine of all Catholick wrirers some of whose words I shall recite and for the rest refer the Reader to their Books For the Greek Church thus saith Athanasius CHRIST seeing the goodness of his Father and his own sufficiency and power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was moved with compassion towards man and pitying our infirmities cloathed himself with the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and willingly took up his cross and went uncompelled unto his death And thus St. Augustine for the Latâ—ne The Word saith he was made flesh by his own power and was born suffered died and rose again nulla necessitate sed voluntate potestate by no necessity laid upon him but meerly of his own good will and that authority which he had to dispose of himself See to this purpose the same Augustine in Psal. 8. de Trinit l. 4. c. 10. Chrysost. in Gen. Hom. 55. in Ioh. Hom. 82. Amb. in Psal. 118. Serm. 6. De Fide l. 2. c. 1. Hieron in Isai. cap. 3. in Psal. 68. Not to descend to those of the later Ages The passages being thus laid open we now proceed to the great work of the incarnation wherein the holy Ghost was to have his part that so none of the Heavenly powers might be wanting to the restauration of collapsed man That our Redeemers Incarnation in the Virgins womb was the proper and peculiar work of the holy Ghost is positively affirmed in St. Matthews Gospel first in the way of an historical Narration Before they came together as man and wise she was found with childe of the holy Ghost ch l. 1. 18. and afterwards by way of declaration from an Angel of Heaven saying Ioseph thou son of David fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife for that which is conceived in her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of the holy Ghost vers 20. Nor wanted there especial reason if at least any reasons may be given in matters of so high a nature why this miraculous Conception was committed rather to the holy Ghost then either acted by the sole power of God the Father or by the sole vertue of the Word who was aboundantly able to have wrought his own Incarnation For as the Word was pleased to offer himself to take humane flesh the better to accomplish the great work of the Worlds redemption and as God the Father knowing how unable poor man must be to work out his own salvation otherwise then by such a Saviour was graciously pleased to accept the offer so it seemed requisite that God the holy Ghost should prepare that flesh in which the Word of God was to be incarnate Besides the power of quickning and conferring fruitfulness is generally ascribed to the Spirit in the Book of God who therefore in the Nicene or rather the Constantinopolitane Creed is called the Lord and giver of life For thus saith David for the Old Testament Thou sendest forth thy Spirit and they are created and thus the son of David for the New Testament Spiritus est qui vivificat i. e. It is the Spirit that quickneth The holy Ghost then was the proper Agent in the Incarnation So St. Matthew tels us But for the manner and the means by which so wonderful a conception was brought to pass that we finde only in St. Luke The blessed Virgin as it seemed made a question of it how she should possibly conceive and bring forth a son considering that as yet she had not had the company of her husband Ioseph Quandoquidem virum non cognosco that is to say since as yet I do not know my husband for so I rather choose to read it then to translate it as it stands in our English Bibles seeing I know not a man For that both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek and Vir in Latine do sometimes signifie an Husband every Schoolboy knows and so the words are rendred in our English Bibles Ioh. 4.16 17 18. and in other places And
transgression was an untouched Virgin a Virgin though betrothed to her husband Adam for she was a Virgin espoused from her first creation when she conceived sin and brought forth iniquity and Mary was an espoused Virgin espoused to a man whose name was Ioseph when she conceived the Son of righteousness and brought forth salvation And as the first woman conceived death by believing an evill Angel without consulting with her husband till the deed was done so the espoused Virgin of the present Article conceived in her body the Lord of life by believing the words and message of a good Angel her husband being not made privy to it till he perceived she was with child Some reasons then there were why it should be so why Christ our Saviour should be born of the purest Virgin though those reasons do not make it to be lesse a miracle for nothing but a miracle and the holy Ghost could have begotten such a child upon such a Mother That by this means the miserable fall of man was to be repaired it pleased God to declare unto our wretched Parents before they were exiled from the garden of Eden It was the first and greatest comfort which was given unto them that the seed of the woman should break the head of the serpent and that the serpent should but bruise the heel of the womans seed that is to say that there should one be born of the womans seed who by the sufferings of his body his inferiour part should overcome the powers of Hell and set man free from that captivity in which he was held bound by Satan And as it was the first in the generall promise so was it as I think the cleerest and most evident light to point us out to the particular of bringing this great work to passe by a Virgin-birth Though Adam was the root of mankinde and lost himself and his posterity by his disobedience yet was the promise made to Eve a Virgin and not to Adams seed at all nor any to be procreated from the seed of man It is a common resolution of the Schoolmen that if Eve only had transgressed Adamo in innocentia permanente Adam continuing still in his first integrity neither the souls of their posterity had been tainted with original sin nor their bodie made subject unto death It was in Adam that all die as St Paul hath told us It is in Adam that all die but 't was in Eve that all should be made alive not in Eves person but her seed The promise made to Eve a Virgin that her seed should break the serpents head fore-signifyed that our redeemer should be born of a Virgin Mother such as Eve was when this first publication of Gods will was made A clearer evidence then which as to this particular I think is hardly to be found in the book of God that so much celebrated place of the Prophet Isaiah Behold a Virgin shall conceive not being primarily intended of the birth of CHRIST though in his birth accomplished in a more excellent manner then first intended by the Prophet The estate of Ahaz King of Iudah at that time stood this A storme was threatned to his Kingdome from the joynt forces of Rezin King of Syria and Pekah King of Samaria which so dismaid the hearts of Ahaz and of all his people that they were as the trees of the wood moved with the wind as the text informes us not knowing upon what to fasten nor for what to hope In this great consternation comes Isaiah to them with a message from God assuring them of the speedy destruction of those Kings whom they so much feared But this when Ahaz durst not credit nor would be moved to aske a signe from God to confirme his faith and to assure himself of a quick deliverancâ— it pleased God to give him this by the mouth of the Prophet Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his name Immanuel Butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse the evill and choose the good For before the child shall know to refuse the evill and choose the good the Land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her Kings To say that this was literally and originally meant of the birth of CHRIST is not consistent with the case and circumstances of the present businesse The King and people were in danger of a present war and nothing but the hope of a present deliverance was able to revive their desparing hearts And what signe could it be to confirme that hope that after 700. years and upwards for so long time there was between the death of Ahaz and the birth of Christ a Virgin should conceive and bring forth a Son Cold comfort could there be in this to that generation who could not hope for so long life as to see the wonder So that the literal meaning of the Prophecie is most like to be that before some noted Virgin then of fame and credit or else within that space of time that any who was then a Virgin should conceive a child according to the ordinary course of nature and that that child should be of age to know good from evill the two Kings spoken of before should be both destroyed That so it is seemeth very evident to me by the successe of the businesse For in the next Chapter we find that Isaiah went unto the Prophetesse perhaps the Virgin spoken of in the former passages and she conceived and bare a Son whom the Lord commanded to be called Maher-shalal-hash-baz and gives this reason for the name being so unusuall that before the child shall have the knowledge to cry my Father and my Mother which is the same with that of refusing the evill and choosing the good the riches of Damascus and the spoyle of Samaria shall be taken away before the King of Assyria And so it proved in the event For before this Maher-shalal-hash-baz so conceived and born was able to distinguish of meats or know his Father and Mother from other people was the word fulfilled which God had spoken by the Prophet touching their deliverance Pekah being slain by Hoseah the son of Elah and Rezin by Tiglath-Pilesar the King of Assyria within two or three years after the said signe was given Of which see a King 16.5 6 7 c. Chron. 17.1 But then we must observe withall that this Prophecie being thus fulfilled in the literal sense according to the Prophets intent and purpose contained in it a more mystical meaning according to the secret purpose of Almighty God this temporal deliverance of Ahaz and the house of Iudah from the hands of two such potent enemies being a type or figure of that spiritual and eternal deliverance which he intended unto them and to all mankinde from the tyranny of sin and Satan Which secret will and purpose of Almighty God being made known to the Evangelist by the holy Ghost he might
immaculate conception Ann. 1476. But for the further glory of it confirming a new festival on the 8 of December which in honour of her said conception the Canons of the Church of Lions had of late begun After when as the doctrine of original sin was agitated and debated in the Councell of Trent this Controversie was as hotly followed as if the Pope had never determined it Nor would the Councell bring it unto any conclusion for fear of giving offence to the side condemned and therefore very warily did so state the point as neither to exempt the Virgin from original sin nor include her under the obnoxiousness and guilt thereof Declarat Synodus non sibi esse propositum decreto hoc they mean the Canons which they made touching that particular B. Virginem comprehendere For my part I am loth to rob this most happy instrument of our Redemption of any priviledge or exemption whatsoever it be which may consist with the analogy of faith and the texts of Scripture But when I finde in holy Scripture that CHRIST came into the world to save sinners and that the Virgin did rejoyce in God her Saviour either I must conclude that she was a sinner if guilty only of original sin it shall serve my turn or else that she needed not a Saviour And when I read it in Nicephorus that she dyed in the 59. year of her age and was attended to her grave by all the Apostles met together not by chance but miracle I cannot but conclude her under the Law of sin or else she had not been subject to the stroke of death which is the wages of sin as St. Paul hath told us No Saviour if no sinner if no sin no death It must be either both or none there 's no question of it But it is easie to discern what this tends unto I mean the great care taken by the Church of Rome to free this blessed woman from all manner of sin and humane infirmitie Their meaning is to seat her in the throne of heaven and place her in the Mediatorship between God and man whereof she were not capable if she were a sinner By what degrees they came at last unto this height is not hard to shew They went it seemes on that old Philosophicall maxime that the way to make straight a crooked stick was to bend it quite the other way This way was followed first on mistaken zeal and afterwards pursued upon worldly prudence Helvidius and those other Hereticks before remembred would not allow her just attribute the Virgin Mary affirming with an high hand of impudence eam post Christum natum viro suo fuisse commixtam that after our Redeemers birth she was known by Ioseph This was encountred presently with another extreme the writers of the following times not only making her a Virgin in all mentall purity but in corporal integrity also contrary to the judgment of Tertullian Ambrose Hierom before remembred and generally of the Greek Fathers hardly one excepted the Schoolmen thereupon devising this trim distinction to reconcile those antients to their new opinion that Christ was brought into the world non fractione aliqua membrorum sed dilatatione meatuum The Antidicomaritani an old brood of Hereticks devested her as their name imports of all manner of righteousness making her not more holy then another woman And on the other side the Collyridians in dislike of this peevish humour placed her above the reach of nature afforded her divine honours a dressing up a foure square Chariot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as my Authour cals it did thereon sacrifice unto her as an heavenly Deity The Schoolmen treading in the steps of these Collyridians and having little else to do then to broach new fancies first freed her from all mortal then from venial sins from actual first and after from original also And this the Champions of that Church have more hotly followed because the Magdeburgians and some other of the Protestant Doctors have made a muster of many crimes infirmities they might have called them had they been so pleased with which they do as hotly charge her Nestorius once Patriarch of Constantinople though he allowed her the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Mother of Christ would not allowe her to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Mother of God and t is an expression I confesse which at the first hearing doth not sound so handsomely In opposition unto whom Cyrill of Alexandria and the rest of the Prelates at that time having condemned his doctrine of the two natures in Christ in the third General Councel did heap upon her all those Attributes which might manifest their dislike of him and his cause together Insomuch as Cyril doth not stick to call her in these early dayes pretiosum totius orbis thesaurum i. e. the most precious treasure of the world a lampe which cannot be put out the crown of Chastity the very scepter of true doctrine sceptrum verae doctrinae and not the scepter of the Catholick faith as our Rhemists read it And so far there was no harm done as long as those of Rome would contain themselves within the bounds prescribed by the antient Fathers whose pious flourishes devout meditations and Rhetoricall Apostrophe's aimed at nothing else then the commemoration of her faith and piety But let us look on the extravagancies of the writers of succeeding times and we shall finde that Anselm giveth this reason why Christ when ascended left his Mother here Ne curiae coelesti veniret in dubium c. lest else the Court of heaven should have been distracted whom they should first goe out to meet their Lord or their Lady That Bernardin Senensis doth not stick to say Mariam plura fecisse Deo quam fecit Deus toti generi humano that she did more to Christ in being his Mother then Christ to all mankinde in being their Saviour That Gabriel Biel a Schoolman of good name and credit hath shared the government of the world betwixt God and her God keeping Iustice to himself Misericordia Virgini concessa and left to her the free dispensing of his Mercies That Petrus Damianus tels us that when she mediates with her Son for any of her special votaries Non rogat ut Ancilla sed imperat ut Domina she begs not of him as a handmaid but commands as a Mistresse that Bonaventure in composing our Ladies Psalter hath applyed to her whatever was intended by the holy Ghost to the advancement of the honour of her Lord and Saviour that she is called frequently in their publick Rituals Mater misericordiae Mater gratiae Regina coeli with other the like glorious title which she dares not own that in the vulgar translation made Authentick by the Councell of Trent in stead of He shall break thy head which relates to Christ they read it Ipsa
unto certain ends And of this kind saith he was the death of the Crosse with all the wofull torments concurring with it which simply Christ shunned and declined but respectively to the end proposed did embrace it cheerfully So far and to this purpose and effect the said Reverend and Learned Doctor This being declared and the point thus stated by the Schoolmen we will next see how this agreeth with the sense of all the antient and orthodox writers who have delivered us their conceptions of this prayer of Christs And first saith Origen CHRIST taking to him the nature of mans flesh retained all the properties thereof according to which he prayed in this place that the cup might passe from him It is the property of every faithfull man to be unwilling to suffer any pain especially that tendeth unto death because he is a man and hath flesh about him but if God so will then to be content even against that will of his own because he is faithful There is also another exposition of this place which is this If it be possible that all these good things may come to effect without my passion which otherwise shall come by my death then let this passion passe from me but not otherwise And Athanasius thus As by death Christ abolished death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all humane miseries by suffering them as a man so by his fear he took away our fear and made men no longer to fear death But Cyril of Alexandria next Quando formidasse mortem videtur ut homo dicebat c. When Christ seemed to fear death he said as a man Father let this cup passe from me for though as a man he abhorred death yet as a man he refused not to performe the will of his Father and of himself being the word of God Then Beda thus agreeably to the sense of his Predecessors if death may die without my death in the flesh let this cup passe from me but because this will not otherwise be thy will be done not mine Then Damascen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These words saith he proceeded from a naturall fear for as a man CHRIST would have had the cup to passe Next him Euthymius Zigabenus thus As a man Christ said if it be possible i. e. so far as it is possible and in saying yet not as I will but as thou wilt he teacheth that we must follow the will of God though nature reclaime And in the close of all Theophylact 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is incident to the nature of man to fear death for death entred besides or against nature and therefore nature flyeth death And in another place The common fear of mans nature Christ cured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consuming it in himself and making it obedient to the will of God In which concurrent testimonies of the antient writers we have not only the full grounds of that distinction of the Schoolmen touching the superior and inferior Reason and the severall and adequate acts of each but also of the observation of Hugo de Sancto Victore and of those severall respects and reasons in which Christ may be said both to decline death and to embrace it But being there is so much speech amongst them of a naturall fears or the fears incident to nature we will once more repair unto the Schoolmen and enquire of them both what his natural fear was and in what respect it was he feared as also how this fear of his may be reconciled both with the will of God and his knowledg of it First then they say that natural fear ariseth in these three respects that is to say first in respect of things that cannot be avoided neither by resistance and incounter nor by flying from them secondly in respect of such things as may be escaped or overcome with a kind of uncertainty of event and danger of the issue thirdly in respect of such as may be escaped or overcome without any uncertainty of the event or issue but not without great conflict and extremity of labour Then they declare what things they were which Christ did fear and in what sort he feared them For first say they he feared death and the stroke of the justice of God his Father sitting on his tribunal or judgment seat to punish the sins of men for which he stood forth that day to answer and secondly he feared also that everlasting destruction which was due to mankind for those sins And finally they resolve it thus that the former of these two he feared as things impossible to be escaped in respect of the resolution and purpose of his heavenly Father which was that by his satisfactory death and sufferings and no other way man should be ransomed and delivered from the power of Satan and that he feared the latter that is to say declined it as a thing he knew he should escape without all doubt or uncertainty of the event though not without conflicting with the temptations of the Devil and the enduring of many bitter and grievous pangs which in that conflict might befall him Which resolution of the Schoolmen not only shews the reasons of CHRISTS natural fear but addes withall another reason why he was so amazed and sorrowfull and also why he prayed so long and with so great fervencie that the cup which was prepared for him might have passed over him And to say truth it must be somewhat more then the consideration and apprehension of a bodily death which could so much work upon our Saviour considering with how much gallantrie so many of the primitive Martyrs have defyed their torments and mounted on the scaffold with so clear a confidence as if they had not been to have suffered death but behold a Triumph And therefore first it may be said that besides the natural fear of death which is incident to the Saints of God however gallantly resolved to contemn the force of it by the assistance and support of the holy Spirit which he could not avoid and the avoidable fear of everlasting destruction which might be for a season presented to him he was to undergoe the whole wrath of God for the sins of mankind A wrath so infinite and just so far exceeding the strength and reach of mans nature to endure that our earthly infirmity to which for our sakes he submitted himself cannot conceive nor comprehend the greatnesse of it nor think upon the power thereof without fear and horror CHRIST saith a reverend and learned Prelate of this Church was not only to suffer that which in his Person should be thought sufficient in the righteous judgment of God to appease his anger and purge our sins but he was further to see and behold from what he delivered us even from the wrath to come For how should the price and force of his death be known unto him if he were ignorant what dreadfull and terrible vengeance was prepared
for sin should he not redeeme us Since therefore he was at this time to bear the burden of our sins in his body and to have the chastisement of our peace laid upon him and did withall behold the fiercenesse of Gods wrath against sinfull man how could he choose but fear the effects thereof and pray against them For though he were assured that this wrath of God would not proceed against him unto condemnation yet he knew well that God had infinite means to presse and punish humane nature above that which it was able to bear And therefore he addressed himself to his heavenly Father being sure that God at his most earnest and fervent prayer would proportion the pain he was to suffer according to the weaknesse of that flesh which he bare about him that neither his obedience might be staggered nor patience overwhelmed and swallowed up in despair Besides there might be somewhat else in the cup provided for him then the wrath of God with all the fears and terrors which depend upon it which might make him so unwilling to tast thereof so earnestly desirous to decline the same For many of the Fathers think that Christ did pray more vehemently to have that cup passe from him because he saw the Iews so eagerly inclined to force it on him and knew that if he drank thereof and took it from their murderous and bloudy hands it could not but draw down upon them such most grievous punishments as the dispersing of their nation and the rejection of them from the Covenant and grace of God For thus saith Origen for those men then whom he would not have perish by his passion he said Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me that both the world might be saved which was the principal matter aimed at and the Jews not perish by his suffering St. Ambrose thus Therefore said Christ take this cup from me not because the Son of God feared death but for that he would not have the Jews though wicked to perish Ne exitialis esset populo Passio sua quae omnibus esset salutaris lest his passion should be destructive to them which was to be healthfull unto all Of the same minde is Hierome also Christ said not let the cup passe from me but let this cup passe from me i. e. this cup provided by the Jews which can have no excuse of ignorance if they put me to death considering that they have the Law and the Prophets which foretell of me So that Christ makes not this request as as fearing to suffer but in mercy to the former people Sed misericordia prioris populi ne calicem ab illis propinatum bibat that he might not drink the cup which was offered by them Whose judgement in this point is so well approved by venerable Bede our Country-man that he is loath to change the words And certainly this consideration of those worthies stands on very good reason For if he so much pitied the ruine of the City and desolation of their land by the hands of the Romans that he wept upon the thought thereof what sorrow and disconsolation shall we think he took to thinke of the perpertual destruction of so many thousands and their posterities for ever thorow their own madnesse in thirsting after his bloud What grief and anguish must it be unto him to foresee the rejection of that people from the favour of God by their rash and wicked desire to have his bloud upon them and upon their children at his arraignment before Pilate For if Moses and Paul so vehemently grieved at the fall of their Brethren according to the flesh that for their sakes the one wished to be wiped out of the book of God the other most sacredly protested the great heavinesse and continual anguish which he felt for them in his heart how much more might it grieve the Saviour of the world who much exceeded both the other in compassion and mercy to see himself who came to blesse them and to save them to be the rock and stone of offence that should stumble them and their children striking them with perpetual blindnesse and bruising them with everlasting perdition through their unbelief But whether this was so or not as it may be probable most sure it is that many things concurred together to make up the measure of those sarrowes fears and terrors which were then upon him and against which he prayed so fervently and with such prostration Insomuch that having offered up his prayers and supplication to him that was able to save him from death with strong crying and tears to him who was able had he pleased to take away that cup from him but howsoever able and willing both to mitigate the sharpnesse of it and abate the bitternesse the Lord thought fit to send him comfort from above by his heavenly Ministers And there appeared an Angel unto him from heaven strengthning him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greek which by the vulgar Latine is translated confortans eum comforting him by the translatour of the Syriack confirmans eum strengthning or confirming him as our last translation The word in the Original will bear both constructions both being of especial use in the present businesse For if we look upon our Saviour in the middest of his anguish praying unto the Lord that if it were possible that cup might passe from him the Angel may be thought to be sent unto him with a message of Comfort touching the mitigation of his sorrows the speedy end they were to have and the inestimable benefit that by his sufferings should redound unto all the world and then it is confortans eâ—m as the vulgar Latine But if we look upon him as resolved to submit himself to his Fathers pleasure not my will but thy will be done and patiently to endure whatever he should lay upon him the Angel may be thought to be sent unto him to strengthen and confirme him in that resolution and then it is confirmans eum as the translatour of the Syriack reads it But which soever of the two it was certain it is that the appearance of the Angel had some special end God doth not use to send about those heavenly messengers but on businesses of great importance And though there be no constat in the book of God what this businesse was on which the Angel was sent down by the Lords appointment yet we may probably conceive that it was to give him this assurance that his prayers were heard whether they tended to the mitigation of his present sorrows or the accepting of his death and passion as a full perfect and sufficient satisfaction for the sinnes of the world For the Apostle having told us in the fift to the Hebrews that when in the days of his flesh he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from
that is bitten when he looketh upon it he shall live What use makes CHRIST the Lord of this As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life Never was type more perfect and exact then that Man by his sins committed against God the Lord had provoked his anger and the Lord gave him over to the hands of the old Serpent the Devil who pierced them with his fiery darts consumed them with the heats of lust and drew them into everlasting danger both of soul and body No way to cure them of those wounds which the sting of sin and Satan had occasioned in them no way to quench those flames of natural concupiscence which were kindled in them and setting them at liberty from the powers of hell but by fastning Christ upon the Cross as was the Brazen Serpent on the top of the pole that whosoever looked on him with the eyes of faith might have the world crucified unto them and they themselves unto the world The Antients generally did thus interpret and apply our Redeemers words as being most agreeable to the scope of the place and to another of his Prophecies concerning himself saying that he should be delivered unto the Gentiles to be mocked scourged and crucified and thereby signifying what death he should die Ioh. 18.32 Calvin indeed of late days will not have it so affirming that this application of our Saviours words nec textui quadrat nec instituto is neither agreeable to the Text nor our Saviours purpose and that the plain and genuine meaning of the words is no more then this Quod Evangelii promulgatione erigendus sit Christus that the name of Christ should be advanced by the preaching or promulgating of the Gospel But whether this agree with our Saviours purpose in making a comparison of himself or rather of his lifting up as Moses lifted up the Brazen Serpent any which hath eyes to see and is not wilfully blinde with prejudice or prepossession may discern most easily Compare the fift and sixt verses of the 21. of Numbers with the 14. and 15. of the third of Iohn and tell me any man that hath not absolutely captivated his own judgement to another mans sense if ever Type and Antitype did agree more punctually The parallel goes further yet but beyond this purpose For as the Brazen Serpent of a remedy did become a disease and was made an Idol of an Hieroglyphick the Children of Israel in the times succeeding burning incense to it So was it also with the Cross or Crucifix in these later ages For who knoweth not how impiously it hath been abused to Idolatry in the Church of Rome how grossely it hath been adored by all sorts of people and with what impudence the greatest and most learned men have bestirred themselves in defence of that most palpable and gross Idolatry Bellarmine sparing not to say though he hope to save himself by a strange distinction of his own that the same honour which is due to Christ crucified is to be also given to the Cross or Crucifix But this is only by the way if it be not out of it I return again These passages premised we now proceed unto the story of our Saviours passion We left him last in Pilates Hall The Priests and people of the Iews cryed out to have him crucified according to the Roman fashion No death but that which was accounted the most shameful and most ignominious of all manner of deaths and was pronounced to be accursed He is accursed of God that hangeth on the tree by the Law of Moses would content their malice And Pilate gave sentence saith the Text that it should be as they required and delivered him to them to be crucified CHRIST had not else redeemed us from the curse of the Law for cursed is he that abideth not in all the words of this law to do them Deut. 27.26 had he not been made a curse for us that is to say had he not willingly submitted to that death of the Cross of which the Lord thus said by the mouth of Moses Cursed is every one that is hanged on a tree Deut. 21.23 the curse and rigour of the law being laid upon him Christ was no otherwise made a curse then so by enduring this most shameful death of the Cross this mortem autem Crucis for the sins of man God saith St. Ambrose made Christ a curse after the same manner as a sacrifice for sin in the law is called sin Bropterea pro maledictis oblatus factus est Maledictum and therefore being a Sacrifice for those who were accursed he became a curse CHRIST saith St. Chrysostom was not made subject to the curse of transgression which is the greatest curse a man can fall into and that which makes him most detested and hated of God but admitted in himself another curse that is the punishment of sin or the curse for sin and this saith he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another curse but not the same CHRIST then was made a curse for us not that he was detested of God or deprived of blessedness which was the curse denounced by Moses against those who kept not the words of the law to do them but that he was adjudged to this shameful and inglorious death which God and man did hold accursed abolishing one curse and undergoing another Et vincens maledictum de maledicto as St. Augustine hath it But to go on our Saviour being condemned to this cursed death a death which none but Theeves and Murderers and false Bond-men were condemned by the laws of Rome they hale him to the same with as cursed a violence sparing no cruelty or disgrace as they led him to it which a barbarous people could inflict or an innocent suffer They made him carry that Cross at first on his own shoulders which after was to carry his whole body And when they eased him of that burden and laid it upon Simon the Cyrenians back it was not out of pity but upon design that coming more fresh and lively to the place of suffering he might the longer be a dying and they the longer glut their eyes with that pleasing spectacle It was the custom of the Iews as of other people to give wine to those who were condemned and led to their execution to comfort and revive their spirits the better to enable them for the stroke of death Even this humanity shall be corrupted to increase his miseries and adde unto the scorne which which were put upon him In stead of wine some of them gave him vinegar mixed with Gall to drink and thereby literally fulfilled in him that which was metaphorically said of himself by David in some time of his troubles when he was fed with the bread of sorrow and the waters of
Augustine doth informe us saying Id enim sacrificium est quod successit omnibus sacrificiis quae immolabantur in umbra futuri that this one sacrifice succeedeth in the place of all those which were offered in relation unto Christ to come But before him St. Ireneus did more plainly affirme that same who living in the next age to the Apostles is able to instruct us better in the mysteries of the Christian faith then any other more remote and of lesse antiquity And he tels us this viz. that as God caused his Gospel to be preached over all the world in stead of the innumerable ordinances of the Law of Moses so he ordained that for those several sorts of sacrifices which are there prescribed simplex oblatio panis et vini sufficiat the offering of bread and wine only should be held sufficient More plainly yet as plainly as he could expresse himself by words and writing he doth thus deliver it Sed suis Discipulis dans consilium c. Christ saith he giving his Disciples charge to offer the first fruits of every creature to the Lord their God not that God standeth in need of their oblations but that they might not be esteemed to be either unfruitfull or ungratefull tooke ordinary bread eum qui ex natura panis est and having given thanks said This is my body and taking the cup into his hands such as we use to drink of the fruit of the vine acknowledged it to be his bloud What then for this we know already It followeth Et novi testamenti novam docuit oblationem quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens in universo mundo offert Deo By doing which saith that old Father he taught us the new sacrifice of oblation of the new Testament which the Church receiving from the Apostles doth offer unto God over all the world So that the holy Eucharist was ordained by Christ not only as a Sacrament but a sacrifice also and so esteemed and called by the most antient writers though many times by reason of several relations it hath either severall names or severall adjuncts that is to say a sacrifice a commemorative sacrifice an eucharisticall sacrifice a spiritual sacrifice the Supper of the Lord a Sacrament A sacrifice it is and so called commonly in reference unto the oblation or offering of the bread and wine made unto God in testimony and due acknowledgment that all which we possesse is received from him and that we tender these his creatures to him as no longer ours but to be his and to be spent in such employments and for such holy uses as he shall please to put it to In this respect it is entituled Oblatio panis et vini the offering or oblation of bread and wine as before we saw from Irenaeus the sacrifice offered by us Gentiles hostia quae ipsi a nobis Gentibus offertur of the bread and wine presented in the holy Eucharist as in Iustin Martyr Sacrificium panis vini the sacrifice in plain terms of bread and wine as Fulgentius hath it For clearing of which point we may please to know that antiently it was the custome of the Primitive Christians to bring their bread and wine to the Church of God and offer them to the Lord by the hands of the Priest or Minister part of the which was consecrated for the use of the Sacrament the rest being usually given to the poor and needy as having a letter of attorney from the Lord of heaven to receive our bounties For thus we read in Iustin Martyr who lived the next dore also to the Apostles Prayers being done saith he we salute one another with an holy kisse Then do we offer to the Bishop for such is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom he speaks of there bread and wine mixt with water as the use then was which he receiving offered to God the sacrifice of praise and glory c. And thus St. Cyprian speaking of a rich but covetous Widow who came not with her offering to the Church as her poor neigbours did charged her that she came into Gods house without her sacrifice and eat of that which had been offered or sacrificed unto God by far poorer folke Locuples et dives Dominicum celebrare te dicis but there dominicum signifyeth the Lords day plainly qui corbonam omnino non respicis qui in dominicum there it is the Church sine sacrificio venis qui partem de sacrificio quod pauper obtulit sumis are his words at large Where sacrificium in both places signifyeth the bread and wine which they used to offer to the Lord to be consecrated and employed in celebrating the memorial of our Saviours passion It is called next a commemorative sacrifice a Sacrifice commemorative and representative by Dr. Morton Ld. B. of Durham in his book of the Sacrament in regard that it was instituted by our Saviour Christ for a perpetual memory of that one perfect and al-sufficient sacrifice which he offered of himself upon the Crosse. And to this end it was that Chrysostome having called the Sacrament of the Lords supper by the name of a Sacrifice addes presently not by way of correction or retractation as I know some think but by way of explanation only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was the remembrance rather of a sacrifiâ—e or a commemorative sacrifice as some others call it Which word commemorative as I take it detracts not from the nature of a sacrifice as if it were the lesse a sacrifice because commemorative but only signifyeth the end to which it is specially directed For as the sacrifices of the old law were true and proper sacrifices in respect of the beasts or â—owles or other things which were offered although prefigurative of that sacrifice made upon the Crosse which was then to come so are the sacrifices of the Gospel true and real sacrifices in reference to the oblation made of bread and wine for the service of God although commemorative of the same great sacrifice now already past It was called thirdly a spiritual and Eucharistical sacrifice by reason that Gods servants therein make profession of their due acknowledgements for all the blessings which he hath vouchsafed to bestow on their souls and bodies especially for the redemption of themselves and of all mankinde by the death of Christ and therewith offering up themselves their souls and bodies as a pleasing and most acceptable sacrifice to the Lord their God For thus we finde in Iustin Martyr that the Bishop or President of the Congregation having received the bread and wine from the hands of the faithful offered by them the sacrifice of praise and thanks to God the Father of all things in the name of the Son and the holy Ghost for all those blessings which he hath graciously from time to time bestowed upon them And thus Irenaeus Oportet nos
Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords Supper commanded and ordained by him De latere pendentis in Cruce Lancen percusso Sacramenta Ecclesiae profluxerunt as his words are briefly and hereunto the Fathers and most writers since have inclined generally This was the last remakable thing remembred in our Saviours passion the draining of his bloud to the last drop as it were which though it could not yet add to his former sufferings being dead before yet served it as a confirmation of his death in the eyes of those who otherwise might have called the realty thereof in question and was a certain note to discern him by after he was risen again from death to life as in the story of St. Thomas No further difficulty that I know of doth occur in this the pleading of this Text by the Canonists of the Church of Rome in maintenance of their mingling water with the wine in the blessed Sacrament being so silly a device that it deserves not to be honoured with a confutation But in the other passage which the Gospel mentioneth touching the not breaking of his bones perhaps a question may be made by some captious men how it can possibly agree with another text of holy Scripture where it is said This is my body which is broken for you and to what use the breaking of the bread doth serve in the holy Eucharist it not to signifie the breaking of our Saviours body But the answer unto this is easie For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the word used by St. Paul in the Original doth not only signifie to break in peeces though Rob. Stephanus in his Thesaurus expound the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by no other word then the Latine Frango Sometimes it signifieth to strain as in that of Aristotle going up an hill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the knees are bent or strained backwards and in that also of Hippocrates where he observeth that sometimes in holding the hand forth out-right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bowing of the joynt or elbow is strained Sometimes it signifieth to cut Hesychius an old Grammarian expounding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is cut and Theophrastus calling the cuttings of vines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with whom Suidas Phavorinus and the Scholiast on Aristophanes do agree also And in this sense the bread is broken in the Sacrament although cut with knives there being mention of a sacred knife in St. Chrysostoms Liturgie which was employed unto no other use then that of the holy Sacrament And last of all it signifieth sometimes the tearing or bruising of the fleshy parts when the bones are neither broken nor so much as touched which is most clearly witnessed by Hippocrates the Father of all learned Physick giving this for a Rule of Art that the breaking of any of the bones is less dangerous then where the bones are not broken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the veins and sinews adjoining are on every side bruised So that although the bones of our Saviour were not broken that he might in all things be agreeable to the Paschal lamb yet were his joints strained to the utmost when he was stretched upon the Cross his flesh most cruelly cut and torn with scourges his veins and sinews miserably bruised and broken with those outward torments All which as they are signified by this one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render broken so doth it very well agree with that meaning of the word broken in our Engish Idiom As when we say a man hath got a broken skin or broken head when the flesh is only bruised and the skin but rased And hereto Beza doth agree in his Annotations on that Text By the word broken in St. Paul is designed saith he the very manner of Christs death his body being torn bruised and even broken with most cruel torments though his legs were not broken as the theeves were so that the word hath a marvellous express signification making the figure to agree so fully with the thing it self the breaking of the bread representing to us the very death and passion of our Saviour Christ. Now go we on Pilates leave being thus obtained and the certainty of Christs death assured by this second murder they hasten all they could unto his funeral to which was used small preparation but less pomp by far It was the day of preparation to the following festival as two of the Evangelists do affirm expressely the Friday or good Friday as we call it now in which it was not lawful for the Iews to do any work A garden there was hard at hand and in the garden a new sepulchre in which never man was laid before a Virgin-sepulchre for the son of a Virgin-mother a Garden to receive that great pledge of death which first found entrance by a Garden So that the labour was not much to take down his body and carry it to the next spot of ground and there intomb it No further cost bestowed upon his funerals who spared not his most pretious bloud to procure our happiness but a mixture made of Myrrhe and Aloes and had not Nicodemus been more valiant now then when he used to come unto his Saviour as it were by stealth he had wanted that And this was done after the custom of the Iews whose manner it was to bestow that charge upon their dead in sign of their belief of the Resurrection unto life eternal not out of any thought they had of his so speedy a Resurrection at the three days end though he had often told them that he would so do So far were they from looking to behold him again on the first day of the week then following that they did all they could to lay him up fast enough till the day of judgement and to that end not only wrapped him up in sear-cloaths for such the linnen clothes were which they wrapped him in Ioh. 19.40 but rolled a great stone to the dore of the sepulchre to make sure work with him God certainly had so disposed it in his infinite wisdome to make the miracle of his Resurrection the more considerable and convincing both with Iews and Gentiles This is the sum of those particulars that concern Christs burial Which though it seem of no more moment then as a confirmation of an unfaigned death and a preparative to his Resurrection and consequently may be thought unnecessary to be here added in the Creed yet upon further search into it we shall finde it otherwise Our Saviour had not overcome death if he had not dyed nor got the victory of the grave had he not been buryed His being restored unto life within three days of his death was a very great and signal miracle but not so great as that which had been acted before on Lazarus who had lain four days in the earth and began to putrefie His lying in the grave was the way
to bury it the only means to weaken and unloose the bonds thereof that it should be no more a Prison but a place of rest wherein the bodies of Gods servants were to wait his pleasure in sure and certain hope of a Resurrection to eternal life But there was more in it yet then so The adding of these two words and buried seem unto me to have been done by the spirit of Prophecie for the preserving of a great part of the following Article which else had been in danger in these quarrel some times to be lost for ever Great pains is taken by some men and those of eminent parts and reputation to prove that nothing else is meant by Christs descent into hell but either his lying in the sepulchre or being made subject to the ignominy of the grave or his continuance for a while in the state of death as we shall see at large in the chapter following all which are fully comprehended in these words and buried What an advantage think we would these men have taken to put their own erroneous sense upon that Article had these words been wanting who have presumed to advance their own particular fancies above the Catholick Tradition of the Church of Christ notwithstanding these two words stand still to confute them in it But of this anon All I shall adde unto these Observations on Christs death and burial and his continuance in the grave is that in memory thereof the Church hath antiently appointed that Friday and Saturday should be fasted weekly the one in memory of the death and passion of our Lord CHRIST IESVS who on that day suffered for our sins the other in relation to the woful and disconsolate condition of the first followers of our Saviour who all that day distracted between hope and fear did seem to fit in darkness and the shadow of death And though the first Christians of the East did not fast the Saturday for fear of giving scandal to the Iews amongst whom they lived yet they made up the number of two days in the week by adding Wednesday to the Friday that being conceived to be the day on which he had been bought and sold by the Traytor Iudas But that concerns not us of the Western Churches in which the Friday and the Saturday fast are of such antiquity that it is generally believed by all moderate men to be derived from Apostolical Tradition Certain I am there is as much authority to keep those days fasting as the Canons of the Church can give them and the Statutes of this Realm can adde to those antient Canons and were accordingly observed by all Christian men till these wretched times in which the sons of the old Heretick Arius have turned all order out of dores and introduced a most unchristian or rather Antichristian licentiousnes under the colour and pretence of Christian liberty Thus have we brought our Saviour CHRIST unto the bottome of the grave the lowest step of his humiliation for the sons of men for lower then the grave he could hardly go And here we should conclude this Article but that as we began with some Observations touching Pontius Pilate under whom Christ suffered as also touching Annas and Caiaphas the High Priests two of the principal actors in this happy Tragedy so we will close this Article with the relation of that fearful and calamitous end which did most justly fall upon them and on the rest of their accomplices in this act of bloud But first we will begin with Iudas the Architect and chief contriver of the the plot of whom it is recorded in the holy Scriptures that being touched in conscience for so foul a treachery as the betraying of the innocent bloud of his Lord and Master he brought back his money to the Chief Priests and Elders and finding that they would not take it threw it down in the Temple went out and hanged himself S. Matthew there leavs off the story unto which Luke addes that falling headlong from the tree whether by the breaking of the rope or by some other way that the Scriptures say not he burst asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out And certainly it was but just that he should lose his bowels who had so long before lost his compassion If now a man should ask what death Iudas dyed St. Matthew would make answer that he hanged himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greek abiens laqueo se suspendit as the Latine hath it Which words lest they should seem of a doubtful sense and not import as much as the English makes them we will see what is noted of them by the Antient Fathers And first St. Hierom is express for this that Iudas laid violent hands upon himself and was the Author of his own death adding self-murder to the heap of his former crimes Ad prius scelus proprii homicidii crimen addidit so that Father hath it St. Augustine goeth more particularly to work Et laqueo vitam finivit and tels us in plain tearms that he hanged himself The Translator of Chrysostom doth affirm the same saying Projecta in Templo pecunia abiit gulam laqueo fregit that throwing down the wages of his iniquity upon the pavement of the Temple he went out and broke his neck with an halter which is the same with that of Augustine though in other tearms And finally Theophylact though many others might be named who doubtless understood his own language well doth resolve it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that putting his neck into the noose which himself had made he fell violently from off the tree and so burst asunder in the midst The general tradition of the Church doth run this way also Nor had I took this pains in a case so clear but that I see the Fathers put to school again by our modern Criticks who will not have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie that he hanged himself but that he fell into such an extremity of grief with remorse of conscience that the anguish of it stopped his breath so that falling flat upon the ground he broke asunder in the middle A death so much too good for so vile a Traytor and so improbable if not impossible in the last part of it that he is fain to bring in the Devil Diabolo operante to pull out his bowels But of this new devise enough look we next on Pilate who having so unjustly condemned the Innocent and drawn upon himself the vengeance of a most just Judge was not long after outed of his Government by L. Vitellius Lord President of Syria and sent back to Rome Where being come so many grievous complaints were made against him to the Senate that he was banished to Vienna a City of France The Roman Legends do relate that he was prosecuted at Rome by Veronica of whom they fable that our
Saviour going to his Passion gave her the print of his face in a linnen cloth for the death of Christ but the Greek Legends do ascribe this prosecution unto Mary Magdalen as being of more credit in those parts and both true alike Certain it is that in his hasty proceedings against CHRIST our Saviour he had most wilfully broke an Edict of Tiberius the then Roman Emperour by whom it was decreed Vt supplicia damnatorum in decimum usque diem differrentur as Suetonius hath it that the execution of the sentence upon men condemned should be deferred till the tenth day But I finde not this laid unto his charge He had guilt enough besides of more publick nature then the murder of one innocent person Iosephus telling of a great slaughter which he made of the Samaritans a little before his calling home and Philo accusing him to Caius of rapine bribery oppression many cruel murders of men uncondemned which were the things most likely to procure his banishment Nor could he live long quiet at Vienna neither the vengeance of the Lord still following after him his guilty conscience still condemning and Caius Caligula the Roman Emperour putting so many indignities upon him that he thought best to rid himself at once out of all his troubles and so slew himself as both Eusebius and Orosius do report the story For Caiaphas next Iosephus telleth us that he was deprived of the high Priesthood by the same Vitellius who removed Pilate from his Government the infamy and disgrace of which deprivation did so work upon him that he grew weary of his life and at last laid violent hands on himself also to save the Executioner a labour as we read in Clemens The like foul ends befell Annas together with the rest of the Chief Priests and Scribes and Pharisees who had an hand in the conspiracy against our Saviour of whom Nicephorus tels us but in generall only Quod ipsi dignas variasque dederunt poenas that they all came to just but miserable deaths as the wickedness of the fact deserved As for the whole Nation of the Iews who were so bent upon the death of their Messiah that they cryed aloud his bloud be upon us and our children what a miserable destruction fell upon them very shortly after and how they have been hunted since from one place to another is a thing so well known that I need not tell it All I shall note is this particular passage of the Divine justice that they who bought their Saviour for thirty peeces of silver were themselves sold at thirty for one peece of silver in the open Market A true but a most wonderful character of the finger of God And so I leave them to Gods mercy and proceed unto the following Article ARTICLE VI. Of the Sixt ARTICLE OF THE CREED Ascribed to St. THOMAS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Descendit ad inferos tertia die resurrexit a mortuis i. e. He descended into Hell the third day he rose again from the dead CHAP. VIII Of the locall descent of Christ into hell Hades and inferi what they signifie in the best Greek and Latine Authors and in the text of holy Scripture An examination and confutation of the contrary opinions WE made an end of the Humiliation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the former Chapter for to a lower condition then that of the ignominie of the grave we could not possibly expect that he should be brought We must next look upon his exaltation the first degree or step to which was his descent into hell But this perhaps may seem to some to be a very strange kind of preferment a point so far from being any part of his exaltation that it may worthily be accounted his very lowest degree of humiliation a fall farre lower then the Grave And so it had been out of doubt had he descended down to hell to have felt the paines of it or to have been tormented though but for a moment in the flames thereof T is not the place but the intent not the descending but the businesse which he went about which makes the difference in this case and the intent and purpose of his going thither was to begin his triumph over Satan and all his Angels to beat the Devill in his own strongest hold and fortresse and take possession of that part of his kingdome whereof God had given the keyes unto him And to descend on such a businesse is I presume no matter of humiliation Doth not the Scripture tell us in another place that the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Arch-angel and with the trumpet of God when he comes to judge the quick and the dead yet that descent of his upon that occasion will be the highest step of his exaltation there 's no doubt of that To descend then is no humiliation of and in it self but in relation to the businesse we descend about And the intent or purpose of his descent was to spoyle principalities and powers that is to say the Prince of the world and the powers of darknesse and having spoyled them to make a shew of them openly and triumph over them to shew himself unto the Devils and infernall spirits and to receive the homage of the knee from them as his slaves and vassals that being reckoned as a part of his exaltation that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow as well of things under the earth as either of things upon the earth or the things in heaven To this the Fathers do attest and some Councels also some of which shall be here produced Our Saviour Christ had power saith Athanasius to shew incorruption in the grave and in his descent to hell to dissolve death and proclaime resurrection unto all St. Cyprian thus When by the presence of Christ hell was broken open and the captivity made captive his conquering soul being presented to the sight of his Father returned again unto his body without delay St. Augustine more plainly yet Reddunt inferna victorem c. Hell returned back again her Conquerour and whiles his body lay in the grave his soul triumphed over hell And finally thus the fourth Councell of Toledo CHRIST say the Fathers there assembled descended to hell devicto mortis imperio and having subdued the kingdome of death rose again the third day More testimonies to this purpose might be here produced but that they are reserved to another place when we shall come to speak of those particular motives which did induce our Saviour to make this descent and of the benefits redounding to the Church thereby These are enough to let us see that his descending into hell is to be reckoned as a part of his exaltation which was the matter to be proved To which we shall make â—old to add this one reason more that is
said he addes this of the Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that thus in fine they saw Hell spoyled Epiphanius in this order marshalleth the acts of Christ He was crucified buried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he descended to places under the earth he took captivity captive and rose again the third day By which we see that the taking of captivity captive was one of the effects of his descent into Hell and that both his descent and victory over Hell and Satan are placed between his burial and Resurrection In the Homiliâ—s which Leo the Emperour made for the exercise of his style and the Confession of his Faith wherein no doubt he had the judgement and advice of the ablest men that were about him he doth thus deliver it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Christ is risen saith he bringing Hades or the Devil prisoner with him and proclaiming liberty to the Captives He that held others bound is now bound himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is now come from Hell or Hades with his ensign of triumph as appeareth by the sowre and heavy looks of those which were overthrown that is to say of Hades meaning there as first the old Satan himself together with Death also and the hateful Devils Dorotheus in his Book de Paschate very plainly thus What means this that he led captivity captive It means saith he that by Adams transgression the Enemy had made us all captives and had us in subjection and that Christ took us again out of the Enemies hand and conquered him who made us captive And then concludes Erepti igitur sumus ab Inferis ob Christi humanitatem that we were then delivered from the power of Hell by the manhood or humanity of Christ our Saviour St. Cyprian though more antient and not so clear as he in this particular doth yet touch it thus Descendens ad inferos captivam ab antiquo duxit captivitatem that Christ descended into Hell brought back those captives which had before been captivated And in another place which we saw before When in the presence of Christ Hell was broken open and thereby captivity made captive his conquering soul being first presented to his Father returned unto his body without delay But to look back again to the old Greek Fathers who are far more positive and express in this then the Latines are we are thus told by Athanasius in another place that the Lord rose the third day from the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having spoyled hell trodden the enemy under foot dissolved death broken the chains of sin with which we were tyed and freed us which were bound from the chains thereof St. Cyril of Alexandria thus Our Lord saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. having spoyled death and loosed the number of souls which were detained in the dens of the earth rose again the third day from the dead Which words of Cyril are repeated and approved in the Councel of Ephesus and afterwards confirmed in the fifth General Councel holden at Constantinople St. Hierom finally on the parable of the strong man which was bound and spoiled Mat. 12. gives this observation which I had almost pretermitted viz. that this strong man was tyed and bound in Hell and trodden under the Lords feet and the Tyrants house being spoyled captivity also was led captive In which quotations from the Fathers we must take this with us that when they speaking of spoyling Hell and vanquishing the powers thereof they do allude as evidently to the spoyling of principalities and powers mentioned in that to the Colossians as they insist upon the taking of captivity captive expressed in that to the Ephesians In a word take the sum of all which by the Antients is delivered upon those two Texts in these words of Zanchius a very learned Writer of the Reformed Churches The Fathers saith he for the most part are of this opinion that Christ in his soul came to the place of the damned to signifie not in words but with his presence that the justice of God was satisfied by his death and bloudshed and that Satan had no longer power over his Elect whom he held captive c. As also that he might carry all the Devils with him in a triumph as it is Coloss. 2. He spoyled powers and principalities and made an open shew of them leading them as captives in a triumph by the vertue of his Cross by which he had purged away sins and appeased the justice of God So Zanchius But the most clear and pregnant place of holy Scripture for proof of Christâ— descent into Hell is that of the 2. of the Acts where the Apostle citing those words of David Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell nor suffer thine holy One to see corruption applyeth it thus unto our Saviour that David seeing this before spake of the Resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in Hell neither did his flesh see corruption In which particular words those before recited it is clear and manifest that the soul and body of Christ were by God appointed to be superiour to all contrary powers that is the soul to Hell and the flesh to the grave and that from both Christ was to rise an absolute conquerour that he might sit on his heavenly Throne as Lord over all not by promise only as before but in fact and proof But for the whole Sermon of St. Peter made on this occasion it may be summed up briefly to this effect that is to say that the Prophesie of David neither was nor could be fulfilled in any no not in David himself but only in the promised Messiah for that his soul should not be left in Hell or Hades nor his flesh see corruption but was fulfilled in that Christ whom ye cruelly crucified He it is that is risen Lord of all in his own person the sorrows of death being loosed before him he is ascended up to Heaven as David likewise foretold of him and there sitteth on the right hand of God untill all that be his enemies in the rest of his Members be made his foot-stool and thence hath he shed forth this which you now see and hear even the promise of the holy Ghost received of the Father for all his And therefore know ye for a surety that God hath made him both Lord and Christ i. e. Lord over all in Heaven Earth Hell and Christ even the Anointed Saviour of all his Elect. And to this purpose saith St. Augustine Quamobrem teneamus firmissime c. Wherefore let us most firmly hold that which is comprehended in our Faith or the heads thereof confirmed by most sound authority namely that Christ dyed according to the Scriptures and was buried and according to the Scriptures also rose again the third day with the rest of those things which are most clearly testified of him in the written Word
In quibus etiam hoc est quod apud Inferos fuit c. Amongst which this is one point also that he was in Hell and loosed the sorrows of the same of which it was impossible that he should be holden In which last words the Father plainly doth relate to the 24. verse being the beginning almost of St. Peters Sermon Where though the Copies of the Testaments which are extant now read not as Augustine doth Solutis doloribus inferni having loosed the pains of Hell but the pains of death yet many of the antient Copies were as St. Augustine readeth it For Athanasius sometimes useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he loosed the pains of Hell and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sorrows of death Epiphanius in two places reads it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was impossible for Christ to be holden or detained in Hell And the same Copies as it seemes were followed also by Irenaeus l. 3. c. 12. by Cyprian in his tract de Passione Christi by Fulgentius l 3. ad Thrasimundum and by Bede also in his Retractations on the Acts. Which strong agreement of the Antients with the sight perhaps of some of the antient Copies did prevail so far on Robert Stephans the famous Printer of Paris that in the New Testament in Greek of the larger volume of the year 1550. he caused this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be put in the margin as a different reading remaining still in divers copies But this is only by the way not out of it as that which did afford another argument unto the Antients for proof of Christs descent into hell and his short stay in it by the pains or sorrows whereof it was impossible that he should be holden Nor did it only serve as a good argument for them in their several times and is to be of no use since the Text went otherwise I believe not so For since both readings have been found in the antient Writers and neither can be rejected as false the word death must be so expounded where it is retained as that it may not contradict that of Hell or Hades For being that death hath a double power place and subject upon the body here on earth and on the soul in Hell hereafter the Text may not unfitly be understood of the later death the pains and sorrows whereof were loosed by Christ because it was impossible they should fasten on him But to return unto the not leaving of Christs soul in Hell the tricks and shifts for the eluding of which Text we shall see hereafter it could not be intended of the grave only as some men would have it or to relate only to the Resurrection as they give it out For to rise simply from the grave was not sufficient to shew the soveraignty of Christ as the Lord of all Heaven Earth and Hell being made subject to his Throne nor to express and signifie the eternity of it which was to last till all his Enemies were made his footstool Some had been raised from death to life by the two famous Prophets in the Old Testament some by our Saviour in the New none of which could lay claim under that pretence to the Throne of David or to be Lord of all things as our Saviour was Besides this passage being recorded by St. Luke who in his Gospel useth the same word Hades for the place of torments as before was shewn it is not probable that he should use it here in another sense or if he did that none of all the Latine Fathers and Interpreters should ever observe it who render it by Infernus Hell as often as they have occasion to speak thereof I close this point with that of Augustine who speaking of this Prophesie of David concerning Christ he saith it is not to be contradicted nor otherwise to be expounded then it is there interpreted by St. Peter himself and then addes this for a conclusion of the whole Who but an Infidel will deny Christs descent into Hell So far the light of holy Scripture interpreted according to the general consent and Exposition of the Antient Fathers hath directed us in this enquiry and we have found such good assurance in the cause that the addition of more evidence would but seem unnecessary yet that the Catholick Tradition of the Church of Christ may be found to incline the same way also we will draw down the line thereof from the very times of the Apostles to those days of darkness in which all good learning was devoured and swallowed up in the night of ignorance For first Thaddaeus whom St. Thomas sent to preach the Gospel to Abgarus the King or Prince of Edessa taught him and his amongst other Catechetical points contained in the Apostles Creed that they must believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that is to say that Christ descended into Hell and broke the wall which had been never broke before since the world began and rose again and raised the dead some of the which had slept from the first creation I know this story of Thaddaeus hath been called in question in these later dayes nor have I time and leisure to assert it now All I shall say is that Eusebius who relates it refers himself unto the monuments and Records of the City of Edessa out of which he had it and 't is well known Eusebius never was reputed either to be a fabulous or too credulous Author Next to Thaddaeus comes Ignatius the Apostles scholar who speaks of Christs descent into Hades in the same tearms as before adding withall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he went down alone to Hades but ascended with a great multitude unto his Father And this he saith after he had made mention of his death and burial in a former passage of the same Epistle St. Irenaeus he comes next and he tels us this that David prophecyed thus of CHRIST thou shalt not leave my soul in the neathermost Hell After him Origen Christ saith he having bound the strong man and conquered him by his Cross went even unto his house to the house of death and unto Hell and thence took his goods that is the souls which he possessed Then cometh Eusebius next in order To him only saith he speaking of Christ were the gates of death opened and him only the keepers of Hell-gates seeing shrunk for fear and the chief Ruler of death the Devil knowing him alone to be his Lord rose out of his Throne and spake unto him fearfully with supplications and intreaty Next him another Eusebius surnamed Emisenus The Lord saith he descending darkness trembled at the sudden coming of an unknown light and the deepness of the dark mists of Hell saw the bright star of Heaven Deposito corpore imas atque abditas Tartari sedes filius hominis penetravit and the Son of man laying by his body penetrated to the lowest and
to the woman And the third was in reference to the Elect that Satan might see he had now no right no not so much as to their bodies which Christ hereafter would be pleased to restore to life Mr. Nowel as before we saw gives three other reasons that is to say First that the souls of the faithlesse might perceive the condemnation of their unbelief to be just and righteous Secondly that Satan the chief Prince of hell might see all the power of his tyranny to be weakned and broken nay utterly ruined And thirdly that the dead who in their life time believed in Christ might perceive the work of their Redemption to be now finished and finde the force and fruit thereof with most certain comfort But against this it is objected that Christ obtained this victory against hell and Satan and all the benefits redounding to the godly by it by his death and passion on the Crosse and therefore it was needlesse that on those occasions which seem most considerable in this businesse he should make a journey unto hell To which it is replyed two wayes First that it belongeth not to us to know the depth of Gods counsels and the reasons of Christs doings in every thing as if we were to call him to a strict account of all his actions and that considering how the Scriptures do so clearly testifie that his soul was not left in hell we are not to reject this clause either as superfluous or impertinent although we cannot tell precisely the main end and purpose why he was pleased to descend thither And secondly that though the victory against Hell and Satan was perfected upon the Crosse yet the manifestation of the same to the souls of the damned and the triumph which was due upon it over Satan and all the powers of darknesse was not and could not be performed but in hell alone We shewed you this before from Zanchius a moderate and learned man where he affirmeth according to the mind of the best interpreters that though those enemies were vanquished on the Crosse by Christ yet the triumph for the same was not performed untill he forced and entred the kingdome of hell as a glorious Conquerour Nay more then so Christs victory over death and hell if Athanasius may be credited as I think he may was of too great moment and importance to be dispatched in one place and by one act only Therefore saith he As Christ performed the condemnation of sin on the Earth the abolition of the curse on the Crosse and the redemption of corruption in the grave so he accomplished the dissolution of death in hell omnia loca permeans that going unto every place he might in every place work mans salvation So that Christs victory not being compleat as this Father thinketh and the triumph due upon the victory not to be celebrated any where so properly as in hell it self the antients did not hold his descent into hell to be very necessary for the godly but much unto the honour and glory of our blessed Saviour and to that end joyned it together with the Article of his resurrection as being the first part of his exaltation For as George Mylius a learned Lutheran very well observeth there are two things to be considered in the Article of Christs descent into hell First that it was no metaphorical but a true and real descent whereby our Saviour did descend to the lower parts of the earth Eph. 4. ipsasque damnatorum sedes even to the mansions of the damned and secondly that this Article is no part of his passion and humiliation but of his victory and triumph So then the Article standing as it did in all antient Copies notwithstanding all these vain assaults and the doctrine in the same contained being neither impossible or impertinent as it was pretended the next attempt made by the Adversaries of the same was to put such a sense or senses on it as might make it either useless to the Church of Christ or inconsistent with that meaning in which it had been taken generally by the Catholick Church And though the Cardinal would very fain impose this project on the Protestant Doctors and make them the first Authors of those devises by which the true meaning of this Article hath been impugned and the Article it self as good as cast out of the Creed yet by his leave he must ascribe this practise if it were a practise to his great Masters and Dictators in the Schools of Rome For sure it is Durandus one of their great School men before Luthers time denied expressely that the soul of Christ descended into hell secundum substantiam suam really and according to the substance of it but doth restrain the same ad effectus quosdam according to some certain effects and influences as the illuminating and beatifying of the Saints in Limbo Thus much the Cardinal himself doth confess ingenuously and against that opinion of Durandus doth put up this Thesis viz. Animam Christi proprie reipsa descendisse ad inferos that is to say that the soul of Christ really and in very deed did descend into hell which he confirmes by many strong and weighty reasons And sure it is that before him Aquinas himself the great Master of the Roman Schooles did put such a sense upon the Article as utterly disagreeth with that of the Antient Fathers whose doctrines they would make us weak men believe they do so tenaciously if not pertinaciously imbrace and defend For whereas the Fathers do maintain a descent into hell and do expound themselves that they mean by hell the place and mansions of the damned Aquinas states the question thus that Christ descended only unto Limbus patrum according to a real presence secundum realem praesentiam as his words there are and to all other places of the infernal pit secundum effectus tantum only according to the influence and effects thereof And in this point he hath been so close followed by the most part of the Schoolmen that Bellarmine conceived it neither fit nor safe to run directly and expresly against the stream and therefore goeth no further then probabile est that in most likelihood our Saviours soul descended really to all parts of hell So that although the current of Antiquity run an other way and that the Fathers do deliver it for a Catholick verity that the soul of Christ did really and locally descend to all parts of hell even to the mansions of the damned as before was said yet if Aquinas and the Schoolmen like their own way better 't is but probable at the most a matter of probability only and no more then so Such is the great respect they bear after all their brags to the traditions of the Fathers Which being so the Cardinal had but little reason to impose it on the leading men of the reformed Churches that they perverted the true meaning of the
present Article that is to say that by Christs descending into hell is meant nothing else but his going down into the Chambers of death and his continuance in the state of separation from his body for the space of three days under the power and dominion of death Which though it came after the conceit of Calvin who maketh the descent of Christ into hell to be the sufferings of hell paines in his soul in his Agony and upon the Crosse yet we have joyned it to the former as being at the furthest cousin german to it if not the same device clothed in other words For what else is it to be dead and buried but to descend down into the chambers of death and what else to goe down to the chambers of death but to be dead and buried as our Saviour was What need was there that when the Creed had specifyed his death and burial and his lying in the grave three days in as plain termes as possibly the wit of man could devise to put it in there should a clause be added in the next words following to signifie his going down to the Chambers of death a three dayes separation of his soul and body and that in words so figurative and Metaphorical that all the Lexicons and Grammars of both the languages must be searched and studied before we can finde out what we are to trust to Assuredly it was not the Apostles purpose to set mens wits upon the rack to finde out their meaning or to make the Creed which they intended for the use of the simplest sort tormentum ingeniorum a torture to the brain of the ablest Scholar or to expresse themselves in such difficult termes that men must go to Schoole to the old Greek Poets and the late Iewish Rabbins before they can attain to the meaning of them As if there were no way to become a Christian but to be first an exact Critick a professed Philologer Yet this hath been the Helena of our greatest Clerks of none more preciously beloved then by the Bishop of Meuth who in his Answer to the Iesuites challenge hath spent a great deal of unfortunate pains to no other purpose but to crosse the current of Antiquity together with the authorized doctrine of the Church of England Concerning which I shall not need to say more now then what was touched upon before touching the unliklyhood of improbability of using such obscure and figurative expressions in so plain a forme in the which all things else must be understood in the literal sense and the repeating of the same thing twice in so short an Abstract not capable of a Tautologie though in divers words And as for the far fetching of Theological and Ecclesiastical notions out of the works and writings of old obsolete Authors it is a devise not known nor heard of in the Christian Church till these Critical times nor very well approved in this neither by judicious men And therefore for a full and finall answer to this last conceit I shall use this caution of Aquinas viz. Aliud est etymologia nominis aliud significatio nominis c. that is to say that in words we must not so much look upon their original exact and precise signification or derivation as that whereto they are by ordinary use applyed And unto this shall add the counsell and advise of a grave Divine a late learned member of the Church viz. That he who hopeth to attain the true knowledge of the principles of the Christian faith must either use the help of some Lexicon peculiar to Divinity or make one of his own it being an easier thing saith he to learn the termes of Law or Physick out of Thomasius or Riders Dictionaries then to know the true Theological use and meaning of many principal termes in the old or new Testament out of Stephanus or Pagninus his Thesaurus though both of them most excellent writers in their kinde Which I conceive to be as fit and full an answer unto this second exposition of the descent into hell drawn from the Greek Hades and the Hebrew Sheol as the merit of it doth require Only take here the substance of my former answer in these words of Calvin Quantae oscitantiae fuisset rem minime difficilem verbis expeditis claris demonstratam obscuriore deinde verborum complexu indicare magis quam declarare How great a folly must we think it in the compilers of the Creed whosoever they were to lay down that in difficult and intricate phrases which had been formerly delivered in most clear and significant termes especially considering that when two several formes of speech are joyned together to expresse one thing the latter commonly doth use to explain the former We now proceed to that interpretation of this part of the Creed which hath found most followers and hath been most insisted on by some late Divines as the undoubted sense and meaning of the present words though to attain unto this meaning they must allow themselves both Metaphors and other figures which as before was shewn this short forme admits not And this interpretation found the better welcome not because any way more probable then the rest of the new devices but in regard it came from Calvin whose reputation was so high and his authority so great amongst them that as one very well observeth they were esteemed to be the most perfect Divines who were most skilful in his writings which were almost grown the very Canon by which both Discipline and Doctrine were to be judged Now Calvin seeing how absurd and inconvenient it must needs be thought to make the descent of Christ into hell to be nothing else but his burial and that of his descent into the chambers of death and his continuance of separation from his body being then found out fell on a fancie which might seem to have more affinity to his descent unto the very place of torments the habitations of the damned though to say truth it was not so much properly a descending of his soul to the torments of hell as an ascending of the torments of hell to finde a place in his soul. To bring this in he first declareth that Christ had done nothing for us in the way of redemption if he had died no other then a bodily death and therefore that it was necessary he should undergoe divinae ultionis severitatem the severity of the divine vengeance Then he inferres that to this end he was to struggle cum inferorum copiis aeternaeque mortis horrore with the infernall powers of hell and the horrors that attend on eternal death and to submit himself unto all those punishments which the most wicked souls are condemned to suffer the eternity thereof excepted only that in this sense he may be truely said to descend into hell in regard he suffered all those torments nay that death it self which are by God inflicted upon wicked men dirosque
in anima cruciatus damnati perditi hominis pertulerit and felt most sensibly in his soul those miserable torments of a man utterly forlorne and damned to the pit of hell that being thus forsaken and estranged from the sight of God he was so cast down as in the anguish of his spirit to cry out afflictively My God my God why hast thou forsaken me as finding in himself omnia irati punientis Dei signa all the sure tokens of an angrie and avenging God finally that the fear and sorrow which did overwhelme him in the Garden his fervent prayer his Agonie and bloudy sweat were nothing but the signes and evidences of those horrid and unspeakable torments those diros horribiles cruciatus as he cals them there which he then suffered in his soul. And what could all this be but the pains of hell This he resolves to be the meaning of the Article condemning all exceptions which are or may be made against it either as frivolous and ridiculous Sect. 10. or to proceed ex malitia magis quam imscitia rather from malice then from ignorance and all that hath been said unto the contrary to be nothing but meer slander and calumniations and being most extremely pleased to see how those who did oppose him knew not where to fasten but were compelled to flie from one thing to another This is the summe of his dispute the substance of that dangerous innovation in the Christian faith which was by him first published for a truth undoubted and after taken up upon his Authority without further questioning or debate Which as it generally prevailed in most places else so did it no where finde more fast friends and followers then in this unhappy Church of England where it became in fine to be accounted the sole Orthodox Doctrine vented in Pulpits and in Catechisms that the death of Christ upon the Cross and his bloud shed for the remission of our sins were the least cause and means of our Redemption but that he did and ought to suffer the death of the sâ—ul and those very pains which the damned souls in hell do suffer before we could be ransomed from the wrath of God and that this was that descent into hell which in our Creed we are taught to believe A doctrine so directly contrary unto that of the Church of England delivered in her Articles and Books of Homilies solemnly authorized and ratified as before was said that Dr. Bilson the Reverend and learned Bishop of Winton then being thought himself obliged as well to undeceive the people as to assert the antient doctrine of the Church And to that end delivered in a Sermon at St. Pauls Cross London what he conceived to be the tenet of the Scriptures in this particular according to the Exposition of the holy Fathers Which as it first occasioned some unsavory Pamphlets and afterwards some set discourses to be writ against him so it necessitated him in his own defence to set out that laborious work entituled The survey of Christs sufferings for mans Redemption and of his descent to Hades or Hell for our deliverance I must confess my self indebted for the most part of those helps which I have had in the true stating both of this and the former Article Thus having shewn who was the Author what the progress of this so much applauded Exposition of Christs descent into hell we next proceed to the examining and confutation of the same And first the Reader may take notice that all the out-works to this Citadel esteemed so invincible and inexpugnable have by us been taken in already in the two former chapters where we have proved that neither the extreme fear or sorrow which did seize upon him in the Garden of Gethsemane nor any of his fervent prayers either there or on the Cross it self no nor the Agony it self nor the bloudy sweat were any signs or arguments of those hellish pains which they have fancied to themselves in our Saviours soul. And we have also proved in the last chapter of all not only that our Saviour did not die the death of the soul as these men blasphemously pretend but that the work of our Redemption was compleated fully by that bodily and bloudy sacrifice which he made of himself upon the Cross. So that there now remains no more but to prove this point which is indeed the main of all namely that Christ neither did nor ought to suffer the pains belonging to the damned or endured so much as for a moment the torments of hell And for the proof of this it is fit we know both what those pains and torments are which the damned do suffer and of what nature are those fires which the Scriptures declare to be in hell what punishments belong to the soul alone and what unto the soul and body being joyned together And first of all the torments which the damned suffer in their souls only though infinite and unexpressible in themselves may be reduced to these three heads 1 remorse of conscience 2 a sense of their rejection from the favour of God and 3 a despair of ever being eased of that consuming misery which is fallen upon them Remorse of conscience that 's the first and one of the most heavy torments suffered by those wretched souls who in their life time wholly renounced the Lord their God to enjoy their pleasures by which they are kept in a continual remembrance of that madness and folly wherewith they rebelled against the Lord and of the contumacy wherewithall they refused his mercies God punishing the souls of such wicked men with the evidence and conscience of their own uncleanness and with the sight and most infallible assurance of their now everlasting wretchedness Whether or not this be the Worm our Saviour speaks of and of which he telleth us in his Gospel that it never dyeth we shall speak more at large hereafter In the mean time observe we what the Fathers say touching this particular Quae poena gravior quam interioris vulnus conscientiae what pain more grievous saith St. Ambrose then the wounds of a convicted conscience Magna poena impiorum est conscientia the conscience of the wicked saith St. Augustine is one of their greatest pains or punishments And more then so amongst all the afflictions of mans soul saith he there is none greater then the conscience of sin How thinkest thou saith St. Chrysostom shall our conscience be bitten alluding to the Worm spoken of before and is not this worse then any torment whatsoever With whom agreeth Eusebius also in his Apologie for Origen published under the name of Pamphilus saying tunc ipsa conscientia propriis stimulis agitatur that then the conscience of a wicked man shall be pricked and pierced with the stings of their own proper sins The second torment which the damned suffer in the soul alone is the sense of their rejection from the
it is not to be thought that his Disciples would adventure to come by night a few weak men and those too much dejected in their Masters passion to stir abroad in so unseasonable a time and so full of danger Or grant that his Disciples might come by night in expectation of the issue to see what would become of their Masters promises yet certainly it could not be with an intent to steal his body The Monument they knew was too well garded to be forced by them for what could they poor men unexpert and unarmed and but few in numbers against a guard a guard of choise and able fellowes culled out and well appointed for the present service Nor was it likely that the body was took thence by stealth either by them or any others whatsoever The body had been wrapt in sear clothes quae non minus quam pix corporis linteamina conglutinat is the Fathers note which did stick as close unto his skin as it had been pitch And they that came to steal his body would questionlesse have stolen him with his shroud and all and not have took the pains to strip him in a place so dangerous Or grant that too it is not to be thought that they had either so much leasure or so strong a confidence or so little care of their own safety as to spend their time in curiosities or take the pains to wrap up the kerchief which was upon his head and lay it in a place by it self as St. Iohn records it It is a timerous kind of trade to be a theef much more to violate the Sepulchres of those that sleep and rob the grave of its inhabitants and seldome have such vaine capricios as to spend their time in needlesse and superfluous complements Non enim fur adeo stultus fuisset ut in re superflua tantum laboraret said the Father rightly Let us proceed a little further and grant this also that his Disciples came by night and that they came to steal his body yet certainly it was not while the souldiers slept For if they were asleep as they say they were how could they justifie their tale that his body was taken thence by stealth or that the Felonie had been committed by his Disciples yes certainly it must needs be as they relate it for they were fast asleep all night and neither heard the tongues or saw the looks of them that stole him Admit this also for this once that his Disciples stole his body and that they stole him while the souldiers were fast asleep yet could not they restore the dead body unto life again And it was a thing too well known to be denyed that our Saviour was not only seen by his Apostles with whom he did converse and eat and drink and performed other acts of a living man but shewed himself to more then five hundred at one time together which was perhaps the time and hour of his Ascension A thing which passed so current for a truth undoubted that Iosephus one of the most learned and discerning men which have been of that Nation since the times he lived in relating only on the by some passages touching Christ our Saviour and of his being put to death by Pontius Pilate addes also this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. that he shewed himself alive again on the third day and conversed with men It seemes the Priests and Pharisees and other leading men of the Iewish Nation were conscious to themselves of this conspiracy and of the weakness of the practise Their next art therefore is to condemn the followers of our Lord of too much credulity and when they could not condemn them of felony to accuse them of folly They grant indeed that on the third day his body was missing in the Sepulchre yet that himself had raised himself from the grave again had never entred into the hearts of men of wisdome if any did believe it as some such there were they either were poor silly women or men of the inferior sort a company of poor contemptible persons Fishers and Publicans and the like Men who had left their trades to attend on him as heretofore some did on Theudas who boasted of himself to be some great body in hope to raise their fortunes by him and finding how they were deceived in their expectation were willing to lay hold on any thing which might keep them up in reputation amongst ignorant and credulous men Nec difficile sane fuit persuadere Pastoribus and commonly such men are most easily befooled into belief of any strange thing which is told unto them This is the last refuge which the Iews found out but this will never save them harmless in the day of judgement For the belief of our Redeemers Resurrection stopped not here but by degrees was entertained by the most eminent men both for wit and learning over all the world thousands of which have been so confident herein that they bare witness of this truth to the last drop of their bloud and rather chose to give their own bodies over unto death then to make doubt of and therefore much more to deny the Resurrection of his A truth which became credible at first by the confident asseverance of them that saw it then by the constancy of those that died for the Confession of it and finally by the vast multitudes of those who have since believed it The Father so resolved it saying Quod credibile primum fecit illis videntium certitudo post morientium fortitudo jam credibile mihi facit credentium multitudo And which addes most unto the wonder the men by whom this Gospel was thus propagated over all the world were as the Iews objected both unlearned and simple devoid of Rhetorick to perswade and Logick to convince by the strength of argument but furnished by the Lord with great powers from heaven speaking with tongues and working miracles as occasion was to confirm their doctrine Eloquia in persuadentium mira fuerunt facta non verba as St. Austin hath it Such was the infinite wisdome of Almighty God that he made use of simple men to confound the wise and of ignorant men to confute the learned lest else the enemy might say that they prevailed rather by their wit and Artifices then by the truth of that which they preached and published Thus have we brought unto the trial what ever hath been quarrelled by the Iews in this present Article We must next look upon the Gentile to whom the doctrine of the Resurrection did seem at first a matter of such impossibility that the Athenians thought it folly and the Romans frenzy What would this babler have said the wise men of Athens when Paul inforced this point unto them Learning had made him madde said Festus when he affirmed the same before his Tribunal But yet as foolish and phrenetical as it seemed to be it proved a matter
dark as St. Iohn hath it or very early in the morning at the breaking or dawning of the day as St. Matthew tels us but that they came not to the Sepulchre till the Sun was risen Or else we may resolve it thus and perhaps with greater satisfaction to the text and truth that Mary Magdalen whose love was most impatient of a long delay went first alone for St. Iohn speaks of her alone when it was yet dark but having signified to Peter what she had discovered she went to make the other women acquainted with it and then came all together as the Sun was rising to behold the issue of the business As for the seeming contradiction in St. Matthews words we shall best see the way to discharge him of it if passing by the Vulgar Latine from whence the contradiction took its first Original we have recourse unto the Greek In the Vulgar Latine it is Vespere Sabbati in the Evening of the Sabbath and that according to the Iewish computation must be on Friday about six of the clock for with them the Evening did begin the day as we saw before But in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we English in the end of the Sabbath and then it is the same with St. Marks expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the Sabbath was past And this construction comes more neer to the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which points unto a thing which is long since past as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hour being now a good while spent and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you lost your opportunity by your tardy coming And so the word is here interpreted by Gregory Nyssen by birth a Grecian and therefore doubtlesse one that well understood the Idiotisme of his own language in whom the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. Matthew is made to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very hour and moment of the resurrection Which ground so laid let us subjoyne these words in St. Matthews Gospel Chap. 18. to the last words of St. Lukes Gospel Chap. 23. and then this seeming contradiction will be brought to nothing St. Luke informes us of the women who had attended on our Saviour at his death and burial that having bought spices to imbalme his body they rested on the Sabbath day according to the Scripture v. 56. And then comes in St. Matthew to make up the story as all the four Evangelists do make but one ful history of our Saviours actions which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that when the Sabbath was now past and that the first day of the week did begin to dawn they went unto the Sepulchre as they first intended We have not done yet with the time of his resurrection although the difficulties which concern that time have been debated and passed over We finde it generally agreed on by all four Evangelists that the resurrection was accomplished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the first day of the week and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the dawning of the day as St. Matthew hath it or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the rising of the Sun as St. Marke informes About the dawning of the day for certainly it was not fit that the Sun of Heaven should shine upon the earth before the heavenly Sun of righteousnesse Nay therefore did our Saviour prevent the sun by his early rising to teach us that the whole world is enlightned only by the beams of his most sacred Gospell and that he only is the light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of his people Israel And there was very good reason also why he should choose the first day of the week to be the day of the resurrection more then any other that as God the Father on that day did begin the creation of the world in which we live the life of nature so God the Son should on the same day also begin the creation of a new heaven and a new earth in the souls of men by which they live the life of grace here and are thereby prepared for the life of glory in the world to come The sixt day in which our father Adam did begin to live was the same day in which the second Adam did begin to die And the seventh day on which God rested from his labours in the great work of our Creation was also rested by our Saviour in the far greater businesse of our Redemption Rested I say by him not sanctifyed For Christ did therefore pretermit and sleep out as it were the Iewish Sabbath that from thenceforth the observation of that day should be laid aside and that in that neglect of his there should no further care be taken of the legal Ceremonies And as God sanctifyed that day in which he rested from the work of the worlds Creation so the Apostles first as it was conceived and afterwards the Church of Christ by their example did sanctifie and set apart that day for religious offices in which our Saviour cancelled the bonds of death and finished the great work of our Redemption The Israelites were commanded by the Lord their God immediately on their escape from the hands of Pharaoh to change the beginning of the year in a perpetuall memory of that deliverance With very good reason therefore did the Church determine to celebrate the Christian Sabbath if I may so call it upon a day not used before but changed in due remembrance of so great a miracle as that of our Saviours resurrection from the power of the grave and our deliverance thereby from the Prince of darknesse The Parallel of the worlds Creation and the Redemption on all mankind by Christ our Saviour with the change which followed thereupon in the day of worship is very happily expressed by Gregory Nyssen in his first Sermon upon Easter or the Resurrection where speaking of Gods rest of the Sabbath day he thus proceedeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. By that first Sabbath saith the father thou mayest conjecture at the nature of this this day of rest which God hath blessed above all dayes For on this the only begotten Son of God or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his own words are who out of a divine purpose of restoring mankind did give his body rest in the house of death and afterwards revived again by his resurrection became the resurrection and the life the day-spring from on high the light to them that sit in darknesse and the shadow of death Finally to insist upon this point no longer three days our Saviour set apart for the performance of this work and wonder of the resurrection and answerably thereunto the Church did antiently set apart three days for the commemoration of that work and wonder which was then performed In which respect the feast of Easter is entituled by the said Gregory Nyssen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the three days festivall The next considerable circumstance of the
resurrection is that he pleased to work that miracle upon himself in a terrible and fearfull earthquake an earthquake so extreme and so truely terrible that the graves did vomit up their dead whose ghastly apparitions wandered up and down Hierusalem and were seen by many of their friends and old acquaintance Which as it was an extraordinary dispensation and far above the Common law and course of nature so was it done by him for a speciall end and did not only verifie the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour ut Dominum ostenderent resurgentem as St. Hierome hath it but also served to assure Gods faithfull servants of the resurrection of their bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we read in Chrysostome So that the Earthquake of it self being great and terrible and made more terrible by the rising of so many dead men from the bonds of death no marvell if the Souldiers of the guard were amazed and terrifyed and in that fright betook themselves unto their heels and forsook their charge At first indeed the affright and astonishment was so great upon them that they seemed even as dead men as the text informes us But the first terrors being over we finde them presently in the City with the chief Priests and Elders declaring the sad news of their ill successe and publishing the glorious wonder of the resurrection So wonderfull was the providence of Almighty God that those means which were projected for an hinderance of the resurrection should add unto the fame and glory of so great a miracle and that those very Souldiers which were hired to guard the Sepulchre should be the first Evangelists if I may so call them by whom that miracle was signifyed to that stubborn nation And yet God had a further end then this in the great hast made by the affrighted Souldiers to the Priests and Elders which was by their departure from the holy Sepulchre to give the safer opportunity to his Disciples who were to be the witnesses of his resurrection both to Iew and Gentile to satisfie themselves in the truth thereof For though the women might presume on the Souldiers gentlenesse who commonly are faire conditioned to that sex yet for the Apostles to adventure thither till the Souldiers of the guard were removed from thence had been to run themselves in the mouth of danger and make themselves obnoxious to the accusation of the Priests and Pharisees And this was a remote cause of the honour which befell that sex in being first acquainted with the news of the resurrection and is another of the circumstances which attends the action God certainly had so disposed it in his heavenly wisdome that as a woman was first made the Devils instrument to perswade man to sin and consequently unto death so the same sex also should become the instruments of publishing this glad news that the Lord was risen and the assurance thereby given of a resurrection to all mankinde from the hands of death Withall observe the power of Almighty God never so clearly manifested in the sight of men as in the weaknesse of his iustruments and that although it was a work sufficient for the ablest Prophet to foretell the resurrection of the Messiah yet was it so easie when accomplished that ignorant and silly women and more then so that women laden with sins should be the first that did proclaime it And there was somewhat in that too that Christ first shewed himself unto Mary Magdalen a woman so infamous for her former life that she is branded in Scripture by the name of Peccatrix as one who had deserved to be so intituled and first of all men unto Simon Peter as great a sinner in his kinde as Mary Magdalen For this he did no doubt to let mankind know that there is no sinner so great whosoever he be to whom if he repent him of his former sinnes the fruit and benefit of Christs resurrection ought not to be extended and applyed though some restraine the same to some certain Quidams men more of their election then Almighty Gods Whereas the Scriptures plainly tell us that as in Adam all dyed so by Christ all men shall be restored to life who being risen from the dead is become the first fruits of all them that slept But here perhaps it will be said How can our Saviour Christ be called the first fruits of them that sleep considering how many severall persons had been raised from the dead before both in the old Testament and in the new The answer unto this is easie and the difference great between them and Christ their being raised from the dead and his resurrection For first our Saviour rose again from the dead virtute propria by his ownproper power and virtue but they were raised again to life virtute aliena by the power and ministry of some other In which regard we read notin the story of his resurrection that he was raised from the dead as if he had been wholly passive in the businesse and did contribute no more to it then did the Shunamites child or the daughter of Iairus but resurrexit he was risen or had raised himself which sheweth him to have been the principall Agent Nor let it stumble any one that in some places of the holy Scripture the Father is said to raise him as in Act. 11. Both will stand well enough together For by the same power that the Father is said to have done it by the same was it done also by the Son I and my Father are one but one power of both and therefore whether it were done by both or by either of them it comes all to one Secondly Christ our Saviour did so rise from the dead as to die no more to have an everlasting freedome from the power of death whereas others have been raised from death to life but to die again Christ being raised from the dead saith the great Apostle dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him He is not only free from death or the act of dying but from the pains perils and the fears of death and all those sicknesses and sorrows which make way unto it But so it was not with the son of the widow of Sarepta or of the widow of Naim no nor with Lazarus his most dear friend neither who though they were restored again to this mortal life yet it was still a mortal life when it was at best and that mortality was to them as the Prisoners chain by which he is pulled back again though he chance to scape He only did so rise again as by his rising to destroy death and to cloath himself with immortality Thirdly though some were raised before under both Testaments yet that was but a private benefit to themselves alone or perhaps unto their Parents or some few of their friends yet the fruit and benefit thereof did extend no further But by the
Heaven or taken up on high as our English reads it it was Gods act there And so it was indeed it was Gods and his the Persons having such an interest in one another that what was done by the one is ascribed to the other without wrong or prejudice to either as it is also in the case of the Resurrection in which although we find it to be his own act his Resurrexit only in the holy Gospels yet is it quem Deus suscitavit a mortuis him hath God raised from the dead in St. Peters Sermon Or else it may be answered thus that though our Saviour did ascend by his own power and vertue yet he may properly be said to be assumptus taken or carried up into Heaven in three regards that is to say either as taken up on the wings of Angels whereof we shall say more anon as Lazarus was carryed into Abrahams bosom or because he seemed to be wrapt up in a cloud and so taken up out of their sight or finally that the man CHRIST IESVS was taken up into Heaven by the power and vertue of the Godhead in separably united to him Either of these constructions will atone the difference and reconcile the Creed with the words of the Text though we may further add and ex abundanti that St. Luke doth not only say ferebatur in Coelum or he was carryed up into Heaven as if he were passive in it only but that Recessit ab iis first he left them of his own accord gave the first rise to his Ascension and after ferebatur for so it followeth suffered himself to be assumpted taken or carryed up into Heaven either by the Cloud or by the Angels or how else he pleased Lastly it is to be observed that he ascended into Heaven videntibus illis saith the Text whilest his Apostles looked on to signifie that he did ascend by little and little that he might feed their eyes and refresh their souls and by his leisurely ascent make them more able to attest it as occasion served For had he been caught up into Heaven as Elias was who had but one witness to affirm it or rapt up into Heaven as St. Paul was afterwards without any witness but himself and scarce that neither for whether it were in the body or out of the body he could hardly tell the truth thereof had wanted much of that estimation which the mouths of so many witnesses as beheld the mirâ—â—le were able to afford unto it And yet it was strange that many witnesses should need to confirm that truth which had so clearly been fore-signified both by Types and Prophecies that none who did believe the Scriptures could make question of it For if we look upon the Substance or the quod â—it of it or on the circumstances of the time the place the cloud the pomp and manner of the same or finally on the consequent or effect thereof as to Christ himself we finde all signified before-hand in the Book of God and that so fully and expressely as must needs convince the Iews of the greatest obstinacy that ever had been entertained in the hearts of men first in the way of Type or Figure we have that of Enoch before the Law and that of Elias under the Law Of Enoch it is said in the holy Scripture that he walked with God that is to say as the text doth expound it self in the case of Noah he was a just man and perfect in his generation for the times he lived in So righteous was he as it seems in the sight of God that we finde no mention of his death Only the Scriptures say that he was not found because God took him i. e. because God took him to himself translating him both body and soul to his heavenly Kingdome And so St. Paul expounds it saying By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death neither was he found because God had taken him And of Elijah it is said that being talking with Elisha one of his Disciples there appeared a Charet of fire and horses of fire and parted them asunder and that Elijah went up in a whirlwinde into Heaven Here then we have two Types or figures of the Lords Ascension the one delivered in the person of a righteous man who was unblameable in his conversation walking in the commandements of God without reproof the other of a Prophet mighty both in WORD AND WORK who did not only reprove sin and foretel of things which were to come but did confirm his Doctrine with signs and miracles And being that the Iews cannot but confess as Iosephus did that Christ was not only a wise man a Teacher of the people in the ways of truth one that wrought miracles and had gained many both of the Iews and Gentiles to adhere unto him being they cannot but acknowledge of our Saviour Christ as the good Theif did ille autem nil mali fecit that he had done nothing amiss or as Pilate that there was no fault to be found in him they have no reason but to think that Enoch and Elijah were the Types of the Lords Ascension aswell as of his life and doctrine But here perhaps it will be objected that either Enoch and Elijah were not taken up into Heaven and so no Types and figures of the Lords Ascension or if they were then was not Christ the first which opened the gates of Heaven and ascended thither in his body to make a way for others in due time to follow as all Antiquity in a manner do affirm he was grounding their judgement on the evident and plain texts of Scripture For doth not the Apostle expressely say that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet manifest while the first Tabernacle was yet standing Heb. 9.8 And doth not Christ our Saviour as expressely say that no man had ascended into Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of man Ioh. 3.13 How then were Enoch and Elijah Types of Christs Ascension if they were not taken up into Heaven or how was Christ the first if they there before him Our Saviour Christ himself makes answer unto this objection where he saith that in his Fathers house there were many mansions that is to say several degrees of happiness and estates in glory though all most glorious in themselves To some of which degrees of happiness and estates in glory unto some one or other of those heavenly Mansions both Enoch and Elijah were by God translated there 's no doubt of that the Scripture is expressely for it But that they were in Coelosummo in the highest Heaven that unto which the Lord ascended and where he now sitteth at the right hand of God the Father that as the Scriptures doe not say so there is no necessity why we should believe it Our Saviour was the first who ascended thither that place of supreme glory
and some of them perhaps reduced to their primitive dust is more then probable for the text speaks of them as of men which had long been dead Now why a glorifyed soul should be re-united to a corrupt and putrefyed although new raised body unlesse it were to raise that body also to a share of glory I plainly must confesse I can see no reason Some of the Saints then as his Souldiers did attend this Pomp I take that for granted And I conceive it probable for I goe no further that every Saint or Souldier had his Crown or Coronet bestowed upon them by their Generall in testimony that they had fought a good fight against sinne and Satan For though in common course the Saints and servants of the Lord shall not have their Crowns untill the generall day of judgment yet here in this particular case it might be otherwise by speciall priviledge and extraordinary dispensation Next to the Saints and Souldiers look we on the Captives of whom the Psalmist and St. Paul both do expressely speak Duxit captivam captivitatem He led captivity captive saith the holy Scripture But who these captives were and what this captivity will aske a little more paines to declare aright though somewhat hath been said in this point before We shewed you in our Commentaries on the former Articles that by the unanimous consent of all the Fathers our Saviour spoyled the Principalities and powers of hell when he went down thither and there took captive both the Devill and his evill Angels The shewing of them openly and triumphing over them the leading of them captive when they were so taken that doubtlesse was the work of another day that was the work of the Ascension When he ascended up on high then not before he led them captive and when he led them captive then he triumphed over them The victory he obtained before now he made his triumph The great Battel which Paulus Aemilius won of Perseus the Macedonian did shrewdly shake the main foundations of his power and Empire the victory was not perfected nor the Realme subdued and made a Tributary Province of the state of Rome untill the King himself was taken in the Isle of Samothrace to which he had retired as his strongest hold immediately on his defeat near the City of Pidna The triumph followed not till after when he made his entrie into Rome the imperiall City the miserable King and all the flower of his Nobility being led like Captives in their chaines and doomed unto perpetuall prison And this saith the Historian was interpulcherrimos the happiest and most stately triumph that the Roman people ever saw the victory having also been of the greatest consequence So in this case The first main Battell after some previous skirmishes and velitations which our Redeemer sought with Satan was upon the Crosse in which he seemed for a time to have had the worse But it was only for a time For by his death saith the Apostle he overcame him which had power of death which was the Devill That was the first great blow which the Devill had But the victory was not perfected nor the Empire of the Prince of darknesse broke in pieces and brought under the command of the Son of man till he mastred hell it self and forced the Devill and his Angels in their strongest hold Then came he to demand his triumph at the hands of God who received him into heaven with the greatest glory that ever had been seen by the heavenly Citizens the Devill and rest of the powers of hell being led bound in chaines in triumphant wise whom he flung off as soon as he approached near the gates of Heaven and hath ever since reserved in chains under darknesse to the judgment of the great and terrible day If you will see this triumph set down more at large we have it in the 13. of the Prophet Hosea and out of him in St. Pauls first to the Corinthians death led captive without his sting Hell broken and defaced like the picture of a conquered City the strength of sinne the Law rent and fastned to his Crosse ensigne-wise the Serpents head broken and so born before him as was Goliahs head by David when he came from the victory Never so great a victory such a glorious triumph as that of Christ in his Ascension when having spoyled the Principalities and powers of hell he led this captivity captive in his march to Heaven making a shew of them openly unto men and Angels and triumphing over them in semet ipso in his own person saith the vulgar Reddunt inferna victorem superna suscipiunt triumphantem Hell restored him back a Conquerour and Heaven received him a Triumpher as faith St. Angustine happily if the work be his But there were other Captives which adorned this triumph besides the Devill and his Angels even the sons of men The Devill first began the war with our Father Adam foyled him in Paradise and made him of a Prince to become a Prisoner a slave to his own lusts and and loose affections And he prevailed so far upon his posterity that he brought all mankinde in a manner under his dominion their sins and wickednesses being grown unto such an height that God repented him at last of mans creation It angred him saith the text at the very heart David complained in his time that there was none that did good no not one and when the son of David came upon the Theatre he found the seed of Abraham so degenerated that they were become the slaves of Satan at best the children of the Devill as himself affirmed In this estate we were the whole race of man when with a mighty hand and an outstretched arme our Saviour Christ encountred with the powers of darknesse and subdued them all By this great victory of Christ over sin and Satan the Devill was not only taken and made a Captive but all mankinde even that captivity which was captive under him became his Prisoners jure belli even by the common law of war as being before part of the Devils goods of his train and vassalage So true is that of Aristotle in his book of Politicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those which are taken in the warres are in the power and at the pleasure of the Conquerour The Fathers many of them look this way directly but none more plainly to this purpose then Dorotheus an old Orthodox writer and he states it thus What means saith he the leading of captivitie captive And then he answereth It meaneth that by Adams transgression the enemie had made us all captives and held us in subjection and that Christ took us again out of the enemies hands and conquered him who kept us captive So that the case of mankinde in this double captivitie was like that of Lot whom the five Kings when they took Sodom carried Prisoner with them Lot was then Captive to those Kings
power of God as our Saviour calleth it Luke 22.69 And as the right hand is applyed to God as the hand of power by which he ruleth all things both in heaven and earth so is it sometimes also ascribed unto him and not to him alone but to Christ nor Saviour as the hand of love by which he cherisheth and protecteth his faithful servants For what else is the reason why the sheep in the day of Judgement shall be placed at the right hand of the King of Heaven but to shew that they are his beloved ones his Benjamins the children of his right hand as that name doth signifie And for what reason is it said that he doth imbrace the Church his Spouse with his right hand but to shew that ardour and sincerity of affection wherewith he doth cherish and protect her Cant. 2.6 8.3 Be it the power of God or his fidelity and love it 's the right hand stâ—ll There is another word to be looked on yet before we shall finde out the full meaning of this branch of the Article which is the word Sâ—det which we render sitting In which we must not understand as I think some Protestant Writers do any constant posture of the Body of Christ at the right hand of God For he who in the Creed and in divers places of the Old and New Testament is said to sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty is by St. Stephen who saw him with a glorified eye affirmed to stand Behold saith he I see heaven opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand Sitting and standing then for both words are used denote not to us any certain posture of our Saviours body but serve to signifie that rest and quiet which he hath found in Heaven after all his labours For what was our most blessed Saviour in the whole course and passages of his life and death but a man of troubles transported from one Countrey to another in his very infancy and from one City to another when he preached the Gospel compelled to convey himself away from the sight of men to save his life exposed to scoffs and scorns at the hour of his death Noahs Dove and he were both alike No rest for either to be found on the face of the earth no ease till they were taken into the Ark again out of which they were sent And this St. Paul doth intimate where he tels us of him that for the joy which was set before him he endured the Cross and despised the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God And unto this construction of the word Sedere St. Ambrose very well agrees saying Secundum consuetudinem nostram illi consessus offertur qui aliquo opere perfecto victor adveniens honoris gratia promeretur ut sedeat It is saith he our usual custome to offer a chair or seat to him who having perfected the work which he had in hand doth deserve to sit And on this ground the man CHRIST IESVS having by his death and passion overcome the Devil and by his Resurrection broken open the gates of Hell having accomplished his work and returning unto Heaven a Conquerour was placed by God the Father at his own right hand Thus far and to this purpose he The like may be affirmed of standing or of standing still which doubtless is a great refreshment to a wearied Traveller a breathing bait as commonly we use to call it and many times is used in Scripture for a posture of ease as Quid statis toto die otiosi Why stand you here all the day idle But to proceed a little further in this disquisition there may be more found in the words then so For standing is the posture of a General or man of action ready to fall on upon the Enemy Oportet Imperatorem stantem mori said the Roman Emperour And it is also the posture which the Iews used in prayer as appears Matth. 6.5 Luk. 18.10.13 From whence they took that usual saying Sine stationibus non subsisteret mundus that were it not for such standings the world would not stand And sitting is we know the posture of a Judge or Magistrate in the act of Iudicature of Princes keeping state in the Throne Imperial And this appears as plainly by our Saviours words to his Apostles saying that they which followed him in the Regeneration should when the Son of man did sit in the Throne of his glory sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel And so the word is also used in Heathen Authors as Consedere duces consâ—ssique ora tenebant in the Poet Ovid when the great cause was to be tryed for Achilles armour When therefore St. Stephen beheld our Saviour Christ and saw him standing at the right hand of God the Father he found him either ready as a Chief or General to lead on against the enemies of his persecuted and afflicted Church or as an Advocate Habemus enim Advocatum for we have an Advocate with the Father IESVS CHRIST the righteous pleading before Gods Throne in behalf thereof or offering up his prayers for the sins of his people And when St. Paul and other texts of holy Scripture do describe him sitting they look upon him in the nature of a Iudge or Magistrate the Supreme Governour of the Church and then sedere is as much as regnare as St. Hierome hath it to reign or rule And to this last St. Paul doth seem to give some countenance if we compare his words with those of the Royal Pâ—almist Sit thou at my right hand saith the Psalmist till I have made thy enemies thy footstool Psal. 110.1 Oportet eum regnare saith the Apostle For he must reign or it behoveth him to reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet 1 Cor. 15.25 Of this minde also was Sedulius an old Christian Poet Aethereas evectus abit sublimis in auras Et dextram subit ipse Patris mundumque gubernat Ascending into Heaven at Gods right hand He sits and all the World doth there command This said we will descend to those Expositions which have been made by several men on this branch of the Article and after pitch on that which we think most likely Some think this sitting at the right hand of God to signifie the fame with that which was said before of his ascending into Heaven which opinion Vrsin doth both recite and reject And he rejects it as I conceive upon very good reason it being very absurd as lie truly noteth in tam brevi Symbolo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 committi that a tautologie should be used in so short a summary It had been very absurd indeed and yet more absurd if they should intimate the same thing in a figurative and metaphorical form of speech which they had formerly expressed in so plain a way as was familiar
or designement unto that high office a calling far more solemne and of better note then that which Aaron had to the Legal Priesthood For of the calling of Aaron it is only said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was called by God is a common word and therefore like enough 't was done in the common way But the calling of Christ it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a more solemne and significant word and intimates that he was solemnely declared and pronounced by God to be a Priest after the order of Melchisedech Now as the calling was so was the consecration in all points parallel to Aarons and in some beyond Aaron was consecrated to the Priesthood by the hand of Moses but Christ our Saviour by the hand of Almighty God who long before as long before as the time of David had bound himself by oath to invest him in it Aarons head was anointed only with materiall oile Christs with the oil of gladnesse above all his fellowes The consecration of Aaron was performed before all the people gathered together for that purpose at the dore of the Tabernacle That of our Saviour was accomplished in the great feast of the Passeover the most solemne publick and universall meeting that ever any nation of the world did accustomably hold besides the confluence and concourse of all sorts of strangers In the next place the consecration of Aaron was solemnized with the sacrifices of Rams and Bullocks of which that of the Bullock was a sin-offering as well for Aarons own sins as the sins of the people and of the Rams the one of them was for a fire-offering or a sacrifice of rest the other was the Ram of consecration or of filling the hand And herein the preheminence runs mainly on our Saviours side who was so far from needing any sin-offering to fit him and prepare him for that holy office that he himself became an offering for the sins of others even for the sins of all the world And as he was to be advanced to a more excellent Priesthood then that of Aaron so was he sanctifyed or prepared if I may so say after a far more excellent manner then with bloud of Rams For he was consecrated saith the text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with his own bloud and with this bloud not only his hands or ears were spinkled as in that of Aaron but his whole body was anointed first being bathed all over in a bloudy sweat next with the bloud issuing from his most sacred head forced from it by the violent piercing of the Crown of thornes which like the anointing oyle on the head of Aaron distilled unto the lowest parts of that blessed body and lastly with the streams of bloud flowing abundantly from the wounds of his hands and feet and that great orifice which was made in his precious side Though our Redeemer were originally sanctifyed from the very wombe and that in a most absolute and perfect manner yet would Almighty God have him thus visibly consecrated in his own bloud also that so he might become the authour of salvation to all those that obey him and that he having washed our robes in the bloud of the Lamb might be also sanctifyed and consecrated to the service of our heavenly father Finally the consecration of Aaron and of all the high Priests of the law which succeeded him was to last seven dayes that so the Sabbath or seventh day might passe over him because no man as they conceived could be a perfect high Priest to the Lord their God until the Sabbath day had gone over his head The consecration of our Saviour lasted seven dayes too in every one of which although he might be justly called an high Priest in fieri or per medium participationis as the Schoolmen phrase it yet was not he fully consecrated to this Priestly office till he had bathed himself all over in his own bloud and conquered the powers of death by his resurrection That so it was will evidently appear by this short accompt which we shall draw up of his actions from his first entrance into Hierusalem in the holy week till he had finished all his works and obtained rest from his labours On the first day of the week which still in memory thereof we do call Palme Sunday he went into the holy City not so much to prepare for the Iewish Passeover as to make ready for his own and at his entrance was received with great acclamations Hosanna be to him that cometh in the name of the Lord And on the same day or the day next following he purged the Temple from brokery and merchandizing and so restored that holy place to the use of prayer which the high Priests of the Law had turned or suffered to be turned which comes all to one to a den of Theeves The intermediate time betwixt that and the day of his passion he spent in preaching of the Gospell instructing the ignorant and in healing of the blind and lame which were brought unto him in the performance whereof and the like workes of mercy he was more diligent and frequent and more punctuall far then Aaron or any of his successors in the legal Priesthood in offering of the seven dayes sacrifice for themselves and the people On the fift day having first bathed his body in a bloudy sweat he was arrained and pronounced to be worthy of death in the high Priests hall And on the sixt according to the Iewish accompt with whom the evening is observed to begin the day he went into his heavenly sanctuary to which he had prepared entrance with his precious bloud as Moses at Aarons consecration did purifie and consecrate the materiall Sanctuary with the bloud of Bullocks and of Rams Not by the bloud of Goats and Calves saith the Apostle but by his own bloud hath he once entred into the holy place and obtained eternal redemption for us Which Sacrifice of the Son of God on the accursed Crosse although it was the perfect and full accomplishment of all the typical and legal sacrifices offered in the law yet was it but an intermediate though an especiall part of his consecration to the eternall Evangelical Priesthood which he was to exercise and not the ultimum esse or perfection of it That was not terminated till the day of his resurrection untill a Sabbath day had gone over his head which was more perfectly fulfilled in his consecration then ever it had been in Aarons and the sons of Aaron For then and not till then when God had powerfully defeated all the plots of his enemies did God advance him to the Crown to the regal Diademe setting him as a King on his holy hill the hill of Sion and saying to him as it were in the sight of his people Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And then and not till then when he had glorifyed him thus in the
alone Who when he findes his heavenly Father troubled with our perversness our high hand of sinning and ready to execute vengeance on us for our great misdeeds doth interpose the merit of his death and passion shews him the print of the Thorns in his sacred head his hands and feet boared through with nayls and his side pierced with the spear At sight whereof Gods heavy anger fals away and his wrath is pacified and he lays by the instruments of his rage and vengeance Tela reponuntur manibus fabricata Cyclopum as the Poet hath it and he resolves to tarry a little longer and expect the amendment of his people An Office from the which our High Priest never can desist whilest there are men upon the world to provoke God to anger and though we dare not say of him as St. Paul did of himself that he dyeth daily yet we may safely say and make it the rejoycing which we have in CHRIST IESVS our Lord that the merit of his death and passion are daily hourly nay continually presented by him to the view and consideration of Almighty God A point of no mean consolation to us whilest we are subject to the sins and lusts which we bear about us in the flesh and cannot otherwise be excused from them but by changing our mortal into immortality And this is that which was prefigured in the Law of Moses by the High Priests entring into the Sanctum Sanctorum which was parted with a vail or traverse Curtain from the rest of the Temple to make atonement with the Lord for the peoples sins The parallel stands thus between them First none might enter into the Sanctum Sanctorum or the holiest of all but the High Priest only Levit. 16.3 So Christ our High Priest and none but he hath entred into the holy places not made with hands to appear in the presence of God for us Heb. 9.24 Secondly as the veil of the Temple was lifted up or drawn aside to make room for the High Priest to enter into it so did the vail of the Temple rent in sunder at the very instant when the soul of our High Priest did depart from his body and enter the Celestial Sanctuary Mattb. 27. Thirdly the High Priest was apparelled in his Priestly vestments Levit. 16.10 and so our Saviour is described in the Rev. 13.13 Fourthly the High Priest entred into the Sanctuary but once a year which was upon the Feast of the Expiation Exod. 30.10 So did Christ enter once into the holy place which was upon the day of his death and passion whereon he obtained eternal redemption for us Heb. 9.12 And last of all as the High Priest made an offering for the sins of the people though it were only of the bloud of Calves and Goats before he went within the veil Levit. 16.12 15. which bloud he was to sprinkle on the Mercy-seat vers 14 15. and thereby made atonement in the holy place for all the Congregation of Israel vers 17. So before Christ our High Priest entred into the Heaven of glories he made an offering of himself Heb. 9.25 and by his own bloud entred into the holy places vers 12. which bloud of his that is to say the merits of it he sprinkleth on the Mercy-seat of Almighty God and thereby doth avert him from his displeasure and reconcile him daily to poor sinful man Which Parallel thus made we may the better understand St. Pauls drift and meaning in comparing the High Priests together and the excellency of Christs Priesthood above that of Aaron The Priests saith he i. e. those of inferiour order went into the first Tabernacle accomplishing the service of God But into the second went the High Priest alone once every year not without bloud which he offered for himself and for the errors of the people But Christ being made an High Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands neither by the bloud of Goats and Calves but by his one bloud did he enter into the holy place having obtained eternal Redemption for us Not that he should offer himself often as the High Priest entred into the holy place every year with the bloud of others but that being offered once a sacrifice for sin he might for ever sit at the right hand of God chap. 10. ver 12. to appear in the sight of God for us unto our Salvation and to make intercession for us Thus standeth the case with our High Priest in the point of Sacrifice in which as in the other Offices of offering up our prayers to God interceding for us and pouring down his blessings on us he doth perform the Office or Function of an High Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedech But there is yet one Argument more that St. Paul brings in proof of Melchisedechs Priesthood which is that he tithed Abraham or took Tithes of him Heb. 7.2 9. And if we prove not this also of our Saviour Christ the parallel betwixt him and Melchisedech will not be complete nor his high Priesthood so asserted as it ought to be But herein the Apostle will not fail us neither affording us two arguments to make good this point the one derived from the eternity of our Saviours Priesthood the other from the Prerogative which Melchisedech had in this particular above Aaron and the sons of Levi. The first stands thus Melchisedech took Tithes of Abraham in his own right as Priest of the most high God whose Priesthood being everlasting in the Person of Christ for he hath an unchangeable Priesthood vers 24. the right of taking Tithes is inherent in him on the meer taking on himself of Melchisedechs function I mean in being made a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedech And this is that to which St. Paul alludeth saying Here men that die receive Tithes that is to say Here in the land of Canaan by the Law of Moses the Priests and Levites of our Nation being mortal men and subject to the stroke of death aswell as we do receive tithes of us to shew that we acknowledge them to be our Superiours in their place and Ministery But there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed that he liveth His meaning is that when Melchisedech received Tithes of Abraham he received them as a Type of our Saviour Christ who now liveth with God and by his Resurrection did make known that he liveth for ever and lived to execute the Office of a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedech He then of whom it is witnessed that he liveth receiveth Tithes or hath at least a right and title to receive them in regard of his unchangeable and eternal Priesthood But he receiveth them not in person having transferred all his interests in them and title to them upon the Ministers of his Gospel No otherwise then God conferred the Tithes of the land
that as they sinned together or served God together so they may share together of reward or punishment But because many times the soul sins without the body and many times without it doth some works of piety which God is pleased to accept of therefore as requisite it is that the soul separated from the body should either suffer torment or enjoy felicity according as it hath deserved in the sight of God whilest yet the body sleepeth in the grave of death And on these grounds next to the dictates and authority of the book of God the doctrine of the general judgement hath been built so strongly that only some few Atheists amongst the Gentiles and none but the wicked Sect of Manichees amongst the Christians had ever the impudence to denie it That which concernes us most as Christians and doth especially relate to the present Article is that this judgement shall be executed by our Saviour Christ sitting with power at the right hand of God the Father but in the nature and capacity of the Son of man Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the power of God and coming in the clouds of the Aire Mat. 26.64 See the same also Mark 14.62 and Luk. 22.69 The like we have also in St. Iohns Gospell The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son Chap. 5 22. What to the Son according to his eternal generation as the Word of God Not so but to the Son of man For so it followeth in that Chapter viz. And hath given him power also to judge because he is the Son of man V. 27. And this we have directly from the Lords one mouth The Apostles also say the same St. Peter first God raised him up the third day and shewed him openly And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testifie that it is he which is ordained of God to be judge both of quick and dead St. Paul next Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to all those that love his appearing So for St. Iude Behold the Lord shall come with thousands of his Saints to give judgment against all men and to rebuke all that are ungodly amongst them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed and of all the cruel speakings which ungodly sinners have spoken against him And this he citeth out of the Prophecies of Enoch the seventh from Adam which sheweth that even the Patriarchs before the flood were thoroughly possessed with this sacred truth and therefore not concealed from the holy Prophets which have been since the world began That it was manifested also to the antient Gentiles I have no reason to believe For though they might collect upon grounds of reason that there should be a day of judgement in the world to come yet that this judgement should be executed by the man CHRIST IESVS could not in possibility be discovered to them by the light of reason nor indeed by any other sight then by his alone who was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles as well as to be the glory of his people Israel And therefore in my minde Lactantius might have spared that part of his censure upon the judgment of Hydaspes before remembred in which he approves of his opinion concerning the last day or the day of doom but addeth that his not ascribing this great work to the Son of God was omitted non sine daemonum fraude by the fraud and suggestion of the Devill If Hermes or Mercurius surnamed Trismegistus understood so much quod tamen non dissimulavit Hermes as it followeth after and that the verses by him cited from the antient Sibyls were by them spoken and intended as he saith they were of CHRIST our Saviour and of his coming unto judgement in that dreadfull day we must needs say they had a clearer Revelation of it then any of the Prophets of the most high God which for my part I have not confidence enough to say For in which of all the Prophets finde we such a description of Christs coming to judgement as this which he ascribeth to one of the Sibyls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say Rolling up heaven earths depths I shall disclose Then raise the dead the bonds of fate unloose And deaths sharpe sting and next to judgment call Both quick and dead judging the lives of all Letting this therfore passe as a thing improbable that any of the Heathen Prophetesses should know more of Christs coming to judgement then was revealed to any of the holy Prophets or else deliver it in more clear expressions then do occurre in any of the Prophetical writers we shall proceed unto the execution of this judgement by our Lord and Saviour according to the scope of this present Article For which although no reason was or could be given by those antient sages as those which lived before the coming of CHRIST and consequently were not made acquainted with his life and actions yet there is reason to induce a Christian unto this belief were we not biassed to it by the text of Scripture For what could be more just in Almighty God then to advance his Son to the seat of judgment to the end that having been dishonoured publickly both in life and death scorned and contemned and brought unto a shamefull end in the eye of men he might have opportunity to shew his great power and majesty in the sight of all but specially of his barbarous and ungodly enemies And unto this the Prophet Zachariah alludeth saying They shall look on me whom they have pierced Which words although St. Iohn applyeth in his holy Gospel unto the piercing of Christs side Chap. 19.37 yet in the Revelation he applyeth it to his sitting in judgement Behold saith he he cometh in the clouds and all eyes shall see him and they also that pierced him Chap. 1.17 And from these words it is conceived I think not improbably that the wounds in our Saviours body shall then be visible to the eyes of all spectatours to the great comfort of the faithfull who do acknowledge their redemption to the bloud of the Lamb and to the astonishment and confusion of all his enemies but most especially of them qui vulnera ista inflixerunt by whose ungodly hands he was so tormented Here then we have good grounds to proceed upon both in the way of faith and reason for the asserting of the day of general judgement And yet somewhat further must be said to remove a difficultie which may else disturbe us in our way before we look into the particulars of it For possibly it may be said that there will be but little use of a general judgement except it be
Fathers as do touch upon it as may appear by that of Hilarie and Ambrose before delivered By which the other passages of holy writ as Iude v. 6. Mat. 8.29 and Rom. 2.5 it is plain and manifest that the torments of the damned and the Devils too which are inflicted on them for the present time are far lesse then the vengeance of eternal and external fire reserved untill the day of judgement and then augmented upon all the reprobate both men and Angels For grant the most which had been said by any of the Antients as to this particular and we shall finde that it amounteth to no more then this that the souls of wicked men departed are presently made to understand by the righteous judge the sentence due unto their sins and what they are to look for at the day of doome Postquam anima de corpore est egressa subito judicium Christi de salute cognoscit as St. Augustine hath it Which being once made known to the sinfull soul standing before the throne of Christ in the sight of heaven she is forthwith hurried by the evill angels to the mansions of hell where she is kept as in a Prison under chaines and darknesse untill the judgement of the great and terrible day Iude v. 6. And so we are to understand those words of St. Cyril saying Anima damnata continuo invaditur a daemonibus qui eam crudelissime rapiunt ad infernum deducunt unlesse we rather choose to refer the same unto the executing of the sentence of their condemnation at the day of doome as perhaps some may But howsoever they be hurryed by the Devils into the darknesse of hell as to the place wherein they are to be secured till the day of judgement yet that they feel that misery and extremity of torments which after the last day shall be laid upon them neither they nor any of the Antients have delivered to us For of that day it is not the day of their death of which Scriptures doe report such terrible things saying that the heavens shall vanish away and be rolled up like a scroule that all the mountaines and the hils shall be moved out of their places and that the Kings of the earth and the mighty men c. that is to say the wicked of what sort soever shall say unto the hils and rocks Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who is able to endure it And certainly the terrors of that day must needs be great incomprehensible not only to the guilty conscience but even unto the righteous souls who joyfully expect the coming of their Lord and Saviour For in that day the Sun shall be darkened and the Moon shall not give her light the Stars shall fall from heaven and all the powers thereof shall be shaken And the signe of the Son of man shall appear in heaven and then shall all the kindred of the earth mourne and they shall see the son of man coming in the cloudes of heaven with great power and glory And he shall send his Angels with the great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together the Elect from the four windes from one end of the heaven to the other So far we have described the fashion of that dreadfull day from the Lords one mouth St. Luke unto these former terrors doth add the roaring of the Sea and the waters also St. Peter that the elements shall melt with fervent heat and that the earth also and the works thereof shall be utterly burned In this confusion of the world and general dissolution of the works of nature the Lord himself shall descend from heaven in a shout and in the voice of an Archangel and the sound of a trumpe and the dead in Christ shall rise first Then we which live and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds for though we shall not all die we shall all be changed 1 Cor. 15.51 and all together shall meet the Lord Jesus in the Aire The meaning is that at the sounding of this last trump the very same bodies which the Elect had before though mangled by tyrants devoured by wild beasts or burnt to ashes shall be raised again and being united to their souls shall be made alive and rise out of the bed of sleep like so many Iosephs out of prison or Daniels from the den of the roaring Lyons But as for such of the Elect who at that sudden coming of our Lord shall be found alive the fire which burneth up the corruptions of the world and the works thereof shall in a moment in the twinkling of an eye as St. Paul telleth us overtake them as it findeth them at their several businesses and burning up the drosse and corruption of their natural bodies of mortall shall make them to be immortall which change shall be to them in the stead of death In this sort shall they meet the Lord coming in the cloudes of the Aire where the Tribunall or judgement-seat of Christ shall be erected that the ungodly man the impenitent sinner who is not capable of coming into heaven for so much as a moment for no unclean thing or any one that worketh abomination shal finde entrance there Apocal. 21.27 may stand before his throne to receive his sentence So witnesseth St. Iohn in the Revelation And I saw a great white throne and him that sate on it from whose face fled away both the earth and the heaven And I saw the dead both small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged of those things which were written in the books according to their deeds And the Sea gave up the dead which were in her and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to his works And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire To the same purpose and effect doth Christ himself describe this day and the manner of his coming unto judgement in St. Matthews Gospell that which St. Iohn calleth the white throne being by Christ our Saviour called the throne of his majestie Mat. 25.31 At which time all the nations of the world being gathered together before him the good being separated from the bad and a brief repetition of their works being made unto them the righteous shall be called into the Kingdome prepared for them from the foundations of the world the wicked man be doomed to fire everlasting prepared for the Devil and his Angels For though Lactantius seem to think that the wicked shall not rise in the day of judgement and doth it as he sayeth himself literis sacris contestantibus
this blessed Spirit on the particular Members of his Congregation that is to say the joyning of the Saints together in an holy Communion the free remission of our sins in this present life resurrection of the body after death and the uniting again of Soul and Body unto life eternal This is the sum and method of the following Articles and these we shall pursue in their order beginning first with that of the Holy Ghost Whose gracious assistance I implore to guide me in the waies of Truth that so the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart may be alwayes acceptable in the sight of God the Lord my strength and my Redeemer But because the word or notion of the Holy Ghost is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word of various signification in the Book of God we will first look upon it in those significations and then conclude on that which is chiefly pertinent to the intent and purpose of the present Article For certainly the Orators Rule is both good and useful viz. Prius dividenda antequam definienda sit oratio That we must first distinguish of the Termes in all Propositions before we come unto a positive definition of them According to which Rule if we search the Scripture we shall there find that the Holy Ghost is first taken personaliter or essentialiter for the third person in the Oeconomie of the glorious Trinity We find him in this sense in the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour as the principal Agent in that Work The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee Luk. 1.35 And in his Baptism descending on him like a Dove to fit him and prepare him for the Prophetical Office he was then to exercise And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him Luk. 3.22 From which descent St. Peter telleth us that he was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power and that from thenceforth he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed with the Devil In the next place the Holy Ghost is used in Scripture to signifie the Gifts and Graces of the holy Spirit as in Act. 2. where it is said of the Apostles that they were all filled with the holy Ghost ver 4. not with his essence or his person but with the impressions of the Spirit the Gifts and Graces of the Holy Ghost such as the Gift of Tongues mentioned in the following words The Gift of the Holy Ghost as it is called expresly Ver. 38. Thus read we also that the holy Ghost was given by the hands of Peter Act. 8.17 18. And by the hands of Paul Act. 19.6 In which we read that when Paul had laid his hands upon them the Holy Ghost came on them and they spoke with tongues and Prophesied which last words are a commentary upon those before and shew that by the holy Ghost which did come upon them is meant the Gift of Tongues and the power of Prophecying both which the holy Ghost then conferred upon them And lastly it is taken not onely for the ability of doing Miracles as speaking with strange Tongues Prophecying curing of Diseases and the like to these but for the Authority and Power which in the Church is given to some certain men to be Ministers of holy things to the rest of the people As when Christ breathed on his Apostles and said unto them Receive the holy Ghost that is to say Receive ye an holy and spiritual power over the soules of men a part whereof consisteth in the remitting and retaining of sins mentioned in the words next following and serving as a Comment to explaine the former In which respect the Holy Ghost said unto certain of the Elders in the Church of Antioch Segregate mihi Barnabam Saulum Separate unto me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them Act. 13.2 It is the Holy Ghost which cals it is his work to which they were called and therefore separate mihi separate to me may not unfitly be expounded to my Work and Ministery and consequently to the authority and power which belongs unto it Which being premised the meaning of the Article will in briefe be this That we beleeve not onely that there is such a person as the Holy Ghost in the Oeconomy of the blessed Trinity though that be principally intended but that he doth so distribute and dispose of his Gifts and Graces as most conduceth to the edification of the Church of Christ. But this I cannot couch in a clearer way as to the sense and doctrine of the Church of England than in the words of Bishop Iewel who doth thus expresse it Credimus spiritum sanctum qui est tertia persona in sacra Triadi illum verum esse Deum c. i. e. we beleeve that the Holy Ghost who is the Third Person in the holy Trinity is very God not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding both from the Father and the Son by an unspeakable means and unknowne to man and that it is his property to mollifie and soften mans heart when he is once received thereinto either by the wholesome Preaching of the Gospel or by any other way that he doth give men light and guide them to the knowledge of God to the wayes of truth to newnesse of life and to everlasting hope of salvation This being the sum of that which is to be beleeved of the Holy Ghost both for his Person and his Office we will first look upon his Person on his Property or Office afterwards And yet before we come unto his Person I mean his Nature and his Essence We will first look a little on the quid Nominis the name by which he is expressed in the Book of God In the Original he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a double Article as Luk. 3.22 in Latine Spiritus sanctus or the Holy Spirit but generally in our English Idiom the Holy Ghost The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to breath and is the same with the Latine Spiro from whence comes Spiritus or the Spirit a name not given as I suppose because he doth proceed from the Father or the Son or both in the way of breathing though Christ be said to breath upon his Apostles when he said receive the Holy Ghost but because the breath being in it selfe an incorporeal substance and that which is the great preservative of all living creatures it got the name first of Spiritus vitae we read it in our English the breath of life Gen. 11.7 and afterwards came to be the name of all unbodyed incorporeal essences For thus is God said to be a Spirit God is a Spirit Ioh. 4.24 The Angels are called Ministring Spirits Heb. 1.14 the Soule of man is called his Spirit let us cleanse our selves saith the Apostle from all filthiness both of flesh and Spirit that is of the body and
if they die in their Baptism in which respect they may be said to communicate with the rest of the faithful Concerning which the same St. Augustine hath most excellently resolved it thus No man in any wise may doubt but that every faithful man is then made partaker of Christs Body and Blood when in Baptism he is made a member of Christ And that he is not deprived of the Communion of that Bread and that Cup although before he either eat of that Bread or drink of that Cup he depart this world being in the unity of Christs Body For he is not deprived from partaking of the benefit of that Sacrament so long as he findeth in himself the things or the res Sacramenti as St. Cyprian calls it which the Sacrament signifieth As for the Union or Communion which the faithful have with one another though that arise upon their first incorporation in Iesus Christ by holy Baptism yet is more compleatly signified and more fully effected by that communion which they have in his Body and Blood And so St. Cyprian and St. Augustine and the rest of the Fathers do declare most plainly St. Cyprian as more antient shall begin the evidence and be the foreman of the Inquest That Christian men are joyned together with the inseparable bonds of charity the Lords Supper doth saith he declare St. Augustine generally first of all outward Sacraments In nullum nomen Religionis seu verum seu falsum coagulari possunt homines nisi aliquo signaculorum vel sacramentorum visibilium consortio colligantur Men saith he cannot be united into any Religion be it true or false unless they be joyned together in the bond of some visible Sacraments What he affirmeth of this particularly we shall see anon first taking with us that of Dionysius an Antient Writer doubtless whosoever he was Sancta illa unius ejusdem panis poculi communis pacifica distributio unitatem illis divinam tanquam unà enutritis praescribit that is to say That holy and peaceable distribution of the same one Bread and that common Cup prescribeth to them which are so fed and nourished together a most heavenly union More elegantly in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which Pachymeres the Greek Paraphrast doth thus reason for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Because that common feeding together with such joynt consent bringeth to our remembrance the Lords Supper Nor doth the participation of this blessed Sacrament produce an union or communion between them alone who do receive the same together at one time and place but it doth joyn and knit together all the Saints of God how far soever they are distant and scattered far and near upon the face of the Earth For therein we profess that we are all servants in one House and resort all to one Table and feed all of one Spiritual Meat which is the Flesh and Blood of the Lamb of God The Prayers which are used in that holy action being so fitted and contrived in all Antient Liturgies that they extend not unto those onely which do then communicate but that they and the whole Church with them may by the death and merits of Iesus Christ and through Faith in his Blood obtain remission of their sins and all other the benefits of his passion as it is piously expressed in the Liturgy of the Church of England To this St. Ierom gives a clear and most ample testimony who being pressed by Iohn the then Bishop of Ierusalem with whom he had some personal quarrels to go to Rome and witness his integrity by communicating in the face of that Church A qua videmur communione separari from whose communion he had seemed to separate returns this Answer Non necesse esse ire tam longè that it was not needful for him to go so far How so Et hic in Palestina eodem modo ei jungimur In viculo enim Bethlehem Presbyteris ejus quantum in nobis est communion◠sociamur For here saith he in Palestine do we hold communion with that Church and I residing in this Village of Bethlehem am joyned in the communion with the Priests of Rome By which we see that whosoever doth worthily eat the Body of Christ and drink his Blood according to the Institution of our Lord and Saviour communicates thereby with all Christian men of all Countreys and Nations whatsoever and that by vertue and effect of the said Communion they be all knit and joyned together as members of the same one Body in the bonds of love And this is that which is affirmed by St. Augustine Non mirum si absentes adsumus nobis ignoti no smet novimus cum unius corporis membra simus unum habeamus caput una perfundamur gratia uno pane vivamus una incedamus via eadem habitemus is domo It is no wonder saith the Father that being absent we be present together and being not acquainted do know each other considering that we be the Members of one Body have the same one Head an endowment of the self-same Spirit and that we live by one bread go the same way and dwell together in one House To testifie this Communion which they had with each other by vertue of the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper it was a custom of the Primitive and Purest times to send some part of the consecrated Elements unto them which were absent and joyned not with them in that action And sometimes for one Bishop to send to another a Loaf of Bread as a token of consent in the point of Faith and in all brotherly love and concord which he that did receive it if he thought it fitting might consecrate and use at the Ministration Touching the first of these it was well observed by Irenaeus that when any of the Eastern Bishops came to Rome the Popes thereof which preceded Victor did use to send them some of the blessed Sacrament although they differed in the observation of the Feast of Easter whereby a mutual concord and communion was preserved between them Of which he writeth thus to the said Pope Victor Qui fuerunt ante te Presbyteri etiam cum non ita observarent Presbyteris Ecclesiarum of the East he meaneth cum Romam acciderent Eucharistiam mittebant And of the other it is said in those Epistles which Paulinus wrote unto St. Augustine Panem unum quem unanimitatis indicio misimus charitati tuae rogamus ut accipiendo benedicas i. e. The Loaf of Bread which I have sent unto you as a token of unity I beseech you to receive and consecrate See also to what purpose he sent those five Loaves which were designed for the said St. Augustine and Licinius of which he speaketh in the Six and thirtieth Epistle of that Fathers works and that other single Loaf in the Five and thirtieth where it appeareth That the Loaves so sent and consecrated
which were dead already that by their merits they might finde success of their prayers unto him And in another place he determineth positively for the matter of fact that though the Saints are prayed to now in the times of the Gospel Ante adventum Christi non invocabantur yet were they not prayed unto or invocated till the coming of Christ. Finding no better comfort for them in the Old Testament let us next follow them to the New in which the Texts most stood upon to confirm their doctrine are in the 15 of St. Luke In the seventeenth verse we read it thus I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth And in the tenth I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth These are the Texts which make most for them and these God knows make very little to the purpose For first according to the Exposition of some Antient writers the hundred sheep mentioned in our Saviours Parable represent the whole body of the Elect both Men and Angels whereof the ninety nine were the holy Angels continuing in their first integrity the stray sheep all mankinde which was lost in Adam for whose recovery the Son of God that good Shepherd Iohn 10.10 did suffer death upon the Cross and so accomplished the great work of mans redemption For this see Hilary on St. Matth. Can. 18. Chrysologus Serm. 168. Titus Bostrensis on the place Isidore in his Book of Allegories not to descend to later Writers though Cajetan and others of the Romish party might be here alleged Which Exposition if admitted overthrows the project for then no more can be inferred from those Texts of Scripture but that there is great joy in the Court of Heaven and in particular amongst the blessed Angels for the redemption or recovery of lost man by Christ. But waving the advantage of this Exposition and granting that those Texts relate to particular persons yet all that can be logically inferred from hence is That the Saints and Angels do know some things and at some times which are done here upon the Earth namely so often and so much as God of his especial grace doth reveal unto them This is all and this we will not grutch them for observe the Inference Our Saviour as his use was spake in Parables even in the Parables of the lost sheep the lost groat and the Prodigal Son A certain man having a flock consisting of an hundred sheep doth lose one of the hundred and after long search made doth finde it and bring it back unto the Fold A certain woman is supposed having a little stock of ten peeces of silver to lose one of her peeces and after great pains taken to meet with it again On this they call together their friends and neighbors and say unto them Rejoyce with us for we have found the sheep and the peece of silver which was lately lost So then unless the man and woman in our Saviours Parable had pleased to call their friends together and imparted to them the finding of the lost sheep and the lost peece of silver the friends and neighbors might have been so far from shewing any great joy at the recovery that possibly they might have never heard of the loss If so then certainly it cannot be inferred from hence that the Saints and Angels which are the friends and neighbors of those several Parables are privy to our wants on Earth by course and ordinary dispensation but onely this that some things and at some times are imparted to them by their God by way of grace and extraordinary revelation No Protestant as I conceive so void of Reason as to make question of the one no Papist hitherto so cunning as to prove the other This though it seem to be a very bold and venturous Assertion may very easily be made good though we should use no other medium for the proof thereof than their own difference and disagreement in the manner of it A difference or contrariety indeed so great and admirable that fire and water will more easily be reconciled than their opinions Five several ways have been invented by the Schoolmen and those that since have travelled in the controversies of the present times by which to make the Saints acquainted with our state on Earth some false others blasphemous and the rest so doubtful that there is no belief to be given unto them no building to be laid on such weak foundations The first of these opinions is Quod sint ubique praesentes that they are present every where in all parts of the world and so no strangers either to our words or actions But this besides the want of sufficient proof doth trench too much on the Prerogative and Attributes of Almighty God there being no power Omni-present but is also infinite and Omni-presence so peculiar unto God himself that the Gentiles chalenged the Christians of the Primitive times for ascribing to their God that privilege whereof both Iupiter himself and all the Topical gods of Nations were conceived uncapable Discurrentem scilicet eum volunt ubique praesentem as Cecilius prest it in the Dialogue The second is That they are made acquainted with the passages of this present world Sanctis mortuis atque Angelis internuntiis by the information of such Saints as were daily added to their number and the relation of those Angels which by Gods appointment pitch their Tents about us Which though it be conjectural onely and is proposed without any proof at all yet for as much as comes within the knowledge of those Saints and Angels we should lose nothing of our ground if we closed in with them But then there are many Prayers and Vows which we make to God that go no further than the heart and do not finde a vent by the tongue at all The Spirit making intercession for us as St. Paul affirmeth with groanings that cannot be expressed which onely he that searcheth the heart saith the same Apostle can take notice of No Saint nor Angel being privy to the groans of the Spirit Some therefore are so far transported beyond the bounds of piety and Christian prudence as in the third place to make the blessed Saints and Angels acquainted with our very thoughts A fancy very prejudicial to the Majesty of Almighty God and indeed as dangerous as blasphemous the attribute of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the searcher of the hearts and reins being proper onely unto God It is God alone that knoweth the heart Acts 15.8 He that searcheth the heart Rom. 8.27 That trieth the heart 1 Thes. 2.4 Which searcheth both the reins and hearts Apoc. 2.23 A high Prerogative not given by any of the Gentiles to their supream deities and therefore quarrelled at in the Primitive Christians because by them ascribed to the Lord their God Et Deum illum suum in
the Protestant Doctors Yet true it is for magna veritas praevalebit that some and those of no small name in such Protestant Churches as would be thought a pattern unto all the rest have given too just a ground for so great a scandal And well it were they had observed that Caution in their Publick Writings which Caesar looked for in his Wife and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they had been as free from the suspition of it as the crime it self For howsoever they affirm it not in termes expresse which was the desperate boldness of that Florinus yet they come very near it to a tantamont by way of necessary consequence and deduction which was the Artifice of Bardesanes and Priscillian For if God before all eternity as they plainly say did purpose and decree the fall of our Father Adam Vt sua defectione periret Adam in the words of Calvin there was in Adam a necessity of committing sin because the Lord had so decreed it If without consideration of the sin of man he hath by his determinate sentence ordained so many millions of men to everlasting damnation and that too necessariò inevitabiliter as they please to phrase it he must needs pre-ordain them to sin also there being as themselves confess no way unto the end but by the means And then what can the wicked and impenitent do but ascribe all their sins to God by whose enevitable Will they were lost in Adam by whom they were particularly and personally necessitated unto death and so by consequence to sin For thus Lyconides in Plautus pleaded for himself when he deflowred old Euclios daughter Deus mihi impulsor fuit is me ad illam illexit It was Gods doing none of his that he was so vicious I hope I need not press this further or shew the true or real difference between the laying the burthen of our sins upon Christ our Savior as the Iews theirs upon the Scape-Goat by Gods own appointment and laying the whole blame and guilt of them on our own affections He is but ill trained up in the School of Piety who will not take upon himself the blame of his own transgressions and fly to God onely on the hopes of pardon And yet I shall make bold to add and indeed the rather that they who first did broach this Doctrine of the necessity and decree of Adams fall and consequently making God the prime Author of sin confess they have no warrant for it in the Holy Scripture For whereas some objected upon Gods behalf disertis verbis non extare that the decree of Adams fall had no foundation in the express words of Holy Writ Calvin returns no other Answer than a Quasi vero as if saith he God made and created man the most exact peece of his Heavenly Workmanship without determining of his end Nay himself calls it for a farewel horrible decretum a cruel and horrible Decree as indeed it is A cruel and horrible Decree to pre-ordain so many millions to destruction and consequently unto sin that he might destroy them If then the introduction of the body of sin came by no other means but by man alone and that the charging of it upon Gods Decrees have no foundation in the Scriptures If it run cross unto the constant current of Antiquity and that the like Errâ—neous and Blasphemous Tenets were reckoned of as Heresies by the Antient Fathers If it be founded onely on the ipse dixit or the why nots and Quasi veros of a private man and by him reckoned for an horrible and cruel Decree Nay more if it be contrary to the Word of God and increase of Piety and tend apparently to the dishonor of God and bolstring wicked men in their sinful courses then certainly we may conclude that God could have no hand in this woful Tragedie that man alone is Author of his own calamity and can accuse himself onely and his own affections for giving way to those temptations which brought sin upon him and not upon himself alone but his whole Posterity For if we look into the Scripture we find that sin did not content it self with the person of Adam as if it had been a sufficient victory to have brought him under unless in him his whole Race and Off-spring which were then radically and potentially in the loyns of Adam had been infected also with the same contagion For Adam is not here considered as a private person who was to stand or fall to himself alone without occasioning either good or evill unto any more than in way of imitation of his great Example But as the stock of all mankinde who were to have a share in his weal or woe For being the original and root as before was said of all mankind descended from him whom he did represent at his first Creation he did receive that stock of righteousness which God gave unto him not for himself onely and his own particular benefit had he used it well but as the common Patrimony and Inheritance of himself and his And having so improvidently lost both himself and it by yeelding to the motions of that flesh which he was to govern he lost it not onely for himself when he came under the attainture which the Law brought on him but he did wholly forfeit it for himself and them his Race or Off-spring which were then radically in his Loins being involved with him in the same perdition For as the Scripture saith of Levi that he paid Tithes in Abraham unto Melchisedech because he was in the Loyns of Abraham when Melchisedech met him so may we also say in the present case that all men sinned and lost themselves in our Father Adam because they were all of them in the Loyns of Adam when he lost himself The Scripture saith not onely that sin came to man or fell on him onely as if the power thereof had terminated in that one mans person on whom it first did come or fall but that it came by man as a Pipe or Conduit by which it passed also unto others By one man sin entred into the world saith the Apostle to the Romans By man came death saith the Apostle to the Corinthians that is to say By that one man our Father Adam both sin and death found opportunity to enter on his whole posterity Et per Adamum ex quo omnes mortales originem ducunt dicitur peccatum introiisse as it is in Origen This sin thus miserably derived from our father Adam we call Original sin or the Birth-sin as in the Ninth Article of the Church of England A sin because it is a taint or stain in the soul of man by which we are adjudged impure in the sight of God The Birth-sin or Original sin as being naturally and originally inherent in the very birth and therein different from the sins of our own committing which for distinction sake are
entituled actual The nature of which Birth-sin or Original sin is by the Church of England in her publick Articles defined to be the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is ingendred of the Of-spring of Adam whereby man is very far gon from Original righteousness and inclined to evill In which description we may find the whole nature of it as first that it is a corruption of our nature and of the nature of every man descended from the Loyns of Adam Secondly That it is a departure from and even a loss or forfieture of that stock of Original Iustice wherewith the Lord enriched our first Father Adam and our selves in him And thirdly That it is an inclination unto evil to the works of wickedness by means whereof as afterwards the Article explains it self the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and both together do incur the indignation of God So that if we speak of Original sin formally it is the privation of those excellent gifts of divine Grace inabling us to know love serve honor and trust in God and to do the things that God delights in which Adam once had but did shortly lose If materially it is that habitual inclination which is found in men most averse from God carrying them to the inordinate love and desire of finite things of the creature more than the Creator which is so properly a sin that it makes guilty of condemnation the person whosoever it be in whom it is found And this habitual inclination to the inordinate love of the creature is named Concupiscence which being two-fold as Alensis notes it out of Hugo that is to say Concupiscentia spiritus a concupiscience of the spirit or superior and concupiscentia carnis a concupiscence of the flesh or inferior faculties the first of these is onely sin but the latter is both sin and punishment For what can be more consonant to the Rules of Iustice than that the Will refusing to be ordered by God and desiring what he would not have it should finde the inferior faculties rebellious against it self and inclinable to desire those things in a violent way which the Will would have to be declined Now that all of us from the womb are tainted with this original corruption and depravation of nature is manifest unto us by the Scriptures and by some Arguments derived from the practise of the Catholick Church countenanced and confirmed by the antient Doctors In Scripture first we find how passionately David makes complaint that he was shapen in wickedness and conceived in sin Where we may note in the Greek and Vulgar Latine it is in sins and wickednesses in the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek in peccatis in iniquitatibus as the Latine hath it And that to shew us as Becanus hath right well observed Quod unum illud peccatum quasi fons sit aliorum that this one sin is as it were the Spring and Fountain from whence all others are derived Next St. Paul tels us in plain words that by the offence of one of this one man Adam Iudgement came upon all men to condemnation and Judgement could not come upon all or any were it not in regard of sin Not that all men in whom Original sin is found without the addition of Actual and Personal guiltiness are actually made subject unto condemnation and can expect no mercy at the hands of God but that they are all guilty of it should God deal extreamly and take the forfeiture of the Bond which we all entred into in our Father Adam Thus finde we in the same Apostle that we are by nature the children of wrath polluted and unclean from the very womb our very nature being so inclinable to the works of wickedness that it disposeth us to evil from the first conception and makes us subject to the wrath and displeasure of God Last of all we are told by the same Apostle for we will clog this point with no further evidence That the wages of sin is death that sin entred into the world and death by sin and that death passed upon all men for that all have sinned And thereupon we may conclude That wheresoever we behold a spectacle of death there was a receptacle of some sin Now we all know that death doth spare no more the Infant than the Elder man and that sometimes our children are deprived of life assoon almost as they enjoy it sometimes born dead and sometimes dead assoon as born Prima quae vitam dedit hora carpsit in the Poets language A wages no way due to Infants for their actual sins for actually as yet they have not offended and therefore there must needs be in them some original guilt some Birth-sin as the Article calls it which brings so quick a death upon them And this is further verified from the constant and continual practise of the Church of Christ which hath provided That the Sacrament of Baptism be conferred on Infants before they come unto the use of Speech or Reason yea and at some times and on some occasions as namely in cases of extremity and the danger of death to Christen them assoon as born For by so doing she did charitably and not unwarrantably conceive that they are received into the number of Gods children and in a state of good assurance which could not be so hopefully determined of them should they depart without the same And with this that of Origen doth agree exactly Si nihil esset in parvulis quod ad remissionem deberet indulgentiam pertinere gratia Baptismi superflua videretur Were there not something in an Infant which required forgiveness the Sacrament of Baptism were superfluously administred to him Upon which grounds the Church of England hath maintained the necessity of Baptism against the Sectaries of this age allowing it to be administred in private houses as oft as any danger or necessity doth require it of her A second thing we finde in the Churches practise and in the practise of particular persons of most note and evidence which serves exceeding fitly to confirm this point and that is That neither the Church in general doth celebrate the birth-day of the Saints departed but the day onely of their deaths nor any of the Saints themselves did solemnize the day of their own Nativity with Feasts and Triumphs First for the practise of the Church we may take this general rule once for all Non nativitatem sed mortem sanctorum ecclesia pretiosam judicat beatam That the Church reckoneth not the day of their birth but the death-day if I may so call it of the Saints to be blest and precious According unto that of the Royal Psalmist Right precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Upon which grounds the word Natalis hath been used in the Martyrologies and other publick
it is that God of his great goodness and love to man hath so provided that no man can complain that he wants help to get out if he be not wanting to himself but will stretch out his hand and lay hold of such means as are by God prepared to that end and purpose If we sing Domine de profundis and call upon him out of the deeps of our sin and misery no doubt but he will hear our voyce and take pitty on us for with him there is mercy saith the Royal Psalmist with him is plentious redemption sufficient to deliver Israel from all his sins The pit of sin is deep that of mercy bottomless a kind of Puteus inexhaustus a Well which can never be drawn dry as the Pope said of England when at his devotion Though man sin grievously and unpardonably in the sight of others yet hath God mercie still in store for the greatest sinner Gods goodness being so transcendent as not to be exhausted by mans maliciousness Bonitas invicti non vincitur said Fulgentius rightly Those of the Church of Rome have made a difference of sins accounting some to be venial others mortal which terms we well enough approve of rightly understood but I approve not the distinction of some Protestant Doctors of remissible and irremissible of sins which may be pardoned and of sins that may not First We deny not the distinction of venial and mortal sins rightly understood but do think that some sins are fitly said to be mortal and some venial because some are forgiven some not according to the quality of the sin and the party sinning Not that we think that some are worthy in themselves of eternal punishment and others but of temporal onely whereof the first are counted mortal and the others venial as the Papists think but that some sins either in respect of the matter wherein men offend or ex imperfectione actus in that they are not committed with a full consent are not so inconsistent with the Spirit of Grace but that the Spirit of Grace still remaining in him which doth them and preserves him in the good opinion and esteem of God These we may call Peccata quotidianae incursionis sins of daily incursion vain thoughts and idle words and unseemly motions which the best men are subject to at some time or other And if God were extream in marking what is done amiss in these several waies no flesh were able to abide it He that is faulty in these kinds though he deserve punishment and eternal punishment at the hands of God if God should take advantage of the Law against him yet shall his punishment be lesse and his stripes far fewer than it shall be in those who transgress maliciously and sin with an high hand of presumptuous wickedness We have not so much of the Stoick as to make sins equal or to maintain peccata omnia sunt aequalia in the way of Paradox as once Tully did though the Papists falsly charge it on us For though we use not the distinction in their sense and meaning yet neither do we say that all sins are equal and of like deformity or in the same degree of contrariety with the grace of God or that they have the same effects and shall be punished at the last with the like extremity Onely we take it for a dangerous and presumptuous doctrine to teach that any sin if properly and truly sin is venial in and of it self without true repentance as that which doth include nothing offensive to God or is meritorious of his judgements For Almain one of their great Doctors doth affirm expresly that it is a question amongst the Schoolmen whether there be any such sin or not And himself concludeth out of Gerson that no sin is venial of it self but onely through the mercy of God it being a contradiction that God should forbid an act under a penalty and when he hath done that act should not be mortal in its own nature because being thus forbidden it is against the Law of God and that which is against Gods Law must needs be infinitely evil and by consequence mortal And so it is also in respect of the party sinning For as Cajetan hath well observed That which doth positively make sin venial or not venial is the state of the subject wherein it is found If therefore we respect the nature of sin as it is in it self without grace it will remain eternally in stain or guilt and so subject the sinner to eternal punishment But yet such is the nature of some sins either in regard of the matter wherein they are conversant or their not being done with full consent that they do not necessarily imply an exclusion of Grace out of the subject in which they are found and so do not necessarily put the doers of them into such a state which positively makes them not to be venial by removing grace which is the fountain of remission So that no sin is positively venial as having any thing in it self which may claim remission because it hath not any thing of Grace from whence all remission doth proceed though many sins ex genere or ex imperfectione actus as before was said that is to say in reference to the matter wherein man offendeth or to the manner as not done with a full consent may be said to be venial negative and per non ablationem principii remissionis in that it doth not necessarily imply the exclusion of grace by the exclusion of which grace from the souls of men sins are named mortal For being that Grace onely is the fountain whence remission springs nothing can make sin positively venial but to be in Grace nor nothing make it positively mortal but to be out of the state of Grace And so we see that some sins may be called venial according to the quality of the sin and the party sinning in that they bring not alwaies with them eternal punishment though possibly not repented of particularly and that all sins are venial ex eventu too though otherwise mortal in themselves in that there is no sin so great but by the blood of Christ and sincere repentance may â—e done away and freely pardoned by the merciful goodness of the Lord our God who desireth not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn from sin and be saved For that there is no sin so great which is unpardonable or irremissible in respect of God the infinitness of his mercy over all his works his graciousness in pardoning Davids Murther Solomons Idolatries Pauls Persecuting of his Church Peters denying of his Master and thousands of the like examples do most clearly evidence If ever men had reason to despair of pardon none I am certain could have more than those we did so wilfully and maliciously imbrew their hands in the most innocent blood of our Lord and Saviour yet when their hearts were touched at St.
Peters Sermon so that they asked him What they were to do that they might be saved He presently chalked them out a way by Baptism and Repentance to obtain the remission of sins even of that bloody sin it self of crucifying by their wicked hands the Lord of glory If any had more reason to despair than they it must be none but such of the Scribes and Pharisees who saying that our Saviour Christ had cast out Devils by Beelzebub the Prince of Devils may properly be said to have blasphemed against the Holy Ghost and consequently to have committed such a sin as in the judgment of our Saviour is pronounced unpardonable He that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him as St. Luke expresly And yet St. Ambrose is so charitable as to think that some of them were pardoned it being probable that some of those very Scribes and Pharisees were present at St. Peters Sermon and so within the compass of repentance and forgiveness of sins And then withal we may observe that though it be expresly said That the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven yet it may well be understood with a qualification impossibility being sometimes used in holy Scripture to denote a difficulty As where it is affirmed as positively and expresly to be impossible for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Where certainly it was not the intent of Christ utterly to exclude all rich men from the hopes of Heaven but onely to declare how hard and difficult it was for those who trusted in their riches and wallowed in the pride and pleasures of a prosperous fortune to set their mindes upon the blessings of eternal life And so it is also in the present case in St. Chrysostoms judgment Ideo dici nunquam remitti quia difficilius remittitur Of the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost saith he it is therefore said that it shall never be forgiven because it is more hardly pardoned and with greater difficulty than any other sin whatever And that this qualification or the like is to be admitted appears yet further by the words which are next before it and to which these in question must needs have relation where it is said That all sins and all blasphemies shall be forgiven unto men In which he did not could not mean that all sins and at all times should be pardoned to all sorts of men for then no sin were damnable but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost which is most untrue Therefore the sense must be in both That all sins ordinarily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be forgiven unto men upon true repentance but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not so ordinarily be forgiven or shall more hardly be forgiven than any other Not that it cannot be forgiven at all Non utique quod remitti non possit as most truly Maldonat But because they who do blaspheme against the Holy Ghost Nullam peccati sui excusationem habent have seldom any thing to allege in excuse thereof and so were more unpardonable than other men As for those passages pretended from the holy Scripture in maintenance of the irremissibility of some kinde of sin and in particular of this against the power of the Holy Ghost they neither prove the point which they are produced for nor were intended by the Sacred Penmen of the Word of God of that sin or blasphemy In the first place it is alleged from St. Paul to the Hebrews To be impossible for those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost if they shall fall away to renew them again to repentance seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh But this the Fathers understand not of a difficulty or impossibility of admitting such men unto repentance but that they could not be admitted to a second Baptism and thereby to be renovated and illuminated to die be buried and rise a second time in Christ in so facile and compleat a washing of sin as the Sacrament of Regeneration did afford at first Chrysostom is express for this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He doth not take away repentance but a second Baptism St. Ambrose also saith the same and sheweth that the meaning of this Text is and must be De non iterando baptismate not of repelling sinners from the thought of repentance and the remission of their sins by the Churches Ministry as the Novatians falsly taught but of the not admitting them to a second Baptism which some began to introduce upon that occasion And that the Apostle speaks of a second Baptism is evident by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or illuminatos which was used antiently to signifie those that were baptised as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or illumination for Baptism the very Sacrament it self Secondly by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or renovare which intimates or implies our renovation by that holy Sacrament Per lavachrum enim renovamur per quod renascimur as St. Ambrose notes it We are renewed by the laver of regeneration by which we are new-born to the life of righteousness And thirdly from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of crucifying again the Lord of life our Baptism being as the figure of his death or crucifixion in which our old man is crucified with him as St. Paul hath told us That the body of sin might be destroyed and buried in his grave by Baptism And thereupon if followeth by St. Pauls illation Non magis quenquam bis baptizari quam Christum bis crucifigi posse saith the learned Knight Sir Daniel Heinsius That the impiety is as great for a man to be baptized again as if Christ should again be crucified The like may be affirmed of a second Text alleged from the same Apostle where it is said That if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin Which Text as that before is applied by Calvin to such as fall away from the Faith and Gospel whom he excludes utterly from all hope of pardon as men that sin against the holy Spirit of God but very wrongfully in all For first although we read it wilfully in our last Translation yet is it onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek originals which Beza rendreth uliro the Vulgar Latin voluntario our old Translation willingly as the Rhemists do And to say truth the word doth signifie no more though to comply with Calvins Comment on the Text our last Translators who inclined too much unto his opinions do now read it wilfully And if it be but willingly as indeed it is not I would know in what a desperate estate we Christians were if every sin which is committed willingly after truth embraced shall either be reputed in the sight of God for
the sin against the Holy Ghost or utterly past hope of pardon Nor is the case much better if we read it wilfully though better with some sort of men than it is with others For miserable were the state of us mortal men if every sin that is committed wilfully which too often hapneth either against the truth of science or the light of conscience should make a man uncapable of the mercy of God as one that blasphemed or sinned take which word you will against the power and vertue of the Holy Ghost A doctrine never countenanced in the Primitive times the Church extending her indulgence to the worst of Hereticks and opening both her arms and bosom unto those Apostataes which with true sorrow for their sins did return unto her condemning the Novatians for too rigid and severe in their bitter Tenet touching the non-admittance of them unto publick penance and after that unto the Sacraments of the Church again Which being premised the meaning of the Text will appear to be onely this That they who willingly offend after they have received the knowledge of the truth and Gospel must not expect another Christ to die for them or that he who died once for their sins should again die for them St. Ambrose and St. Chrysostom do expound it so Out of whom Clictoveus in his Continuation of St. Cyrils Commentaries upon the Gospel of St. Iohn informs us That the Apostle doth not hereby take away the second or third remission of sins for he is not such an enemy to our Salvation but saith onely that Christ our Sacrifice shall not be offered any more upon the Cross for the man so sinning And this is further proved to be the very meaning of the Apostle in the place disputed out of the scope and purpose of his discourse which was to shew unto the Iews that it was not with them now as it was under the Law For under the Law they had daily Sacrifices for their sins but under the Gospel they had but one Sacrifice once for all Every Priest saith he doth stand daily ministring and offering often times the same sacrifice but this man JESUS after he had offered one sacrifice sate down for ever at the right-hand of God than which there cannot be a clearer explanation of the Text in question Though Sacrifices were often reiterated in the times of the Law Hic vero nec baptismus repetitur neque Christus bis nisi cum ludibrio mori pro peccato yet neither is Baptism to be reiterated in the times of the Gospel nor can Christ be exposed for sin to a second death without a great deal of scorn as Heinsius hath observed from Chrysostom Some light doth also rise to this Exposition from the words immmediately succeeding where the Apostle speaks of a certain expectation of a fearful judgment Which joyned unto the former verse have this sense between them That he which doth not put his whole trust and confidence in the sufficiency of the Sacrifice already offered but for every sin expects a new Sacrifice also must look for nothing in the end but a fearful judgment which most undoubtedly first or last shall fall upon him The third and last place which is commonly alleged for proof that there are some sins irremissible in their own nature is that of St. Iohn If any man saith he see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death he shall ask and God shall give life for them that sin not unto death There is a sin unto death I do not say he shall pray for it In which words we finde two sorts of sins a sin to death and a sin that is not to death a sin which is not unto death for the remission of the which a man is bound to pray in behalf of his Brother a sin to death concerning which it seems unlawful for one man to pray for another And yet it doth but seem so neither For the Apostles words I do not say he shall pray for it amount not to a Negative that he shall not pray for it as the fautors of the contrary opinion would full gladly have it 〈◊〉 â—ather to a toleration that they might pray if they would the business being of 〈◊〉 a nature that the Apostle had no minde to encourage them in it because he could not promise them the success desired but leaving every man to himself to pray or not to pray as his affections to the party or Christian pity of the case might induce him to That by peccatum ad mortem somewhat more is meant than ordinary mortal sins is a thing past question but what it is is not so easie to discover St. Augustine will have the sin which is here called a sin unto death to be that sin wherein a mam continueth until his death without repentance but addes withal That in as much as the name of the sin is not expressed many and different things may be thought to be it Pacianus an old Catholick writer interprets it of peccata manentia Such sins as men continue in till the hour of death St. Ierom reckoneth such men to commit this sin Qui in sceliribus permanent who abide in their wickedness and express no sense nor sorrow of their lost estate The Protestant writers do expound it generally of the sin against the Holy Ghost For which say they no man ought to pray because our Saviour hath testified it to be irremissible And to this end they do allege a place from Ierom affirming Stultum esse pro eo orare qui peccaverit ad mortem That it is a foolish thing to pray for him which sins unto death because the man that is marked out to some visible ruine nullis precibus erui potest cannot possibly be reprieved by prayer But herein Ierom is not consonant to himself elswhere for in another place he telleth us with more probability that nothing else is here meant but that a prayer for such a sin whatsoever it be is very difficulty heard And this I take to be the truer or at least the more probable meaning of the Apostle who saith immediately before This is the confidence which we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us 1 Iohn 5.14 And therefore lest we should conceive that this holds true in all Petitions whatsoever which we make for others he addes That if it be a great sin such as is not ordinarily forgiven but punished with death I dare not say that you can either pray with confidence or that I can give you any great hopes of prevailing in it According as God said to the Prophet Ieremy Pray not for this people for I will not hear thee And though St. Augustine sometimes thought this sin to be final impenitency or a continuance in sin till death without repentance yet in his Book of Retractations he resolves the contrary affirming That
we must despair of no body no not of the wickedest as long as he lives and that we may safely pray for him of whom we do not despair So that for ought we see by these Texts of Scripture there is no sin which properly may be said to be irremissible And therefore I resolve with Maldnonate though he were a Iesuite Tenendam esse regulam fidei quae nullum peccatum esse docet quod à Deo remitti non possit That it is to be imbraced as a rule of Faith that there is no sin so great whatsoever it be which God cannot pardon for which if heartily bewailed and repented of there is no mercy and forgiveness to be found from God I shut up all with that of the Christian Poet Spem capio sore quicquid ago veniabile apud te Quamlibet indignum venia faciamve loquarve In English thus My words O Christ and deeds I hope with thee Though they deserve no pardon venial be CHAP. VI. Of the Remission of sins by the Blood of Christ and of the Abolition of the body of sin by Baptism and Repentance Of confession made unto the Priest and the Authority Sacerdotal THus have we in the former Chapter discoursed at large of the Introduction and Propagation of Sin and of the several species or kindes thereof and also proved by way of ground-work and foundation that albeit sin in its own nature be so odious in the sight of God as to draw upon the sinner everlasting damnation yet that there is no sin so mortal so deserving death which is not capable of pardon or forgiveness by the mercy of God We next descend unto those means whereby the pardon and remission of our sins is conveyed unto us the means by which so great a benefit is estated on us The principal agent in this work is Almighty God of whom the Scripture saith expresly That it is one God which shall justifie the circumcision by Faith and the uncircumcision through Faith that it is God which justifieth the Elect and that the Scriptures did foresee That God would justifie the Heathen In all which Texts to justifie the Elect the Iews the Gentiles doth import no more than freely to forgive them all the sins which they had committed against the Law and to acquit them absolutely from all blame and punishment due by the Law to such offences Which appears plainly by that passage of the same Apostle where speaking of Almighty God as of him that justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4.5 he sheweth immediately by way of gloss or exposition in what that justifying doth consist saying out of David Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin And this God doth not out of any superadded or acquired principle which is not naturally in him but out of that authority and supream power which is natural and essential to him In which respect no Creature can be said to forgive sins no not our Saviour Christ himself in his meer humane nature but must refer that work unto God alone For who can so forgive sins but God onely said the Pharisees truly And as God is the onely natural and efficient cause of this justification the principal Agent in this great work of the remission of sins so is the onely moral and internal impulsive cause which inclines him to it to be found onely in himself that is to say his infinite mercy love and graciousness toward his poor creature Man whom he looks on as the miserable object of grace and pitty languishing under the guilt and condemnation of sin Upon which Motives and no other he gave his onely begotten Son to die for our sins to be a ransom and propitiation for the sins of the world That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but through forgiveness in his Blood have life everlasting But for the external impulsive efficient cause of this act of Gods the meritorious cause thereof that indeed is no other than our Lord JESUS CHRIST the death and sufferings of our most blessed Lord and Saviour For God beholding Christ as such and so great a sufferer for the sins of men is thereby moved and induced to deliver those that believe in him both from the burden of their sins and that condemnation which legally and justly is due unto them This testified most clearly by that holy Scripture Be ye kinde saith the Apostle unto one another forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you Where plainly the impulsive cause inclining God to pardon us our sins and trespasses is the respect he hath unto the sufferings of our Saviour Christ. Thus the Apostle tells us in another place That we are freely justified by the grace of God through the Redemption which is in CHRIST IESUS Justified freely by Gods grace as by the internal impulsive cause of our Iustification by which he is first moved to forgive us our sins through the Redemption procured for us by the death and sufferings of CHRIST IESUS as the external moving or impulsive cause of so great a mercy In this respect the pardon and forgiveness of the sins of men is frequently ascribed in Scripture to the Blood of Christ as in the Institution of the Sacrament by the Lord himself This is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins Thus the Apostle to the Romans Whom JESUS CHRIST did God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his Blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God And thus to the Ephesians also In whom we have redemption through his Blood the remission of sins according to the riches of his grace To this effect St. Peter also For ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as with silver and gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot And so St. Iohn The Blood of Iesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin and he hath washed us from our sins in his own Blood in another place Infinite other places might be here produced in which the forgiveness of our sins is positively and expresly ascribed to the Blood of Christ or to his death and sufferings for us which comes all to one But these will serve sufficiently to confirm this truth that the main end for which Christ suffered such a shameful ignominious death accompanied with so many scorns and torments was thereby to attone or reconcile us to his Heavenly Father to make us capable of the remission of our sins through the mercy of God and to assure us by that means of the favor of God and our adoption to the glories of eternal life By that one offering of himself hath he for ever perfected
expresly by St. Peter to the sorrowful and afflicted Iews Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins By Ananias unto Saul Arise and be baptised and wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord By Paul himself who had experimentally found the efficacy and fruit thereof in his own person That God according to his mercy hath saved us not by works of righteousness which we have done but by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost and finally by St. Peter also That Baptism doth now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Iesus Christ This also was the judgment of the Antient Writers and that too long before the starting of the Pelagian Heresies to which much is ascribed by some as to the advancing of the efficacy and fruit of Baptism by succeeding Fathers For thus Tertullian Quotidiè nunc aquae populos conservant deleta morte per ablationem delictorum Exempto scilicet reatu eximitur poena Ita restituetur homo Deo ad similitudinem ejus qui retro ad imaginem Dei conditus fuerat Now saith he do the Waters daily preserve the people of God death being destroyed and overthrown by the washing away of sins for where the guilt is taken away there is the punishment remitted also St. Cyprian thus Remissio peccatorum sive per Baptismum sive per alia Sacramenta donetur propriè Spiritus Sancti est that is to say that the remission of sins whether given in Baptism or by any other of the Sacraments is properly to be ascribed to the Holy Ghost The African Fathers in full Council do affirm the same and so doth Origen also for the Alexandrians of both which we shall speak anon in the point of Paedo-baptism Thus Nyssen for the Eastern Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baptism saith he is the expiation of our sins the remission of our offences the cause of our new-birth and regeneration Thus do the Fathers in the Constantinopolitan Council profess their Faith in one Baptism or being onely once baptized for the remission of sins And finally That this was the doctrine of the Church in general before Augustines time who is conceived to be first that did advance the power and efficacy of Baptism to so great an height in opposition to the Pelagian Heresies appears by a by-word grown before his time into frequent use the people being used to say when they observed a man to be too much addicted to his lusts and pleasures Sine illum faciat quod vult nondum enim baptizatus est i. e. Let him alone to take his pleasure for as yet the man is not baptised More of this we shall see anon in that which follows Nor is this onely Primitive but good Protestant Doctrine as is most clear and evident by that of Zanchius whom onely I shall instance in of the later Writers Cum Minister Baptizat c. When the Minister baptizeth I believe that Christ with his own hand reached as it were from Heaven Filium meum sanguine suo in remissionem peccatorum aspergere besprinkleth the Infant with his Blood to the remission of sins by the hand of that man whom I see besprinkling him with the Waters of Baptism So that I cannot choose but marvel how it comes to pass that it must now be reckoned for a point of Popery that the Sacraments are instrumental causes of our justification or of the remission of our sins or that it is a point of learning of which neither the Scriptures nor the Reformed Religion have taught us any thing So easie a thing it is to blast that with Popery which any way doth contradict our own private fancies But here before I do proceed further in this present Argument I shall make bold to divert a little upon the antient use of Baptismal-washings before our Saviour Christ ordained it for an holy Sacrament that we may see what hint our Saviour took in this Institution who thought it no impiety to fit the antient usages of the Iews and Gentiles to the advancement of the Gospel though now to hold conformity with the Church of Rome in matters very pertinent to the same effect is reckoned for the greatest Error in our Reformation First for the Iews that they used very frequent washings is most clear in Scripture For not onely the Pharisees particularly who were a superstitious supercilious Sect but the Iews in general have this Character given them by St. Mark That they eat not except they wash their hands oft that they washed as often as they came from market or any publick place of meeting and that they did observe upon old Tradition the washing of Cups and Pots of brazen Vessels and of Tables And this they did not onely in the way of cleanliness or in point of manners to wash away the filth of their bodies when they went to eat or to make clean their Vessels and other Vtensiles which they ate or drank in But rather out of an opinion that by those frequent washings they preserved themselves from the filth and corruption of the world especially in their return from the streets and market places where possibly they might meet with some that were uncircumcised or otherwise obnoxious to an ill report by which they thought themselves defiled And this I take to be an antient custom of the Iews because I finde it much in use amongst the Samaritans who were in many if not most of their common Ceremonies but the Apes onely of the Iews Who on the same opinion of their own dear sanctity which had so perfectly possessed their neighbors of Iudah did use when they had visited any of the Nations to sprinkle themselves with urine upon their return and if by negligence or necessity of business they had touched any not of their own Sect to drench themselves over-head and ears in the next Fountain The reason of which is thus delivered by Epiphanius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Because they held it for an abomination to come near a man that was of a different Religion or perswasion from them But this appears more plainly by that passage of St. Iohns Gospel where there is mention of six water pots of stone at the marriage-feast of Cana in Galilee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of the purifying of the Iews Where by no means I can consent to Maldonâ—tes interpretation who will not have these water-pots to be used at all for any Legal or Mosaical purification Qua qui secundum legem polluti erant mundabantur in which they used to wash themselves who had incurred some legal pollution but onely for those Pharisaical washings which the Pharisees used often in the midst of a feast Which had it been the
to the water but the institution nor to the Sacramental water of it self alone but to the holy Spirit which is active in it Et ipsi soli hujus efficienciae privilegium manet to which belongeth the prerogative in this great effect For as the Spirit of God moving upon the waters of the great Abyss did out of that imperfect matter produce the world so the same Spirit moving on the waters of Baptism doth by its mighty power produce a regenerate Creature From hence it is that in the setting forth of so great a work the water and the Spirit are oft joyned together as in St. Iohn Except a man be born again of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And in St. Paul accrrding to his mercy hath he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost And in St. Iohns Epistle also There be three that bear witness on the earth the Spirit and the Water and the Blood And if the Spirit go along with the Waters of Baptism as we see them joyned together in the holy Scripture no question but it will be made effectual to the work intended which is the washing away of sins whether smal or great whether Original or Actual of what sort soever For proof whereof besides what hath been said of this Point already let us behold the practise of the Primitive times when the Discipline of the Church was grown so severe that some were hardly admitted at all unto publick Penance others removed from the communion of the Church for three four or seven years together and sometimes as the quality of the sin appeared for the whole time of their lives A Discipline which the Church used onely towards those which had given up their names in baptism to be visible members of that body whereof Christ was Head and that made more unpleasing to most sort of men upon the growth and spreading of the Novatian Heresie who mistaking the Apostles meaning declared all those to be uncapable of mercy who sinned after Baptism and therefore neither would admit them unto publick penance nor otherwise restore them to the Churches peace of whom St. Cyprian thus complaineth Sic obstinatos esse quosdam ut dandam non putent lapsis poenitentiam And though the Orthodox party did abominate these Novatian rigors yet were they too strait-laced towards those who fell into any publick or notorious sin after they had received the Sacrament of Regeneration it being conceived that after Baptism major in sordibus delictorum reatus as it is in Augustine the smalest sins seemed greater than indeed they were Upon this ground and an assurance which they had that all their sins whatever were expunged in Baptism it was the custom of too many to defer their Baptism till the hour of their death or till they lay so far past hope on the bed of sickness that nothing but the stroke of death was to be expected Thus doth the Story tell us of the Emperor Constantine that in extremo vitae die when he was even brought to the point of death he was baptized in Nicomedia by the hands of Eusebius the like of Theodosius a most pious Prince upon these grounds St. Austine did defer his baptism a long time together that so he might more freely enjoy those pleasures to which he was addicted in his younger years On the like fear of such relapses as were censured so severely in those rigid times he put off the baptizing of Adeodatus his own natural Son till he came to thirteen years of age at what time the severity of the Church began to slaken or rather the good Fathers judgement was then changed to the better on the right understanding of the use and nature of that holy Sacrament A custom as ill taken up so as much condemned and subject to the Churches censures when occasion served those which were so baptized and escaped from death whom they called Clinici because they were baptized on the bed of sickness being disabled by the Canons from the holy Ministery But whether censured or not censured it comes all to one as to the point I have in hand which was to shew that in the practise and opinion of those elder times the Sacrament of Baptism was held to be the general plaster for all manner of sins and though sometimes deferred till the hour of death on the occasion and mistakes before remembred yet then most earnestly desired ad delenda erratu illa quae quoniam mortales erant admiserant as the Historian saith of the Emperor Constantine for expiating of those sins which they had committed But on the other side as some did purposely defer it till the time of their death out of too great a fear of the Church's censures and a desire to injoy the pleasures of sin yet a little longer so others and those the generality of the people of God out of a greater care of their childrens safety procured it to be administred unto them in their â—endrest infancy almost as soon as they were born And this they did on very pious and prudential considerations though there be no express command nor positive precept for it in the holy Scripture for when we read that we were shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin Psal. 51.5 that all men are by nature the children of wrath Ephes. 2.3 and that except a man be born again of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Joh. 3.5 What Parent can so far put off all natural affections as not to bring his child to baptism especially if there be any danger of death as soon as all things fitting can be had in readiness for that ministration And though there be no positive precept nor express command for Infant-baptism in the holy Scripture it is sufficient ground for the Church to go on if it be proved to be an Apostolical practise and that it is at least an Apostolical practise there will appear sufficient evidence to any man not prepossessed with prejudice and mis-perswasions For when we finde particular mention of the baptizing of whole housholds as of that of Lydia Act. 16.15 of the Gaoler vers 33. of the same Chapter and of Stephanus 2 Cor. 1.16 Either we must exclude children from being part of the houshold which were very absurd or else admit them with the rest to this holy Sacrament But because many exceptions have been made against these instances some thinking it possible enough that those housholds had no children in them as we see many families in great Towns and Cities where no Infants are others restraining the administration of Baptism unto such of the houshold as by giving testimony of their Faith and Repentance were made capable of it we must for further proof make use of a Rule in Law and back that Rule of Law by a practical Maxim delivered by the
God if not more possible to recreat a man from something than to creat him first of nothing Whether the natural substance of a man corrupted be not more apt to be recollected unto it self than the dust of the Earth was in it self to be first framed to such a substance Credamus ergo abeodem restitui posse veterem hominem qui novum fecit as it is excellently well prest upon them by Lactantius If for the manner of it they would know by what arts and agents so great a miracle as the raising of the same numerical body shall be wrought upon them we must refer them to themselves and in themselves they have an Answer They all know so much of themselves that they live move and have a being that they are all engendred by their natural Fathers and fashioned in the secret Closets of their Mothers womb yet certainly it is a matter if considered rightly not very capable of credit that so small a quantity of seed should either be improved into a substance of such different parts as flesh and blood and bones and sinews or else divided into so many parts of such different substance When at the last the body is made fit to receive the soul they cannot tell either by what means the soul is given or the whole birth nourished Lord I am fearfully and wonderfully made said the Royal Psalmist If then they know not by what means they were made at first but shut up their enquirie in an admiration of the unsearchable power and wisdom of the most high God why should they look to be resolved of all doubts and difficulties touching the Resurrection of the self-same bodies and not refer that also to Gods power and wisdom Which was the answer of Tertullian to the Roman Sophisters Redde si potes rationem qua factus es tunc require qua fies First render an account saith he how thou first wert made and afterwards enquire how thou shalt be raised But not to answer them with Questions after the manner of the old Socratical way of disputing to illustrate our belief more fully in this Article and gain theirs unto it I will lay before them two such instances as will clearly carry it except they think more meanly of the power of God than of subservient nature and the force of art It is the nature of the Loadstone to draw steel to it that is a thing well known And it is found of late by a strange experiment that if a massie body of steel be ground to powder and all the Atomes of it buried in a lump of Clay yet will the powerful vertue of the Stone or Adamant being gently moved upon the superficies of the Cake attract into a lump all those dusts of steel so strangely scattered and dispersed Which though it be a wondrous power and effect of nature yet comes it short of that which is done by art The substance of the steel not being altered though the parts attenuated For it is found by those who do trade in Chymistry that the forms of things are kept invisibly in store though the materials of the same be altered from what first they were and that by vertue of those forms the things themselves will be restored to their former being which they make good by this experiment They take a Flower or Plant of what kinde soever in the Spring time when it is in its fullest and most vigorous growth and beat it in a Morter Root Stalks Flowers and Leaves until it be reduced to a confused Mass. Then after Maceration Fermentation Separation and other workings of that art there is extracted a kinde of Ashes or Salt including those formes and tinctures under their power and Chaos which they put up in Glasses very close made up the mouth of the Glass being heated in the fire and the neck thereof wrung close together to keep in the Spirits Which done applying to it a soft fire or candle you shall presently perceive the Flowers or Plants to rise up by little and little out of those Ashes and to appear again in their proper forms as when they grew upon the ground But take away the fire or candle and they remove immediately to their Chaos again A wonderful effect of art and nature such as not onely doth resemble the Resurrection but so far confirm it that he who shall deny it for the time to come will make the God of Heaven less powerful than the Sons of Art The ingenuous Author of the Book called Religio Medici doth also touch upon this rarity but I have not now the Book by me to put down his words or to make use of any other of his observations to the point in hand And to say truth there need but little more be added as to the Quod sit of the Resurrection to the point it self That which remains relates unto the manner onely to some points of circumstance and to such Christian uses as are raised hereon And first Perhaps it may be demanded of us as once of the Apostle in former times Quali corpore venient How with what Bodies they shall rise Not whether in the very same Numerical Body for that hath been made good before but whether in the same shape and fashion which before it had We know that man returns again into his Earth at several ages the tender Infant and the Man of ripest years being alike subject to the stroke of impartial death In which respect it hath been questioned by the Antients whether they shall arise in the same age and disproportions of Age and Stature which they had whilest they lived St. Augustine doth resolve it Negatively and determineth thus That we shall all of us be raised in that proportion both of strength and beauty which men attain to commonly at the time of their best perfection Restat ergo saith he ut suam quisque habeat mensuram vel quam habuit in inventute vel quam habiturus esset si vixisset And this he groundeth on that passage to those of Ephesus where the Apostle speaks of that special care which CHRIST hath taken of his Church and our edification till we all come to a perfect man unto the measure of the fulness of the age or stature of CHRIST Ad mensuram plenitudinis aetatis Christi that is to say as he expounds it Ad juvenilem formam to that degree of age or stature which our Redeemer had attained to at the time of his passion which was about the four and thirtieth year of his life as may be gathered from the Scriptures A second Quere hath been made concerning them which are diffigured and deformed and mulcted as it were by nature how in what bodies they shall come in the Resurrection Not with their imperfections I conceive not so for in the Heavens there shall be nothing not compleat and of full accomplishment And on the other side were they freed
of those imperfections it may be said that then they are not raised in the self-same bodies To this we have the resolution of St. Augustine also affirming That in that glorious day the substance of their bodies shall continue as before it was but the deformities and imperfections shall be taken away Corporibus ergo istis naturae servabitur vitia autem detrahentur as the Father hath it A resolution which St. Paul doth seem to favor saying That the body shall be raised in glory though it be sown in dishonor as do his following words the former viz. Though it be sown in weakness in the weakness of old age or infancy shall be raised in power For neither is it likely that infancy being imperfection and old age corruption can stand with the estate of a glorified body or that our Lord which made the blinde to see and the lame to go which came to seek his grace on Earth will not much rather heal them of their imperfections whom he vouchsafeth to admit to the glories of Heaven A glorious place is fit for none but glorified bodies And so far glorified shall the bodies of Gods servants be as to be raised in power whereby they shall be freed from all wants and weaknesses in incorruption which shall make them free both from death and sickness in glory which shall make them shine with a greater splendor than any of the Stars of Heaven as did the face of Moses in the Book of Exodus and that of Stephen the Proto-martyr in the Book of the Acts and lastly in agility by which they shall be like the Angels mounting as on the wings of an Eagle to meet the Lord JESUS at his coming In reference unto these spiritual qualities St. Paul affirms That it was sown a natural body but shall be raised a spiritual body Natural for the substance still spiritual for the qualities and endowments of it Spiritualia post Resurrectionem erunt corpora non quia corpora esse desistunt sed quia spiritu vivificante subsistunt as St. Augustine hath it Another Quere yet remaineth which had been moved it seems in St. Augustines time by some whose curiosity did exceed their judgments The Question was Whether the woman should be raised to eternal glory in her own sex or the more noble sex of man Alas poor Souls what monstrous crime had they committed that they should be excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven Of what strange errors and mistakes must guilty-nature be accused when she framed that sex or rather God when he created it at first out of Adams side by which it is supposed uncapable of immortality Yes certainly say they for it seemeth to us that Christ hath so adjudged it saying That in the Resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage And if no marriage then no woman the woman being therefore made that she might be married Vain men why do they talk so idly in the things of God! Nuptias negavit dominus in resurrectione futuras non foeminas as St. Augustine noteth The Lord hath not excluded women from the Resurrection onely in answer to a captious Question which the Saduces made he returned them this That in that day there should be neither care nor notice taken of those worldly matters This is the sum and substance of our Saviours Answer and this is nothing to the prejudice of the Sex or Persons Nor need we doubt but as that Sex have done most acceptable service to the Lord their God either in keeping constantly the faith of wedlock or in preserving carefully an unspotted chastity or suffering resolutely for the testimony of the Faith and Gospel so shall they also in those bodies receive the crown reserved for so great obedience But what need more be said of this needless Quere which Christ our Saviour hath prevented and resolved already Who therefore first appeared to those of the Female Sex that making them the publishers of his Resurrection he might assure them of their own Qui ergo utrumque sexum instituit utrumque restituet God saith St. Augustine as he made both Sexes will restore both Sexes and raise up both in their own proper and original being unto Life eternal Other particulars of the manner of this Resurrection as the dreadful terror of the day the sounding of the Trump the conflagration of the world and the like to these have either been already handled or else will fall within the compass of the following Article That which remains to be considered at the present will be matters practical first in relation to our friends and then in reference to our selves and our own affairs First in relation to our Friends That we bemoan not their departure with too great extremity or sorrow for them without hope as if lost for ever Were it indeed so irrecoverable a losâ— that either their bodies were for ever banished from their souls or that their souls did die and perish with their bodies it were a misery to which no sorrow could be equal But being so assured of a Resurrection it is not to be supposed of them which die in the Lord that they are either lost to themselves or us They onely have withdrawn themselves for a certain season from the vanity and troubles of this present world and shall return at last unto life again both to our comfort and their glory In this respect it was the antient custom of the Church of Greece and is not yet worn out of use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To set boyled Corn before the Singers of the holy Hymns which are accustomed to be sung at the commemoration of the dead who sleep in Christ. And this they do to manifest their hopes in the Resurrection of which the Corn is so significant an embleme as before was shewn And to say truth Death if considered rightly is the gate of life and of a life not to be shaken with adversities or subject unto change of fortune Hanc Deus fidei praestat gratiam ut mors quam vitae constat esse contrariam instrumentum foret per quod in vitam transiretur it is St. Augustines note But what need Augustine be alleged when we may hear the same of the antient Druides of whom the Poet tells us that they held this Paradox Longae canitis si cognita vitae Mors media est That death was but the middle way to a longer life If then our Ancestors in those dark times of ignorance when they knew not Christ conceived no otherwise of death and the terrors of it than as the way unto a life of more excellent nature then certainly a nobler and moâ—e chearful constancy must â—eeds be looked for at our hands who are not onely more assured of the immortality of the soul which they blindly guessed at but of the Resurrection of the Body also which they never heard of The next consideration doth concern
did eat drink and sit down together at the self-same Table And therefore unto these and such Texts as these which speak of eating and drinking or sitting down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of Heaven there cannot be given a better answer than that which Christ returned to the captious Saduces viz. That in the Kingdom of Heaven they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as the Angels of God And if they are as the Angels of God there shall be neither eating nor drinking then we are sure of that Nor is it like that glorified and immortal Bodies alimoniis terrenis sustentanda sint can be sustained with corruptible and earthly food For as Ierom very well inferreth Vbi cibus sequuntur morbi c. Where there is meat there will be sickness where there is sickness death will follow and after that another Resurrection is to be expected and then another thousand years to be added to that Et sic de coeteris As for those passages alleged from the Revelation if they be literally understood they seem to be expresly for the Millenarians but then withal it draweth after it such inconsequences as plainly overthrow their whole foundation For I hope they will provide themselves of a better Supper Than to eat the flesh of Kings and the flesh of Captains and the flesh of Mighty-men and the flesh of Horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all men both bond and free and small and great Such chear and such an earthly paradise as they seem to dream of will agree but ill I must desire to be excused for calling it a Dream of an earthly paradise for I am verily perswaded that it is no other It hangs upon such doubtful proofs and is so differently reported by the Patrons of it that never sick-mans dream was more incoherent Which that we may the better see and see withal how every one added somewhat of his own unto it according as the strength or weakness of his fancy led him I shall put down a memorable passage of Gennadius which most fully speaks it In divinis repromissionibus nihil terrenum vel transitorium expectamus sicut Melitani sperant Non nuptiarum copulam sicut Cerinthus Marcus delirant Non quod ad cibum vel ad potum pertinet sicut Papiae Autori Irenaeus Tertullianus Lactantius acquiescunt Neque per mille Annos Resurrectionem regnum Christi in terra futurum Sanctos cum illo in deliciis regnaturos speramus sicut Nepos docuit qui primam justorum Resurrectionem secundam impiorum confinxit By which we see that Melito did fancy onely a transitory and earthly Kingdom Cerinthus and Marcus introduced the use of the marriage-bed Papias seemed to be content with eating and drinking and Nepos found out the distinction to make all compleat between the first and second Resurrection making the first to be onely of the just and righteous the second of the wicked and impenitent sinner after the end or expiration of the thousand years This is the Genealogie or Pedigree of this Opinion which hath of late begun to revive among us and findes not onely many followers but some Champions also Whom I desire more seriously to consider in their better thoughts whether this their supposed Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour commended to the world by some Antient Writers gave not the first hint unto Mahomets Paradise In which he promiseth to those who observe his Law most delicious dwellings adorned with flowery Fields watered with Chrystalline Rivers and beautified with Trees of Gold under whose comfortable shade they shall spend their time with amorous Virgins and be possessed of all voluptuous delights which to a sensual minded-man are the greatest happiness I know that some of late times and of eminent note have given us this opinion in a better dress delivering upon probable grounds That before the end of the world there shall be a time in which the Church of Christ shall flourish for a thousand years in greater purity and power both for faith and manners and in more outward lustre and external glory than hitherto it hath done in all former ages Coelius Secundus Curio in his Book De Amplitudine Regni Dei P. Cunaeus in that De Repub. Iudaeorum Du Moulin in his Christian Combat Piscator in his Comment on the Revelation Alstedius in a Tract of his called Diatribe de mille Annis Apocalypticis and divers others not inferior unto them for parts and learning have declared for it And for my part I see no danger in assenting to it If this will satisfie the Millenarians they shall take me with them but if they stand too stifly to their former tendries and look not for this flourishing time of the Gospel till the Resurrection of the just be first accomplished and then expect to have their part and portion in the pleasures of it I must then leave them to themselves The method of my Creed doth perswade me otherwise which from the Resurrection of the Body leads me on immediately unto the joys and glories of eternal everlasting life to which now I hasten I know it doth much trouble many pious and sober men to finde the force and efficacy of our Saviours Argument in the place foregoing which seems more plainly to assert the Immortality of the Soul than the Resurrection of the Body the bodies of Abraham Isaac and Iacob being dissolved into dust in the time of Moses though their souls were living with their God Concerning which we are to know 1. That the Sadduces by whom this Question was propounded did not alone deny the Resurrection of the dead but so as to affirm withal Animas cum corporibus extingui That the Soul it self did also perish with the body as Iosephus tells us They said that there was neither Angel nor Spirit as St. Luke says of them 2. That though the Pharisees who were their opposite faction in the latter end of the Iewish state did grant a Resurrection or Reviviscency from the dead yet was it after such an Animal and Carnal sense in eating drinking and conversing with women In qua cibo potu opus esset conjugia rursum jungerentur c. saith my Author of them as the Mahometans now dream of in their sensual paradise And against this absurd opinion as indeed it was the Sadduces had found out that Argument about a woman which had or might have had seven Husbands by the Law of Moses whose writings onely they received as Canonical Scripture desiring to be satisfied in their curiosity to which of the seven she should be wife at the Resurrection Which when the Pharisees could not answer as keeping to those principles indeed they could not they thought to put our Saviour to it at the self-same weapon But they found there another manner of Spirit than what had spoken to them by and
and beams of our Heavenly Father who hath bestowed our souls upon us indued with such a perfect measure of understanding and who not onely doth direct our mindes in the ways of godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in due time also will save our Bodies The Divine Plato and his followers borrowed a great deal of their light from this Zoroaster and the like Dictates of the rest of the Chaldean Sages which grounded him in his opinion of the Souls immortality and the account it was to give to the dreadful Iudge in the world to come whereof he speaketh in his second Epistle and eleventh Book De Legibus Pythagoras though sometimes he held the transmigration of the soul into other Bodies yet in his better thoughts he disposed it otherwise and placed the souls of vertuous men in the Heavens above where they should be immortal and like the gods saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say Leaving the Body they to Heaven shall flie Where they shall be immortal never die And to this purpose also that of Epicharmus may be here alleged assuring us That if we live a life conform to the rules of vertue death shall not be able to do us hurt because our souls shall live in a blessed life in the highest Heavens Upon these grounds but specially upon the reading of some Books of Plato Cleombrotus is said to have been so ravished with the contemplation of the glories of that other life that for the more speedy attaining of them he cast himself down from the top of a Mountain with greater zeal by far than wisdom And therefore much more commendable was the death and dying speech of one Chalcedius another of those old Platonicks Revertar in patriam ubi meliores Progenitores Parentes I am saith he returning into my own Country where I shall finde the bettet sort of my Progenitors and deceased Parents Nor was this such a point of divine knowledge as was attainable onely by the wise men of Greece the sober men amongst the Romans had attained it also For Cicero affirms expresly Certum esse ac definitum in coelo locum ubi beati aevo sempiterno fruantur That there is a certain and determinate place in Heaven where the blessed souls of those who deserve well of the publick shall injoy everlasting rest and happiness And Seneca speaks thus of death intermittit vitam non eripit that it onely interrupteth the course of life but destroyeth it not because there will come a day at last qui nos iterum in lucem reponat which will restore us again to the light of Heaven Finally Not to add more testimonies in so clear a case Homer makes Hercules a companion of the gods above with whom he lives in endless solace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Ennius saith the like of Romulus Romulus in Coelo longum cum diis agit aevum If we would know what their opinion was of the place it self in which eternal life was to be enjoyed we have a glimpse or shadow of it in the fiction of the Elysian fields so memorized and chanted by the antient Poets Locos laetos amoena vireta Fortunatorum nemorum sedesque beatas A place conceived to be replenished with all variety of pleasures and divine contentments which possibly the soul of man could aspire unto the ground continually covered with the choycest Tapistry of Nature the Trees perpetually furnished with the richest fruits excellent both for taste and colour the Rivers running Nectar and most heavenly Wines fit for the Palat of the gods And which did add to all these beauties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sweets thereof not blasted by untimely dewes or interrupted by the inclemency of a bitter winter A place by them designed for the soules of those who had been careful of Religion or lost their lives in the defence and preservation of their natural Country or otherwise deserved nobly of the publick Nay even the rude Americans and savage Indians whom we may justly call jumenta rationalia a kind of reasonable beasts retain amongst them a Tradition thar beyond some certain hils but they know not where there is a glorious place reserved for the soules of those who had lived vertuously and justly in this present life or sacrificed their lives to defend their Country or were the Authors of any notable and signal benefit which tended to the good of mankind If then not onely the Philosophers and learned Gentiles but even the Barbarians and rude Americans have spooken so divinely of the place and state of good men departed there is no question to be made but that the Patriarchs Prophets and other holy men of God were very well assured of the truth hereof although they lived before or under the Law as well assured as we that have the happiness to live under the Gospel For St. Paul telleth us of the Fathers which were under the cloud that they all passed thorow the red Sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual Rock which followed them and that Rock was Christ Not that they had the same Sacraments in specie which we Cristians have but others which conduced to the same effect and did produce the same fruits both of Faith and Piety The Mysteries of salvation the hopes and promises of eternal life are frequently expressed in the Old Testament quamvis obscuriores longè though more obscure by far than in the forms of speech in which they are presented to us in the New Testament as Peter Martyr well observes And he notes too that many were the temporal promises or the promises concerning temporal blessings but so as to conduct and train them up in the hopes of happines eternal The temporal blessings which they had were but the types and figures of those endless comforts which were reserved for them in the Heavens above the land of Promise but a shadow of that promised land of which they were to be heirs in the Kingdom of God Hierusalem but a Map of that glorious City whose Author and founder is the Lord. Enoch had neither been translated before the Law nor Elias under it had not both of them stedfastly beleeved this truth that they should see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living And yet some men there were and I doubt still are who teach that the holy men of God which lived before Christ our Saviours time did fix their hopes only upon temporal blessings and not at all upon spiritual or if upon spiritual as the peace of conscience yet not upon eternal happiness which is the crown and glory of that peace The Anabaptists and the Familists were of this opinion against whom the Church of England hath declared her self in the Seventh Article of her Confession saying That they are not to be
doth exclude a Metaphor Nor do there want good Reasons to confirm this truth against the cavils and exceptions of unquiet men For first considering that the fire of Hell is so often threatned in the Scriptures to ungodly men unless we hold fast to this good old Rule in expounding Scripture to take it in the literal sense according as the native meaning of the words import but where the same may be against the truth of faith and honesty of manners it is St. Augustines Rule we shall leave nothing safe nor sound in the Book of God And then it is to be considered That Christ our Saviour shall pronounce this sentence in the day judgment Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels Which if it be not spoken in the literal sense according to the plain meaning of the words neither the guilty can perceive what they are to suffer nor the Ministers what they are to execute nor the Saints what belongs to them to approve and applaud but all things will be left in most strange perplexities Besides it was the custom of our Lord and Saviour when he had spoken to the Iews in Tropes and Parables to make an exposition of them to his own Disciples and in that exposition to speak so plainly that every one might be able to understand him As in the Parables of the Tares and the Casting Net delivered in the thirteenth of St. Matthews Gospel the Disciples understood not what he meant by either but were as ignorant of his scope and purpose as the rest of the Iews But when he did expound himself unto them in private touching the sending of his Angels in the day of judgment to sever the wicked from the just and to cast them being severed so into the furnace of fire and then demanded if they understood what was said unto them they made answer yea It must not therefore be a Metaphor but a proper Speech by which our Saviour Christ did expound his meaning and open the obscurity of the said two Parables for to expound a Parable by a Trope or Metaphor had neither been agreeable to our Saviours goodness nor any way conducing to their Edification So then the fire of Hell shall be true and real not Figurative and Metaphorical and as it is a real fire a devouring fire so is it ignis inextinguibilis an unquenchable fire in the third and ignis aeternus an everlasting fire in the five and twentieth of Matthew The smoke whereof goeth up for ever saith the Prophet Isaiah A fire which feedeth both on the body and the soul yet shall never consume them and such a fire as breeds a kinde of worm within it which shall never die but always gnaw upon the conscience of the man condemned and create far more anguish to him than all bodily torments And of this worm it is which St. Basil speaketh where reckoning up the terrors which shall be presented to the wicked in the day of judgment amongst them he recounteth a darkish fire which though it hath lost his light shall retain its burning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a most venemous kinde of worm feeding on flesh and raising intolerable torments with continual biting See to this purpose also that of Gregory Nyssen in his Homily De Resurrectione Christi nor is it thus delivered in the writings of the Christians onely Iosephus also hath the like a Iew but a learned and a modest Iew in an Oration of his which he made to the Grecians not extant in his works indeed but mentioned by Damascene and preserved by Zonaras For speaking also his opinion of the final judgment to be executed by the Messiah in the last day he saith That there remaineth for the lovers of wickedness an unquenchable and never ending fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And a fiery worm not dying nor destroying the body but breaking forth of the body with unceasing anguish And to this truth as to the miserable state of those in Hell all the old Catholick Doctors do attest unanimously whether Greeks or Latines Tatianus one of the most antientest of the Grecian Doctors calleth the estate of the damned in Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a death which never dieth an immortal misery Tertullian the most antient Latin Cruciatum non diuturnum sed sempiternum Not onely a long and lingring torrant but an everlasting one St. Augustine answerably unto that of Tatianus doth call it Mortem sine morte adding more over of those sires Punire non finire corpora that they torment the body but destroy it not Tertullian he goeth further yet saith That it burns the body but repairs it also and calls it poenam nutrientem A fire which so devoureth that it also nourisheth With him Lactantius doth consent so also doth Minutius Felix Prudentius Cassiodorus and indeed who not And why should this be thought a wonder so far beyond the reason and belief of a meer natural man or such who taking on themselves the names of Christians will yet believe no more than will stand with reason Doth not the Scripture tell us of a burning bush a bush that burned with the fire and was not consumed And the Historians of the Hills of Aetna and Vesuvius which do almost continually send out dreadful flames and yet never waste And the Philosophers of a Worm or Beast which they call the Salamander whose natural habitation is in the midst of the fire and the Poets of Prometheus and Titius Vultures which having fed so many hundred years upon their Bowels had not yet devoured them Doth not experience tell us daily That the lightning glanceth on our Bodies often but doth seldom hurt us And doth not Ovid say expresly Nec mortis poenas mors altera finiet hujus That there is a second death which shall never end yet I confess that the prevailing Heresie which pretends to such wit and piety hath no small reason to declare Interire posse animas aut ab exitio liberari That the souls of wicked and impenitent men shall either be annihilated or in fine released For we may safely say of these new Pretenders as once Minutius did of the old Philosophers Malunt penitus extingui quam ad supplicia reparari Considering how they have subverted all the Fundamentals of the Christian Faith it is all the reason in the world that they should rather wish to be annihilated than survive to torments such torments as shall know neither end nor measure BUt blessed JESUS why do we waste our time in such nice disputes in proving and disproving points of so clear an evidence which were much better spent in pursutes of those ways and courses by which we might have hope to flie from the wrath to come Thou Lord hast set before us both Heaven and Hell commandest us to choose the one and avoid the other and tracedst
us out the way unto life eternal both by thy Doctrine and Example Conduct us we beseech thee in the pathes of righteousness suppress that itch of curiosity which hath not left one Article of the holy Faith without stain or censure and make us chearfully submit our Reason to the Rule of Faith And thou O God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth send down thy holy Spirit into our hearts that by his Grace we may believe in thine onely begotten son JESUS CHRIST our Lord place all our hopes upon the merits of his most precious death and passion our comforts in his glorious Resurrection and Ascension That by his means and mediation we may be made true Members of thy Catholick Church enjoy a right Communion with thy blessed Saints and the remission of our sins in this present world That so we may be made partakers of the Resurrection unto Life eternal in the world to come So be it Amen FINIS Eccl. 12.12 Plautus Rom. 2.1 Eccl. 4.7 Tacit. Ann. Pag. 350. Pacian in Biblioth Patr. Whitac Contr. 2. q. 9. c. 8. Horat. de arte Poet. Ovid. Triâ—t Eleg. 1. Virg. Aen. l. 1. Ambros. in Hexaemer 1 Cor. 12.20 Ephes. 5.32 De Civit. dei l. 22. c. 17. Hos. 2.19 Eph. 5.30 Eph. 4.5 1 Cor. 12.13 Tacit. Annal. lib. 15. Joh. 3.16 Joh 20.31 2 Pet. 3.16 Rom. 14.1 Heb. 5 13 14. 2 Tim. 1.13 Iren. adv haeres l. 1. c. 2. Id. ibid. c. 3. Iren. adv haeâ—es l. 1. c. 3. Tertull. de veland Virgin Aug. Serm. de Temp. 115. Aug. de fide Symb. c. 1. Id. in Encheirid a Laur. Ruffin in Symbol Aug. Serm. 115. de Temp. Ambros. Serm. 38. Hieron Epist ad Pammach 61. Leo Epi. 13. ad Palcher De Eccl. Officiis l. 2 c. 3. Cap. 56. Terent. in Andria Aug. Encheir ad Laurent Id. lib. de fide Symb. c. 1. Epist. 61. ad Pammach c. 9. Lib. 1. c. 3. Tertul. adv Praxeam Ignat. Epist. ad Trallian Euseb. Hist. l. 1. c. ult Examen Concil Trident. sess 4. Articl of 1562. Art 134. Contra Donat. l. 4. c. 23. Field l. 4. c. 21. Vigilius contra Eutych l. 4. Hooker Eccles. Polit. l. 5. Apolog. pro Confess Remon Durand Rationale Divin Field of the Church l. 2. c. 1. Ruffinus in Exposit. Symb. Concil Agathens Can. 13. Aug. Homil 42. Conc. Foro-Iuliens Apud Binium Tom. 3. par 1. l. 1. p. 262. Durand Rational Divin Anast. apud Platinam in Collect. Concil Durand Rational Divin Baron Annal Eccl. A. 44. Perk. Exposition of the Creed Id. ibid. B. Bilsons Survey p. 664. August de doctr Christian. Id. de Civit. l. 11. c. 3. B Bilsons Survey p. 664. Binuis in Annot. in Concil Tolet. IV. Tom. Concil 2. part 2. Perk. Exposition of the Creed Mar. 16.15 Isocrat in Orat. ad Nicoclen Aristol Analytic prior Quintilian l. 2. cap. 13. Philo de vita Mofis l. 3. Iulii Etist decretal c. 8. Mat. 28 20. Paci Epist. 1. ad Symp. Downs of the Authors and Authority of the Creed Ruffinus in posit Symb. Lact. l. 2. c. 9. Act. 17.28 1 Cor. 15.33 Tit. 1.12 B. Iewels challenge Pet. Mart. de votis coelebat Chemnit Examen de Tradition c. 6. August Epist 19. Hieronyn ad Damas. Epist. 57. Vincent Lirin adv haeres c. 38. Id. ibid. c. 2. Augustin in Epist. 118. Id. contr Iulian. Pelagi l 2.9 Id. ibid. c. 10. Canon An. 1571. cap. de Concionator An. 1. Eliz. cap. 1. Saravia de divers ministerii gradibus Calvin Inst l. 2. c. 16. sect 1â— (b) Coke in Calvins case (c) Phocylid sentent (d) Rom. 8.38 (e) Philip. 1.6 (f) Valla in Annotat. in N. Test. (g) Zanch. de Natura Dei c. 3. (h) Melancht in Exam. Artic. de Iustificatione (i) Vrsin in Exposit. praecept 1. (k) Arist. in lib. Demonstrat (l) Joh. 4.39.41 42. (m) 2 Pet. 1.21 (n) 2 Thes. 2 10 11 12. (o) Heb. 11.1 (p) Beza in Heb. c. 11. v. 1. (q) Haymo in Heb. c. 11. v. 1. (r) 2 Tim. 2.18 (s) Haymo in Heb. c. 11. v. 1. (t) Heb. 3.14 (u) Budaeus in Comment Gr. Linguae (x) 2 Cor. 9.4 11.17 (y) Ephes. 6.12 (z) Haymo in Heb. 11. v. 1. (a) Id. ibid. (b) Rev. 1.20 (c) Beza in Heb. c. 11. v. 1. (d) August in Psalm 77. (e) Id. in Iohan tract 29. (f) Compend Theol. lib. 5. c. 21. (g) Zuinglius in Matth. 23.13 (h) Muscul. loci commun loco de Fide n. 3. (i) Wotton de Reconcil Peccat part 1. lib 2. c. 14. n. 3. (k) Mat. 8.26 (l) Mat. 28.2 c. (m) Calvin in Ioh. cap. 2. v. 11. (n) Joh. 4.39 (o) Davenant in Coloss. 2. v. 2. (p) Joh. 11.42 (q) Calvin in Ioh. cap. 11. v. 42. (r) Joh. 1.12 (s) Joh. 2.23 (t) Calv. in locum cap. 2. v. 23. (u) Joh. 2.24 (x) Muscul Loci commun de fide (y) Exod. 14. v. 31. (z) Muscul. ut supr (a) Exod. 19.9 (b) Basil. de sancto Spiritu c. 14. (c) Socrat. hist. Eccles. l. 1. c. 25. (d) Ruffin in Exposit. Symboli (e) Paschas de Spirit sancto lib. 1. (f) August in Ioh. tractat 29. (g) Wotton de Reconcil Peccat part 1. l. 2. c. 14. (h) Joh. 2.23 (i) Act. 16 31. (k) Hermes (l) Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in prooemio (m) Hilar. de Trinitate l. 10. (n) Symbol Caroli M. (o) Heb. 11.6 (p) Iewel Apol Eccles. Anglic (q) Act. 8.13 (r) Calvin Instit. l. 3. c. 2. â— 10. (s) Idem in Act. 8.13 (t) Act. 8.21 22. (u) Ignat. Epi. (x) 1 Tim. 1.19 20. 2 Tim. 2.17 18. (y) 1 Tim. 1.20 (z) Calvin Instit l. 3. c. 2. n. 11. (a) Rom. 6.22 (b) Act. 5.4 (c) Act. 8.23.21 (d) 1 Tim. 1.19 (e) Act. 8.22 (f) 1 Tim. 1.20 (g) 1 Cor. 5.4 (h) Rom. 1. 18.20 (i) Jude v. 6. (k) Mat. 25.30.1 (l) Mark 1.24 (m) Mat. 8.29 (n) Heb. 2.16 (o) Sect. 1. ch 2. (p) Vrsin Theses Theol. c. 13. (q) Id. ibid. (r) Iackson of justifying faith c. 2. (s) Vrsin Cutech part 2. qu. 21. n. 2. (t) Matth. 13.20 21. (u) Bucan Com. loc de Fide (x) Vrsin Catech part 2. qu. 21. (y) Mat. 17.20 (z) 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10. (a) Cicer. in Tusc. quaest l. 1. (b) Lactant. l. 3.8 (c) Act. 14.16 17. (d) Tacit. de mor. German (e) Lactant. l. 1.2 (f) Ap. Morâ— de vera Relig. (g) Lactant l. 1. c. 11.13 c. (h) Lucan Pharsal l. 10. (i) Lactant. l. 2. (k) Iuvenal Sat. 13. (l) August de civit Dei l. (n) Minut. Fel in Octavio (o) Lactant. l. 1.6 (p) Minut. Fel. in Octavio (r) Mereur Trism in Paeman c. 2 3 4 c. El in Asclep c. 6 7. (s) Lactant. l. 1.6 (t) Id. cap. 7. (u) Minut. Fel. in Octavio (x) Clem. Alexand in Proâ—rept (y) Laert. in vita Socrat. (z) Tertul. in Apolog. c. 46. (a) Laert. in vita Socr. (b) Plato in Epist. 13. ad
did begin so he hath continued there being almost no sin committed which he tempts not to For though it be possible enough that men may sin without the temptation of the Devil by reason of the infirmity of the flesh and the concupiscences of several lusts which they bear about them yet commonly the Devil hath a part in all temptations and either findeth matter in us to work upon or stirreth up the dead seeds of sin which do lie raked up in our hearts like embers or fire in ashes For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications theâ—is and the like foul acts as Christ himself hath told us in S. Matthews Gospel And every one is tempted as St. Iames affirmeth when he is inticed and drawn aside of his own concupiscence So that the matter of sin lieth within our selves the Devil doth but actuate and inform that matter and reduce the powers thereof into overt act co-operating to the sin but causing directly the temptation Between the temptation of the Devil and the act of sin there must go a consent of heart and an inclining of the will to the sin presented and this is mans own act who is free to evil and is not necessitatâ—d to consent to the evil motion the over-ruling of mans will being Gods Prerogative though possibly he have not present grace enough to foil the temptation The Devil may present to us such a pleasant object though under other notions then that of sin which he knows like enough to work on our humane frailty and work upon us as he doth by all subtile suggestions to consent unto it And though he cannot force us unto such consent yet in regard he seldom faileth by his cunning practises of gaining that consent which he cannot force not only the temptation but the sin it self is often times ascribed unto him in the holy Scripture Thus it is said that Satan provoked David to number Israel 1 Chron. 21.1 that the Devil put it into the heart of Judas to betray his Master Ioh. 13.2 that Satan had filled the heart of Ananias to lie against the holy Ghost Act. 5.3 And in the same respects it is that he is so often called the Tempter as Matth. 4.3 1 Thes. 3.5 And the Apostle speaking unto married people adviseth them not to be long asunder but to come together again that Satan tempt them not for their incontinency 1 Cor. 7.5 Upon this diligence of Satan to tempt men to sin and his well husbanding of all advantages which are presented to him to promote that work it was not only the opinion of some learned Gentiles but of some of the antient Christians also that every man had his evil Angel which did continually attend upon him to tempt him to the works of sin and the deeds of darkness For the Christians Cassianus telleth us quod unicuique nostrum duo cohaereant Angeli i. e. bonus malus that is to say that unto every one of us there adheres two Angels a good and an evil For the good Angel he brings proof indeed from the holy Scripture but for the adhaesion of the evil Angel he relyeth principally on the Book called Pastor which always counted an Apocryphal book in the judgement of the Catholick Church makes me suspect the Tenet for Apocryphal also And yet some think that St. Paul doth allude unto this opinion where he telleth us of an Angelus Satanae that lay heavy on him a messenger of Satan as our English reads it which was given to buffet him But for the Gentiles it is clear that they so opined Lactantius reporting it as their opinion quod singulis hominibus adhaereant that every one had his Daemon or his evil Angel attending on him whom they worshipped by the name of their proper Genii And for his general affirmation I consent unto him In his particular proof I must needs dissent For amongst others of his proofs he hath that of Socrates qui circa se assiduum Daemona Ioquebatur qui sibi puero adhaesisset cujus arbitrio nutu vitae 〈◊〉 regereâ—ur who used to speak of a certain Daemon who was always about him and had accompanyed him from his childhood by whose direction and appointment his whole life was ordered The same Tertullian telleth us of him Apologet. c. 37. and Minutius Felix in his Dialogue But notwithstanding the authority of these learned men I rather think that this Angel whom they call Daemonium was his Angel-Guardian then any of the damned and malignant crew such as were properly called Daemons the life of Socrates being too full of moral vertue to be directed by the counsels of an evil Angel For though I cannot grant as before I said that every man how wicked and unjust soever whether he be Iew or Gentile Turk or Infidel hath his Angel-Guardian which is the now received opinion of the Roman Schools yet that few selected ones among the Gentiles such as Socrates was who led their lives according to the Rules of Vertue and died as he did in defence of the only God against those many Idols which the Heathen worshipped might by Gods special grace have their Angel-Guardians I am not willing to deny And now I am fallen upon these Daemons I must take notice of another of the Devils practises which did as much promote his Kingdom of darkness as any temptation unto sin of what kinde soever I mean the raising of these Daemons into the rank and reputation of Celestial Deities and speaking by them in the mouths of the Heathen Oracles For by this means they gained on earth what they lost in Heaven and though they could not make themselves equal to God in power and greatness while they continued in the Heavens yet they found ways to be adored as God by poor ignorant people whose souls they had seduced to that wretched blindeness Of these Lactantius telleth us that they were called Daemones i. e peritos rerum scios from their general knowledge which the word Daemon doth import in the Greek Original that they had a Soveraign Prince amongst them whom they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Prince of Devils that counterfeiting first the persons of deceased Kings they aim to be worshipped in their Statua's and became so impudent at last Vt Dei nomen sibi deorum cultum vendicabant that they challenged to themselves the name of God and the divine worship which of right did belong unto it And to train up the people in this blinde Idolatry having first taught them to adore the images of some famous men whom they had caused to be entituled by the name of Deities sub statuis imaginibus consecratis delitescunt they shrouded themselves within their consecrated shrines and Images and from thence gave out Oracles touching things to come and sometimes so possessed the breasts of their Priests and Votaries that they did seem to be inspired with
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What saith he meaneth Pspothomphanech To which he answereth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. An interpreter of hidden things Which also very well agreeth to our Lord and Saviour to whom all hearts be open all desires known and from whom no secrets can be hidden Come said the woman of Samaria and behold a man that hath told me all the things that ever I did Ioh. 4.29 The Iew which thorough this thin vail on the face of Ioseph doth not behold the portraiture and lineaments of Christ our Saviour is not so properly to be termed blinde because he cannot see as because he will not Such also was the type of the Prophet Daniel cast by the malice of his enemies the King unwillingly consenting into the den of ravenous cruel Lyons the dore sealed up with the Kings Ring nothing but death to be expected And yet behold a resurrection in the person of Daniel exactly typifying that of Christ our Saviour in each of the particulars before remembred But of all types especially as to the circumstances of time and place that of the Prophet Ionas doth come nearest home and it comes close home too as to the occasion Ionas went down into the Sea and put himself into a Ship to flie from the presence of the Lord but a great tempest overtook him a tempest of extraordinary violence that neither art nor strength could prevail against it insomuch that the Mariners although Heathens did conclude aright that it was of Gods immediate sending and that there was some heinous sinner got aboard amongst them which drew down vengeance from above upon all the rest To Lots they went Ionas was found to be the party who willingly and cheerfully submitting to the will of God to save the rest in danger to be cast away said frankly without opposition or repining at it Tollite me take me and cast me into the sea Better one perish then so many Accordingly cast in he was and drowned as the poor men thought that had cast him in But the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights which time expired the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land This is Historia vera a true relation of the story in respect of Ionah but it is Sacramentum magnum a very great mysterie withall in regard of Christ. For Ecce plusquam Ionas hic behold a greater then Ionas is presented here It was but signum Prophetae the signe of the Prophet Ionah as our Saviour cals it in respect of the history but it was Res signata too in regard of the mysterie And so it is affirmed by Christ whose death and resurrection it foreshadoweth to us viz. As Ionas was three days and three nights in the Whales belly so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth Never did type and truth correspond more perfectly For who knows not how usual a thing it is to compare the world unto a ship or argosie wherein all mankinde is imbarked all the sons of Adam and amongst them the son of man as he cals himself But all the sons of Adam being sinners from the very birth no wonder if the tempest of Gods anger fell upon them all and made them all in danger to be cast away In which amazement and affright only the son of man like Ionah in the sides of the ship slept it out securely who though he knew no sin was made sin for us by taking our iniquities upon his accompt and in that sense the greatest sinner in the vessel So that the high Priest did not prophecie amisse when he said this of him It is expedient that one man do die for the people that the whole nation might not perish Never was doubtfull Oracle fulfilled more clearly For Christ no sooner found what their purpose was but he was at his tollite too as willing to be throwne in as Ionas was and therefore said to those who came out against him Sinite hos abire let those go their way I only am the man that must stay this storme and pacifie the wrath of Almighty God And so accordingly it was done Gods wrath thereby appeased poor mankinde saved and Christ like Ionas having lain three days and three nights in the heart of the earth did on the third day rise again and by so doing vanquished death and swallowed up the grave in victory But this particular we shall hereafter meet with and more fully speak of when we are come unto the Circumstances of the resurrection of which this of the time the third day is the most materiall I add this only for the present in respect of the Iews who being by Christ foretold of his resurrection and in so evident a type thereof as this Signum Prophetae this signe of the Prophet Ionas as himself entitles it could look with an Historical faith on the resurrection of the Prophet out of the belly of the Whale and yet give no belief unto that of Christ out of the bowels of the earth though testifyed and confirmed unto them by such pregnant evidence And yet I shall crave leave to add that if Ionah was the Widow of Sereptas son he whom Elias raised from death to life 1 King 17. as many of the Iewish Doctors do affirme he was the parallel will yet come closer then before it did For Ionas in the Whales belly was but dead putative in the esteem and eye of men but in the Widowes Chamber he was dead realiter and so more perfectly resembling him whose signe he was This leads me on to the next way of evidence in regard of the Iew which is that of example Themselves had read in holy Scripture and believed accordingly that Elias had restored from death to life the son of the Sareptan woman whosoever he was and that Elisha did not only work the like wonder on the dead child of the Shunamite but that his dead body did revive a man and raised him also from the grave And to this head we may reduce the more then wonderfull deliverance of Daniel from the Lyons den and the three Hebrew Salamanders from the fierie furnace all of them putative dead all of them ransomed by the Lord from the mercilesse furie of the grave and jawes of death and that miraculous deliverance no lesse to be esteemed then a Resurrection To each of these the Iews most readily give assent How then can they deny it unto this of Christ Assuredly it was as possible to God to raise our Saviour from the dead if we consider him no further then a mortall man as to raise dead bodies by the prayers of the Prophets and by the dead carkasse of Elisha or as it had been to reprieve Daniel and the three children from the hands
of death Why then do they denie it unto this of Christ Not because they did not think it possible but because they would not have it believed It stood not with their interesse and private ends to have it passe for currant with the common people Our Saviour Christ had been too diligent as they thought in the discharge of his great office in the discovery and anatomizing of their corruptions and impieties and they were loath to have his doctrine justifyed by so great a miracle Rather then so to save their superstitions they will lose themselves Non tam de suis Religionibus bene meriti quam de se male Now as the Iews believed the Scripture relating the occurrences of the ages past so gave they as full credit to them foretelling things which were to come which is our last sort of proofs delivered from the old Testament in the way of Prophecie And first we meet with that of David in the book of Psalmes viz. Thou shall not leave my soul in hell neither shalt thou suffer thy holy One to see corruption A priviledge which did not appertain at all to David who was dead and buried and had seen corruption his Sepulchre which continued till our Saviours time being nothing but a glorious emptinesse therefore by him or rather by the holy Spirit speaking in him intended to our Lord and Saviour the fruit and glorie of his loynes A matter in it self so clear and evident that when St. Peter pressed it home as a proof and evidence relating to the resurrection of the son of David those very Iews who had so wilfully cryed down this truth had nothing to oppose against it Thus also did Isaiah prophecie concerning him that the Lord would break him and make him subject to infirmities making his soul to be an offering for sin but yet withall that notwithstanding this he would prolong his dayes and the work of the Lord should prosper in his hands as the Iews could not but perceive that indeed it did But most exactly that of Hosea in whom we do not only finde the substance of this resurrection prophecied but the very Circumstances Come saith the Prophet Let us return unto the Lord for he hath spoyled us and he will heal us he hath wounded us and he will binde us up After two days will he revive us and the third day will he raise us up and we shall live in his sight A text so plain and evident to the present purpose though possibly entended by the Prophet of some speedy deliverance which by his mouth the Lord was pleased to promise to the house of Iudah that as it clearly doth foretell of a Resurrection so the accomplishment thereof in the man Christ Iesus might serve abundantly to convince the most stubborn Iew that it was principally meant and foretold of him Impleta in plerisque Prophetarum vaticinia c. The undeniable fulfilling of so many Scriptures might very well perswade men not possessed with prejudice first that our Saviour CRRIST did rise again according to the holy Scriptures and secondly that because he rose again according to the holy Scriptures that therefore he was CHRIST the Saviour We come next in order to this miracle not as foreshadowed in types or foretold in Prophecies or otherwise exemplifyed in the book of God but as accomplished in its time and left upon record in the Evangelists And here we will not beg the Iews to assent unto our Gospell but our proofs Themselves had seen our Saviour raise his dead friend Lazarus from the stench of the grave after he had been dead four days and began to putrifie They also knew as well as any of his own Disciples that he had formerly restored from death to life the widowes son of Naim and the daughter of Iairus How then can they denie him power to work the like miracle on himself At least why might not God be able to restore him unto the benefit of life again by whose ministery if not also power the benefit of life was restored to others True it is that had this mighty work of wonder been done in a corner or in some darke and solitary descent there might have been suspicion of imposture conceived against it But God well knew with what a wilfull generation he had to do what opposition he was like to finde in the promulgation of this Gospell For this cause as he made choice of a great and mighty City for the stage or Theatre whereon to act this work of wonder so did he also take a time in which that mighty City was most full and populous even the feast of the Passeover A time in which not only those which were Iews by birth resorted thither for the solemnizing of that festival but even such Proselytes of every nation under heaven as were daily added to the Covenant Once I am sure that Cestius a Roman President numbring the people which came thither to observe this Feast found them to be two millions and 700000 souls all clean and purifyed fit for the legall eating of the Paschal Lamb. God certainly had thus disposed it in his heavenly wisdome that so the tidings of the resurrection might with a swifter wing flie over all the parts of the world then known and with more ease prepare the people for salvation Which circumstance considered rightly as it ought to be were of it self sufficient to convince the Iews of a most obstinate incredulity who seeing could not choose but see yet would not perceive Ampla civitas ampla persona rem quaerentes latere non sinit as St. Austin hath it But the malice of that people will not so be satisfyed For when the Lord was risen as he had foretold them the Souldiers must first be corrupted to accuse the Disciples of Felonie and when that failed themselves are ever forwards to condemn them of folly The Lord had often signifyed unto them that the third day he would be raised from the dead that the Temple of his body should be destroyed and in three days built up again and they were resolute if strength and cunning could prevail to defeat him of the glory of his resurrection Upon this ground they had a warrant from the Governour to make sure the Sepulchre to place a watch about it and to seal the stone But when the dawning of the third day and the relation of the Souldiers had proclaimed the miracle they then gave money to the Souldiers to say and if need were to swear that his Disciples came by night and stole him away whilest they slept Dormientes testes adhibent as said St. Augustine of them in the way of scorne This is the most they have to trust to and this report as it seems clearly by the text did hold long amongst them but this if well considered is both false and foolish Never was accusation worse contrived then this For first
by them retained are all the holy days and fasts observed in the Church of England kneeling at the Communion the Cross in Baptism a distinct kinde of habit for the Ministration and divers others which by retaining they declare to be free from sin but those men to be guilty both of sin and scandal who wilfully refuse to conform unto them The Bohemians in their Confession go as high as this Humanos ritus consuetudines quae nihil pietati adversantur in publicis conventibus servanda esse i. e. That all Rites and Customs of Humane or Ecclesiastical Institution which are not contrary unto Faith and Piety are still to be observed in the publick meetings of the Church And still say they we do retain many antient Ceremonies as prescribed Fasts Morning and Evening Prayer on all days of the week the Festivals of the Virgin Mary and the holy Apostles The Churches of the Zuinglian and Calvinian way as they have stript the Church of her antient Patrimony so have they utterly deprived her of her antient Customs not thinking their Religion plain enough till they left it naked nor themselves far enough from the pride of Rome till they had run away from all Primitive decency And yet the Switzers or Helvetian Churches which adhere to Zuinglius observe the Festivals of the Nativity Circumcision Passion Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord and Saviour as also of the coming of the Holy Ghost And those of the Genevian platform though they have utterly exploded all the antient Ceremonies under the colour of removing Popish Superstitions yet they like well enough of others of their own devising and therefore do reserve a power as appears by Calvin of setling orders in their Churches to which the people shall be bound for he calls them by the name of vincula quaedam to conform accordingly By which we see that there hath been a fault on both sides in the point of Ceremonies the Church of Rome enjoyning some and indeed too many Quae pietati adversantur which were repugnant to the rules of Faith and Piety and therefore not to be retained without manifest sin as the Augustane and Bohemian Confessions do expresly say and the Genevians either having none at all or such as altogether differ from the antient Forms Against these two extreams I shall set two Rules whereof the one is given in terminis by the Church of England the other by an eminent and renowned Member of it The Church declares her self in the point of Ceremonies but addes withal That it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to the Word of God That makes directly against those of the Church of Rome who have obtruded many Ceremonies on the Church of Christ plainly repugnant to the Word and therefore not to be observed without deadly sin The other Rule is given by our Learned Andrews and that relates to those of the opposite faction Every Church saith he hath power to begin a custom and that custom power to binde her own children to it Provided that is the Rule that her private customs do not affront the general received by others the general Rites and Ceremonies of the Catholick Church which binding all may not be set light by any And this he doth infer from a Rule in the Mathematicks that Totum est majus sua parte that the whole is more considerable than any part and from another Rule in the Morals also that it is Turpis pars omnis toti non congrua an ugly and deformed part which agrees not with the whole So than according to the judgment of this Learned Prelate the customs of particular Churches have a power of binding so they run not cross against the general First Binding in regard of the outward man who if he wilfully refuse to conform unto them must though unwillingly submit to such pains and penalties as by the same power are ordained for those who contemn her Ordinances And they are binding too in regard of Conscience not that it is simply and absolutely sinful not to yeeld obedience or that the Makers of those Laws and Ordinances can command the Conscience Non ex sola legislatoris voluntate sed ex ipsa legum utilitate as it is well resolved by Stapleton but because the things which they command are of such a nature that not to yeeld obedience to them may be contrary unto Justice Charity and the desire we ought to have of procuring the common good of all men amongst whom we live of which our Conscience would accuse us in the sight of God who hath commanded us to obey the Magistrates or Governors whom he hath set over us in things not plainly contrary to his written Word To bring this business to an end in points of Faith and Moral Duties in Doctrines publickly proposed as necessary in the way of Salvation we say as did St. Ierom in another case Non credimus quia non legimus We dare not give admittance to it or make it any part of our Creed because we see no warrant for it in the Book of God In matters of exterior Order in the Worship of God we say as did the Fathers in the Nicene Council 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let antient customs be of force and prevail amongst us though we have no ground for it in the Scripture but this general warrant That all things be done decently and in order as St. Paul advised They that offend on either hand and either bring into the Church new Doctrines or cast out of the Church her antient and approved Ceremonies do violate that Communion of Saints which they ought to cherish and neither correspond with those in the Church Triumphant nor such as are alive in the Churches Militant Of which Communion of the Saints I am next to speak according to the course and method of the present Creed ARTICLE X. Of the Tenth Article OF THE CREED Ascribed to St. SIMON ZELOTES 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Sanctorum Communionem Remissionem peccatorum i. e. The Communion of Saints The forgiveness of Sins CHAP. IV. Of the Communion which the Saints have with one another and with Christ their Head Communion of Affections inferreth not a community of Goods and Fortunes Prayers to the Saints and Adoration of their Images an ill result of this Communion NExt to the clause touching the nature and authority of the Catholick Church followeth in order a recital of the principal benefits which are conferred upon the Members of that Mystical Body Two in this life and two in that which is to come Those in this life are first that most delightful Fellowship and Communion which the Saints have with one another and with Christ their Head and secondly That forgiveness and remission of all their sins as well actual as original which Christ hath purchased for them by his death and passion and by the Ministery