the Dialogue professe he knows not what kind of imputation it is and yet doth he thus reproach it We may easily know then what Spirit he is of Iude 10. Speaking evill of those â—hings which he knoweth not And 't is a sign he knows it not indeed otherwise he would not so severely censure it yea condemne and blaspheme it as he doth which most darkens the necessary Doctrine of a sinners justification let the indifferent Reader judge If he desire to know what it is let him search the Scriptures for they do abundantly testify of it To the Law and to the Testimony * Legimus passim apud Paulum nos justos fieri justificari pâ—r Christum per Christi mortem sanguinem redemptionem obedientiam justitiam illam justitiam imputari nobis à Deo absque operibus Noster Amesius Bell. enerva 10.4 pag. 137. and they which speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them The very term Impute taken for judicial laying of that to the charge of a person which is not properly his but yet justly laid to him and put truly upon his account is ten times used by the Apostle Paul in the 4th to the Romanes In which sense we affirm that sin is imputed to Christ or else he could not have suffered This we take to be and shall stick by as an infallible truth No man dyes as death is a privation of the life of the body unlesse it be for his own sin or the sin of some others imputed to him The Scriptures that confirm this are divers Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death 1 Cor. 15.56 The sting of death is sin Rom. 5.12 As by one man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed over all men for that all have sinned from whence we collect that every man that dyes dyes for sin that is either for his own or the sin of some other made his by imputation Death is not natural to man as man For that which is natural to him as he is man was engraffed into him and appointed unto him of God but death is not planted or engraffed into him by God neither was he by him made lyable to it e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Man before his fall was free from death as after the last judgment he shall be likewise Besides death is an enemy to humane nature threatning the ruine and destruction thereof will any man then say that that is natural to him which doth destroy him Is that agreeable to the nature of man which above all other he abborreth being accompanied with that which brings nothing but trouble anguish and vexation to him whence we see that death is not natural to man as man but to man only as a sinner Now that Christ dyed the Devils themselves have not impudence enough to deny being themselves instrumentally engaged for the effecting of his death But let the Dialogue or any man else for him answer me in good sadness was it for his own sin or for the sin of others None can none dare openly though these black mouth'd Socinians do secretly mutter so much affirm for his own therefore it must necessarily be for the sin of others Sin may be said to be anothers properly or improperly either truly or after a certain manner those sins are truly anothers of which in no sort thou hast bin partaker and for which by no Law thou art bound to suffer but for those whereof thou hast bin partaker no reason can be produced to the contrary but thou shouldst suffer Christ doth in a manner partake of our sins f Isa 53.6 the Lord hath laid on him or hath made to meet on him the iniquities of us all yea Peter in the 2. Chapter of his first Epistle and the 24. vers saith plainly that his own self bare our sins in his own body on the Tree c. and so cannot especially offering himself and becoming our surety undertaking for us the penalty due to us but be every way lyable to the same Christ was not subject to any necessity of dying being as God immortal as man holy and immaculate without the least tincture of sin therefore no necessity in him no necessity for him but in respect of us and as our pledge and surety This is a proposition of an undoubted truth that where there is no Original corruption there is no actual transgression Christ being free from the one must needs be acquit of any suspition of the other therefore not for his own sins but for ours the guilt whereof being laid upon him and imputed to him did he suffer that misery those torments and that death that accursed death of which we have already so fully spoken Here the Dialogue that he may the more closely and covertly beguile the over-credulous Reader which I perceive is his great endeavour doth ignorantly if not wilfully corrupt some texts of Scripture wresting and wringing them about to make them speak in his sense and to his purpose namely that Christ did not bear as we say by imputation but did bear away our sins and our iniquities from us Having therefore already freed those places quoted out of the Prophesie of Isaiah g Isa 53.7 c. expounded as he saith by that of Matt. 8.16 and from which he draweth this false consequence that Christ bore our sins as he bore our sicknesses whereas indeed there is great difference in the manner of bearing h Hos enim abstulit non pertulit illa non pertulit illa pertulit abstulit simul Sibran Lub lib. 2. cap. 4. these he did not bear but bear away those he bore and bore away together We shall now do the best we can by Gods assistance to clear this of St. Peter also and free it from the like corrupt handling In this 1 Pet. 2.24 the place before cited the Apostle saith expresly that Christ did peccata nostra sursum tulisse carry our sins up with him upon the crosse If the Spirit of God by the Apostle had intended herein a bearing away he might have used as learned Grotius well observes i De Satisfactione Christi cap. 1. and more apt for that purpose the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which barely signifies to take away But for the greater Emphasis and more cleer expressing of his meaning he useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he took up which is so far from diminishing that it adds something to the signification thereof Now Socinus and his Ape the Dialogue that they may weaken if possible the strength of this place do tell us that this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie abstulit he bare away but quite contrary to the nature and use of the word For neither the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will admit of
he was made a curse For the third in what nature he was made a curse We have this answer In his humane nature consisting of body and soul yea in soul rather then in body the soul of man being the principal seat and place of residence for sin For saith Christ himself z Mat. 15.19 out of the heart which in Scripture beareth usually the name and title of the soul proceedeth evill thoughts murthers adulteries c. Yet I say in both compleating and making up the humane nature sustained and supported by the Divine being in Union with it Here is something to be borne and meet it is a Bishop Andrews ser that every one should bear his own burthen the nature that had sinned bear his own sin Mans nature had sinned and therefore mans nature ought to suffer But that which mans nature should mans nature could not bear not the heavy and insupportable weight of Gods wrath due to sin but God could The one ought and could not The other could but ought not if he had not bin man he could not have suffered if he had not bin God he had sunk in his sufferings and had never bin able to have gone thorow with them God had no shoulders Man had but too weak God knows to sustain so great a weight So that as he was man he was lyable and as he was God he was able saith that learned Prelate b Pag. to bear the burthen in the heat of the day c Psal 16. To the last how far forth Christ was accursed We answer thus There is a two-fold death a first and a second death in the first death there are two degrees separation of body and soul and the putrifaction of the body separated The first Christ suffered but not the second For his body being deprived of life according to the dialect of the Psalmist c Psal 16. saw no corruption Again in the second there are two degrees the first is a separation from God in sense and feeling The second is an absolute separation from him for ever never to be admitted into favour any more Into this last degree of death Christ entred not for in the midst of his most grievous sufferings in the exaltation and height of all his sorrows he yet cryed out my God my God declaring his trust in and dependance upon God notwithstanding all his misery Neither could it be otherwise without a dissolution of the personal Union But into the first degâ—ees of this second death we affirm and that upon plain Scripture grounds against all opposition that Christ did enter that is the sense and feeling of Gods wrath and indignation d Cum ira Dei sit voluntas puniendi rectè etiam diâ—ipotest Iratus illo quèm vice loco delinquentium punire vult essen due to the Elect in regard of their iniquities by which they had provoked him to be highly displeased with them Not to muster up any more * Instances witnesses we will only take a short survey of that place of the Apostle to the Hebrews cap. 5. vers 7. Who in the dayes of his flesh when he had offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared and so free it what we may from the violence done unto it by the Dialogue who notwithstanding his profession of reverence to those Authours who expound the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fear yea the fear of astonishment at the sense and feeling of Gods wrath for the guilt of our sins yet labours tooth and naile to overthrow their exposition and by one of his own to carry the meaning of the Text another way telling us that some translate it reverence others dignity a third sort piety to which because he himself adheres rather then to any other doth therefore conclude that it must be so taken here and must not cannot be otherwise But by the Dialogues good leave there is no such necessity for that as he would have us believe the proper signification of the word being fear together with the frequent use of it by all sorts of Greek Authours both holy d Heb. 12.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and humane e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Plut. in Camille declare the contrary as also the Proposition annexed f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which cannot be bribed or corrupted to comply with the sense and interpretation of the Dialogue It was not an ordinary fear arising from an ordinary cause g Metus vel solitudo c. that thus constrained our blessed Saviour to entreat and supplicate for he felt such pains saith Piscator h In animo pariter corpore tales sensit dolores quales damnati sensuri sunt in inferno ut ita satisfaceret pro peccatis nostris quae ut Sponsor in se susceperat c. In Heb. 5.7 as the Elect if they had bin damned in Hell should have felt that so he might make satisfaction to the Justice of God for their sins the guilt of which as a Pledge or surety he had freely and voluntarily taken upon him He offered up saith the Apostle prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared If it had bin fear of bodily death only as the Dialogue would have it what need such cryes such strong cryes with tears Surely be would make him lesse then a man and more faint in a good cause then Malefactors are in a bad But the Text is plain he was heard in that he feared that is saved from the death he feared but he was not saved from the bodily death for he dyed and gave up the Ghost i Mat. 27.58 therefore it was not the bodily death but the great horrour of soul * Christus ut plenè pro nobis satisfaceret non tantum corporis sed etiam summos animi cruciatus sustinuit Vicit Bâ—za in Mat. by reason of the wrath of God which he suffered that he so feared and from which he was in respect of the eternity there of delivered Nor was it Christs deliverance out of these sufferings much lesse from a bodily death only as the Dialogue but upon what grounds I know not doth most vainly to say no worse affirm but the glory of God his Father in the salvation of the Elect which was the Master-piece of all his prayers Well we have enough for our purpose He prayed that he might be delivered from death True but this death was the death of the crosse the principal part whereof was the curse that is the wrath of God due to the Elect for sin from which he was delivered in respect of duration but sustained it for a time for them that they might for ever be freed from the same And this we take to be the
undergone those most grievous punishments due unto and for the same But Christ hath so born or carryed our iniquities sustaining and suffering death for the same that we might be freed there from Therefore he hath truly and indeed sustained the most grievous punishments of our iniquities Here the Dialogue doth endeavour Tenebras inducore rebus to cast a mist before our eyes by telling us that this very place being cited by St. Matthew c Mat. 8.17 is by him applyed to bodily sicknesses and diseases inferring from hence that Christ did not bear infirmities or sicknesses from the sick and diseased as a Porter bears a burthen by laying them on his own body but bearing them away by the power of his Word * See how they reason Ferre seu portare in Scripturali quando ergo Semper after which manner also he bare our sins and our iniquities One egg cannot be more like another then these Words and this glosse are to those and that of Socinus d De Christo Servatore and his Disciple Crellius e Corporales morbos Christus non sustinuit aut perculit sed ab hominibus abstulit ac verbo Sanavat Cont. Grot. pag. 56. if they may not be said and that truly to be the same To which we in the name of the Orthodox do answer that that place of St. Matthew is to be read by way of application not explication sicknesses and diseases are the effects and fruits of sin therefore he declareth Christ to be a Physician not for the soul only but for the body also and in token of spiritual health and recovery from sin he did afford and apply corporal from maladyes and distempers So Pareus upon this place in Matthew It was the end of Christs coming to bear our sins which are the sicknesses of the soul and therefore he begins by practising upon the sicknesses of the body that so having cured the one he might proceed to the Sanation of the other Thus honest Ferus the fryer f Christi propositum erat ut peccata nostra portaret quae verè infirmitates sunt animarum c. in Mat. 8. Also St. Chrisost saith g Homil. 25. that the corporal health which Christ afforded to the sick was a type of that spiritual health which was to be expected from him Nor is there so much difference if any at all between that in Isaiah which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that in St. Matthew which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they would bear us in hand in regard he may be truly said to bear both the one by passion the other by compassion Now seeing the figg-leaf will not serve to cover their nakedness but that it must be discovered for that he bare wounds and bruises for us cannot be denyed He that is our Dialogue tells us that Satan and his instruments did thus bruise and wound him True but not for us The sufferings wounds and bruises of which the Prophet Isaiah doth so liberally discourse and so literally describe are not only such wherein Satan and wicked men were instruments as these Socinians the Dialogue and the rest h We put them together as birds of a seather do fondly fain but some of them were immediately inflicted by God himself without any second means as instruments of the same so Vers 6. the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all also Vers 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him Now these sufferings were principally in his soul which neither men nor Divels could afflict or terrify but God could and did as was forespoken of him in the same verse Thou shalt make his soul a sacrifice for sin Add to these the complaint of Christ himself i Matt. 26.33 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my soul is exceeding heavy even unto the death And then the sum of all will be this that Christ our Saviour did undergo most exquisite torments both in body and soul joyned with and lying under the sense of Divine wrath by reason of the guilt of sin which lay upon him and was imputed to him For the further confirmation hereof I might urge and that with better authority then any can refuse it that place in the book of the Lamentations k Lam. 1.12 Is it nothing to you all ye that passe by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce wrath I know and according to the letter it cannot be denyed but that these words are set down by the Prophet Jeremiah in the person of his own people being then in great misery and of the holy City then laid wast by the Chaldees their professed Enemies what then says one l Bishop Andrews his serm as learned as the best of those that dare oppose it I find saith he there is not any of the Ancient writers but do apply yea and in a manner appropriate this speech to our Saviour Christ and wheresoever they treat of the passion ever this cometh in to expresse the bitterness and the horrour thereof And to say the truth taking the words strictly and as they lye before us they cannot agree with or be verified of any but of him and him only For though some other and not altogether unfitly may say the same words yet it must be in a qualified sense For in full and perfect propriety of speech he and none but he can say si fuerit dolor sicut dolor meus no day of wrath like to his day no grief no sorrow no torment to be compared to his yea his exceeded them all Besides what if it were spoken literally of this people then So was that in the Prophesie of Hosea m Hos 11.1 Ex Aegypto vocavi filium out of Aegypt have I called my Son yet it is by the Evangelist n Matt. 2.15 understood of and applyed to our Saviour Christ My God my God why hast thou forsaken me was at first uttered by David o Psal 22.1 yet Christ himself maketh use of the same words and that more truly and properly then ever David did or could and of those of Davids and of these of Jeremies there is the same reason Well though the Ancients all along have ascribed them unto Christ and in fitness of terms and more fulness of truth they may be taken to be spoken of him more and rather then of any other whatsoever yet because we will give nâ—ne occasion to cavil we will freely and fairly passe them by A man that would commend a Spring water need not drink up the whole Fountain one or two draughts is sufficient We have already had a tast of the truth of Christs suffering the wrath of God for us Yet we will take a sip or two more and so will conclude this first part And to this purpose mark how fully the Apostle Paul p Gal.
very drift and purpose of the Holy Ghost in this place of the Apostle Further more there are some and those of no small account in the Church of God who take that Article in the Creed of Christs descension into Hell to signify those Spiritual and internal passions which he suffered in his Soul out of the sense of Divine wrath hanging over him and inflicted upon him by reason of the guilt of our sins for which he was to satisfie Thus Uâ—sinus k Catechism pag 236. and Spanhemius l Summos cruciatus angustias dolores quas Christus perpossus c. de exinatione Christi pag. 274. also our own Perkins m Perkins on the Creed upon the Creed expounding that part of Hannah's song 1 Sam. 2.6 The Lord killeth and the Lord maketh alive He bringeth down to Hell and raiseth up again saith thus The Lord maketh men feel wo and misery in their Souls yea even the pangs of Hell and afterwards restoreth comfort and refreshment to them But we passe this What ever uncertainty in this point the Dialogue would fasten on us and make the World believe there is among us shall so he may gain the more credit to himself and his Socinian opinion I leave to the judgment of the indifferent Reader in the mean season let all men know that in this we all agree and this constantly and unâ—nimously affirm that Christ Jesus suffered that death and those very Soul n Ipsam poenam infornalem re ipsa tulit c. Poliander 1. concertatione torments to which the Elect were subject by reason of the curse of the Law which lay upon them For the further confirmation whereof we here propound a three-fold question First in what manner Secondly in what measure Thirdly for what time Christ suffered this death and these torments Which being resolved will not be much unlike Solomons three-fold cord not easily broken First how and in what manner Christ suffered this death and these torments Answ Our sins and we by reason of our sins being accursed hatefull and abhominable in the sight of the most pure God not beholding us in our filthinesse but with indignation towards us It pleased Jesus Christ being himself most holy by the unspeakable mercy of the Father and his own free grace and goodness taking upon him our miserable and forlorne condition and undergoing both in body and soul those torments which we should everlastingly have suffered * Christus fit pro nobis maledictio in cruce luens poenam iis debitam qui voluerunt dificri Bez. in Luc. 23. to free us from the same This I say he did freely and of his own accord for though according to the Evangelist o Mat. 26.39 there may seem some reluctancy in him yet against the Monotholites we consider in Christ a double will the one Divine the other humane in respect of his humane will he may be said under condition to eschue death and desire to be delivered from it but his Divine will was that the will of his Father and not his humane will might be accomplished which being considered he did freely and voluntarily engage himself to suffer what ever his Father in Justice would even to his wrath and indignation to satisfy the same and free the Elect from it Secondly how much and in what measure Christ suffered Answ As much in full weight and measure if we may use the terms as did counter-vail all the sins of the Elect past present and to come and what was wanting in his bodily torments to make full satisfaction to Divine Justice was supplyed and made up in his soul sufferings * Christus cum Satana cum pâ—ccatis cum morte denique horrenâ—a illa maledictione Deâ—armatis potenter luctans c. Beza in Mar. cap. 13. the sense of which both before and in the time of suffering did so much molest and trouble him Thirdly what time and how long did he suffer Answ From the very time that he began to work out the Redemption of the Elect date it when they will untill upon the crosse he cryed out consummatum est it is finished To the Jews this may be a stumbling block to the Greeks foolishness to the Dialogue and the rest of the Socinian brood absurd and ridiculous but both to Jews and Greeks with all that believe it is the mighty power wisdome and goodness Object 1 of God to Salvation But here the Dialogue c. do scoffingly object what would God deal so hardly with his own Son as not to abate him any thing of the full price of that which sinfull man should have payed Answ To which the Apostle himself hath given an answer hear we him for we cannot mend it p Rom. 8.32 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non pepercit he spared not his own Son but gave him up to death and what death even the cursed death of the crosse for our redemption Object 2 It is further objected that this punishment and these sufferings and that death which our Savivour Christ endured cannot he said to be eternal because they lasted but a time which being expired they were likewise finished Answ For answer whereunto we affirm that a thing may be said to be eternal two wayes q Vel ratione quid dicatis vel ratione durationis L. V. de satisfactione either in respect of the substance or in respect of the circumstance the being or continual being of a thing in the former sense Christ suffered eternal death not in the latter he suffered the essential part of those torments r Ipsissimam maledictionem in lege minacum subierit Idem which all the Elect should have suffered unto all eternity though not the circumstantial in respect of duration Besides eternal death in the phrase and dialect of the Scriptures doth not signify the perpetual dissolution of body and soul as the Socinians do understand it for so the damned themselves do not suffer eternal death Å¿ Aliud est ceterum in morte manere aliud est aeternam mortem sustinere Illud durationem hoc virtutem mortis utrumque vel de animae corporis solutione vel de cruciatibus gehennae intelligitur Cal. de Satisf pag. 466. but either in the immeasurable greatness of infernal torments or the everlasting continuance thereof The first of which is essential the other but accidental That Christ suffered This he could not ought not to undergo Could not because he is eternal life it self God blessed for ever Amen Ought not because it was his office to free us from death by conquering the power and taking away the sting thereof Lastly Christ may be said to suffer eternal death potentially if we may borrow that expression to declare our intention though not actually that is a death alwayes enduring though not by him alwayes to be endured There is this proportion between that death which we should have suffered and that which Christ did
singular eminent and notable matter and what can this be other then that God should inflict punishment upon a person who considered in and by himself did no way in the least measure ever deserve it It is God then that imputes the sin and himself inflicts the punishment thereof Not but that men yea and Devils to may be instruments for the execution but the punishment it self proceeds from Cod. For the Apostles when they apply the passion of Christ to us and would bring it home to our use and benefit have no respect at all to the actings of men in it or about it but only of God himself as Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him 't is he that hath put him to grief So that all the foul imputations of the Jews are nothing to this purpose Thus have we in some measure heard what the Scriptures say in this particular Now whether we should believe God or Man Prophet and Apostle or Socinus and the Dialogue judge ye good Readers Here the whole Socinian band do fire at once and to shew themselves doughty champions of the black guard do discharge a full volley of most horrid blasphemies even in the very face of the Almighty If God say they shall impute sin unto Christ his own innocent and harmlesse Son he is unjust * Ille agit injustè qui invitum pro altero punit sed qui illum qui se sponté pro alterò ad supplicium effort habet fui ipsiusque pro quo se offert liberandi potestatem pro altero púnit ille non agit injustè Sibrandus Lubbertus pag. 376. Thus though Christ have taken our sins upon him and hath engaged for us yet if God impute sin to Christ they will be so bold as to impute sin to God and charge him with injustice yea the Dialogue it self though he appear one of the last is none of the least among them For he confidently affirms that God cannot impute sin to our innocent Saviour but if he should do so he should be as unjust * Deus verè summè justus in sponsere nostro Bez. in Rom. 4.25 even as the wicked Jews what high presumption is it in these poor worms thus to reproach the living God and to charge him foolishly He that reproveth him let him answer it saith Iob o Iob 39.35 We may discover the ground of this errour though there be none for their blasphemy Here here is that ignis erraticus that causeth them to wonder namely a vain supposition that the works of God are no lesse subject to the Law of nature and the Law of Moses then the works of men and that the work of mans redemption published to us only by the Gospel is to be squared by and proportioned to the Law of nature engraffed in us or the Law of Moses set down as a Rule of life unto us This they endeavour to maintain by an argument taken from the equal obligation as well of God as of man to the same prefixed as a rule to both and to both a like beyond which as man so God himself cannot passe but they do as it were pull him by the sleeve tell him of it and charge him with injustice For say they God hath not ordained this Law for men only namely The Fathers shall not dye for their Children nor the Children for their Fathers but every one shall bear the punishment of his own sin But also did after a manner impose it upon himself speaking thus by the Prophet p Ezek. 18.20 the Son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father neither shall the Father bear the iniquity of the Son but the righteousness of the righteous c. This Socinian argument is patcht up with very groundlesse yea senselesse and fained suppositions the first of which is that God by Moses imposed the same Law upon himself which he had engraven in the hearts of the Gentiles and delivered to the Jews q Deut. 24.16 namely the Fathers shall not be put to death for the Children nor the Children for the Fathers That this is false may appear by the practise of Amaziah King of Judah who having respect unto this Law did not understand it as to extend it self so far as to God the most high and supream Law-giver but to be terminated and limitted in his vicegerents and therefore r 2 King 14.6 he slew not the Children of those that had murthered his Father Joash according to that which is written in the book of the Law of Moses We affirm then that God was not lyable neither can he possibly be subject to any external Law whatsoever the reason is plain because his own will is the prime and chiefest Rule of Justice who receiveth Laws from none but prescribeth Laws to all as being the cause and original of all just Laws engraven in the hearts of men or by writing committed to record and commended to posterity Wherefore as God will have no Law prescribed to his will which depends not upon the will of any other So seing his will is in it self holy and unchangeably just there is no need at all that he should prescribe a Law as a Rule of Justice unto himself The second supposition is that this Evangelical affirmation of God by which he declares his willingness that Christ by his appeasing death should satisfie the debt of our sins for us is altogether repugnant to that legal asseveration of his that he would not that the innocent Son should dye for the guilty Father or the innocent Father for the guilty Son Both which though in several respects are most true and certain First God would have Christ our Brother according to the flesh being justified by the Spirit and declared innocent by Pontius Pilate to be condemned and executed for us that were guilty because Christ by joynt consent with God his Father appointed himself ſ Aliud est alterum pro altero puniri invitum aliud puniri illum qui se sistit ipro altero vadem seu sposorem Christus hic hominem induit factum est peccatum execratio undèjustè solvit quod a nobis erat debitum Prideaux de Redemptione a propitiatory sacrifice for us from all eternity whence he is called t Ioh 1.29 Agnus Dei. the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World A Lamb indeed without spot without blemish ordained for this very purpose even before the Foundations of the World were laid but in these latter times manifested to us whom he hath redeemed from sin by his most precious bloud as St. Peter expresseth it 1 Pet. 1.17 19 20. Secondly God would not that out of mankind either the Father should dye for the Son or the Son for the Father because he knew from all eternity that no Father or Son could possibly be guiltlesse proceeding from the corrupt masse of mankind or out of the loynes of sinfull and degenerate
Adam and so could not be a sufficient sacrifice one for another Add to this moreover that among men there was never any yet found which out of an absolute purpose of mind and immutable constancy could be contented to offer up himself a sacrifice unto death unto such a death for the sins of those which were his Enemies with the like reason and resolution as our Saviour Christ did Though Moses and Paul wished that they might dye for the Israelites their Country-men yet it was not so simply and absolutely for them as Christ did for his Elect but conditionally that is to say upon such terms as stood not with the liking nor were agreeable to the good will and pleasure of God Whereas Christ not conditionally but simply and absolutely according to the decree of his Father laid down his life as willing to suffer what men or Devils could do against him and was accepted of him We might multiply reasons for this why God should free us who deserved to be punished unto all eternity and should lay that punishment which was due to us though in respect of time not unto eternity upon his own most innocent harmlesse and beloved Son without any the least suspition of wrong or injustice in God * Iustus est Deus omni a justè disponit eum tamen qui non debet puniri condemnat Mediator enim noster quia nullum culpae contâ—gium perpetravit puniri pro se ipso non debuit Sed si ipse indebitam mortem non susciperet nunquam non à debitâ morte liberaret Gregorius Mag. lib 3. Mor. as being our Pledge Surety and Undertaker for us willingly and of his own accord laying down the full prise of our redemption But I suppose we have already done sufficient to this purpose Let God be just and true and not only all Socinians but even the whole World be false and liars For though man be so dimsighted that he cannot see or so weak in his intellects that he cannot understand how it is or which way it should be so u Scio quod ita sed non cur ita Bern. Epist 190. for there is defatigatio in intellectualibus says one of the saddest and the soundest of the Hebrew Rabbies w Rabbi Solomon in Eccl. the understanding may be dazled as well as the eye even in the best and they which think themselves wisest and would make the World believe they know most yet though we cannot alwayes discern it God is alwayes just in all his wayes and holy in all his works Where we understand not let us admire crying out with St. Chrisostome in an holy extasie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh the hight and the depth of the love of God c. This this is the Lords own doing and it is marvellous in our eyes and in the eyes of all that see it But least the Dialogue should think we had quite forgotten him we return again unto him finding him in the very same place where we left him who tells us that if Christ had stood a guilty person before God by his imputing our sins unto him he could not have bin a fit person in Gods esteem to perform the office of a Mediatour for our redemption We answer Qui benè distinguit c. and so distinguish between the guilt of commission and the guilt of obligation If he had in the least measure bin guilty in respect of commission he had not bin a fit person in relation to God if he had not bin guilty * Oblatus est pro peccatis non immerito peccatum factus dicitur c. Ambrosius in 2 Cor. 5. in respect of obligation he had not bin fit in relation to us God best knew what condition might render him most meet and most fitly qualifie him for the undertaking and performing of his Mediatorial office and therefore puts him into that capacity and condition by imputing the guilt of our sins unto him Before we passe any further who can forbid us that we may not marry these two together and make one entire proposition of them namely this That God did impute the guilt of our sins unto our innocent Saviour as unto our Pledge and Surety which indeed was the impulsive cause of all his sufferings being then thus joyned together by us and that without the help of a Justice of Peace We will by Gods assistance descend to a more particular confirmation hereof First from the passion and suffering of Christ being considered in himself as a most innocent and unblamable person without any the least tincture of sin or pollution from whence we argue thus whosoever is free from sin and yet neverthelesse is punished as one obnoxious to sin must needs have the guilt of others sins imputed to him * Christus peccatum quidem non fecit peccatum tamen pro nobis factus est Ipse etiâ—m qui in similitudinem hominum factus est habitu repertus est homo sine dubio pro peccato quod ex nobis susceperat quia peccata nostra portavit viculum immaculatum hoc est carnem in contaminatum obtulit hostiam Deo Origen homil 3. in Leviticum whereas saving Divine Justice no man can be molested afflicted or punished unlesse it be for his own proper sin or for the sin of some other imputed to him But the first is true of Christ our Saviour as we have plentifully proved already out of these several place Is 53. vers 4.5 also 2 Cor. 5.21 Therefore the latter The iniquities of us all did God make to meet upon him and by the reason thereof laid upon him also the punishment of those iniquities What other consequence can proceed from hence but that Christ seeing he could not be lyable to punishment for his own sin being free from all sin and every appearance of evil neither was there guile found in his lips for our sins being made subject to the same had the sins of others truly and indeed imputed to him The cause also of this imputation is just because Christ having taken the Mediatorital office upon himself by the joynt concurrence of his Father being willing freely and of his own accord to be deputed in our place and steed hence our sins were by right imputed to him after he became a Surety for us x Naemo quâ innocens puniri potest sed innocens quatenus reorum vas factus est omnino puniri potest docentum nomine pro quiby se sistit Essenius lib. 2. sect 3. cap. 1. de Satisfactione Christi In an obligation the debter and the bonds-man or Surety are reckoned and considered but as one person neither is it any injustice at all to require the debt of the one as well as the other seeing the one would freely and voluntarily engage for the other Yea more especially of the Surety when it manifestly appears as in our case it doth that the debter himself is no way
For as the sins of the Israelites were imputed unto their legal sacrifices for which they were offered e Levit. 4. and 5. cap. So by the force and strength of the Analogie of type and Anti-type the sins of all Gods people must in the new Testament and service of the Gospel be imputed to Christ as our only Evangelical and propitiatory sacrifice Not to trye the Reader with one instance upon the neck of another * Frustrà fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora when as one only may be as good as a thousand which shall be of that Goat f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which we read in the 16. cap. of Leviticus and will sufficiently confirm the truth hereof for upon his head did Aaron impose all the sins of the Children of Israel vers 21. and he did bear all their iniquities into a place not inhabited vers 22. This type doth shew that all our sins were laid upon Jesus Christ who was by this goat plainly prefigured g Sola mors Christi sangui nolenta ignomini osa atque maledicta olim hircorum quibus peccata totius populi Israelitici imponebantur morte cruenta typice praefigurabatur Polyander disput 10. that he should bear them that is the punishment of them which we had deserved Nor was this a vain ceremony or an idle and unprofitable custome among them but both for matter manner commanded and prescribed by God himself Besides whoever happened to touch this Goat was unclean till he had cleansed himself by washing Levit. 16.26 Whereby was signifyed that Christ the Antitype hereof was an imputed sinner and so made a curse for us He then that would perswade us that Christ did not bear our sins by imputation did never truly consider or well understand the Anagoly between this type and the Anti-type for if he had he could not but be convinced hereby Yet let me tell you there is some and that no small difference in the manner of bearing though the Dialogue with other Socinians will admit of none Christ I say did bear our sins after another manner then this goat did bear the sins of the Israelites For this goat did bear them typically or Sacramentally but Christ did bear them really and substantiall he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities and so was not this goat for theirs He that will undertake to prove the contrary had need take even ad Graecas Calendas to do the same All this while we have but chaffed the wax we come now to set on the seal for what are all these sufferings of Christ to us or the imputation of our sins to him if Gods Justice be not hereby satisfyed and we freed from the wrath to come Who are yet in our sins and so lyable to suffer the eternal punishment due unto us for the same We shall now therefore prove that all this was done by way of satisfaction to Divine Justice and so conclude this part also with some necessary caution and sound advice to the conscientious Reader The sweet Singer of Israel h Ps 85.10.11 telleth it for news and joyfull news it is indeed and therefore composes a song this very song for the solemnity thereof That Mercy and Truth are met together that righteousness and peace have kissed each other c. It would be worth our while to make some enquiry how and for what cause they came at first asunder seeing of themselves they are no strangers all four in the bosome of God from all Eternity Attributes all four of his undivided essence Not of themselves then nor by reason of any cause of theirs were they thus divided and set at such a distance that it was news to see them meet and greet thus kindly and affectionately but the quarrel was ours and about us did they at first part company And a sweet Singer of our Israel to i Bish Andrew in his Sermon layes it forth thus If at the coming of Christ in the flesh in consideration where of this Psalm was pend these Attributes of God did meet sure saith he at Adams fall they might be said to part It was Adams cause then and so ours that first divided Heaven yea the very Attributes in God and so in a manner God himself And thus they parted first Nor could it otherwise be said by the Apostle k Col. 1.20 that Christ reconciled all things in Heaven and Earth if there had not bin in Heaven some what to be taken up Mercy and Truth had met before but no comfort to us at that meeting they met indeed but insteed of Osculatae sunt as here kissing it was altercatae sunt in respect of us killing that that meeting did bring forth While Mercy and Peace would have Adams and so our case relieved Righteousness and Truth would by no means consent unto it The Plea between them at this meeting is excellently and eligantly drawn up by St. Bernard k Ber. in Annunt serm 1. In which Mercy thus began for out of her propensity readiness to do good shee 's here shee 's there shee 's every where most forward therefore he brings her in as the first Speaker Her inclination is or rather shee her self is an inclination to pitty such as are in misery and if shee can relieve them too though in themselves they deserve it not And her plea is l Psal 89.47 nunquid in vanum What hath God made all men for nought What profit m Psal 30.9 is in this bloud Hath God forgotten to be gracious and will he be no more entreated His pris su surris with these and the like holy whisperings as he terms them did shee enter into the very bowels of God making them yearn and melt into compassion towards the works of his own hands And certainly if there had bin none to stand up against us there might have bin some hope that Mercy would have prevailed for us But Truth must be heard to and she layes in just matter of exception pleading thus Deus erat verbum what is God but his word his word was to Adam morte morteris thou shalt dye the death So to the Sons of Adam anima quae peccaverit the soul that sinneth that soul shall dye God may not falsifie his word that may not must not be Then steps up righteousness and seconds her and her plea is that God as he is true of his word so is he righteous in his works reddere suum cuique to give to each his own and so to the sinner stipendium peccati the wages that he hath earned that is death God forbid saith shee the Judge of all the World should do or Judge unâ—ustly that be far from thee O God! that were as before to make Truth false So here to do right wrong which must needs be if Mercy should have her mind
Christ his Son our Saviour freely and fully reconciled to us Now anger in God to speak after the manner of men is nothing else but a will or disposition to punish which the Apostle saith t Rom. 1.18 is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness from which none out of the State of Grace and communion with Christ are exempted being all by nature the Children of wrath and so lyable to Divine indignation This anger abideth upon some u Joh. 3.36 and upon whom it abideth not from them it is turned away Christ having obtained this favour by his sufferings from the hand of his Father Here we would not be mistaken as if we made God lyable to passions and affections so that he should be one while angry provoked against us and by and by that anger should be mitigated and he himself pacified towards us God is not neither indeed can be subject in the least to such mutations But this we believe and affirm that Divine wrath or punitive Justice being irritated and incensed by us hath cause enough as well as power to take vengance on us but Christ by his sufferings hath purchased our impunity and quenched those flames by taking away the cause thereof which otherwise would utterly have consumed us and therefore is most fitly stiled and that twice by the Apostle w Joh. 2.1 2. and Joh. 4.10 a Propitiation Add to these that of St. Paul x Rom. 3.24 25. whom namely Christ God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through faith in his bloud Christ then is made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reconciliation by his bloud dying for us that so we might be freed from the wrath to come Secondly such as declare our redemption by a prise or valuable consideration paid to the Justice of God for our deliverance which words with the like which we meet with in holy Scriptures are as it were fitted to that freedome that we enjoy from the punishment that we deserved That this is so appears plainly by the Apostle Paul in two several places using one and the same expression y and z in vvhom we have redemption through his bloud In which words we consider these particulars 1. The matter what 2. The manner how 3. The means whereby The matter what that is Redemption a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est liberatio ali cujus ab incommodo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intercedente which is a delivering of one from mâ—sery or slavery by paying a price or ransome for him It is that deliverance which we enjoy from the bondage and slavery of sin and death to which we were subject so long as we remained in the Kingdome of darkness in which none are free but all under the same vassalage The manner how fully expressed in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth such a deliverance as a man enjoyeth the price of his redemption being paid For as before the Justice of God will not sign our discharge nor give us our manumission till shee be fully satisfied and contented Nor is this any disparagement to or diminution of the mercy of God * Quà m multae est Deus ergo nos clementiae Filio non pepercit ut parceret servo Unigenitum traâ—â—dit ut râ—dim ret servâ—â— planae ingratos c. Chrysost in Isa as the Socinians do cunningly insinuate and pretend that his Justice must be satisfied before we can be delivered seeing he himself doth afford the means the whole means which is our next consideration whereby it is accomplished the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very prise of our redemption not gold not silver not any corruptible thing but the most precious bloud of Jesus Christ hath redeemed us from that misery into which by reason of our rebellion we had plunged our selves Thirdly such as denote a surrogation or the setting and appointing one in the place or room of another as when Christ is said to have tasted of death for all Heb. 2.9 that he should dye for the people b Joh 11.50 when we were sinners Christ dyed for us c Rom. 5.8 This is a common expression in every Speech and Language when one doth or suffereth any thing in the steed and place of another he is said to do or suffer that for him Neither is this phrase or manner of speaking appropriated to persons only but also to things For in the like propriety of speech this is said to be given put or accounted for that which is given put or accounted in the place or steed of that The Socinians would willingly decline this interpretation by supposing some ambiguity in the Preposition pro for which oftentimes say they is found to signifie a thing done for the profit and commodity of another and therefore do keep no small a do to have it so here But they had as good be quiet for it will not be and indeed it seems they are very ill provided that are beholding to such poor shifts I wonder none of their great Admirers and Abetters will take the pains to help the lame Dog over the stile I have often found my observation true Ignorance and Impudence are the first begetters of errour and heresy and after the chief maintainers and propagators of the same begotten Indeed among the Latines they may seem to find some shelter and among the Greeks too if we had to deal with the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for But never with the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for which is here used and with which we have here to do This may appear by the Evangelist St. Matthew d Matt. 20.28 he came to give his life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ransome for many that is to give his life in the place of many and to dye in their steed Utterly rejecting the Socinian interpretation Also the same Evangelist e Matt. 5.38 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth one in the steed and room of another And the Apostle Peter f Pet. 1.3 9. not rendring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 evil for evil or railing for railing as he expresseth it Moreover when â—t is applyed to persons it denotes the succession of one in the room and place of another as St. Matthew g Matt. 2.22 speaking of Archelaus saith he reigned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the room of his Father Herod not their interpretation then being too much derogatory to the grace of Christ but ours as most agreeable to the mind of the Holy Ghost not for our good benefit and profit only as they would have it but in our room and steed as we expound it for so it must be here Lastly such as speak of the death of Christ as an holy expiatory or sacrifice for sin which the Epistle to the Hebrews
especially the 9th Chapter setteth forth most cleerly So then though the Socinians cannot find this word Satisfaction in their Bibles yet they may find that which is equivalent to it and is put for it as when the hurt or damage done to any one either by sin or other trespasse is truly and fully recompenced this is satisfaction h See Grotius de Satisfact Christi cap. 7.8 9 10. That this was performed by Christ and the Justice of God hereby appeased which we had provoked by our transgressions is manifest by those Testimonies formerly recited and by such expressions as are in Scripture frequently used Yet lest any should go away unsatisfied in this point of satisfaction as it is impossible to satisfie all God in his just judgment having sent abroad a Spirit of delusion there being multitudes that will sooner comply with an upstart and erroneous opinion upon the appearance of one single and single sole argument then embrace and cleave to a truth though confirmed by many strong and sinewy demonstrations evident and apparent probations out of the holy Scriptures even as one stroke will carry a man farther with the tide then five against it And therefore I have the lesse hope to prevail with many yet to satisfy the ingenuous and leave the rest without excuse I shall propose these ensuing arguments to the serious consideration of the unbiassed Reader The first of which we take from the meritorious cause of Christ his death Christ suffered and dyed for our sins whence we argue thus He that taking upon him our nature hath therein undergone all the sufferings which were due to the offenders and such as were guilty whose persons he represents So that his chastisements have ceased in the pacification of the Imponent his Sacrifice bin the expiation of all the offences his stripes have brought health and deliverance to the delinquent He hath truly and fully made satisfaction for them But Christ Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-Man haâ—h suffered and undergone all these things as hath bin sufficiently proved already by many texts of holy Scripture Therefore he hath made full and perfect satisfaction Secondly from the expiation of our sins and that reconciliation he hath wrought between God and us who were as the Prophet speaketh i Isa 59.2 separated the one from the other so that from hence we thus argue If Christ hath pacifyed the wrath of God towards us which was exceedingly incensed against us by reason of those sins and transgressions which were committed by us so that now though before we stood condemned there is no condemnation at all to us He must needs satisfy Divine Justice which otherwise could not be appeased towards us But the former is true as we have already proved Therefore the latter Thirdly and lastly from that redemption which we have by Christ Christ hath redeemed us by his death So that we thus conclude wheresoever there is true redemption k Heb. 9.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which a certain price is paid l Matt. 10.28 and Mar. 10.45 1 Tim. 2.6 so that they for whom the price is paid by reason and in consideration thereof be freed and discharged from deserved bonds or punishment there also is true satisfaction But such is our redemption by Christ the true prise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interveniente being laid down and accepted Therefore there is true and real satisfaction Besides he that was made sin for us m 2 Cor. 5.21 that we might be made the righteousness of God yea was made a curse for us n Gal. 3.13 thereby freeing us from the same hath truly fully satisfied for us But this was performed by Christ our Surety in our steed Therefore he hath fully satisfied the Justice of his Father for us Otherwise the Law was published to no purpose sentence denounced in vain against the violaters o Gen. 2.17 morte morieris thereof contrary to the immutability and unchangableness of God yea and sin would also remain unpunished contrary to his essential Justice Thus thou seest good Reader whether these blind guides would lead thee and to what a miserable estate they endeavour to bring thee robbing thee of the means and hopes of thy Salvation and leaving thee burdened with the heavy weight of thy sins which thou canst not bear and lyable to the full measure of Gods wrath which thou art not able to undergo If this be so we are of all men most miserable and farewell all happiness after this life Men may sing if they have any heart to it in this sad and desperate condition that old Epicurean ditty ede bibe lude c. Oh what madness doth possesse the souls of these men were they not as good deny the very death of Christ as deny the vertue power and efficacy of his death May they not as well say he dyed not as say he dyed thus thus to no purpose leaving us in our sins and the Justice of God altogether unsatisfied for us These men men said I Yea monsters rather sub specie veritatis veritatem vulnerant wound Truth in her own coat under pretence of defending the Mercy of God they deny his Justice But let these stand or fall to their own Master and seing that we have proved that Christ hath done and suffered these things for us let not the good and benefit thereof fall beside us Let us look at that with thankfull admiration which these heretical Blasphemers do load with scorn and derision Christ suffered for us not only nostra causa for our sake or nostro bono for our good but also nostra vice in our steed and nostro loco in our place He representing our persons in the similitude of sinfull flesh stood in our room taking those stripes upon him which would have dashed us to pieces by the vertue whereof we have our healing The curse of St. Paul will surely light upon such as preach to the people any other Doctrine nor can they expect a blessing that are reduced by it when as in these dayes they shall attempt it Thirdly concerning the nature of the Mediatorial obedience of Christ or the meritorious price of our redemption THE Dialogue having hitherto denied Christs suffering the wrath of God due to the Elect for their sins by way of satisfaction to Divine Justice as also the imputation of their sin unto Christ as their Surety though very immethodically and out of place preferring the effect before the cause lest he should fall into another foul absurdity in his reasoning that is to deny the subject of the question doth present us with a new thing of nothing in the steed thereof And because he hath prevailed with some and they perhaps such as vvill not give their heads for the vvashing it may be Masters in Israel to comply vvith him he expects the lâ—ke of all and therefore vvould have us follovv all that he proposes to us making no
question for conscience sake But should vve be thus persvvaded by him vve might unhappily choake our selves vvith bones insteed of meat If he vvould have men neither stop nor stumble at his Doctrine he must carry the matter more cleerly or more cleanly at the least then hitherto he hath done in that which hath already past our hands or is vvilling to do for ought vve see in that vvhich yet remains to be surveighed by us not forsaking the ordinary phrase of Scrâ—pture such as hath bin in use in all ages with the Church of God and by coyning new and unusual expressions thereby as much as in him lyes to ob cure the Truth and obtrude and confirm in the room thereof his own devices yet he hovers about so long in generals as that me thinks he seems desirous that his Reader should understand more then he is willing to expresse And seeing he is so loth to tell us what this new knack is which he hath bin so long a hammering on the Socinian anvile and what he means by his Mediatorial obedience we will take the pains to sift him a little and see if we can bolt it out and here at last it comes and this it is Christs Mediatorial obedience saith he is made up of certain actions performed by him not in way of obedience to the Moral Law for all such actions he performed as a godly Jew and as man only * Rank Socinianisme The Dialogue denies the hypostical Union of the two natures in Christ which must not cannot be severed one from the other but as God-Man Mediatour unto the Law of Mediatour-ship especially after thirty years of age the Master-piece whereof was his yeelding himself up to suffer a bodily death Monstrum horrendum informe What a piece of stuffe is here yet all this thrust upon our belief if we were so mad as to receive it without any other authority to back it then a bare ipse dixit the Dialogue himself affirms it But fair play and above board will do well especially in matters of such consequence And we would have him know that in matters of faith we must embrace nothing but what we are perswaded is firmely and surely grounded on the Word of God by which when he hath proved this Mediatorial obedience which he hath here proposed to us his work is done and it shall go hard but we will get him leave to play In opposition then to this new no obedience we will put into the other scale that which we understand by the true Mediatorial obedience of Christ that so the Reader whose judgment is free may plainly discover the vanâ—ty of the one by the reality of the other It is then the whole conformity of Christ God-Man in both Natures Divine and humane to the will of his Father doing and suffering all things needfull and necessary for the satisfaction of Divine Justice freeing also thereby the Elect in whose room steed he dyed and suffered from those eternal miseries and Calamities to which they were lyable This is called the active and passive obedience of Christ which division is not allowed in respect of the several causes but the circumstances only for no obedience in respect of the cause can be said to be passive but active only Christ therefore taking upon him our person as well by doing as suffering subjected himself to the Law of God for us fulfilling the same by his most perfect obedience even to the death of the crosse by which he compleated and perfected al his other sufferings That this is so doth manifestly appear by the Apostle p Rom. 3.31 by faith saith he we establish the Law Now faith doth establish the Law these two wayes It was the first voyce of the Law in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shall dye the death after that it spake thus cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Law to do them These threatnings of the Law we establish by faith because by faith we testifie that they are not in vain and to no purpose seeing it was necessary that Christ should dye and endure the curse of the Law for us that we might be redeemed from the same Therefore first of all by faith we confirm and establish the truth of the threatnings of the Law The other voyce of the Law is he that doth these things shall live in them this also we establish by faith because we believe we are justified freely without the performance of the Law in respect of our selves but not so in respect of Christ who that he might satisfie the Law for us was lyable to the fulfilling and accomplishing thereof with most exact and perfect obedience as every way most necessary and convenient In the second place therefore we are truly said to establish the Law by faith because we believe that in Christ we have perfectly fulfilled it even with that very obedience that the Law required Also the same Apostle q Rom. 8.3 seeing we could not perform the things conteined in and commanded by the Law in or by our selves we have performed them in the person of our Mediatour who hath taken off the threatnings of the Law by satisfying the penalty of it and suffering the utmost that by the rigour thereof could be inflicted on him as also hath fulfilled the precepts of the Law by his most entire and perfect obedience to the same We stood engaged unto God by a double debt one was the strâ—ct and rigid observance of the Law every moment to fulfill the same even from that first instant wherein it pleased the Lord to kindle the light of knowledge in our hearts untill the last minute when he should be so pleased to put it out again the whole course of mans life and that both in regard of purity of nature and purity of action This debt being laid upon us in the Creation vvas severely exacted from us by the Lavv The other having failed in this is to give full and ample satisfaction to the Justice of God for the non-performance hereof Having broken this Lavv of God holy in it self and easy to be performed by us in regard of the holiness of our Creation in both these being obliged and yet neither performed vvhat can be expected by us but that we should suffer the greatest penalty that could be inflicted But Christ Jesus the beloved Son of his Father becomes our Surety and by Gods acceptance of his obedience for us made full and compleat satisfaction even to the rigour of the Law both doing and suffering vvhat was or could be according to the Justice thereof required by it For the better and more cleer concerving of this Quest 1 obedience these three questions may be demanded First when this Mediatorial obedience did begin and when it ends Answ Answ This Mediatorial obedience performed by Christ began at his Incarnation the Angels told it for joyful tidings to the Shepheards
our Surety and in our steed The whole work whereof may be called if you will Mediatorial from the office of the Persoâ— obeying Legal from the Rule which was obeyed This obedience as we have said is but one which yâ—â— is constituted of these two parts First the perfect fulfilling of the Law Secondly the suffering of that punishment which the breaking thereof deserved The fulfilling of the Law is the first part of Christâ— obedience by which he performed throughout tâ—â— whole course of his life perfect obedience to the Law of God for us The enduring the punishment for our sins is the other part of his obedience taking upon him in our room that which we had justly merited by reasoâ— of our transgressions that so satisfying the severity of Gods Justice for us we might be freed from that obligation and penalty which was upon us so that Ursinus joyning both together saith * Quicquid fecit aut passus est Christus ad quod ipse tanquam justus Dei filius non fuit obligatus est satisfactio ejus quam nobis praestitit justitia quae nobis credentibus adeo gratis imputatur ea enim satisfactio aequiposset vel impletioni Legis per obedientiam velaeternae paenae propter peccatum ad quorum alterutrum Legi obligamur pag. 394. Here the Dialogue takes an occasion to what purpose I know not to quarrel with the Lutherans for an errour of theirs on the one hand unlesse it be that he may the better and sooner prevail with his over-confident Reader and so carry him into an errour on the other cunningly casting out one Devil by another and yet the latter more dangerous if not more desperate then the former For neither one drop of bloud as he chargeth them nor all the bodily sufferings of Christ as we charge him to say but the perfect fulfilling of the Law for us and the satisfying Divine Justice incensed against us even the whole obedience of Christ is that by which we are redeemed from and discharged of that debt and penalty to which we were lyable and for which we stood accountable The Dialogue auribum lupum tenet finding it too hard a matter to prove what he had undertaken that is That Christs natural or bodily death only is the meritorious price of our redemption falls strangly off and betakes himself unto an other matter For not being able to confirm by argument he will perplex with amazement his lesse attentive Reader telling him that the Jews and Romanes did not put Christ to death but that he himself seperated his soul from his body shed his own bloud and did as he expresses it actuate his own death contrary to the very letter of the Scriptures y Act. 2.23 where Peter in his Sermon chargeth them home with the cruel killing of Christ the Lord saying him have yea taken and by wicked hands have crucifyed and slain Again z Act. 3.15 and have killed the Prince of life What our blessed Saviour speaks in Iohn a Joh. 10.17 18. that he laid down his life no man taking it away from him sheweth his willingness to yeeld himself up into their hands who by the determinate councel and foreknowledge of God were to be instruments of his death We know that in respect of humane power no man could take away his life till he was willing to lay it down which he did by submitting to them when his hour was come for that very purpose We say Christ dyed willingly we cannot dare not say wilfully which he must needs do if the Language of the Dialogue may passe for currant that he shed his own bloud and did actuate his own death Christ offered himself to God his Father yet did he not kill himself The Jews killed him yet did they not offer him for indeed they could not The Priest is more worthy then the sacrifice yet here is one who was Priest Sacrifice and Altar too He was a Priest but not in respect of his Divine nature alone as the Dialogue labours to perswade For whatsoever Christ did or suffered in a Mediatorial way was done and suffered by the two natures b In exequendo Mediatoris officio utraque natura operatur rum communione alterius Leo ad Flavianum cap. 4. in him Hypostatically united and not by either alone Whole Christ is our Mediator Redeemer Priest and Prophet in both natures according to his Deity and humanity What the Dialogue would force upon our belief from that place of Iohn c Joh. 6.63 namely that the humanity of Christ which he understands by the word flesh doth not profit us is in the first place a meer contradiction to himself having altogether pleaded for the bodily sufferings of Christ hitherto then we averre that it is not to be found in or gathered from the words for the best Expositors tell us that by flesh there is meant any natural food and not the flesh of Christ giving this reason for it wheresoever say they Christ speaketh of his own flesh there is the Pronoune My added to it or else he expresseth it thus the flesh of the Son of man but there is neither the one nor the other and therefore cannot be meant of the flesh of Christ They are exceedingly mistaken says Scharpius d Errant qui hoc loco percarnis vocem humanitatem Christi distinctè consideratam Spiritum Deitatè significari volunt Syphonia in the sense and meaning of our Saviours Words who by flesh would have his humanity by Spirit his Deity to be signified or understood But should we let this passe for granted which must not be that the humanity of Christ doth not profit us must it therefore follow that his obedience to the Law doth not profit us nor his fulfilling of the same for us Did ever any that pretended the least knowledge in the Rudiments of Art fetch a conclusion so far wide of the premisses But what shall we say to these Socinians whom no rules of Art are able to keep within compasse of sound Reason nor texts of Scripture within the bounds of true Religion but that they break through and run over all to beguile us in the one and betray us in the other Plutarch makes report of a certain Woman named Phea who rob'd all passengers that came by her Pallace These these Socinians the Dialogue and his fellows are like unto her For none can escape their hands They rob God of his Justice mercy and wisdome Christ of his merit and satisfaction man of all sound and solid means of Salvation leaving him in a worse condition then the thieves left that poor man that went down from Hierusalem to Iericho not half but stark dead without any help or hope of recovery I shall bestow upon the Dialogue and his high admirers with the rest of the Socinian Brethren but this one argument and so I will conclude this part also with a friendly advice to all Christian
confidence as if Orpheus like he meant to charm all to follow him that did but once vouchsafe to hear him Spiritual arrogance is so much more mischievous as the soul is beyond all earthly pelf For when we are once come to advance and admire our own judgments we are at first apt to hugge our own inventions then to esteem them too precious to be smothered within our own closets the World must know of how happy an issue we are delivered and must applaud it to or else abide a contestation So that the Wiseman well noteth Prov. 13.10 only by Pride cometh contention So Puccius grew so high in the in-step by reason of this new-light which only he had discovered and these new opinions which he broaching defended that there grew some trouble thereby in the City of London for which he as the ring-leader was clapt up into prison Out of which being again delivered and perceiving that this was not a place for his purpose he again crossed the Seas being before crossed by Land and betook himself to Bavau From hence he sent divers times to solicite Socinus to a conference about their mutual opinions certain conditions were agreed upon and Moderators appointed to that end Socinus returns answer that he was in a readinesse to make his appearance there and to accomplish whatsoever should in reason be requested or required of him But Puccius either in confidence of his own ability or else induced by some other weighty argument takes a journey on purpose by way of prevention For he which for Socinus his sake came to Basil to meet him comes now for his sake also to Cracovia in Polonia where after they had met and had had divers disputations between them and could not agree for it is next to a wonder to see hereticks though never so neerly linkt together to agree in all things unlesse it be in the opposition of truth he returning from thence became a companion of some that studied magick with whom he came to Prague and there like an Apostate as he was fell to his old superstitious devotion again of cringing and crouching to every stock and joyned in Communion with the Church of Rome whom he had openly renounced and defyed as the whore of Babylon We see here the inconstancy of mans nature even in that wherein he should be most constant and that is religion Apostacy of manners cannot but be dangerous of faith deadly together with truth it looseth shame and not seldom swells up to the sin against the Holy Ghost for which there is no forgiveness in Heaven because there can be no remorse on earth This is a most perilous effect of spiritual pride which bears such sway in the heart of man that neither he himself is nor shall the Church of God be if he can help it at any quiet through his misgrounded novelty and most dangerous heresy to which he stands extreamly affected Can it be any other then an height of pride for a man to think himself wiser then the whole Church of God upon earth wiser then the Church of God that hath bin upon earth ever since the Apostles of Christ inclusively in all successions to this present time It was this pride that undid Puccius and brought him back with shame to that religion which he had disclaimed And many such examples have we of divers who have strayed from the truth to the Samosatenian or Socinian assemblies ye tat length have foully miscarryed either returning back to Popery from whence at first they took their flight or else to Iudaisme or Turcisme which is worst of all That Spirit which beareth rule in the hearts of the Children of disobedience bringeth them about with such a giddiness of mind that without Gods special preventing grace there is no help for them And no marvel they are so ready to turn Turcks or Jews that are once entred into the Socinian Doctrines For they are so like that there is not a pin to chuse Christophorê° Ostorrodus Smiglensis caetus Minister Ecclesiae pacem quis conturbavit amaenam Ostorrodus erat Daemonis arte potens CHristopher Ostorrodus a Germane Minister of the Socinian congregation at Smiglen is another of this heretical crew who did mightily infest the Churches of God in divers parts And sure the trouble that befell his Master Socinus in the University of Cracovia where by the rising of the Students for the suppressing of his heresies he was hardly entreated insomuch that he scarce escaped from thence with life was the cause of the travail and dispersing abroad of many of his most intimate disciples and followers and the coming of Ostorrodus into Holland and Friesland Who with Andraeas Voivodius a companion of his and fellow-Socinian brought thither their Masters book de Christo Servatore printed and divers others of the same kind both manuscripts and printed books prepared and provided for that very purpose to propagate the Socinian heresie in those parts also hoping to build their nest there and to settle themselves with more quiet and advantage then they could in Polonia But their project being discovered and their close underminings of the peace and tranquillity of the Churches by Gods good providence timely detected divers copyes of their pestiferous books were taken and brought before the States General of the United Provinces by whose especial command they were exhibited to the faculty of Divines in the University of Leyden whose Rescript together with the States decree which I conceived both necessary and worthy to be inserted I have here presented to the Reader A true Copy of the Rescript REnowned Lords the Copies of those books which ye commanded to be sent unto us we have now thorrowly perused some part whereof we have seen before and have found out by diligent search divers others of the same argument That we may not be tedeous to your Lordships we judge those writings to come neer to Turcisme endeavouring to overthrow the true and eternal Deity of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God and also of the Holy Ghost the office of Christ his saving benefits satisfaction redemption justification c. the institution of Holy Baptism and our religious duty to Christ consisting in prayer and invocation which they deny to be due unto him not being God and true Creator of the World with many other grosse errours As for example in the book de Servatore are these very words That the Justice of God could not require that our sins should be punished Also that Christ by his death and sufferings did not satisfie the Justice of God for our sins yea that Christ could not satisfy Divine Justice for us by undergoing those punishments in our place and steed which by the Law of God we were liable to have undergone Lastly though there be many more to this purpose that Christ could not satisfie the Justice of God for us by performing those things in our place and stead which we by the Law were
where having spent some time in observing the several sorts of Orders which were there he chose as being most and best affected with their manner and Discipline the order of the Fryer Dominickes according to whose rule he lived and conformed himself Yet did he not carry the matter so close nor live so regularly therein but that he gave to some it seems that had an eye over him a shrewd suspicion and jealousy of his wavering and incertainty in the faith In so much that he is delivered over to the Inquisitors and by them as who ever escaped their talons being once suspected and taken by them committed to prison out of which escaping he fled away secretly first into Germany to the Protestants with whom he lived for a time but likeâ—ng not the way of truth as children of darkness love not the light he forsook them and went into Poland to the Arians as they were then called to whose heresy he was so closely rivetted that he was never loosed from them to his dying day He that hath strayed into these thickets is so amazed with intricate circumnolutions that he can very hardly unwind himself ever after Now he passeth from thence to Moravia where he manifests his affection to these desperate opinions which he formerly entertained and digested Here he makes all ring again so that neither Scriptures Patriarchs Prophets Evangelists Apostles no nor Christ himself can be heard for him and his Socinians Pope Pius V. did his utmost endeavour to catch him in his traps which he had laid in several places and by several persons for him but while he lived he kept out of his clutches But Gregory the 13. by the means of Maximilian the 2. brought it to passe that being at dinner with some other company he was suddainly apprehended clapt up into a coach which stood ready provided for him was brought first to Vienna from thence to Rome where he was made sure enough for ever escaping again He was often examined by the Jesuites Magius and Bellarmine and being conuicted of Arianisme which it seems stuck closer to him then any other profession he was for the present doomed to the deep dungeon of the tower of Nonnana into which his hands feet and neck being laden with gyves and fetters he was miserably thrust down there to remain til farther order should be taken with him Where in the mean time he had divers exhortations and admonitions to forsake those damnable heresies into which he was fallen But continuing or rather encreasing in his former obstinacy being brought forth to the Chappel of St. John de Lateran according to the Ceremonies of the Church of Rome was first degraded then delivered over to the Secular Power and so condemned to the fire When he came to the place of execution and beheld the fire prepared for him with certain Sorcerers standing ready bound to their stakes which were to be burned with him he was so exceedingly terrified and wholly agast that he gave publick testimony of his willâ—ngness to retract and recant his errours if he might have liberty so to do Which being signified to the Pope he is repreived from the fire and brought back again In a place appointed for that purpose he makes his recantation renounces and forswears his errours and damnable heresies confessing that Jesus Christ is the very true and eternal Son of God We see that fire could extract from him a confession of that truth which before he denied The fear of death striketh us into such a dump that we are contented to do any thing rather then dye By the way what is it should make us so unwilling to dye seeing it is a debt we owe to nature and the payment thereof cannot be avoyded Is it the horrour of the pain that doth affright us Is if the fear and doubt of what shall become of us hereafter that doth terrify us Or is it the guilt of our misguided souls already condemning us by the pre-apprehension of a future punishment which waits upon us If death were alike terrible to all we might think there were something more in it then we can imagine But some men can look upon it when it comes wâ—thout any terrour at all though â—t set out in all it's pomp for to destroy them yea they long for it before it comes and sing St. Pauls cupio dissolvi desire to passe hence though it be in Elias fiery Charriot whereas others are stroke into such a tripidation with the very sight of it that they are at their wits end know not which way to turn themselves The cause of this difference is not in death but in our selves for death comes alike to all but finds not all alike when it comes Guilt of sin and fear of punishment here and hereafter may be cause why many labour to avoid it which might for the present as not being fully hardened in impiety move Palaeologus to desire mercy But now he comes to act his last part upon the Stage of this world and 't is a deadly one for remaining as yet in prison till he had given a further confirmation of his former recantation he most wretchedly hardens his heart insomuch as that God hardens it also and the Devil driving him on to a relapse into his former herisie which being openly manifested he is ipso facto condemned and by the fury of the flames wholly consumed This saith Raemundus is briefly the History of the unhappy life the heretical Religion and the deserved death of miserable Palaeologus Iâ— any man shall think the better of him or his Doctrine because he was condemned by the Church of Rome for an Heretick by whom all true Religion â—s accounted Heresie let him know 't is the cause and not the sufferings that make the Martyr though some are unjustly condemned by them yet this man for Heresie and that justly Iacobus Arminius Leydensis Professor Sampsonis vulpes Arminius atque Socinus Juncti per caudas ora diversa sua HEresie creeps in at a little hole but infects infests the whole house l ke a plague that comes in at the windows and then propagates it self beyond all measure And for that purpose the Divel raiseth up instruments in all places such who are so over-wise that the very curdle of their wit procures a breaking out into faction then grows to error and at last to some notorious and blasphemous Heresie Cum discipuli veritatis non erunt magistri erroris sunt Refusing to be schollars of Truth they become Masters of errors They must be Masters though it be of the black Art And such an one was this James Arminius once Divinity Reader in the University of Leyden who having had some familiarity either with the men of whom we have already spoken or their works did very much favour this Socinian heresie He did first secretly teach and subtilly instil it into the ears and hearts of many of his Discâ—ples and afterwards did opâ—nly pâ—ofess it as we
may read in his Epistle ad Hypolytum de collibus and other of his writings And although those errors which he held and maintained were justly condemned in the late Synod of Dort Yet his Disciples the Remonstrants do obstâ—nately persist in them though tâ—ey would mâ—ke the world beleeve they decline and disclaim them Let Ancient and Reverend Pâ—reus stand forth and hear we him in this matter Anno 1613. writing from Heidelberg to those oâ— Leyden he saith The Socinians of Poland have lately taken and acknowledge your Arminians for their own together with Arminius himself as their cheif Dictator and one Bonfinius Acontius with the rest that are clandestine waiters on him And because Arminius will not be behind in courtesie he and his complices do mutually and expresly declare that they can entertain fraternity with all sects yea even with the Socinians themselves the Reformed Churches only excepted We will compare their opinions and by that means we may the better judge of them especially in this point the satisfaction of Divine justice which is at this day so much controverted among us It is no where extant say the Remonstrants That Divine justice is satisfied for our sins by the sufferings of Christ yea it is manifestly repugnant to that free grace of Goâ— in remission of sins which he offers to us by Jesus Christ. Now hear the Socinians in this matter who say Christians commonly think that Christ by his death hath made full satisfaction for our sins and merited salvation for us but this opinion is false and erroneous yea very dangerous and pernicious Again they both affirm that the righteousness of Christ is not ours nor accounted as our Righteousness before God It cannot be sayes the one That God should impute Christ or his Righteousness to us This Doctrine say the other hath no footing in the word of God nor common reason We might follow them by the foot and see how they walk together in many if not most of one anothers Heresies But we need not any further witness then their own confession one egge is no â—iker another neither doth milk more resemble milk then the Remonstrants do the Socinians in their Doctrine and manners So that Arminius did but play Socinus his game or act his part for him in Leyden which he and his wretched adherents had done in Italy Germany Poland Transylvania the great Dukedome of Lituania and divers other parts and places besides by which the peace and tranquillity of the Churches hath been much disturbed the progress of the Gospel impeded many poor souls seduced the Kingdom of Satan enlarged and their own condemnation hastned as may appear by the suddain and violent deaths of many yea the most of the Professors and propagators of the same Antonius VVotonus Anglus Anglia quid de te meruit Wottoâ—e quòd illam Haeresibus divis perdere tute velis SIngularity in conceit concerning matters of Religion is as perilous as to follow a plurality or multitude in the custome of evil Yet Wotton blinded therewith was led aside himself and endeavoured to misguid others This is the last perverse Publisher of this damnable Heresie that we shall think fit to name and who first openly professed it in England and by manuscript Pamphlets and Printed books dispersed it in London a place as much adicted to and taken with novelty as any other whatsoever For let the Doctrine be what it will if it smell not of novelty it hath there for the most part no better entertaâ—nment then Christ among the Gadarens they regard it nâ—t from thence it was carryed as a discovery of some new truth into several places of the Country and this about forty years ago But being detected hotly pursued and strenuoâ—sly opposed by that stout Champâ—on for the Truth Mr George Walker Pastor of St John the Evangeliâ—t London and by his Zeal together wâ—th the industry of some other Ministers in that City he was quickly quell'd and his opinion seemingly suppressed But yet because he would still uphold a secret faction He wrote a Book in Latine wherein he seemed to retract or rather to run from some desparate opinions which he formerly maintained and wild speeches and expressions which he had uttered which are to be seen in his private Manuscripts given by him to those of his party and so delivered over from hand to hand and formerly dispersed But the Plaister was nothing neer so broad as the sore For his retraction if any was clandestine and secret whereas his endeavours to propagate this pernicious heresie were notoriously manifest by his writings wherein he professeth in plain words his desent from all our Orthodox Divines which had before written any thing concerning the necessary Doctrine of a sinners justification before God saying I am forced to dissent from them all In that very Book he shews how skilful he is in the art of dissimulation whâ—ch is able to deceive thousands For therein he makes a shew of consent with them and endeavours to perswade them to beleeve it whereas he wrests their doubtful speeches to countenance and to cover his errour and socinianism which he would have his seduced Disciples to embrace and follow This Book some of them hâ—ving more Zeal then knowledge more faction then Religion with much difficulty after it was rejected at Lâ—yâ—en and which is wonderful to tell at Amsterdam procured privately to be Printed at their own cost elsewhere brought over the Copies and sold them in London where they thought they might make the best market of such wicked and deceitful ware But by the blessing of God upon the careful endeavours of those that stood up in the gap against it it was utterly extirpate and might have lyen rotting with the carcase of him that first brought it over and brought it into England to get him a name though but an evil one by poysoning his country with the contagious infection of this damnable heresie but that our Dialogue by the New-English Gentleman revived some Iohn Biddle others of these diabolical doctrines The one having the very words the other the opinions of Socinus and his followers And are not we all beholding to these and such as these that go before for raising the dust to put out the eyes or at least for the present to blind the sight of all those that follow after He that hath an eye left to see let him see and he that hath an ear to hear let him hear and the Lord touch his heart that he may understand what God is yet doing and speaking to the Churches Quod scripsi scripsi was Pilates answer to the Jews that that I have written I have written and so say I What I have written I have written for the good of my poor seduced Countrimen that are taken but mistaken with these upstart revived heresies insteed of new lights or new discoveries of truth which these seducers pretend they meet with and are misled by the errours