hell nor suffer thine holie one to see corruption Both these being iointlie spoken of Christ must both bee iointlie verified in Christ wherefore Christes soule must then not bee left in hell when his flesh lying in the earth sawe no corruption They may not bee seuered in performance which the holie ghost knitteth together in coherence Lastlie Peter in plaine words saâ—eth Dauid spake this of Christs resurrection If this concerned his resurrection then not his passion on the crosse but after death and before he rose as his flesh saw no corruption So his soule was not left in hell Yea God raised him vp as Peter saith breaking the sorrowes of death or hell before him of which it was impossible he should be held not that hee was euer in them and so loosed them as a man doth chaines where with hee was once bound but as the snares of hunters saith Austen are broken Ne teneant non quia tenuerunt before they take hold not after they haue taken holde For Christ was to rise againe not as others before him were restored to this present life but as the full and first conquerour of death and hell hee was to rise both in bodie and soule to eternall celestial glory and therfore he brake when he rose the paines and powers of death and hell that they should not preuaile for euer against him or his The other places of the Psalmes haue as manie aunsweres as they haue wordes for euerie word is an answere First Dauid speaketh of himselfe not of Christ and Dauids words to Christs person we may not refer at our pleasures without farther and better warrant Againe Dauid doth not saie the TORMENTS but the SNARES or STREIGHTS of DEATH as well as of HELL for the worde Sheol indifferentlie signifieth both if there bee none other circumstance to limite it to either and Dauid by the rules of diuinitie was neuer here on earth in the true paines of the damned haue FOVND me out or BESET and besieged mee but not oppressed nor ouerwhelmed me And if we take the name of HELL neuer so properlie it is no inconuenience that the gates of hell I meane the craft and power of Satan should hunt after the godlie heere on earth and seéke to entrap euen Christ himselfe but the true paines of hell the wicked and desperate do not suffer in this life much lesse the elect least of all Christ. It is a iudgement following death and maie no more be defended to bee here on earth then the ioies of heauen may be possessed in this life In the causes why Christ should suffer the paines of hell we may do well not to be too forwarde with the rules of reason as well for that there is no proportion betwixt the person of Christ and vs as also for that wee may not sit iudges with God and prescribe when or howe his iustice should bee satisfied It is requisite in our selues to confesse that as both parts of man sinned in Adam so the wages of sinne which is euerlasting death is due to both and as the soule shoulde haue principallie enioied God which is her life if shee had persisted in obedience so in falling from God her losse and smart must of the twaine bee farre the greater though the bodie shall not wante both grieuaunce and vengeance intolerable but if wee stretch these rules to Christ and subiect his person as our suretie to the verie SAME WAGES of sinne which we should haue suffered I knowe not howe in fewer wordes a man maie couch more grosse and open impiety For we should haue béene WHOLY SEVERED IVSTLY HATED and VTTERLY REIECTED from God yea ETERNALLY CONDEMNED BODIE AND SOVLE to hell fire May anie of these thinges be affirmed or imagined of Christ without hainous and horrible blasphemie This was the wages of our sinne must he endure THE SAME before wee can bee redéemed or Gods iustice be satisfied I hope no sound diuine will so conclude They will release eternall death to the dignitie of Christs person but he was as they saie for the time to taste the verie same death both in soule and bodie which wee should haue done and which in vs should haue béene euerlasting First by their leaues hell in the scriptures is an euerlasting torment and therefore if the excellencie of Christes person exempt him from euerlasting miserie that cléerelie quiteth him in bodie and soule from suffering hell Againe as sinne is the voluntarie defection of the soule from God so hell is the TOTAL if not FINAL EXCLVSION of the soule from all fellowship with God lesse thâ—n the death of soule it cannot be It is the wages of sinne and therefore it must bee the death as well of the soule as of the bodie and chiefelie of the soule because the soule of man is the principall agent in sinne S. Iohn calleth hell the second death If then the soule of Christ suffered either hell or the wages of our sinne of necessitie for the time it must be dead The wages of sinne is death If for the time Christes soule were dead it had no communion with God nor God with it no more then death hath with life or darkenes with light It lost for that time all faith and loue of God For by faith the iust doe liue and he that abideth in loue abideth in God And since God is the life of the soule Christ could not suffer the death of the soule which is the wages of our sinne no not for a day or an houre but he must be seuered from God forsaken of God Mors animae fit cum eam deserit deus the death of the soule is when God forsaketh it Mors est spiritus a deo deseri it is the death of the spirit to bee forsaken of God Mors animae deus amissus the losse of God is the death of the soule To lose God or to be forsaken of God is to haue no coniunction nor fellowship with God the soule then that is dead is excluded from the fauour and grace truth and spirit of God and if anie bee so irreligious or impious as once to affirme these thinges of Christ he may auouch that Christs soule suffered the true wages of our sin but if we abhorre these things as sacrilegious and monstrous absurdities as I doubt not but we do then certainelie the soule of Christ could not bee dead no not for an instant and consequentlie the true wages of our sinne the soule of Christ could not receaue nor suffer on the crosse or in the garden but wee must rather giue eare to Peter which saith Christ bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree where he was quickened in spirite though mortified in flesh and strengthened in the inward man by the ioy proposed for which hee sustained the crosse and despised the shame thereof Christ then tooke the burden of our sinnes from vs and laied it
sinne and wickednesse which the diuel himselfe dare not auouch of the soule of Christ. Men maie doe well therefore to beware how they venture vnaduisedlie to saie that Christ suffered the death of the soule for howsoeuer they may frame vnto themselues a new kind of death in the soule of Christ as they thinke far from these absurdities and blasphemies yet both scriptures fathers mightilie contradict that loose if not lewde assertion With thee is the fountaine of life saith Dauid to God Then if the soule of Christ were alwaies ioined with God or so much as in Gods fauor it must needs haue life for in Gods fauour there is life Yea the presence of Gods spirit giueth life Spiritus est qui viuiâ—icat it is the spirit y t quickneth saith our Sauiour and Paul citeth the same words Where then THE SPIRIT OF GOD is there is LIFE and consequently the soule y t is dead is depriued of Gods spirit Now from whom the spirit of God is departed in him must néeds want al the fruits of Gods spirit and so the soule that is dead is excluded from all godlinesse and vertue For these are not onelie signes but effectes of Gods spirit working in the soule of man And since between righteousnes and vnrighteousnes there is no middle the soule of man wanting light truth and sanctitie of force must be filled with darkenes error iniquity which to surmise in the soule of Christ is the hight of all impietie As manie as are led by the spirit of God they are the sonnes of God If Christes soule wanted at anie time the spirit of God he was not the sonne of God If he euer and alwaies had the spirit of life dwelling in him his soule coulde at no time be dead For the spirite is life through righteousnesse But whie seeke we proofes that Christes soule could not die since he himselfe is the AVTHOR and GIVER OF LIFE I am the waie the truth and THE LIFE saith our Sauiour He that beleeueth in me hath euerlasting life I am the resurrection and the life hee that beleeueth in mee though hee were dead he shall liue And hee that liueth and beleeueth in me shal neuer die If the soule of him that beleeueth in Christ shal neuer die how could Christ himself at anie time die in soule Christ is our life howe then shall we be sure neuer to die if the fountaine of our life in Christes person might for the time bee dried vp with death shall we haue fuller or perfiter fruition of life then Christ Iesus our heade who giueth life to all his sheepe but he had so plentifull perpetuall and personall possession of life not onelie for himselfe but for vs all that the Apostle saith the first Adam was made a liuing soule the last Adam was made a quickening spirit that is not only to haue life in himself but to giue life to others Could hee then at anie time be a deade soule whome the holy ghost affirmeth to be made a QVICKENING SPIRIT could he giue that to others which himselfe did lacke or loose that which he once had I know to giue life is proper to God and for that cause the soule of Christ could not haue that power by creation but by coniunction with his godhead and in that respect was the receptacle whereby the life and grace of his diuine nature was deriued into his humane with such abundance and assurance that of his fulnes we al haue receaued insomuch that the words which he spake were spirit and life and the flesh which he tooke was the bread of life yea the body of Christ dying did not only resist and represse the force of death but rising againe destroied death restored life to the world If the temple of his bodie were stronger then death what was the sanctuarie of his soule I wish therfore all men that professe themselues christiaÌ„s to be soberlie minded and with the learned and auncient fathers to acknowledge that there is not mentioned in the scriptures anie death of the soule besides SINNE eternall DAMNATION neither of the which with anie moderation or mitigation can be attributed to Christ without shamefull blasphemie Anima peccans ipsa morietur The soule that sinneth that soule shall die In these wordes are both deaths of the soule expressed the first voluntarie when for the delights of sinne wee refuse the preceptes of God the other necessarie when God by his iustice withdraweth his presence from vs and executeth his VENGEANCE on vs that neuer shall haue end That sinne is a death of the soule cannot be denied Let the dead bury their dead saith Christ to one of his disciples follow thou me Which must néedes be meant of such as are liuing in body dead in soule as Paule speaketh of wanton widowes she which liueth in pleasure is dead whiles shee liueth These the scripture calleth DEAD IN SINNE When we were dead by sinnes God quickened vs together with Christ. And again You which were dead in sinnes hath he quickened together with Christ forgiuing you all your trespasses From this death I make no doubt but all christian men with heart and voice will cléerelie discharge the VNSPOTTED and VNDEFILED Lambe of God who did no sinne neither was there any guile found in his mouth The other kinde of the death of the soule which is damnation must be farther from Christ then euer was sinne For not onelie Christes innocency should bee vniustlie condemned which were altogether repugnant to Gods righteousnesse but the sonne of God wronged and mans saluation wholy subuerted Nothing might befall the humane nature of Christ which was vnfitting for his diuine both being ioined in one person And if our Sauiour were condemned to hell which way shall we thinke to scape the iust and fearefull iudgement of God for our manifold and grieuous sinnes he was indéed condemned by man that gaue wrongfull sentence of death against him but hee was acquited of God And because hee humbled himselfe to the death of the crosse God highly exalted him and gaue him a name aboue all names as well in witnesse of his innocencie as in reward of his humility Yea the holie ghost which euidently recordeth Christes assurance confidence and reioicing in God as hee hung on the crosse cleane excludeth all suspicion that he suffered the death of the soule For the soule in this life can haue no fuller nor faster coherence with God then Christ had And since God is the true life of the soule the inseparable coÌ„iunction of Christes soule with God proueth a continuall perswasion and fruition of eternal life which by no meanes admitteth anie danger or doubt much lesse anie sence or sufferance of the second death being the iust wages of sinne whereby the wicked are euerlastinglie punished Certe aâ—ima Christi non solum immortalis
voluntarily committed by him Christ then beeing frée from all sinne might not suffer the inwarde or euerlasting death of the soule but corporall and temporall reproch and paine which God might and did recompence with eternall ioye and glorie Thirdlie that soule which sinneth that soule shall die This is the setled rule of Gods iustice and therefore Christs soule which sinned not could by no iustice die the death of the soule To laie down his life for vs was loue and thankes with God but willinglie to separate himselfe from God for vs was no waie to reconcile God to vs or to bring vs to God He must therefore cleaue fast to God in soule whose death shall bee pretious in Gods sight as was Christs If the soule bee seuered from God the death of the bodie is detestable in his eies as beeing the wages of sinne and therefore no more acceptable to GOD then sinne it selfe but where the soule hating the infection of sinne and loathing the infirmitie of the flesh resigneth it vnto death for Gods glorie and the good of others And in this respect the death of the bodie maie bee a sacrifice vnto God but not except the soule doe liue and cleaue to God without separation Then hatefull to GOD was the death of Christ if his soule were first hated or accursed if that were beloued and blessed of God it coulde not choose but liue for God is not the God of the deade but of the liuing So that the death of Christes bodie on the Crosse was by no iustice an acceptable sacrifice vnto God if his soule were first deade But his death was so precious in Gods sight that in the bodie of his flesh through death he reconciled vs vnto God his soule was therefore aliue and in fauour with God yea so abundantly blessed and highly accepted for the holines humilitie and obedience thereof that God was pacified and pleased and we all sanctified with THE OBLATION OF THE BODY of Iesus on the altar of the crosse Lastlie the flesh of Christ by Gods iustice must bee as able to purge vs from sinne as Adams was to poyson vs with sinne But the flesh of Adam infected all his posteritie with sinne and death ergo the flesh of Christ must haue as much force to clense and quicken the faithfull both in this life and the next Of this iustice Paul speaketh when he saith since by man came death by man must come the resurrection of the dead For as in Adam all die euen so in Christ shal al be made aliue The first Adam WAS THE FIGVRE of the second Adam that where sinne abounded there grace might abound much more As then by one mans disobedience manie were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many bee made righteous The obedience of Christ which here Paule mentioneth is his obedience vnto death euen to the death of the crosse and the righteousnesse of the faithfull is the forgiuenes of their sinnes through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus I wil not here dispute whether the soule be created and infunded or else traduâ—ed from Adam as well as the flesh I meane not with curious or superfluous questions to busie mens heades that which the scriptures deliuer touching the deriuation of sinne and death from our first parents I may safelie teach and you must necessarily beléeue That we were fashioned in iniquitie and conceaued in sinne the words of Dauid doe exactlie witnesse and no maruaile For who can make that to bee cleane which commeth from the vncleane yea sinne cleaueth so fast vnto our flesh that when the eies of our heart are lightened and the spirit of our minde is renued so that the inwarde man delighteth in the law of God EVEN THEN haue we an other law in our members rebelling against the lawe of our minde and leading vs captiue vnto the lawe of sinne the one so contrarie to the other that we cannot doe the things which we would by reason the affection or liking of the flesh cannot be subiect to the lawe of God This fight betwixt the flesh and the spirit is so durable that it cannot bee dissolued but onelie by death Though Christ bee in vs and the spirit liue for righteousnesse sake yet sinne so dwelleth in vs that is in our â— mortall bodies that whiles we liue in minde we serue the law of God but in our flesh the lawe of sinne From Adams flesh wee deriue this infection of sinne that sticketh so fast vnto vs after we are regenerate and new borne againe of water and the holie ghost and this is the roote and nurse of all sinne and the cause of death to al men If Christ be in you the bodie is dead because of sinne From Christes flesh then we must receiue the purgation of sinne both inherent in vs and committed by vs or else Adams flesh is stronger to wound vs then Christs is to heale vs which is repugnant to the iustice of God by which the grace of God must bee farre mightier vnto saluation in the bodie of Christ then the force of sinne was vnto condemnation in the bodie of Adam vnlesse wee make sinne of more power to kill then God is to quicken which is to exalt the diuell aboue God and his sonne For God was in Christ reconciling the worlde to himselfe by whose bloud the partition wal is broken down and hatred abrogated through his flesh that wee might bee reconciled vnto God in one bodie by his crosse But the death of the bodie they will saie hath no proportion to the death of the soule and therefore the one cannot in iustice excuse the other There is farre greater distance betwixt the sonne of God and the sonnes of men then betwixt the bodies and soules of men These differ as creatures and both inferiour vnto the angels but there is the excellencie of the Creator aboue the creature which is simplie infinite Whatsoeuer therefore it pleased the sonne of God to suffer for our sakes it was most sufficient for our redemption howbeit to demonstrate his loue hee would be partaker of our infirmitie and mortality least we should loath our condition or grudge at the chastisement of our sinnes but if we set a side the dignitie and vnitie of his person then is no waie the death of the soule or the paines of hell which they imagine Christ suffered proportionable in exact iustice to the true wages of our sinne For what equiualence hath one soule with all the soules of the Saints or one daies anguish which Christ felt in soule as they suppose with that euerlasting fire which wee shoulde haue suffered in bodie and soule for euer set aside I saie the respect of the person which suffered for vs and in the rest they shall neuer bee able to prooue anie proportion of iustice diuine or humane But as
Feare not saith the Angell to Zacharie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy praier is heard thy wise Elizabeth shall bring thee a sonne Soe the Angell to Cornelius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy praier is hearde with strange toonges will I speake to this people saith the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and neither so will they harken vnto mee The wise man in like manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee that harkeneth vnto the Lord giueth rest to his mother And the Septuagint Whē thou praiest saith Eliphas in the booke of Iob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God will heare thee Earlie saith Dauid to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shalt thou heare my voice So in Esaie the eare of the Lord is not shutte 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to heare Infinite examples might bee brought to the same end but these are sufficient to conuince your ignorant mistaking of the Gréeke tongue yet the Question you saie is granted For fearing is a true feeling and if Christ feared the wrath of God ergo he felt it You recken a pace when you recken alone but when you come for allowance you will lacke a faire deale of your reckning If fearing wore suffering which is most absurd if there were no kind of feare but your amazed and all confounded feare as there be more other kinds of feares if there were noe more parts of the wrath of God but hell paines as there be sundrie more if no man might feare but for himselfe as in charitie wee may and in duty we ought to feare for others and Christ in loue might and did for vs then had you some hope that he which granteth the one would admit the other but if this be all you can saie that feare is a kind of feeling I am as farre from granting the Question as I was in the first beginning For though you dallie with doubtfull words and thinke it enough to catch here and there at a likelihood my course is not so Indéede out of these words I reasoned vppon your owne principles and supposing it for the time to be true which on this place some auouch that Christ feared the paines of hell I concluded if Christ were deliuered from fearing he was certainlie deliuered from suffering the paines of hell And before you answere the argument you triumph as if the Question were granted But Syr remember it is the suffering of hell paines that we talke of and not of a Metaphoricall kinde of féeling which you substitute in stéed thereof Againe all the effects of Gods wrath Christ did not feele nor feare as namelie neither reprobation nor desperation nor eternall damnation which is the chiefest and sharpest effect of Gods iust wrath against sinne Some partes thereof if hee did feare and so in affection feele howe doth it followe hee felt or feared hell paines Thirdlie hee did sustaine as well our person as our cause hee had not onelie compassion on vs but coniunction with vs and in that respect as our head hee might worthilie feare the euerlasting destruction of his bodie if he did not interpose himselfe and auert Gods wrath from them by healing them with his owne stripes and bearing their sinnes in his owne bodie Fourthlie he might feare the power of Gods wrath able to punish euen the bodie of Christ with farre more smart then his humane flesh was able to endure Lastlie hee might carefullie shunne and decline both our sinne and the wages of our sinne which is eternall death with a religious feare as content to redeeme vs but not to destroie both himselfe and vs. And this commeth néerest the signification of the Gréek worde there vsed which is no confused or amazed feare such as you woulde cunninglie conuey vnder the name of a perplexed feare but a carefull and diligent regarde to beware and decline that which wee mislike or doubt And therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not onelie one that feareth God by taking good care not to displease him but a circumspect and warie man in other thinges and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is circumspection and warinesse in priuate or publique affaires as well as Religion to GOD. Nowe because the bolder men are the sooner they aduenture on anie thing and the more fearefull the more héede they take what they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by consequent signifieth an inclination rather to feare then presumption but it is lesse then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the vsuall worde in Greeke for feare as maie plainelie be prooued by Plutarch in his Treatise of Morall vertue where noting howe men couer vitious affections vnder the names of vertues he saieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They call blushing reuerence mirth gladnesse and feare warinesse Euripides in the person of Eteocles king of Thebes saieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Circumspect care is the most profitable Goddesse And where you quote the 23. of the Acts for proofe of your conseit the place is rather against you then with you For when the Councell dissented about Paule and some tumult began to arise the Tribune doubting least some hurt might happen vnto Paule then his prisoner preuented it and sent his souldiers to take him a waie from the midst of the throng This feare of the tribune was for another man not for himselfe neither was a perplexed or amazed feare but a doubt forecasting the worst and preuenting it So is it written of Noah that being admonished by God of the floud which should come vpon the world by saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fearing declining and preuenting what God had threatned to others he made ready the Arke for the sauing of his housholde This could be no distrust full feare what should befall him and his house for his faith is commended by the Apostle in preparing the Arke for the safetie of himself and his children but he shunned that which he saw would light on others and that the scripture there calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The rest that maie concerne Christs praier in the garden or might occasion that agonie which there hee shewed thou hast gentle Reader in the treatise before which I will not here resume least I wearie thee with ouer much tediousnesse For a farewell to his speciall reasons the Confuter hath reserued matters of most speciall moment to the last and because they are weightie and neede good proofe hee hath searched the bottome of his studie and sheweth vs here the depth as well of his reading as vnderstanding Out of the Epistle to the Hebrues he citeth these wordes Christ through death abolished him that had the power of death that is the Diuell From hence hee reasoneth thus Surelie the worde DEATH hath the same meaning in both places verie fonde it were to take it here otherwise Nowe it is questionlesse in this latter place death signifieth the death of the soule the tormentes and sorrowes of the damned which are separated
part which moderation I wish in you all What I reade in the word of God that I beleeue what I do not reade that I doe not beleeue In Gods causes wee maie not easily leaue Gods words and with a new kind of speach make way for a new kinde of faith We must learne from God what to beléeue and not by correcting or inuerting his words teach him how to speake Since therefore redemption and remission of sinnes are euerie where in the scriptures referred to the death and bloud of Christ I dare not so much as thinke the words of the holie ghost in one of the greatest mysteries of our christian faith to be improper or imperfect And that you may the better perceaue how plainelie and fullie this doctrine is deliuered in the propheticall apostolical scriptures I thinke it good to go forwardes with the effects of Christes crosse by which it shall appeare howe sufficient the price of our redemption is in the bloud of Christ without anie supplie of hell paines to be suffered in y e soule of Christ. The effectes of Christs crosse though I might recken manie yet to keep my selfe within some compasse I restraine to fiue chiefe branches the MERITE of his suffering which was INFINITE the MANER of his offering which was BLOVDY The POVVER of his DEATH which was mighty the COMFORT of his CROSSE which was NECESSARIE the GLORY of his RESVRRECTION which was heauenly These fiue will direct vs not onely what to beléeue but what to refuse in the person and passion of our Sauiour I will therefore take them as they lie in order The merite of Christs suffering must be simply infinite that it may worke two things for vs to wit redeeme vs from Sathan and reconcile vs vnto God cleere vs from hell and bring vs to heauen in either respect it must be infinite The wages of sinne is death both of bodie and soule héere and for euer With the Iudge of the world is no vnrighteousnesse He therefore punisheth no man without cause or aboue desert Since the reuenge of each mans sinne is eternall y t is infinite in time the waight of each mans sinne must needs be infinite as being rewarded with euerlasting death It may séeme much to carnal men that God should requite sin with euer during reuenge but if we seriouslie bethinke our selues what it is for earth and ashes to waxe proud against God after so manifold abundant blessings to cast off his yoake readily yea gréedily to prefer euerie vanitie and fansie before his heauenlie truth glory we shall presently perceiue how iust cause God hath infinitely to hate our vncleannes eternally to pursue the pride contempt rebellion of wicked and wilfull men against his diuine maiestie howsoeuer we digest it it is a thing determined with God and no doubt balāced in his vpright and sincere iudgment The soule that sinneth that soule shal die Death life are both eternall y t is infinite in length though not in weight in durance though not in degree and sence of ioy or paine Then in either respect to counteruaile our deliuerance from hell our inheritance in heauen she merit of Christs suffering must be infinite An infinite purchase cannot be made but with an infinite price For this infinite price whither shall we seeke to the paines of hell or to the powers of heauen◠y e paines of hel are neither meritorious nor infinite What thanks with God to be separated from God and the soule being alienated from God what other part of man can merite his fauor If any man fal away my soule shall haue no pleasure in him Hel paines therefore are accursed not accepted of God and hee that suffereth them is hated and no way beloued Depart from me ye cursed into euerlasting fire As they are not meritorious no more are they infinite I meane in waight but they must euerlastingly be suffered before they can be infinite For not only diuels but men of all sorts shal suffer them who cannot endure any infinite sence of paine All creatures are finite both in force to do strength to suffer Infinit is as much as God himself hath therefore God alone is infinite So that neither hel fire is of infinite force to punish nor men nor angels of infinite strength to suffer but the vengeance of sinne continueth for euer by reason no creature is able to beare an infinite waight of punishment Since then the paines of hel haue neither worth nor waight sufficient in themselues to satisfie the anger procure the fauor of God we must séeke to heauen euen to God himselfe for the true ransome for our sinnes and redemption of our soules which we no where find but in the person of Christ Iesus who being true God tooke our nature vnto him and by the infinite price of his bloud bought vs from y e power of hel brought vs vnto God For neither y e vertues of Christs humane soule though they were many nor the sufferings of his flesh though they were painful are simply infinite til we looke to his person then shall we find that God vouchsafed with his own bloud to purchase his Church that we were reconciled to God by the death of his sonne when we were his enemies Bernarde expressing the infinite merite of Christes death and passion saith Incomprehensibilis deus voluit comprehendi summus humiliari potentissimus despici pulcherrimus deformari sapientissimus vt iumentū fieri immortalis mori vt compendio absoluam deus fieri voluit vermiculus quid excelsius deo quid inferius vermiculo The incomprehensible God woulde be comprehended the highest humbled the most mighty despised the most beautifull deformed the most wise bee like a beast the immortall would suffer death to speake all in fewe wordes God would become a Worme what is higher then God what is baser then a Worme If betwéene the Creator and the best of his creatures there be an infinite distance what thinke yee then was there betwixt the throne of God in heauen and the crosse of Christ on earth not an infinite distance and so infinite that neither men nor Angels can comprehend it The ground of our saluation then is the obedience humility and charitie of the sonne of God yeelding himselfe not onelie to serue in our stéed but to die for our sinnes For when he was equall with God in nature power and glory hee refused not to take the shape of a seruant vpon him and to humble himselfe to the death of the crosse not onelie obeying his fathers will which we had despised but abiding his hand for the chastisement of our peace The Apostle noteth these thrée vertues in the person of Christ Let the SAME AFFECTION of loue bee in you which was in Christ Iesus vvho being in the forme of God emptied and humbled himselfe and became
Patriarkes perished in their sinnes by mistaking the true price of their redemption For that they knewe anie thing of Christs suffering Hell paynes I thinke will hardlie bee prooued But out of question their faith was right which was settled on the bloud of Christ to bee shedde for the redéeming of their sinnes and themselues are Saintes in Gods kingdome Wee must therefore take heede that wee doe not rashlie varie from the foundation of their faith and hope which must likewise be ours with this onelie difference that they beléeued in him which should take away the sins of the worlde by his death and crosse and we in him that hath taken them away The time doth differ but the meanes are still the same The lamb was slaine from the beginning of the world not actually but in the counsaile of God which did purpose it and in the truth of God which did promise it as likewise in the faith of al his saints which did rest reioice in it frō whose steps if we swarue we may not looke to be Abrahās children y t refuse Abrahās faith as erroneous chalēge our father for misbeliefe If the offerings and faith of the Patriarks were not pregnant enough to lead vs to the true sacrifice for sinne the Apostle to the Hebrewes doth so purposelie and positiuely handle it that I much muse how any man of iudgement or learning can mistake it For if we marke but thrée conclusions which the Apostle maketh we cannot erre from the truth in this behalfe The true sacrifice for sinne must be but ONE and ONCE OFFERED not often nor iterated by reason it is perfect and able to clense vs from all sinne It must bee BLOVDY for so were all the offeringes of the lawe and without shedding of bloud is no remission It must bee CONFIRMED BY DEATH that redemption purchased might neuer bee reuoked nor altered These thrée positions are mainelie and mightilie vrged by the holie ghost the 9. and 10. to the Hebrues and for this faith are all the fathers of the old Testament from Abel to Samuel praised in the 11. chapter of that Epistle This man saith Paul meaning Christ after he had offered ONE SACRIFICE FOR SINNE sitteth for euer at the right hand of God For with ONE OFFERING had he made perfit for euer those which are sanctified Now where remission of sinne is there is no more offering for sinne Christ then making but one offering for sinne we must not make two but rather learne what that one was which we may do without any difficultie since the Apostle so plainlie teacheth vs that we are sanctified by THE OFFERING OF THE BODY OF IESVS ONCE that BY HIS OWNE BLOVD CHRIST ENTERED in Once into the holy place and FOVND ETERNALL REDEMPTION Almost all things are by the law purged with bloud and without shedding of bloud is no remission It was then necessary that the similitudes of heauenlie thinges in the law should be purified with such thinges as the bloud of bulles and goates but heauenly things themselues with better sacrifices then these euen with the bloud of Christ. For if the bloud of bulles and goates sanctifieth as touching the purifying of the flesh howe much more shall THE BLOVD OF CHRIST who through the eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot to God PVRGE YOVR CONSCIENCES FROM DEAD WORKS to serue the liuing God And for this cause is he the Mediator of the newe Testament that THROVGH DEATH which was for THE REDEMPTION OF THE TRANSGRESSIONS IN THE FORMER TESTAMENT they which were called might receiue the promise of eternal inheritance For where a testament is there must be THE DEATH OF HIM THAT MADE THE TESTAMENT For it is of no force so long as he that made it is aliue wherefore neither was the first testament ordained without bloud Iesus then suffered without the gate that hee might SANCTIFIE the people WITH HIS OWNE BLOVD and this is the bloud of the euerlasting Testament through which God brought againe from the dead our Lorde Iesus Christ confirmeth the same when hee saith This is MY BLOVD of the new testament WHICH IS SHED for many for THE REMISSION OF SINNES The words be plainer then that they néede anie commentarie There was but ONE sacrifice that coulde abolish sinne euen THE OBLATION OF THE BODIE OF IESVS ONCE whose BLOVD purged our consciences from deade works and purchased eternal inheritance by the TESTATORS DEATH FOR THE REDEMPTION of those sinnes which we committed against the former Testament What shift haue we to shun the force of these wordes or to bring in the paines of hell in Christes soule as a part of the propitiatory sacrifice for sinne Christ made but one oblation of himselfe for sinne and that was the suffering of death in his body for the redemption of our transgressions and shedding of his bloud for the remission of our sinnes More then one hee néeded not make for that one obtained eternall redemption and other then this he did not make for his offering was both BODILY and BLOVDIE This is my body which is giuen and broken for you this is my bloud which is shed for manie THE OBLATION OF THE BODY of Iesus once THE SHEDDING OF HIS BLOVD are of strength force enough to clense vs from our sins to procure vs the promise of euerlasting inheritance which beeing confirmed by the death of the testator standeth irreuocable How canne wee then bring in another sacrifice of Christes soule suffering the paines of hell which could be neither bodily nor bloudy but wee must increase the number and confounde the differences of Christs offerings and weaken the force of his externall corporal sacrifice which was the truth that answered accomplished al the signes of the law For the inuisible paines of hel are no where prefigured in the sacrifices of the law that I find nor so much as once mentioned in the Apostles discourse of Christs sacrifice for sinne that I reade therfore if we adde them as a necessary part of our redemption we derogate from the bloud of Christ as insufficient without those torments to clense vs from our sins pacifie the wrath of God that was kindled against vs. What danger it is to depart from y e manifest words of the holy ghost in so high a point of faith by things vnwritten to discredit things written I néede not admonish such as be learned let the simple take héed that they suffer not reason to ouerrule religion obscure and doubtful places in the scriptures to wrest from them the perspicuous and perpetuall doctrine of the holy ghost Howe ful and perfect the redemption is which wee haue by the bloud of Christ if you search the Scriptures you shall easilie see if you doe but hearken you shall presentlie learne The bloud of Christ doth REDEEME CLENSE VVASH IVSTIFIE SANCTIFY the elect It doth PACIFIE and
secundum caeteraruÌ„ naturam sed etiam nullo mortificata peccato vel damnatione punita est quibus duabus causis mors animae intelligi potest Surely the soule of Christ saith Austen was not only immortall in nature as the rest but was NEITHER DEAD WITH ANY SIN nor PVNISHED WITH DAMNATION which two wayes the death of the soule may be vnderstood If then neither transgression nor damnation may be ascribed to the soul of Christ it is euident he suffered not the death of the soule yea to subiect the soule of Christ to either of these two deaths which onelie are the deaths of the soule were more horrible blasphemie then I hope anie Christian man meaneth to incurre But I mistake the death of the soule I must confesse I therein followe the sacred Scriptures and ancient fathers other kinde of death of the soule I know none because I reade none iustlie prooued These two are manifest in the scriptures That sinne killeth the soule besides manie other places before cited Saint Paule shortly sheweth in these words SIN REVIVED BVT I DIED for sinne deceiued me and slue me And likewise our sauiour except you beleeue you shall die in your sinnes That euerlasting death is the wages of sinne I take it to be as cleare a case as the former These shal go into euerlasting punishmeÌ„t saith Christ to the wicked They shall be punished with euerlasting perdition saith Paule of the ignorant and disobedient The smoke of their torments shal ascend euermore saith Iohn in his Reuelation The lake burning with fire and brimstone this is the second death Howe the ancient fathers define the death of the soule is soone séene by their writings Dicam audacter fratres sed tamem verum Duae vitae sunt vna corporis altera animae sicut vita corporis anima sic vita animae deus Quomodo si anima deserat moritur corpus sic moritur anima si deserat Deus I wil speake boldlie saith Austen but trulie There are two sortes of life one of the bodie another of the soule As the soule is the life of the body so God is the life of the soule as if the soule depart the body dieth so dieth the soule if God forsake it Mors proprie non est â—a quae animam à corpore sed quae animam à Deo separat â— Deus vita est quia Deo separatur mortuus est That is not properly death saieth Cyrill which seuereth the soule from the bodie but that which seuereth the soule from God God is life and therefore hee that is separated from God is dead Anima quae peccat moritur non vtique aliqua sui dissolutione sed merito moritur Deo quia viuit peccato Ergo quae non peccat non moritur The soule which sinneth dieth sayeth Ambrose not by anie dissolution of her substaunce but worthilie dieth shee vnto God because shee liueth vnto sinne The soule then which sinneth not dieth not Anima in corpore vita est carnis Deus vero qui viuificat omnia vita est animarum Sicut mors exterior ab anima diuidit carnem ita mors interior à Deo separat animam The soule in the bodie saith Gregorie is the life of the flesh but God that quickeneth all things is the life of the soule as the outwarde death diuideth the bodye from the soule so the inward death diuideth the soule from God Sicut anima vita est corporis ita Deus vita est animae Mors animae separatio à Deo mors corporis separatio animae à corpore As the soule is the life of the bodie so God is the life of the soule saith Bernard The death of the soule is to be separated from God the death of the bodie is the departure of the soule from the bodie Neither doe I sée howe this definition of the death of the soule can be auoyded or amended For can there be life from any other but onelie from God If it bee good it must come from the fountaine of all goodnesse andâ— none is good but onelie God Then the soule which is partaker of God is partaker of life and to be seuered from God is to be seuered from life which is the true description of death Rightly therefore do the auncient Fathers teach that Christ dying for our sinnes suffered ONLY THE DEATH OF THE BODIE but not of the soule and the scriptures wheresoeuer they mention the death of Christ must haue the like construction For the soule of Christ could not die so long as it had the presence and assistance of Gods spirit yea we leaue him neither faith nor hope loue nor ioy obedience nor patience nor any other merites or vertues if wee subiect him to the death of the soule for these are the buds and fruits of life From which if we cannot exclude the soule of Christ no not for a moment without sacrilegious impietie it remaineth that Christ neither suffered nor tasted the death of the soule but onelie the death of the bodie In his bodie he bare our sinnes on the tree and reconciled vs vnto God in the BODY OF HIS FLESH THROVGH DEATH when we were straungers and enemyes in heart by reason of our euill workes Quid est enim quod viniâ—icatus est spiritu nisi quod eudem caro QVA SOLA FVERAT MORTIFICATVS viuificante spiritu resurrexit Nam QVOD ANIMA FVERAT MORTIFICATVS IESVS hoc est eo spiritu qui hominis est QVIS AVDEAT DICERE cum mors animae non sit nisi peccatum à quo ille omnino immunis fuit Mortificatus ergo carne dictus est quia secundum SOLAM CARNEM mortuus est What is meant by this that Christ was quickened in spirite but that the same flesh IN WHICH ONELIE HE DIED rose againe quickened by the spirite For that Iesus was DEAD IN SPIRIT WHO DARE AVOVCH I meane in his humane spirite since as the death of the soule is nothing but sinne from which hee was altogither free And least wee shoulde thinke this slipte his penne elsewhere hee largelie and learnedlie handleth the same matter Diabolus per impietatem MORTVVS EST IN SPIRITV carne vtique mortuus non est nobis autem impietatem persuasit per hanc vt in mortem carnis venire mereremur effecit Quô ergo nos Mediator mortis transmisit ipse NON VENIT hoc est ad MORTEM CARNIS ibi nobis Dominus Deus noster medicinam emendationis inseruit quam ille non meruit By sinne the Diuell DIED IN SPIRIT in flesh he died not but to vs hee perswaded sinne and thereby brought vs to deserue the death of the flesh Whither then the mediator of death cast vs and came not himselfe that is to the death of the bodie euen there the Lord our God appointed a medicine to cure vs which the Diuell neuer
world is the DEATH OF HIS FLESH ONLY nor thereby take occasion to defend that his bloud is not able to iustifie or sanctifie the beléeuers Sanguine suo hoc est SVAE CARNIS SANGVINE iustificat omnes in se credentes With his bloud that is with THE BLOVD OF HIS FLESH he iustifieth all that beleeue in him SI NON ALIO MODO SALVANDVS ERAT mundus nisi in SANGVINE ET CORPORE morti VTILITER derelicto quo pacto non necessarius verbo incarnationis modus vt iustificet in saÌ„guine suo credeÌ„tes in se conciliet patri per morteÌ„ sui corporis If the world MIGHT NONE OTHER VVAY BE SAVED but by Christes leauing his BODIE AND BLOVD VNTO DEATH for our good howe was not the taking of flesh necessarie for the sonne of God that by his bloud hee might iustifie such as beleeued in him and BY THE DEATH OF HIS BODIE reconcile them to God his father Quomodo sanguis communis hominis nos sanctos efficeret sed sanctificauit sanguis Christi Deus igitur non simpliciter homo deus enim erat in carne SVO SANGVINE nos purificans How could the bloud of a common man make vs holie BVT THE BLOVD OF CHRIST DID SANCTIFIE VS He was therefore God and not simplie a man For he was God in FLESH THAT CLENSED VS VVITH HIS BLOVD When the ancient fathers affirme that Christ died for vs THE DEATH OF THE BODY ONLY and that the BLOVD OF HIS FLESH doth saue and sanctifie the beleeuers we must not like children imagine they speake of insensible flesh or that in those wordes they exclude the vnion operation or passion of the soule whiles Christes bodie suffered and died that were to make Christ a stocke not a man and to giue him carrion and not humane flesh quickened and coupled with life and soule but in the death of his bodie shedding of his bloud they include all those afflictions and passions of the soule which naturally necessarily follow paine accompany death For these sufferings of Christs soule confirme his obedience witnes his patience only their intent is by all meanes to frée Christ from THE DEATH OF THE SOVLE and then to propose the death which hee suffered in the bodie of his flesh on the crosse with all painefull but no sinneful câ—â—comitants and consequents as the propitiation for our sinnes redemption of our soules and reconciliation vnto God by which al y e aduersaries of our saluation the law sinne death and Satan are vtterlie conquered and abolished And thus farre forth they haue the scriptures expresselie concurring with them The bloud of Iesus Christ his sonne clenseth vs from all sinne It must clense then our soules as wel as our bodies for they are the chiefe agents in sin Much more shall the bloud of Christ purge your consciences from dead works Conscience is a part of the soule not of the bodie Thou hast redeemed vs to God by thy bloud saie the saintes in heauen whose bodies lie in the dust of the earth Redemption remission of sinnes iustification sanctification and such like effectes of the bloud of Christ are PRINCIPALLY and PRIMARILY in the soule and by consequent in the bodie And therefore there can be no question but the bodilie death of Christ is the redemption of our soules as well as of our bodies in as much as the whole maÌ„ in Christ died the death of the crosse to redéeme the whole man in vs both partes in him ioyntlie féeling but with admirable patience enduring the bitter and sharpe paines antecedent and annexed to the death of his bodie Cum caro in doloribus est in poenis profecto anima tunc habet maximum agonem patientiae When the flesh is in anguish and paine saith Austen then the soule certainly hath the greatest triall of patience For the soule is so created and ordained that shee feeleth the pleasure and paine of her bodie and howsoeuer the flesh bee subiected to violence the sence and grieuance thereof is in the soule both in this life and in the next As the bodilie death of Christ paieth the price of our redemption so it remoueth all the impediments of our saluation which are manie and mightilie linked together For by the CORRVPTION of nature descending from our parents and dwelling within vs wee are solde vnder sinne fulfilling the will of the flesh and louing pleasures more then God whereby we neglect and breake the LAVV of God and so incurre the CVRSE pronounced against the transgressours of the law and by that obligation are liable to ETERNAL DEATH This is the chaine of originall infection actuall transgression legall malediction and eternal damnation which draweth vs from God and bindeth vs as prisoners and captiues to death and hell If then the DEATH of Christ suffered IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH loosed euery linke of this chaine and not onelie cleered vs from all these enemies and exactors but reconciled vs to God and made peace for vs by the bloud of his crosse it is a wrong to the death bloud of Christ either to disable theÌ„ as not sufficient to redéem vs or to supplie them with anie better or other addition which the holie ghost doth not mention Examine these particularlie and see whether the power of Christes death doe not perfectlie dissolue them all Our olde man is crucified with him that the bodie of sinne might bee destroied that henceforth we should not serue sinne Let not sinne raigne therefore in your mortall bodie saieth the Apostle that you should obey it in the lustes thereof The force and strength of originall sinne and corruption in all the faithfull is crucified and dead with Christ except they reuiue it by voluntarie obeying the lustes thereof For they which are Christes haue crucified the flesh with the affections and lustes by reason not onelie the guilt but also the life and power of sinne died in Christes flesh when it was crucified So that sinne nowe hath no dominion ouer them because they are not vnder the lawe but vnder grace And likewise for actuall sinne by Christ we haue redemption through his bloud that is the forgiuenes of sinnes For God hath proposed him to be a reconciliation through faith in his bloud by the forgiuenesse of the sinnes that are passed through the patience of God The bloud therefore of Christ Iesus his sonne clenseth vs from all sinne since he is the mediator of the new Testament whose death was for the redemption of the transgressions that were in the former testament If the death of Christ on the crosse and the shedding of his bloud were the iust and full redemption of all our sinnes then apparentlie it eased and ended the curse which the lawe inflictedâ— for sinne For where he is accursed that continueth not in al things written in the book OF
of the soule and admitted it as due vnto him to which absurdities if wee come wee leaue nothing sound in our saluation Caâ—â— we him iust that deserueth or holie that desireth to be forsaken of God I thinke not Then all Christs sufferings must be INIVRIOVS before hee can be IVST and VOLVNTARIE before they can be a SACRIFICE vnto God Both which are witnessed by the worde of God as likewise by the ancient fathers THIS IS THANK-VVORTHIE saith Peter if a man for conscience towards God endure grief SVFFERING VVRONGFVLLY For what praise is it if when ye be BVFFETED for your FAVLTS ye take it PATIENTLIE But if when ye doe well ye suffer patientlie this is acceptable vnto God For hereunto are ye called for so CHRIST SVFFERED FOR VS leauing vs an example that we should follow his steppes Christ therfore suffered as well VVRONGFVLLY as PATIENTLY Malefactors may be patient but that is no merit with God He must be both innocent and patient that will haue thanks from God So was Christ He did no sin and so was innocent when he was reuiled he reuiled not againe when he suffered he threatned not which proueth his patience This verie testimonie the theefe on the crosse giueth him We receiue punishment worthie of that we haue done but this maÌ„ hath done nothing amisse Quod iuste debebat Adam Christus iniusté mortem suscipiendo persoluit What Adam iustly owed saith Austen that Christ vniustlie paied by suffering death Pergit ad passionem vt pro debitoribus nobis quod ipse noÌ„ debebat exsolueret Christ goeth to his passion to pay that for vs debtors which hee did not owe. De humanitate suscepta tantum beneficij collatum est hominibus vt à dei sempiterno filio eodemque hominis filio mors temporalis indebita redderetur qua eos a sempiternâ morte debità liberaret Peccata nostra Diabolus tenebat per illanos merito figebat in morte Demisit ea ille qui sua non habebat ab illo immeritó est perductus ad mortem Tantum valuit sanguis ille vt neminem Christo indutum in aeterna morte debita detinere debuerit qui Christum morte indebita vel ad tempus occidit By Christ taking mans nature this benefite men get that the eternall Sonne of God and the same also the sonne of man suffered a temporall death not due to deliuer them from an euerlasting death due The Diuell laide sure holde on our sinnes and by them helde vs deseruedlie in death Those hee remitted that had no sinnes of his owne and was without anie desert brought by the Diuell vnto death But such was the force of Christes bloud that the Diuell had no right to detaine anie man that put on Christ in eternall death due for so much as hee slue Christ with death for the time which was no way due Mediator noster punirâ— pro se ipso non debuit quia nullum culpae contagium perpetrauit Sed si ipse indebitam mortem non susciperet nunquam nos à debita morte liberaret Our Mediatour for himselfe ought not to bee punished because hee neuer sinned But if hee had not suffered a death not due hee coulde neuer haue freed vs from the death that was due If the temporall death of the bodie were not due to our Sauiour much lesse was the death of the soule due vnto him And if no death were due that which hee suffered was wrongfull Then might God bee the permitter directer orderer and accepter of Christes death on the Crosse but hee coulde not bee the immediate inflicter of it because it was wrongfull and vndeserued much lesse might GOD in iustice forsake his soule that with so great obedience patience and innocencie humbled himselfe to the will of his heauenlie father That likewise hee suffered nothing agaynst his owne liking his owne mouth testified when he said Nemo tollit animam meam à me sed pono eam à meipso No man taketh my life from mee but I lay it downe of my selfe And else where The sonne of God loued mee and gaue himselfe for mee Loue your wiues as Christ loued the Church and gaue himselfe for it If it were loue then was it no constraint nor violence that forced him thereto If hee gaue himselfe for vs it must needes bee voluntarie whatsoeuer hee suffered Demonstrauit spiritus mediatoris quà m nulla poena peccati vsque ad mortem carnis accessorit quia non eam deseruit inuitus sed QVIA VOLVIT QVANDO VOLVIT QVOMODO VOLVIT The spirite of the Mediator shewed that without anie punishment of sinne it came euen to the death of the flesh which hee did not leaue agaynst his will but BECAVSE HE VVOVLDE VVHEN HE VVOVLDE AND HOVVE HE VVOVLDE Et natus passus mortuus est nulla sua necessitate sed voluntate potestate Christ was borne and suffered and died not for anie necessitie that vrged him but of his owne will and hauing it in his owne power If Christ might suffer nothing but what hee woulde and as hee would the death of the soule hee did neuer suffer for thereto hee coulde not be willing without sinne by reason it is a separation from God and a losse both of his heauenlie fauour and holie spirite from which Christ willinglie would neuer be excluded The summe is since the TRVTH and IVSTICE of God might not release the sin of man without fulfilling the sentence of the Iudge THOV SHALT DIE THE DEATH and that by man for so much as man was the trespasser God so loued the world when none of the sonnes of Adam was able to restore his owne soule much lesse to ransome others that hee sent his owne sonne to become man and as by the dignitie and puritie of his person to counteruaile and ouerweigh the soules of all men so by his paines and death on the Crosse to verifie and satisfie the iudgement of God pronounced against man and to quit him from all danger following death And to trie the obedience shew the patience and augment the merits of the Redeemer the wisedome of God decreed that his sonne in our substance should violentlie and wrongfullie bee put to death euen by their handes for whose sakes he laid downe his life that his loue might so much the more excéede in praying for his persecutours and dying for his tormentors The shame and sharpenesse of the crosse so iniuriouslie imposed on the holinesse and worthinesse of Christes person and yet so obedientlie and patientlie endured by him God so highlie esteemed and recompenced that hee made his death the ransome of all mankinde and his bloud to bee the purgation and propitiation of our sinnes his obedience wyping awaie our disobedience his fauour quenching the displeasure his blessednesse alâ—ering the curse his death finishing the vengeance that was due to our iniquities This is the
hee of my selfe but as my father hath taught mee so speake I these thinges For hee that sent mee is with mee the Father hath not left mee alone because I DOE ALVVAYES the thinges THAT PLEASE HIM Though I beare recorde of my selfe my recorde is true FOR I KNOVVE VVHENCE I CAME AND VVHITHER I GOE As hee coulde not bee ignorant so coulde hee not bee forgetfull of his Fathers counsell and decree The glorie of God might appall him at the entrance into his prayers but his constant continuing one and the same request to his Father three seuerall turnes with intermission of time and admonition to his Disciples to watch and praie prooueth hee had not forgotten himselfe that still persisted in his purpose nor yet striued agaynst his Fathers will in that his prayer was accepted and assured from heauen Did then the cup passe from him which was the summe of his prayer No doubt it did in that sense which he desired The cup mingled by Gods iust iudgment for the sin of man did passe both from him and vs by force of his prayer not that hee did not taste of it but in that yeelding himselfe to the temporall and corporall chasticement thereof hee quenched the spirituall and eternall vengeance that was consequent after death the abolishing whereof was a worke worthie of the sonne of God and a memorable effect of that earnest and instant prayer which our Sauiour made in the Garden thereby shutting vp hell and opening heauen to all his members And for that cause the Prophet Esay ioyneth his patient suffering and vehement praying as needfull groundes of our redemption hee bare the sinne of manie and PRAYED for the TRESPASSERS and the Apostle reckoneth Christs PRAIERS OFFERED VVITH TEARES and his paines suffered through obedience as principall parts of his Priesthood and effectuall sacrifices for the sinnes of the people As praying in the garden Christ must be frée from forgetting either his fathers will or loue so suffering on the crosse he must haue not onely patience and obedience but intelligence assurance that the bloudy sacrifice which he offered should be accepted as the propitiation for our sinnes and himselfe exalted from the shame and paine of the crosse to euerlasting honour ioy and glorie He did not offer himselfe on the altar of the crosse supposing or presuming it might please God thereby to be fauourable vnto man but as hee came into the world annointed and sent of purpose to saue his people from their sinnes so did hee humble himselfe to the death of the Crosse beeing thereto appoynted by his heauenlie father and therefore most assured that God was immutablie determined to accept his sacrifice for the sin of the world and by the bloud of his crosse to set at peace thinges both in heauen and in earth and to reconcile vs that were straungers and enemies in euill woorkes through death in the bodie of his flesh to make vs holie and without fault in the sight of God This Saint Paule saith was Gods GOOD PLEASVRE to which Christ was OBEDIENT therefore neither ignorant of it nor doubtfull in it but assuredlie resolued with fulnesse of faith and hope that he which had decreed it could not be changed and that God which had sent him would not deceiue him And for that cause the Apostle maketh the death of Christ to be a SACRIFICE OF A SVVEET SMELLING SAVOVR VNTO GOD and saith that Iesus the authour finisher of our faith FOR THE IOY VVHICH VVAS SET BEFORE HIM endured the crosse and despised the shame thereof and is placed on the right hand of the throne of God So that howsoeuer late writers haue found out the terror of Gods wrath and horror of eternall death in the soule of Christ suffering the Apostle teacheth vs that Christ hanging in the shame and paine of the crosse had not onelie peace and fauour with god as offering a sweet smelling sacrifice but also ioy before his eies of euerlasting glory at the right hand of y e throne of God And with him agrée both Peter Dauid when they bare witnes of Christ that his HEART VVAS GLAD his TONGVE IOIFVL and that euen HIS FLESH should REST IN HOPE notwithstanding the anguish of death force of the graue and fury of hell For God would neither forsake his soule in hell nor suffer his flesh to sée corruption Dare anie man doubt of this doctrine which is so clearelie and fullie deliuered vs in the Scriptures Or make wee a pastime of it in fauour of our fansies to ouerturne the verie principles of truth Christ suffered for vs leauing vs an example that wee shoulde followe his steppes For if wee suffer with him wee shall bee glorified with him Must we suffer the paines of the damned afore we may hope to be partakers of his glorie The gaine which we haue in Christ when wee haue refused all thinges as vile for his sake is to knowe the fellowshippe of his afflictions and to bee conformed vnto his death if by anie meanes wee may attaine to the resurrection of the deade Shall the communion of Christes sufferings bring vs to the true torments of hell and must we perswade our selues that wee are forsaken of God afore wee can bee conformed to his death Reioyce sayth Peter when yee doe communicate with Christes sufferings Must we then REIOICE in the horror of hell and bee glad of Gods displeasure towards vs I thinke not Howe farre fuller of comfort is the Apostles doctrine where he saith As the sufferinges of Christ abound in vs so our consolation aboundeth through Christ. And our hope is stedfast concerning you that as you are partakers of the sufferinges so shall you bee of the comforts What comfort these men can finde in the paines of the damned I knowe not they else where seeme to say that all feares and griefes all terrors and tormâ—nts are trifles vnto the sense and feeling of Gods displeasure and iust indignation but the holie Ghost I am sure proposeth to vs the Crosse of Christ as the waie to perfection that neuer wanteth consolation For therein though our outwarde man perish yet the inwarde man is daylie renued and when our bodies die to sinne as did Christes our soules liue to God as did his Excellentlie doth the Apostle describe the comfort of Christes Crosse in all the faythfull when hee sayeth Wee are afflicted on euerie side but not ouerpressed wanting but not vtterlie destitute persecuted but not forsaken falling but not perishing alwayes bearing about in our bodie the dying of the Lorde Iesu that the life of Iesu might bee manifest in our bodyes For wee whiles wee liue are still deliuered vnto death for Iesus sake that the life of Iesu might bee manifest in our mortall flesh Christ then in the mortification of his bodie on the Crosse was neither OVERâ—RESSED FORSAKEN nor PERISHING
it is temporall when it should iustlie be eternall and afflicteth the bodie where it might worthilie kill the soule it is rather the chastisement of a father then the rigour of a Iudge And yet the scriptures call it wrath because God neuer proceedeth to punish but when he is prouoked and despised in such sort that were it not for smart of correction wee would fall to the rage of open rebellion Wherefore the displeasure of God against our sinnes was verie great that pursued our suertie beeing innocent and obedient and euen his owne and only sonne with all maner of corporall and temporall scourges vnto death before it could bee pacified but that Gods fauour towards his sonne was altered or diminished or that Christ in feare and terror apprehended anie such change in his father or so much as doubted the constant and eternall counsell and decree of God to make him the Sauiour of the worlde and by the bloud of his crosse to make peace in heauen and earth these are so dangerous doctrines that I thinke no learned diuine will vndertake them Though he were the sonne yet learned he obedience by that which he suffered saith the Apostle Now obedience could not breed diffidence but confidence and was the vertue that so highlie pleased God in Christ that hee was made the authour of eternall saluation vnto all that OBEY HIM A double sense then of Gods wrath Christ Iesus had The first that pursued his bodie vnto death on the trée where hee bare our sinnes that is the chastisement of our peace the STRIPES of our iniquities and VVOVNDES of our transgressions The next was the serious contemplation of that eternall and intolerable vengeance which the iustice of God had in store for vs by reason of our manifold sinnes whose danger and destruction touched him as néere through the tendernesse of his loue and pietie as if it had beene imminent ouer his owne heade And therefore euen sicke with sorrowe for vs trembling at the terror of Gods wrath prepared to reueÌ„ge our vnrighteousnes he neuer left SVVEATING VVEEPING and CRYING to God for vs that his stripes might heale vs his anguish excuse vs his death quicken vs and his person sustaine and suffer for vs whatsoeuer the iustice of God would laie on him till he was heard and allowed of God to offer the sacrifice that should propitiate the sinnes of the worlde In these paines and feares whiles hee felt the arrowes of God sticking in his flesh and sawe the terror of eternall death readie to swallow vp all his members we maie grant that the CONSOLATION and IOIE which the humane soule of Christ before had of his Fathers continuall presence and assistance was for the time somewhat diminished his heart being oppressed with sorrow his bodie afflicted with sharpe and bitter paine his soule besieged with feare and care for vs that neither the dreadful wrath of God ouerwhelmed vs nor the deceitefull fraude of Satan vndermined vs but by no meanes we maie admit in Christ either feare or doubt of his owne saluation nor forgetfulnes of his person or function but the harder the work he vndertooke the stronger his faith that performed it the more terrible our danger the more stedfast his loue that shrunke not from vs in so great extremitie Might not yet the soule of Christ in this constant and full assurance of Gods loue towardes him and mercie towards vs feele the torments of hell for the time without anie distrusting or doubting of his saluation or our redemption The essentiall torments of hell are the absolute losse of Gods kingdome without recouerie and exquisite sense of hell fire euerlastinglie without release Neither of these without horrible blasphemie can be imagined in the soule of Christ the â—est that are consequents to these as desperation murmuration darkenesse horrour and such other impressions are like to these and coulde no more haue place in Christes person then the antecedentes might And since it is no where witnessed in the Scriptures nor anie waie prooued that Christ suffered the paines of hell whie striue we to establish a méere conceite of men neuer written or spoken of before our age beare wee so small regarde to the Church of Christ and to all the learned fathers and teachers in the same that for thirtéene hundred yéeres no man euer knew or heard the right waie and true meane of our redemption and reconciliation to God till the paines of hell were latelie deuised Abuses and errours did by little and little creepe into the church by the wilinesse of Satan and wilfulnesse of men but that the gates of hell shoulde so much preuaile against it as from the Apostles time to this present age no christian should euer trulie teach or rightlie beléeue how we are saued by the crosse of Christ is to me so strange that I wil be ten times aduised before I will once admit it Let vs giue thankes to God for dispelling the mist of darkenes and ignorance that ouerspred the world vnder Antichrist but let vs neuer glorie that we first inuented a newe faith neither testified in the scriptures nor mentioned in anie ancient writers nor euer heard of amongst christians before our time It is no corne but cockle that springeth so late in the Lordes field it is no saith but fansie that neuer before was in y â— foundation of Christs church The simplicitie therfore of the scriptures continually PRESSING the DEATH and BLOVD of Christ as the TRVE CAVSES of our saluation redemption and the consonancy of all antiquity according therewith do so chalenge my faith and establish my hart that I will see this new deuise of hel paines suffered in the soule of Christ better warranted before I wish it to be beléeued And as for the doctrine of the church of England which some men would faine infect with this late fansie giue mee leaue men and brethren to admonish you shortlie but trulie that who so will reade the sermon of the saluation of al mankinde in the first volume of Homilies and likewise the two Homilies concerning the death and passion of our Sauiour Iesus Christ contained in the second tome of Homilies shall finde that the doctrine which I haue deliuered you hath the publike approbation of Prince and Parliament the consent and agreement of all the Bishops and the subscription of all the clergie of this kingdome to bee taught as truth in all the churches of this realme and so hath had as well in the daies of king Edwarde the sixt as all the time of her maiesties most happie raigne whatsoeuer some forward nouices haue told you to the contrarie And thus much let me speake in the Honor of her maiestie and this realme I see no cause why the doctrine of the church of England so plainelie warranted by the Scriptures so fullie confessed by all the Fathers so long continued in Christs church without contradiction so
sepulchrum corrumpendam perduceret animam inferno torquendam protinus manciparet Vt autem peccator fuisset gratuito munere liberatus factum est vt mortens corporis quam à Deo iusto peccator homo pertulerat iusté Deifilius a peccatore pateretur iniuste ad sepulchrum perveniret caro iusti quousque fuerat caro deuoluta peccati vsque ad infernum descenderet anima saluatoris vbi peccatimerito torquebatur anima peccatoris Hoc autem ideo factum est vt per morientem temporaliter carnem iusti donaretur vita aeterna carni per descendentem ad infernum animam iusti dolores soluerentur inferni It remained for the full effecting of our redemption that man assumed of God without sinne shoulde thither descend whither man seuered from God fell by desert of sinne that is vnto hell where the soule of the sinner was woont to bee tormented and to the graue where the flesh of the sinner was woont to bee corrupted yet so that neither Christes flesh shoulde bee corrupted in the graue nor his soule bee tormented with the paines of hell because the soule free from sinne was not to be subiected to that punishment nor flesh cleane from the contagion of sinne shoulde suffer corruption In so much as man sinning deserued by punishment to bee seuered from himselfe who by his transgression woulde needes bee seuered from God therefore it was appointed that the death of the sinner should bring his sinfull flesh to the graue there to rotte and presentlie should send his soule to hell there to be tormented But when the sinner by the gift of Gods grace was to bee deliuered it was prouided that the sonne of God should vniustlie suffer at the hands of sinners the death of the bodie which sinfull man had iustlie beene wrapped in by the iustice of God and the flesh of the iust should come to the graue whither sinfull flesh was tumbled and that the SOVLE OF OVR SAVIOVR SHOVLD DESCEND TO HELL VVHERE THE SINFVLL SOVLâ— VVAS TORMENTED FOR THE REVVARD OF SINNE This was therefore done that by the flesh of the iust temporally dying eternall life might be giuen to our flesh and by the soule of the iust descending to hell the torments of hell might be abolished Out of Fulgentius I obserue two things which if it please men to marke they shall cleare themselues from all absurdities touching Christs descent to hell The first is THE PLACE VVHITHER he desended the next is THE CAVSE VVHY he descended The place whither hee descended was hell whither the soule of man sinning against God was adiudged for the wages of his transgâ—ession The cause of his descent was to free all the faithfull from the beginning of the world to the ende thereof from comming thither And in both these the Scriptures and fathers doe fullie concurre though some auncient writers doe swarue and striue about Christes deliuering some from hell that were there at the time of his descent as they suppose Which varietie and vncertaintie of opinions concerning the state of the deade before Christes comming hath verie much entangled this question and induced manie men of learning and iudgement otherwise to reiect Christs descent to hell as a fable or to wrest it to an other sense with newe founde expositions Howbeit I see no cause but the doctrine of the Scriptures confessed by all the fathers may stande verie cleare whatsoeuer we resolue of this other assertion touching the state of the righteous departed this life before Christs death I will therefore shortly discusse both the place and the cause and so draw to an end As for the place whither Christ descended the Church of Rome gréedily hunteth after it to heare of her Purgatorie hoping whence the soules of the righteous were by Christ deliuered there to make a stand for soules not perfectlie confessed and absolued in this life that she maie set to sale her praiers and pardons But if shee follow Christ descending her deuotion must reach to the place and paines of the damned for thither Christ descended And so by their leaues both Scriptures and fathers auouch First the wordes are plaine and must bee proper as well in the Canon as in the Créed Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell and he descended into hell Againe the kingdom of Satan consisteth of these three SINNE DEATH and HELL SINNE RAIGNING whiles the bodie and soule are ioined togither DEATH SEVERING them both and TVRNING the bodie to earth HELL RECEIVING and TORMENTING the soule till the daie of iudgement when bodie and soule shall for euer bee cast into hell fire If these three bee not abolished by Christ Satans kingdome is not destroyed by Christ and speciallie if hell bee not vanquished no part of our saluation is performed The woorke of sinne is sweete if the wages were not sower which is hell fire To raise our bodies from death is no fauour if Hell bee not ouerthrowen it were more easie for them to lie in dust then to burne in hell Howe hath Christ restored vs to Heauen if hee haue not yet freed vs from Hell Or brought vs to God if he haue not yet taken vs from Satan Wherefore either Hell must bee destroyed or wee are no waie redeemed And in all these when I speake of Hell I speake of the place of the damned For if the feare of damnation continue what hope of saluation can wee conceiue But the Apostle saieth plainlie that Christ through death DESTROIED HIM that had power of death euen the DIVELL and DELIVERED ALL them which for feare of death were all their life time subiect to seruitude If the DIVELL bee DESTROIED then Hell is fullie conquered for whiles that retaineth force against the faithfull the Diuell is in the height of his kingdome Neither is death to bee feared at all but in respect of hell following after death If then all the Saintes heere on earth be DELIVERED FROM THE FEARE OF DEATH and from the handes of all that hate them to serue God without feare all the dayes of their life in holinesse and righteousnesse before him it is euident that hell is spoyled of all right and claime to the members of Christ by reason our heade beeing there in our names and for our sinnes brake the strength of hell abolished the power and loosed the sorrowes and paines thereof that they shoulde not take holde on him nor euer after on anie of his For as hee suffered and died not for his owne sake but for ours so hee descended and loosed the sorrowes of death and hell not as prouided for him but for vs. And since to our sinnes was due damnation and no lesser or easier punishment it was requisite that Christ shoulde thither descende and by dissoluing the wages of our sinne in his owne person thence deliuer vs though not there tormented yet thither adiudged and so release vs not as beeing there but from comming thither
Touching the place Thaddaeus one of the seuentie taught as wee heard out of Eusebius that Christ descended into hell and brake the wall that was neuer before broken From the deade manie rose before Christes death and therefore the partition betwixt death and life was often broken by others before Christes resurrection but from hell neuer returned anie but onelye Christ by reason that wall was neuer broken but by the Sonne of GOD. Athanasius in like sorte In suae ad nostri similitudinem forma nostram inibi depingens mortem vt in ea resurrectionem pro nobis concinnaret ex sepulchro quidē corpus animam vero ex ORCO reducem faceret vt in morte mortem dissolueret per exhibitionem animae per sepulchrum corporis in sepulchro corruptionem aboleret ex orco verò sepulchro immortalitatem incorruptionem ostendit in forma nobis consimili viam nostram emensus nostramque detentionem relaxans hoc ipsum eximij miraculi fuit In his likenesse to our nature Christe accomplishing our death that in the same hee might perform his resurrection for vs ' brought his BODIE OVT OF THE GRAVE his SOVLE OVT OF HEL that in death he might dissolue death by presenting his soule there and by the buriall of his bodie he might abolish corruption in the graue So that euen from hell and from the graue hee shewed immortalitie of the soule and incorruption of the body treading the verie way that we should haue trod in the likenesse of our nature and releasing of our detention And this was a marueilous wonder When Athanasius saith that Christ in his humane nature trodde the verie same way of death that wee should haue done his bodie and soule going to those very places whither ours should haue gone he doth not mean the place of rest where y e soules of the righteous were before Christs comming but the place whither the souls of men were condemned for the sin of their first father which is not Paradise nor Abrahams bosome but the place of the damned where the true death of the soule and wages of sin are by Gods iustice inflicted Heare his owne words Vbi corruptum fuerat humanum corpus eó suum corpus protecit Iesus vbitenebatur anima humana in morte ibi exhibuit humanam suam animam vt ipse inuictus à morte tanquam hominem se praesentem ostenderet solueret catenas mortis vt Deus vt vbi seminata fuerat corruptio inde exoriretur incorruptibilitas VBI REGNAVERAT MORS IN FORMA HVMANAE ANIMAE ibi ipse ille mortalis praesens immortalitatem exhiberet atque ita NOS PARTICIPES redderet suae incorruptibilitatis immortalitatis per spem resurrectionis ex mortuis Where the bodie of man vsed to rot thither Iesus cast his body and VVHERE THE SOVLE OF MAN VVAS HELD IN DEATH there did he exhibite his humane soule that hee being in no wise to bee conquered by death might both shewe himselfe there present as man and yet break the chaines of death as God that where corruption was sowed thence incorruption might rise euen from the graue where death raigned ouer mens soules which must néedes be in hell there he being present as a mortall man might demonstrate his immortalitie and so make vs partakers of his incorruption in flesh and immortalitie in soule by the hope of resurrection from the dead And because Hilarius and Fulgentius doe so fullie concurre with Athanasius that if we trulie conceiue the one we shall easilie vnderstand the other you shall see the same doctrine which the other two follow more fullie deliuered by Athanasius Quide Adae inobedientia quaestionem habuit indicioque peracto duplicem paenam in sententia sua complexus erat dum rei terrestri italoquitur Terraes in terram reuerteris at que ita pro decreto domini corpus in terram abscedit animae dixit morte morieris atque hinc est quod homo in duas partes discerpitur et vt ad duo loca discedat condemnatur Ac proinde upos fuit illo ipso iudice qui hoc decretū tulerat vt ipse per se sententiā solueret sub specie condēnati incondēnatū se sincerūque a peccatis ostēdens vt hominem deo reconciliaret hominemque totum in libertatem vindicaret I am si mihi alium locum condemnationis praeter hos duos ostendere potestis merito hominem dixeritis tripliciter diuidi Quod si tertium aliquem locum ostender◠non potestis PRAETER SEPVLCHRVM ET INFERNVM ex quibus plané ereptus est homo Christo assertore per suam speciem cum nostri similitudine congruentem cur igitur dicitis deum nondum propitiatum esse Hee that examined Adams disobedience and in the ende of his iudgement comprised in his sentence against Adam a double punishment speaking thus to the terrestriall part of man earth thou art aad to earth shalt thou returne and according to this decree the Lords body was laid in earth euen he said to the soule thou shalt die the death and thereupon man dying is distracted in two partes and condemned to two places Insomuch that it was requisite the verie same iudge which pronounced this decree should by himselfe dissolue this sentence in the shew of a man condemned but yet prouing him selfe to be vncondemned and cleere from sinne that he might reconcile man to God and reduce the whole man to libertie Nowe if you can name me any other place whereto man was condemned besides these two rightly may you thinke man after death is to be deuided into three places but if you can shewe me no third place besides the graue for the bodie and hell for the soule from both which man is fullie freed Christ deliuering him with like parts of himselfe answerable to our nature how say you then that God is not yet satisfied The whole man in Adam was in such sort condemned for sinne that his bodie returned to corruption in the earth and his soule departed to tormentes in hell which is the death of the soule after this life To the verie same places whither man was condemned in the same partes of our nature the sonne of GOD vouchsafed to descende that by the lying of his bodie in the earth our bodies might at the last daie bee raised out of the earth and by the presence of his soule in hell on which the force of hell coulde not fasten our soules might for euer be deliuered from comming thither This condemnation of the bodie to the graue and of the soule to hell for sinne is that law of humane necessity which Hilary speaketh of wherto the Lord Iesus submitted himself not that his flesh should sée corruption or his soule tast of dānatiō but y t by the presence of his body in the graue of his soule in hell he might shew himselfe inuincible to both
shalbe verified of any man we must no more deny y t he descended into the bottomles pit which is hell then y t he ascended into y e heauens both are necessary partes of our redemption euident proofes of his mighty operatioÌ„ We must be fréed froÌ„ hel before we can be placed in heauen and if Christ haue omitted either he hath performed neither What maruaile then if the ancient fathers with one consent make Christs descent to hel a material point of our redemption and presse it as an appendix to faith since it hath so good ground and iust proofe in the scriptures howsoeuer they or we doubt where the soules of the righteous were before Christs suffering Crux mors inferi salus nostra est saith Hilary The crosse death and descent of Christ to hell are our saluation Diuinitas neque corpus in monumento neque animaÌ„ in inferno destituit hoc est enim quod dictuÌ„ est per prophetaÌ„ non relinques animaÌ„ meaÌ„ apud inferos neque dabis sanctuÌ„ tuuÌ„ videre corruptionem Quocâ—rcain ANIMA quideÌ„ CHRISTI MORS DEVICTA EST resurrectioque ab inferis deprompta spiritibus annunciata est in corpore vero dei corruptio abolita est et incorruptibilitas é sepulchro emicuit Christs deity neither forsooke his body in the sepulchre nor his soule in hel For y t is y e meaning of the Prophet wheÌ„ he saith Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hel nor suffer thine holy one to see corruptioÌ„ Wherfore in THE SOVLE OF CHRIST DEATH VVAS CONQVERED and the rerurrection from hell performed and signified to the spirits that rose with him In the body of him that was God corruption was abolished incorruption shined out of the graue Yea Austen himself putteth great difference betwixt the certainly of Christes descent to hell and the vncertainty of deliuering of some soules thence which he found there as he imagineth Teneamus firmissimé Quod fides habet fundatissimâ auctoritate firmata quia Christus mortuus est secundum scripturas et caetera quae de illo testante veritate conscripta sunt in quibus etiam hoc est quod apud Inferos fuit solutis eoruÌ„ doloribus quibus euÌ„ erat impossibile teneri Let vs hold most firmly y t which y e faith containeth confirmed with most assured authority that Christ died according to the scriptures the rest y t is written of him by the testimony of the truth amongst y e which this is also to be nuÌ„bred y t he was in hel dissoluing y e pains therof Of which it was impossible he shuld be held Thus far doth Austen vrge the very articles of our faith confirmed by the scriptures that maketh him infer who then but an infidel wil deny that Christ was in hell But when he commeth to the second point of deliuering some from hel that were in the paines thereof he tempereth his stile and saith à quibus recte intelligitur soluisse liberasse quos voluit from which paines Christ may well be conceaued to haue loosed and deliuered whom he would that which Peter saith loosing the sorrowes of hel accipi potest in quibusdaÌ„ may be vnderstood of some whom he thought worthy to be deliuered For which since there can bee no sure proofe brought out of the worde of trueth we shall doe best to giue eare to his owne aduise in the like case Ergo fratres siue illud siue istud sit hîc me scrutatorem verbi dei non temerarium affirmatorem teneatis Therefore brethren whether this or that bee it heere take me as a searcher of the word of God and not as a rash affirmer All the defence that may be made out of the Scriptures that Christ deliuered some of the saints out of the present possession and power of hell is that which is written in the gospell of Saint Matthew touching the bodies of the saintes rising from death When Iesus yéelded vp the ghost Behold the vaile of the temple rent in twaine and the earth did quake and the stones did cleaue and the graues did open themselues and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose and came out of the graues after his resurrection and went into the holy cittie and appeared to many The death of the bodie as it is parte of the wages of sinne so is it the gate of hell and the Diuell is saide in the scriptures to haue the power thereof So that howsoeuer the soules of the iust were in the handes of God and at rest in Abrahams bosom their bodies lying dead in the graue rotten with corruption were within Satans walke and when Christ raised them out of their sepulchers to an happie life he tooke them from the power of darknes and translated them into the kingdome of light Death is an enemie though the last that shall be destroied and death as well as hell shall be cast into the lake of fire and therefore Christ tooke the keyes both of death and of hell and by his rising from the dead insulted against both ô death where is thy sting ô hell where is thy victory It is the force of sinne that killeth the bodie and likewise the force of sinne that rotteth the bodie sinne being the strength of hell against bodie and soule As then our soules are freed from the power of hell when our sinnes are remitted so our bodies are deliuered from the handfast of hel when corruption the consequent of sinne is abolished In this sense it may bee saide that Christ deliuered some from the power of hell that is their bodies from the sepulchers where they laie turned into dust For by death and corruption the sinnefull flesh of man is till the resurrection subiected to the range of Satan hee beeing the Prince of the ayre and gouernour of darknesse and ruler of death Saint Austen doubteth whether those bodies of the saints were wholie freed from corruption or laie down againe in death after they had giuen witnesse to Christs resurrection Scio quibusdam videri morte domini Christi iam talem resurrectionem praestitaÌ„ iustis qualis nobis in fine promittitur Qui vtique si non iterum repositis corporibus dormierunt videndum est quemadmodum Christus intelligatur primogenitus a mortuis si eum in illa resurrectione tot praecesserunt I know saith Austen some thinke that at the death of the Lord Christ the same kind of resurrection was performed to the iust which is promised to vs in the ende of the worlde but if they slept not againe by laying downe their bodies we must looke howe Christ can be vnderstood to be the first borne of the dead if so many went before him in that resurrection But his reasons are of no such force as to perswade that the bodies of the saintes which rose with Christ slept
of the bodie cannot bee felte but by the soule And so againe Dolores qui dicuntur carnis animae sunt in carne ex carne dolor carnis tantummodo offensio est animae ex carne The paines which are called bodilie paines are the paines of the soule in the bodie and by the bodie For bodilie paine is nothing else but the griefe of the soule by the bodie Whereof Diuines maie not doubte since naturall reason and experience teacheth that as the soule seeth by the eies and heareth by the eares of the bodie so the soule feeleth paine and offence by euerie part of the bodie when it is wounded or wronged If this suffering of Christes soule by communion with his bodie did not properlie make to our Redemption which are your own words then neither the stripes woundes nor death of Christ did any way make to our redemption since of all these violences offered to Christes bodie the flesh it selfe had not the féeling but onlie the soule of Christ by communion with her bodie or as you terme it by Sympathie Yea farther by your owne rule the flesh of Christ was néedelesse in the worke of our Redemption for so much as his flesh could not properly and immediatlie féele any paine but of force must leaue the féeling of all that was suffered to the soule and so whiles you talke so much of the proper and immediate suffering of Christes soule you haue cleane excluded all the sufferings of Christ which the scripture expresseth as not making properlie to our redemption But insteede of a false argument of mine you will returne a reason better grounded and of certaine truth which is this Whereby Adam first and we euer since doe most properlie commit sinne by the same hath Christ our second Adam made satisfaction for our sinne But Adam first and we euer since most properlie commit sinne in our soules our bodies beeing but the instruments of our soules and following the soules direction and will Therefore Christ in his soule chieflie and most properly made satisfaction for vs. Thou shalt perceiue christian reader by the answere to this argument howe ill I spend the time in pursuing this Trifler which neither can tel what he would haue nor what he should proue nor whether his own reasōs make with him or against him I made no such argument as here he pretendeth the effect of my reason was this The flesh of Christ must be as able to redéeme vs as Adams was to condemne vs but we inherit pollution and condemnation from Adams flesh wherefore the flesh of Christ must both quicken and clense vs. The Maior is euident vnlesse we make the diuell more able to destroie vs by an other then God is able to saue vs by himselfe The Minor is cléere without intermedling with the question whence soules be deriued I vtterlie refused to ground anie reason vpon that difficultie I vsed Dauids words in sinne my mother conceiued me and as Ambrose saith prius incipit in homine macula quam vita pollution which is originall beginneth in man before hee hath life Now the soule is the life of the bodie Then if pollution cleaue to the flesh before life come and consequentlie before the soule come whence soeuer it commeth it is euident that Adams flesh defileth and so condemneth vs. As for my conclusion that Christes flesh must quicken and clense vs if the premisses would not support it which they fully doe the Scriptures will maintaine it He that eateth my flesh saith our Sauiour and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life and I will raise him vp at the last daie I am that bread of life If anie man eate of this bread he shall liue for euer and the bread that I will giue is my flesh which I will giue for the life of the world My reeason standing good Sir Refuter let vs looke a little to yours that you saie is so well grounded and of certaine truth How prooue you your first proposition In which part Adam did first Sinne by that part Christ must satisfy for sinne Satisfaction for Sinne the Scripture acknowledgeth none but by death because y ◠Iudge in prohibiting Adam to transgresse threatned death In the day that thou eatest therof thou shalt die the death and the Apostle saith plainlie Christ is the mediator of the new testament that THROVGH DEATH which was for the REDEMPTION of the transgressions in the former Testament they which were called might receiue the promise of eternall inheritance If nothing might satisfie for sinne but death then consequently the Soule of Christ which could not die could not paie the satisfaction for our Sinnes howsoeuer Adam did and we still doe sinne most properlie with our Soules This is but a straw in your waie for you stiflie but absurdly if not impiously defend that Christ died the death of the Soule yet because the Scriptures and Fathers with one consent auouch the contrarie yea S. Austen is so peremptorie therein that he asketh QVIS AVDEAT DICERE VVHO DARE AFFIRME IT you shall giue mee leaue to tell you that the Apostle denieth your Maior till you can make it good not by your own vnlearned frensie but by good testimonie of Scripture that Christ did die the death of the Soule Now by your assumption that Adam most properlie committed sinne in his soule If you mean that Adams soule was the agent his body the Instrument which the soule vsed as in all sins so in this that indéed is most true but directly repugnant to your conclusion Put that for your Minor that Adams soule transgressed the commaundement with hir bodie and by hir bodie the conclusion then followeth in spite of your hart ergo in satisfying for sinne the Soule of Christ must be punished with hir bodie by hir bodie which is the thing you labour to ouerthrowe with all the wits you haue Meane you otherwise that Adam brake the Commaundement of God not by his bodie properlie but by his soule Then is your assumption a manifest contradiction to the fact of Adam For with his eares he heard the perswasion of the woman with his eies he liked the forbidden fruit with his hand he tooke it with his mouth he did eat it which was the fact that God preciselie did prohibit God did not saie to Adam thou shalt not like it or desire it which the soule of Adam did but THOV SHALT NOT EATE THEREOF which could not bee performed but by the hand and mouth of Adam and therefore Adam transgressed the commandement not by his soule but by his bodie euen as in murder theft adulterie these facts men commit by their bodies and not by their soules But in that and all other sinnes brought to effect the soule you will saie is the principall agent the bodie is but the Instrument I grant it willinglie and thence I conclude ergo in the satisfaction for sinne the soule must be the principall patient
CVRSE is powred vpon vs written in the law of Moses because of our sinnes Ierusalem and thy people are a REPROCH to all about vs. If the scriptures were not cleare that shame and reproch is a chiefe part of Gods curse against sinne howe manie wise men and good men choose death before shame What generous nature doth not more decline slandering then wounding In common reason to which you appeale howe can it bee lesse wrong or griefe to whippe the soule with reproches then the bodie with scourges Uerily our Sauiour who best knoweth the waight of both giueth like reward to both Blessed are you when men reuile you and speake all maner of euill against you for my sake falselie reioice and be glad for great is your reward in heauen As you shuffle with the shame which our Sauiour suffered on the Crosse so you doe with his death affirming that Death may in no sort heere be called a curse because death to the godlie is no curse properlie nor punishment of sinne but a benefite and aduantage You are too yoong a Doctor to controll Saint Austen whose wordes I haue alledged in the Treatise at large His resolution is that when Paule saieth Christ was made a curse for vs he meant Christ died for vs. Idem est mortuus quod maledictus quoniam mors ipsa ex maledicto est It is all one to saie Christ died for vs and hee was accursed for vs because death came from the curse This you denie for that the godlie after death goe to heauen which is rather a benefite then a curse to them Good Sir it is no benefite of death it selfe but Christes blessing after death that departing this life wee goe to heauen Did you incourage men to die since of force for sinne dwelling in their bodies they must die it were well said that death is rest from their labours and an entrance into blisse for so Christ hath prouided for his when they goe hence but if you will reason what death is in it selfe you must resolue it to be a part of Gods curse inflicted on Adam for sinne and from him naturallie deriued to all his posterity from which though our soules be exempted and our bodies shall be restored yet it remaineth to this day a part of Adams punishment which can not bee auoided though it must not bee feared because Christ hath ouerthrowne the force and feare therof with his death By one man saith Paul meaning Adam sinne entred into the world and by sin death I hope it entered not as a blessing God doâ—h not vse to blesse sinne but it entered as a part of the wages of sinne or curse for sinne and so it doth and shall continue to the ende The last enemie that shall be destroied saith Paul is death when this mortall hath put on immortalitie then is death swallowed vp in victorie till then the sting of death is sinne If the death of the bodie be an enemie and must be destroied by Christs second comming then is it no blessing for those shall increase when hee appeareth in glorie If Christ be in you saith Paul the spirit is life for righteousnes sake the bodie is deade because of sinne If sinne bee the cause of death yet seazing on our bodies it can bee no blessing that riseth from so badde a cause neither could the resurrection of our bodies which Christ hath promised and we expect at the last day bee so great a ioy as it is if the corruption of our bodies in the meane time were a blessing Gods blessings be not contrarie one to the other S. Austen learnedlie resolueth this question in this sort Boni benè moriuntur quamuis mors sit malum The godlie die well though death be euill Mors hominis ex poena peccati est quia ex peccato factum est vt moriatur The death of mans body commeth from the punishment of sinne because sinne brought it to passe that man dieth This conclusion in exact wordes Prosper collecteth out of saint Austen Mors etiam pâ—orum poena peccati est The corporall death euen of the godlie is the punishment of sinne This collection to bee true S. Austen himselfe confirmeth Si vero quom mouet cur velipsam patiantur si ipsa poenapeccati est quorum per gratiam reatus aboletur tam ista quaestio in alio nostro opere quod inscripsimus de Baptismo paruulorum tractata ac soluta est If it moue any man why they whose sinne is abolished by grace doe yet suffer the death of the bodie if that death bee a punishment of sinne that Question I haue handled and resolued in another worke of mine intituled of the baptisme of infants The effect of his resolution here is this Per ineffabilem dei misericordiam ipsa poena vitiorum transit in arma virtâ—tis sit merituÌ„ iusti etiam suppliciuÌ„ peccatoris NON QVIA MORS BONVM ALIQVOD FACTA EST QVAE ANTEA MALVM FVIT sed tantam deus fidei praestitit gratiam vt mors instrumentum fieret per quod transiretur in vitam By the vnspeakeable mercie of God the verie wages of vice becommeth an instrument of vertue and the punishment of a sinner is made the merite of the righteous not that death VVHICH BEFORE VVAS EVILL IS NOVV BECOME ANIE GOOD THING but God hath shewed so great fauour to our faith that death is the waie or meane by which wee shall passe to life And so concludeth that Pie fideliterque tolerando auget meritum patientiae non aufert vocabulum poenae By induring the death of the bodie religiouslie and faithfullie the merite of patience is increased but the name of the punishment is not altered And if death were nowe no part of the punishment of our sinnes but a gaine to the godlie as you woulde haue it by what meanes I praie you came it so to bee Not by the resurrection of Christ conquering death and changing the nature of it Then till Christ was risen death was a punishment to the faithfull themselues and consequentlie when Christ died for our sinnes hee tooke vpon him a part of our curse which after he turned as you saie into a blessing Primus parens propter transgressionem mortis poenam intulit verum superceniens Christus haec omnia abstulit Neque enim mors vltra mors est sed nomen tantum habet mortis Our first parent by his transgression brought in the punishment of death But Christ comming after tooke all away For death is no longer death but hath onelie the name of death Ipsam mortem quamuis esset poena peccati pro nobis tamen sine peccato Christus per soluit Death it selfe saieth Austen though it were the punishment of sinne yet Christ that was without sinne vndertooke it for our sakes And so for anie thing you haue yet said or shall euer be able to say
laid or executed on him that is hanged This most apparantly was a publike punishment executed by the magistrate vpon the body of the offender and because by his open and shamefull death which Moses rightlie calleth the curse of God hee had satisfied the sentence of the Iudiciall lawe God commandeth no farther reproch to be offered his bodie in suffering it to hang in all mens eies any longer but to bee buried the same daie For that by his death the curse of God ceased The difference betwéene these two curses is soone perceiued Euerie sinne receaued the first curse whereof Paul spake before fewe crimes receaued the iudgement of this seconde kinde of curse which was to bee hanged The first was inflicted by God himselfe the second was executed by the magistrate The first touched bodie and soule in this life and the next the second ended with the death of the bodie The first was committing of sinne the seconde was suffering for sinne And therefore Chrysostomes exposition is verie true when hee saieth The people were obnoxious to another curse which was this Cursed is euerie one that continueth not in that which is written in the booke of the lawe for there was not one of them that had fulfilled the whole Lawe but Christ insteede of that tooke vpon him another curse which said cursed is euery one that hangeth on the tree He that should take away the first curse must not bee subiect to the same but vndertake an other in place thereof and by that dissolue the first As if one being adiudged to die for some crime an other no way guilty of the same but willing to die for him should deliuer him from the punishment So did Christ not being subiect to the curse of trāsgression insteede thereof he tooke an other curse and dissolued the curse that laie on them Before a man can be accursed by his death hee must you saie be iustlie hanged for manie Innocents and martyrs are hanged who are most blessed Innocentes and martyrs bee their soules neuer so blessed maie beare in their bodies a shamefull death as Christ did in his and that is a kinde of corporall curse though by men vniustlie inflicted euen as death in the godlie is a remnant of Gods curse vpon sinne though their soules bee blessed before and after death Yea the worde KALAL whence the Hebrewes deriue that which with them signifieth a curse noteth also to make vilde and contemptible as if shame reproch and contempt were the greatest outwarde curse that coulde befall anie man in this life The cause why wee suffer it shall make it iust or vniust but wee must call thinges by those names which GOD first allotted them Nowe death shame wrong reproch and such like God ordayned at first to bee punishmentes of sinne and so partes of the curse due to sinne If wee suffer at mens handes for piety that which God appointed to be the wages of iniquity so wee bee patient and willing to abide the triall which is righteous with God though iniurious from men the name is not altered but the reward increased Yea God it is that causeth iudgement to beginne at his own house oftentimes by the handes of persecutors hee doth vs right when men doe vs wrong and dealeth not with vs according to our sinnes in the greatest wrongs that can be done vs. Therfore martyrs and innocents may do well to remember that God hath cause enough though man haue none and so submit themselues as worthie of worse from Gods handes But none of these thinges may be saide of our Sauiour who alone among all the children of men wanted sinne and suffered wrong and therefore his punishments with God were iust not by his deseruing but by his desiring to suffer for man How then commeth it to passe that martyrs which are sinners before God are vniustlie hanged because they deserue no such thing at mens handes and Christ who was most innocent before men and most righteous before God you wil needs haue to be iustly hanged The suerty you say by his suertiship is a debtor to the creditor and to the law and so Christ though most innocent in himself yet was hee iustlie hanged as our suretie by the iust sentence of the law You mistake Sir Confuter as well the sentence of the lawe as the suertiship of Christ. For though mans lawe permit which is the rule of charitie that men should beare each others burdens and vndertake one for an other in money matters and such like things which God leaueth in each mans will and power yet tell me I praie what lawe Gods or mans permitteth a murderer or like offender to be spared and an other that is willing to bee hanged in his steede I thinke mans law will allow you no such suertiship I am sure Gods lawe will not As I liue saith the Lord the soule that sinneth that soule shall die The wickednes of the wicked shall bee vpon himselfe Hee shall haue then no suerties to die for him much lesse shall his suertie be compelled to die by the sentence of the law Their monie men may giue awaie but their liues they may not till God call for them and if not their liues much lesse their soules by anie sentence of the law The sonne of God did not by LAVV but by LOVE interpose himselfe to beare our sinnes So God loued the worlde that hee gaue his onely begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue euerlasting life Yea the sonne of God loued vs and gaue himselfe for vs not by anie obligation to the lawe for hee was aboue the lawe and could not be bound by the lawe and we were condemned by the sentence of the law and not put to finde suerties The eternall wisedome and counsell of God then out of his inestimable loue towardes vs without the lawe and before the law decréed as to create vs so to redéeme vs by Christ his sonne And the sonne not as debtour to anie nor for anie but of his good will and fauour toward vs offered himselfe to suffer for vs whatsoeuer the iustice of his father would impose Wherein he became not a Suertie bound to the law but a Mediatour to God and a Redeemer of man Suerties that stand bounde and must paie the debt may not looke to be Mediators and he that redeemeth a prisoner from the enemie is not bound but content so to doe And that the death of Christ should be paide as a debt to the lawe whereto Christ was bounde is to mee a strange position I tooke Christes sufferings all this while for a voluntarie oblation to God and not for a due obligation to the lawe and himselfe to be a mediatour not a debtour his death I reckned to bee a richer offer then man coulde owe and a greater price then the lawe could exact And therefore the newe testament of mercie grace and glorie was made by his bloud which are
from the life of God of which death the Diuell is sayde to haue the power and execution Therefore in the former place death signifieth so to euen the death of the soule that is the torments and sorrowes due to the damned and consequently Christ suffered the death of the soule And because this reason will seeme altogether vnreasonable and harsh in the eares of some to saie the least of it let them soberlie consider it and it is most true and euident Or if this will not perswade men to beleeue that Christ died the death of the soule men liuing being surprised with grieuous sorrowes and paines will saie as Terence witnesseth occidi perij interij they die they perish So likewise the death of the soule sometimes maie bee vnderstoode and that most sitlie for the paines and sufferinges of Gods wrath which alwayes accompanie them that are separated from the grace and loue of God And if Terence bee not authoritie sufficient Saint Peter against whome lieth no exception saith that Christ in his suffering for vs was done to death in the flesh but made aliue by the spirite And in the Scripture whensoeuer the fleshe and the spirite are opposed togither the flesh is alwayes Christes whole humanitie I saie not his bodie onelie but his soule also From hence nowe it followeth that Christes soule also died and was crucified according to the death and crucifying which soules are subiect vnto and capable of I haue Christian Reader neither peruerted the reasons nor pared the authorities on which this Confuter groundeth his conclusion that Christ died the death of the soule and that Christs soule was also crucified as well as his bodie I haue onelie sette them togither that thou maiest with one view behold both the deepnes and soundnesse of this vpstart writer and in thy secrete and vpright iudgement is it not patience enough to heare and endure a two legged creature to talke in this sort without all learning religion or discretion controlling all the fathers as fooles for thinking otherwise then hee doth commaunding the Scriptures pretor-like to serue his ignorant and lewd assertions and estéeming none to be sober or considerate except they confesse his shamefull absurdities to bee most true and euident But I haue not learned nor vsed to giue reuiling spéeches the Lorde reprooue his follie Though it bee not worth the answering yet for their sakes that bee simple I will not refuse to speake to it and to let them see what difference there is betwixt truth and errour Your maine reason Sir Refuter is this in these wordes of the Apostle Christ through death abolished the diuell that had power of death This worde DEATH say you hath the same meaning in both places the proofe you make for it is this verie fond it were to take it here otherwise Your assumption is but death in the latter place questionlesse signifieth the death of the soule Therefore Christ died the death of the soule It were as easie for mee to saie it is not so as for you to saie it is so but that course which you holde is but prating of euerie thing it is no proouing of anie thing Howe manie kinds of death there are wee shall better learne by the graue father Saint Austen then by the young louers in Terence Dicitur mors prima dicitur secunda Primae mortis duae sunt partes vna qua peccatrix anima per culpam discessit a creatore suo altera qua indicante Deo exclusa est per poenam à corpore suo Mors autem secunda ipsa est corporis animae punitio sempiterna There is a first death and a second Death Of the first death there be two parts one when the sinfull soule by offending departed from her Creator the other whereby the soule for her punishment was excluded from her bodie by Gods iustice The second death is the euerlasting torment of bodie and soule The same partes and kindes of death are often repeated by him in his 13. booke de ciuitate Dei as namelie Mors animae fit cum eam deserit Deus sicut corporis cum id deserit anima Ergo vtriusque rei id est totius hominis mors est cum anima à Deo deserta deserit corpus Ita enim nec ipsa vixit ex deo nec corpus ex ipsa Huiusmodi autem totius hominis mortem illa sequitur quam secundam mortem diuinorum eloquiorum appellat authoritas Nam illa poena vltima sempiterna recte mors animae dicitur The death of the soule is when God forsaketh her as the death of the bodie is when the soule forsaketh the bodie So y e death of both that is of the whole man is when the soule forsaken of God forsaketh her bodie For so neither she liueth by God nor the bodie by her This death of the whole man that other death followeth which the diuine scriptures call the second death for that last and euerlasting punishment is rightlie called the death of the soule Here are thrée kinds of death sinne which separateth vs from God bodilie death which separateth the soule from the body and eternall damnation which tormenteth body and soule for euer In the Apostles words to the Hebrues that Christ through death abolished y e diuell that had power of death you wil by no meanes haue the death of the bodie intended that is a benefite and gaine to the godlie Then of sinne and eternall damnation the diuell must be said to haue power and indeede so he hath For hee is the perswader and leader to sinne and the executioner and tormentor in damnation And so by your diuinitie Christ must sinne and be euerlastinglie condemned to hell fire before he can abolish the Diuell that hath power of both these For he must abolish him by the same kind of death whereof hee hath power Looke Sir Refuter what an wholsome exposition of the Apostles words you haue made vs which the diuell himselfe durst not aduenture it is so blasphemous God forbid you will say this should be anie part of your meaning But if such bee your ignorant rashnesse that you will so expound scriptures as these consequents shall necessarie followe you must leaue writing and fall to learning an other while till you be able to foresée what may iustly be inferred vpon your positions Deaths of the soule there are none mentioned in anie Scripture or father but sinne and eternall damnation Leaue the patheticall hyperbolicall metaphoricall phrases of Terence to boies in the Grammer schoole speake at least like a diuine though you bee none If your cause bee so holie a truth as you talke of it hath both foundation and approbation in the Scriptures You shall not neede to runne to heathen Poets to prooue that the Sauiour of the worlde died the death of the soule What the death of the soule is what consequentes it hath and what maine
sacrifice to God and is in effect nothing but what we affirme You affirme that Christ died the death of the soule which you interpret to bee such paines and sufferings of Gods wrath as alwaies accompany them that are separated from the grace and loue of God You affirme that Christ suffered wonderfull and piteous astonishment forgetfulnesse and confusion of the powers of nature euen of all the powers of his soule and senses of his bodie yea he felt the verie diuels as the instruments that wrought the verie effectes of Gods wrath vppon him and though the wicked oftentimes find farre more intolerable horror of their sinnes then any other yet you doubt not but Christ as touching the vehemencie of paine was as sharply touched euen as the Reprobate themselues yea if it may be more extraordinarily All this you affirme and by your owne words all this is the ONLY TRVE and perfectly accepted sacrifice to God So then whosoeuer feeleth not all this hath no broken nor contrite heart nor anie longer then hee feeleth these hellish torments in his soule And if this be the ONLY TRVE sacrifice to God I will not aske what shall become of the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiuing but howe vnhappie are the godlie that at anie time are free from the paines of the damned and from the tormentes of hell since the suffering thereof is the ONLY TRVE and perfectlie accepted sacrifice to God Godly sorrow saieth the Apostle causeth repentance vnto saluation those wordes please you not such hellish sorrowes and intolerable horrors as the Reprobate themselues feele yea as the damned doe suffer this saie you is the ONIY TRVE and accepted sacrifice to God You must haue other sacrifices and those accepted before you come to heauen or else the Reprobate and damned will bee there as soone as you God send you his grace and grant your wits and senses bee not distempered and distracted you talke so much of hellish paines and torments executed by diuels as the only true sacrifice of a broken and contrite hart The Apostles wordes whereon you first grounded this odious assertion haue no such intention as you imagine By death Christ conquered him that had power of death that is the Diuel Aske the simplest childe y t is catechised in your charge if you haue anie what death Christ died for vs and hee will answere you out of his Créede Christ was crucified deade and buried and that is the death which the Scriptures describe and deliuer I deliuered vnto you saieth Paul that which I receiued how that Christ died for our sinnes according to the scriptutes what death if wee aske the Apostle he will answere the death of the Crosse. For we preach saieth he Christ crucified and I esteemed not to know any thing among you but Christ Iesus and him crucified Christ crucified then that is by his death on the crosse destroied him that had power of death Of what death you aske hath the diuell power as well of the second death which Christ coulde not suffer as of the first which hee did suffer Christ you will saie coulde deliuer vs from no death but from the verie same which he suffered himselfe If so you saie or so would saie it is no lesse then heresie or blasphemie Hee deliuered vs from euerlasting death which hee neither did nor coulde suffer If you saie hee deliuered vs not from euerlasting death it is open heresie if you saie Christ suffered euerlasting death it is blasphemie Yet hath the diuell power of both deaths as well temporal as eternall What power you aske hath the diuel of this death which our bodies die God made not that death but by the enuy of the Diuell it came into the world He was the first procurer of it by perswading sinne and still reioiceth in it as the verie gate to hel I shal goe said Ezechiah to the gate of hell which was the death of his bodie that waie the wicked passe to hell Yea the Apostle calleth the corruption of our bodies the sting of sinne wherewith the diuell pearced vs when this corruption hath put on incorruption ô death where is thy sting For the exposition of the Apostles words I may either say with S Austen Ipse Dominus mori voluit vt quemadmoduÌ„ de illo scriptum est per mortem euacuaret eum qui ptoestateÌ„ habebat mortis id est Diabolum liberaret eos qui timore mortis per tâ—tam vitam rei erant seruitutis Hoc Testimonio satis illud monstratur mortem istam corporis principe atque authore Diabolo hoc est ex peccato accidisse quod ille persuasit Neque enim ob aliud potestatem habere mortis verissime diceretur The Lord himselfe would die that as it is written of him by death he might destroie him that had power of death euen the diuell and deliuer them which for feare of death were all their life long subiect to seruitude By this testimonie it is sufficientlie prooued that this verie death of our bodies came from the Diuell as the Authour and chiefe dooer thereof that is from the sinne which hee perswaded He cannot for any other cause be said to haue power of death which here is most truly spoken Ambrose Chrysostom and Cyril referre death throughout that sentence to the death of the bodie In these wordes saie they the Apostle noteth an admirable thing that whereby the diuel had power thereby was he ouerthrown The weapons which were his strength against the world that is death by y t Christ strooke him Why treÌ„ble ye why feare ye death now death is not terrible but acceptable as the end of labor and the beginning of rest Chrysostom hath almost the same wordes Cyrill verie often expoundeth death in that place for the death of Christs bodie The sonne of God was partaker of flesh and bloud that yeelding his BODY to death he by nature as God being life it selfe might quicken it againe otherwise how had hee abolished the imperie of death vnlesse he had raised againe his dead BODY And againe Because it was aboue mans nature to abolish death yea rather it was subdued of death the son of God that is life took vnto him mans nature subiect to death y t death as a cruell beast inuading his flesh should cease froÌ„ his tyranny ouer vs that should thereby be abolished If by death in the second place we vnderstand the death of body and soule with Fulgentius I am not against it this being alwaies remembred that Christ died no death but the death of the bodie Mors filij Dei quam SOLA CARNE suscepit vtramque in nobis morteÌ„ animae scilicet carnisque destruxit The death which the sonne of God suffered ONLY in his flesh destroied BOTH DEATHS in vs as well that of the soule as that of the body The Confuâ—er hauing
the Créede which the church of Christ proposed to euerie childe to learne and to euerie catechist to knowe But nowe wee are returned to the scriptures againe for Fathers they leaue as corrupters of the olde both faith and phrase wee shall goe through with more ease and ende with more speede That Sheol or Hades doe signifie heauen either in the Scriptures of the olde or newe Testament or with the Septuagint which are the translators of the Hebrue into Gréek I vtterlie denie and no man liuing shall euer bee able to make anie proofe thereof on which issue I am content to ioyne with any man that is learned and sober for the hazard of either of our credits If Sheol and Hades in the scriptures neuer signifie heauen then can they not signifie THE VVORLD OF SOVLES for so much as there is no one place common to all soules departed this life but some are in hell and some in heauen and for one word to signifie both hell and heauen so farre distant one from the other and so much repugnant one to the other is somwhat strange except it could be strongly proued Chaos did import the whole masse of heauen and earth before they were distinguished but since they were seuered and setled by the wonderful wisedome and mighty power of God so far apart one from the other and so much vnlike one to the other there are wordes in the scripture which note all that God made but none that comprise heauen and hell excluding the rest S. Paul vseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the creature and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the making of the world and our sauiour vseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this world and the next where nothing is excepted but that heauen and hel should come to be included in one word the rest excluded I see neither whie nor howe it should be For where wordes are common some thinges must also be common as néedefull to bee expressed by those wordes but to soules in heauen and hell no positiue thing is common all things are rather contrarie Their bodies they want in both places because they are soules otherwise their states be as repugnant in all points as light and darknesse Christ and Belial yea as heauen and hell in which they are therefore as light and darknes faith and infidelitie truth and errour haue no common worde to compâ—ise them being contraries each to other no more haue heauen and hell as they are she rewardes of the iust and vniust for so much as all things in either are directlie repugnant each to other Again that SHEOL or HADES may possiblie signifie heauen I vtterly deny because in heauen besides the soules of men there are the elect angels of God to whom if anie man dare applie SHEOL or HADES he must giue me leaue to thinke his iudgement to be weake and his faith vnsound Sheol and Hades you will saie signifie all that are deade in either place But you must remember that both these wordes in the Scriptures doe properlie signifie places and not peâ—sons For though the ancient Gréekes vsed the word HADES first for a person and then for the place which that person gouerned yet the holie ghost knowing that the person which the Pagans meant was in déede the Diuell vseth the worde for the place and not for the person except the texte bee figuratiue In Sheol it was neuer doubted but that it alwaies signified a place and neuer anie person Nowe if neither Sheol nor Hades canne signifie both places I meane heauen and hell then canne they not signifie the worlde of soules for they bee dispersed in both those places It cannot be denied you wil saie but the olde testament referreth Sheôl as the Septuagint doe Hades both to the godlie and to the wicked after death It is most true that Sheôl in Hebrew and Hades in Greeke are applied in the olde Testament both to the good and bad The Question is not to what men but to which parts of men good or bad Sheol and Hades are referred To the bodies of men good and bad lying deade in the graue they are sometimes applied to the soules of the godlie as detained in either they are neuer applied Sheol and consequentlie HADES with the Septuagint importeth the whole death that is due to sinne and euerie part thereof but by no meanes heauen where the soules of the saintes are nor anie part of that blisse which they possesse Since then as well the death of the bodie in this worlde as the death of the soule in the next worlde were the wages of sinne Sheol and Hades doe sometimes signifie the generall state of deade bodies as when the Scripture describeth rottennesse silence forgetfulnesse senselessenesse contempt dishonour and such like to bee in Sheol And the same worde when it is referred to the soules of the wicked as there detained or of the godlie as thence deliuered for so much as the soule cannot be inclosed in the graue of necessitie the pit prepared for the soules of sinners must bee by all such textes of Scriptures intended But that Sheol or Hades shoulde signifie the worlde of Soules as well in heauen as in Hell neither hath this Refuter brought anie Texte or reason for it neither will hee euer bee able to prooue it And howsoeuer one of late hath taken vppon him to talke of those thinges like one of the Titanes with bigge and bombasted tearmes I seeing nothing in that fardell of his but Riddles and raylinges meane not to alter my course Then touching the sense of Sheol in the olde Testament I take it to bee cleare that it sometimes signifieth the graue or the state of deade bodies but neuer the world of soules which phrase the Refuter hath caught by the ende hoping at length to conueie it into the Creede But hee must first shewe vs where hee findeth anie such thing in the Scriptures before wee maie suffer him to make it an Article of our faith Against it euerie place is a proofe but for it none that I reade or they haue yet alleaged They shifte handes and in steede of the worlde of soules they bring in the graue or the state of deade bodies which is but a vaine flourish to propose one thing and to prooue an other And though you Sir Refuter goe to varying of phrases which I thinke is your best skill as The state of the deade the worlde of the deade the worlde of soules departed yet I must let you vnderstande there is great difference betwixt these speeches Sheol may extend to their bodies whose soules doe liue in heauen to their soules it cannot and therefore you must not chop in the one for the other as your instructor doth who when he would proue the world of soules falleth vp aboue head and eares into the graue The one you shall euerie where light on of the other there is no mention As when Iacob said to
their philosophicall follies and Rabbinicall fancies the one sorte being strangers the other enimies to the faith of Christ shall draw mee from my Creede And so I wish thee Christian Reader as my selfe mercie and grace from the Lord Iesus and commit thee to God FINIS a Psa. 18. 116 b Ionas 2. c 1. Corin. 13. d Hebre. 2 e Colos. 1. f Rom 5. g Hebr. 10. h 1. Pet. â— i Psal. 16. k Acts 2. a 1. Corinth 8. The crosse of Christ despised both of Iewes and Gentiles What it is to the beleeuers b Galath 6 c Rom. 1â— d Hebr. 11 e 1. Iohn 4. The methode of this treatise f Luke â— g Matth. â—â— h De passi dom cap. 5. The crosse taken for all kind of affliction The church of Rome honoreth the croâ—se and dishonoreth the death of Christ. What the scriptures meane by the croâ—se of Christ. i 1 Peter 2. k 1 Peter 1 The paines of Christs crosse l Iohn 19 m Matth. 27. Marke 15. n Psaâ— 22. o Socrates lib. 1. cap. 17 p De pass dom cap. 7. Christ had no pangs of death but perfect sense of paine vnto the end q Bernard de pass dom ca. 41. He died voluntarily r Iohn 19. s Serm. 4. Hebdomaâ—ae pâ—nosae t Luk. 13. u quaest 8. ad Hedibium x Tract 119. in Iohan. y Iohn 10. How the opinion of Christs suffering hell paines hath growen by degrees Ionas 2. Psal. 18. Psal. 116. How many impressions the paines of hell make in the soule of man 2. Tim. 1. The proofes which are brought that Christ suffered the paines of hell a Psal. 16. b Psal. 18. Predictions that Christ should suffer y e paines of hel â—â—gust epi. 99 Psal. 16. d Psal. 16. e Acts 2 f Ibidem g August epist. 99. h Psal. 18. 116. The causes why Christ must suffer the paines of hel Christ could not suffer the death of the soule which was the chiefe wages of our sinne i Apocal. 2. k Rom 6. l Galat. 3 m 1. Iohn 4. n August decinitate dei lib. 13. cap. 2. o Idem de Trinitate lib. 4. c. 14 p Idem de verbis domini super Matthaeâ—til serm 6. q Pet. 2. r Iâ—say 53. The signes y t Christ did suffer the paines of hell are his agonie in the garden and his complaint on the crosse Sixe causes that might be of Christs agony in y t garden s Ioel. 2 t Hebre. 12 u Psalm 119 x Iohn 12 y Esay 6 The reprobation of y e Iewes z Luke 19 a Exod 32 b Rom. 9. c Ambros. in Lâ—cam lib. 10. de tristitia dolere Christi d Hieron in Matth. cap. 26 d Peda in matth cap. 26. e August in Psal. 87. The dispersion of his church f Luke 2â— g Ibidem h Ambros. in Iuâ—cam lib. 10. de tristitia dolere Christi i Hilarius de â—rinitate lib 10 k Ibidem k Ibidem His sorrow for our sinne l Ambrose de fide lib â— cap. 3. m 2. Cor. â— n Psal. 5. 1. The depreâ—ation of Gods wrath o Psal. 75 Christ might pray against the eternal malediction of our sinnes p Heb. 5. q Theodoret in c. 5. epist. ad Heb. Christ praied as the heade of his bodie and so one person with his members Galath 2. Rom. 6. Colos. 3. Matth. 26 Christ might desire the punishment of our sinnes to be proportioned to the strength of his humane flesh Christ might pray against death not as weaker but as perfecter then others s August tract 60. in Iohanneth Christ cured our infirmitieâ— in his owne person t Cyril thesaurâ— lib. 10. cap. 3. Ambrosius in Lucam lib. 10. de tristitia dolâ—re tâ—edio Christi We must prefer Christs suffering before all martyrs not for his paines but for his patience Christ mighâ— by his agony voluntarilie dedicate his bloud to mans redemption x Hilar lib. 10 de trinâ—â—ate y August in Psalm 93. z Prosper sentent ex August sent 68. a Rede in Luc. cap. â—2 Bernard in raâ—â—s palmarâ—â—â— sermon 3. b Hebe 5. Or sanctifie his person to offer the true sacrifice for sinne c Iohn 17 d Exod. 29 The suffering of hell paines not y e cause of Christs agony e Hebre. 10 f Ioh. 11. g Hieron in Matth. ca. â—â— h Matth. 2â— What is mean by Christs coÌ„plaint on the crosse that he was forsaken i Iohn 14 The wicked are here forsaken and yet not in hell k Genes 4 l Hebre. 12 m Rom 9. n 1 Samuel 28 o Iohn 17 p Iohn 6 q Ephes. 4.18 r Ephes. 2 12. How the godly are forsaken s Esay 49. t Esay 54 u Psalm 89 x Psalm 60 Diuers expositions of the fathers how Christ was forsaken on the crosse z August epistola â—20 a Idem in Psalâ—â—â— 21. b Leo de passio serm 16. c Athanasius de incarnaâ— Christi d August epist. 120. e Ambros. de fide lib. 2. cap 3. f Hieron in ca. 27 Matthae g IdeÌ„ in Psal. 21 h Tertul. aduersus Praxeam i Hilar. lib. xâ— de Trinitate k Idem in Matth. Can. 33. l Epiph. lib. â— â— 2. conâ—ra Ariomanitaâ— m Cyril de recta â—ide adâ—eginas n Basil. in Psal. 32. o Athan. contra Arrianos serm 4. p Leo de Pass serm 16. q Ibidem r Origen in Mat. cap. â—â— s Act. 4. t Hieron in Psa. 12. Chrysost. homâ— in Mat. â—9 If Christs soule were forsaken he had neither faith hope nor loue x Psal. â—1 y Rom. 5. z Ecclesiâ— â— a 1. Cor. 6. If Christs soule were forsaken the vnion of his two natures was dissolued b Iohn â—â— Christs words deeds proue his soule was not forsaken of God c Mark 14. d Luke 25 e Luke 23. f Matth 27. g Iohn 18 h Iohn 16 i Acts. 2. The effects of Christs crosse The merite of Christs passion must be infinit in two respects k Eâ—ech 18. Hell is not infinite but onlie in time l Hebre. 10. m Matth â—â— Nothing infinite but only God The merite of Christ is infinite in respect of his person n Acts. 20 o Roman â— p Bernard de passione cap. 17 q Philip. 2 Christs obedience doth more then counteruaile Adams disobedience r Ezech. â—â— s Matt â—â— t Esay 4â— u Acts. 20 The scriptures ground our saluation on the dignitie of Christs person x Rom. 8. y Esay 40. z Rom. 5. And so do the fathers a Athanasius de incarnatione citatura Theodoreto dialogo 3. b Cyril de recta fide ad reginas in 1. Timothei 2. dedit semetipsâ— pretium pro nobis c Cyril ibidem in 1. Petri. 1. pretiosâ— sanguine Christi redempti estis d August in psa 148. e August de tempore 114. f Ibidem The mightier Christs person the fitter to conquer but not to suffer hel Eight things in hel paines which by no means Christs soule might suffer g Iohn 9. h 2. Cor 6. i
nos dicere existimo I think we speake not without reasoÌ„ If respect of his persecutors could thus agonize him what could the regard of his own followers doe how did the weaknesse of his owne disciples afflict him when the wilfulnesse of his enemies did so preuaile with him Hee warned his disciples of the danger and they vaunted of their strength he willed them to praie and they slept and when he was apprehended they did euerie one forsake him yea the stoutest of them did plainelie forsweare him Hee might therefore iustlie be grieued with their infirmitie and earnestlie praie for their securitie His tender care of them and earnest praier for them appeareth in the 17. of Iohn euen as hee entered into the garden hee called vpon them to watch and praie that they entred not into temptation Dormiunt saith Ambrose nesciunt dolere pro quibus Christus dolebat the Disciples slept and caÌ„nottel how to sorrow for whom Christ sorrowed Tristis erat non pro suapassione sed pro nostra dispersione Tristis erat quia nosparnulos relinguebat Hee was sorrowfull not for his owne suffering but for our dispersing He was gréeued because hee left vs yong and weake Hilarie in his tenth booke de Trinitate largely pursueth this occasion of Christo agonie concludeth Non ergo sibi tristis erat neque sibi orat sed illis quos monet orare peruigiles Christ is not sorrowfull for himself nor praieth for himself but for those whoÌ„ he warneth to watch and pray And for their sakes he â—aith the Angell was sent to comfort Christ that hee should take no longer griefe and feare for his Disciples The Angell being sent to protect the Apostles and the Lord receiuing comfort thereby Ne pro his tristis esset iam sine tristitâ—ae mâ—tu ait dormite requiessite That he should no longer grieue for them beginneth nowe to be without griefe and feare and saith to them sleepe now and take your rest Nam quinobis tristis est eâ— est propter nos tristis est necesse est vt proptennos sit comfortatus nobis for he that was sorrowfull for our sakes and in our behalfe must of force be comforted for vs and to our vse The desire and care Christ had to sée his kept safe from the rage of Satan leadeth me to the fourth cause of Christs agonie For if Christ were so sad for our infirmitie how sorrowfull then was he for our iniquitie whereby we â—dde not one lie 〈◊〉 our selues open to danger but euen wound our selues to death and deseruetion Well saith Ambrose of this matter Mihicompatitur mihi trist is est nahi doleâ— Eâ—go pro mo in me doluit qui pro senâ—d habuir quod doleret Dâ—lesâ— igitur domine Iesu non tuâ— sed mea vulnera non tuam mortem sed nostâ—am infirmitaetem Christ is affected for mee sadde for mee and greened for mâ—e Hee sorroweth for mee and in mee who had nothing in himselfe to bee sorowed for Thou grieuest Lord Iesu not at thine owne wounds but at mine not for thy death but for my weakenesse Inward sorrow for sin is preciselie requisite in all remission of sinnes To sinne and not to be sorie for if is first to displease and then to despise God Wherefore it is not possible to appease Gods wrath once prouoked but with earnest and heartie sorrowe that euer we offended Then as corruption is the mother and pleasure is the life of sinne so the inward affliction and contrition of the soule in all the godlie is the death of sinne And since we are neither willing nor able to sorrow sufficientlie for our sinnes why might not the son of God when her tooke vpon him the purgation of our 〈◊〉 in his own person take likewise vnto him that inward earnest sorow for our sins which neuer creature before him or besides him did or could expresse Godly sorrow causeth uâ— vs repentance vnto saluation and a troubled spirit is a sacrifice vnto God Of this kind of sorrow to supplie the weaknes and want of true repentance in vs all and to teach vs heartilie to lament our sins the more wee attribute vnto the soule of our Sauiour the more sufficient euerie way we make his satisfaction for sin that did not onelie render recompenâ—e by his life and suffer vengeance by his death for our sins but for déepelie sorrowed for them that in his agonie aboue nature he sweate bloud after a strange and maruellous maner The fift cause of Christs agonie might be the cup of gods wrath tempered and made readie for the sinnes of men In the hand of the Lorde is a cuppe saith Dauid it is mixed full the wine thereof is redde all the wicked of the earth shall wring and drinke the dregges thereof In this cuppe are all manner of plagues and punishmentes for sinne as well spirituall as corporall eternall as tâ—mporall The mixture of which â—â—ppe Christ perfectlie knowing and carefullie shunning the dregges thereof earnestlie prayed this cuppe might passe from him I knowe diuers men haue diuerâ—â—iâ— expounded these wordes of Christ some thereby collecting two willes shewed in Christ a diuine and humane the one submitting it selfe to the other some noting a difference betwixt the vnwillingnesse of our flesh and readinesse of the spirite euen in the manhoode of Christ some also thinking that Christ corrected and reuoked his petition suddenly â—lipt from him by the vehemencie of griefe which tooke from him the present remembrance of gods heauenly decree In this varietie of iudgements to refuse none that agréeth any way with the rules of truth Christ might behold three things in the cuppe of Gods wrath and by his praier accordinglie decline them to wit eternal malediction corporall castigation aboue his strength and the separation of his bodie by death from the fruition of God What was due to our sinnes Christ could not be ignorant and as he became man to quicken our souls that were dead not to kill his owne and to bring vs to God not to seuer himselfe from God so knowing what our sinnes deserued he might intentiuelie pray to haue That cup passe from him which was prepared for vs was heard in that he declined or feared Christ saith Paule in the dayes of his flesh did offer vp praiers and supplications to him that was able to saue him from death and was heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the reuerence had of him for so Chrysostome Theodorete Oecumenius and others not vnlearned as I thinke in the Gréeke tongue doe interprete the worde or as others delight rather to say He was heard in that he feared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying feare and care as wel as reuerence Paule meaneth that praier saieth Theodorete which CHRIST made before his passion when he said Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me And indéed
but in the garden Christ neuer praied with strong cries and teares to be saued from death that we read in the scriptures and He was heard saith the Apostle in that he feared or shunned From the death of the crosse hee was not saued that therfore was not the effect of his praier for he was heard in that hee asked He desired therefore to be saued from ETERNALL death and that the cup of Gods euerlasting malediction might passe from him and in that he was heard At least then wil they say Christ feared euerlasting death against which he instantlie praied with stroÌ„g cries tears The number of our sinnes and power of Gods wrath hee coulde not choose but see being ordained the sauiour of the world to heare the one and appease the other and therefore if we grant that the sight of both did for the time somewhat astonish the humane nature of Christ aduisedly considering she waight of both I 〈◊〉 no great inconâ—enience therein so long as they impressed nâ—thing in the soule of Christ but a religious feare to Sorrow for the one and to pray against the other But distrust of his owne saluation or doubt of Gods displeasure against himselfe we cannot so much as imagine in Christ without euident want of grace and losse of Faith which we may not attribute to Christs person no not for an instant It is weakenesse of â—aith in vs to feare or forget the promises of God when the conscience of sinne accuseth vs. What then will it be for the soule of Christ after so manie promises and oathes made by God to annoint and send the Sauiour of the world after so manie cleere and full assurances of Gods loue and fauour towards his person to stagger at the certaintie of Gods counsell at the light of his owne knowledge and at the truth of his fathers voice so often denounced and confirmed with thunder from heauen I refraine to speake what wrong it is to put either doubtfulnes or forgetfulnesse of these thinges in any part of Christes humane nature Why then did hee praie that the cup might passe from him he had no néed to pray for himself but onely for vs who then suffered with him and in him On vs it might haue staied being seuered from him as the iust wages of our sin against him it could not prenaile because nothing could befall him either against his will or vnfit for the sonne of God Wherefore the force and effect of his praier chieflie concerned vs Being then comprised in his bodie in which wee were crucified buried and raised togither with him And touching himselfe albeit the innocencie of his cause the holinesse of his life the merit of his obedience the aboundance of his spirit the loue of his father and vnitâ—e of his person did most sufficientlie gard him from all danger and doubt of eternal death yet to shew the perfection of his humilitie he woulde not suffer his humane nature to require it of right but proâ—raâ—â— on the earth be sought his Father That cuppe might passe from him and was heard in that he â—â—unned or anâ—â—ded For though God were long before resolued to accept the death and bloud of his sonne for the sinnes of the world yet by this meanes Christ did sée howe déerelie God loued him that for his sake and at his request released the last bengeanâ—â— of mans sinne tooke the 〈◊〉 of eternall malediction not from him onlie but from vs all at his mediation howbeit to shew the confidence he had in his father and to bring his obedience to the highest degrée that might be hee did after his religious dislike of that cup which wee had deserued simplie and whoâ—â—e submit himselfe to his fathers pleasure without anie condition or exception in saying to his father Not as I will but as thou wilt Not 〈◊〉 by striking any terror of hell into the sence of his flesh as some would haue it but fully resting on his fathers will and goodnesse towardes him as in the surest hauen of his hope and ouâ— helpe against all the power of death and hell A second thing which Christ might iustlie feare and earnestlie praie against though his soule were neuer so safe was the power of Gods wrath to be executed on his bodie vnlesse it pleased God to lighten the burden of mans sinne For God was armed with infinite vengeance to afflict and punish the bodie aboue that the humane flesh of Christ was able to endure Since therefore Christ was not onelie with meekenesse to beare but with al willingnes to offer to abide the hand of God laid vpon him by what meanes soeuer hee might pray that the cup of his passion might be proportioned to the strength of his flesh which was but weake in respect of Gods power and therein also he was heard For the cup which his father gaue him to drinke by the hands of the wicked did passe from him without oppressing his patience or shaking his obedience Thirdlie Christ might feare his verie passion not as weaker in courage then martyrs or malefactors but as perfecter in nature then either of them The more we enioie the presence of God in soule or in bodie the greater griefe it will be and must be to lacke the sence hereof euen for a short time The flesh of Christ then which had not onelie a personall coniunction but also a wonderfull fruition of God aboue all men liuing might well he loath to leaue the same and yéeld to death not as timorous through infirmity but as desirous in pietie to kéepe that sence and feeling of Gods presence which not onlie the soules but also the bodies of his Saintes shall hereafter enioie and which Christ had here on earth in greater measure then we can expresse as being personallie vnited to the diuine nature though as yet not glorified with immortalitie And where some auouch it had beene in Christ a shamefull nicenesse to be so afflicted with the feare of his passion albeit S. Augustine saie well Non est vllo modo dubit andum non eum animi infirmitate sed potestate turbatum We may by no meanes doubt that Christ was troubled not for any weakenesse of hart but through his own power yet Cyril granteth that Christ as a man abhorred and feared death and addeth that except he had voluntarily shewed our feare in himselfe and quenched it we had neuer beene fréed from it Omnia Christus perpessus est vt nos ab omnibus liberaret Sicut igitur nisi mortuus esset mors non extingueretur sic nisi timuisset non essemus nos à metu liberati nisi doluisset non cessassent dolores nostri Christ suffered all that he might free vs from al. As therefore except he had died death had not beene conquered so vnlesse he â—ad feared we had not beene deliuered from feare and if he had not sorrowed our sorrowes could not haue ceased And in
like manner shalt thou finde all the passions of our flesh to haue beene stirred in Christ but without sinne that beeing stirred they might be repressed by the power of the godheade dwelling in him and our nature by that meanes reduced to a better temper Ambrose in other wordes saieth as much Sequestrata deloctatione diuinitatis aeternae taedio meae infirmitatis afficitur Suscepit enim tristitiam meam vt mihi suam laetitiam largiretur vestigijs nostris descendit vsque admortis aerumnam vt nos suis vestigijs reuocaret advitam Debuit ergo dolorem suscipere vt vinceret tristitiam non excluderet nos disceremus in Christo quemadmodum futurae mortis maestitiam vinceremus And so he concludeth Hic alto operatur effectu vt quia in carne sua peccata nostra perimebat maerorem quoque animae nostrae suae animae maerore aboleret Laying aside the delight of his aeternall deitie Christ is affected with the tediousnesse of my infirmity and deiected himselfe to feele the griefe of death as we doe that by following his steps he might reduce vs to life hee was therefore to admit sorrowe that he might conquer sorrowe and not keepe it off and wee to learne in Christ howe we should ouercome the feare of death approching In his agonie hee wrought with a deepe effect that because in his flesh hee killed our sinnes he might also with the sorrow of his soule extinguish the sorrowe of our soules So the sorrowe and feare of death which it pleased our sauiour to féele in our nature came not for want of strength but of purpose to quench and abolish those affections and passions in vs that the faithfull for euer might bee fréed from them through his grace working in their hearts And therefore we haue no cause to excuse much lesse to reproch Christes weakenesse but rather to admire his power and praise his mercie that woulde submit himselfe to these infirmities of our nature thereby to cure them in vs and to strengthen vs against them and to make vs partakers of his wonderfull courage and patience the steps wherof we may dailie find not in martyrs onelie but in all his members when they are tried with anie kinde of outwarde or inward affliction Howbeit I may not omit how great an ouersight it is to conclude that Christ if he feared death in his agony was far fâ—ebler then martyrs which ioifullie die yea then malefactors which oftentimes go to their death verie resolutely The desratenesse of the wicked which haue neither feare nor care of God till they féele the force of his wrath in hell fire is no fit comparison for the sonne of God no more then the sinke of sinne is to swéeten the fountaine of grace I will therefore skippe that ouer with silence But if death bee not fearefull to the seruants of Christ as indéede it is not they are the more bound to their Lord and master who in his owne person to make the waie easie for them with the losse of his life disarmed death for euer and brake the chaines in sunder wherewith death and hell were coupled together For Christ was the first that by seuering death from the terror and power of hell made the stroke of death contemptible to all the godlie which otherwise was and would haue béene the harbinger of hell So that when death presented it selfe to the sight of our sauiour purposing to redeeme the world it came so fast clasped with hell that none but the sonne of God could dissolue the band wherewith they were linked And therfore Christ had far greater cause then anie of his members to feare and with earnest praier to decline the â—aile of death which did wound both bodie and soule with euerlasting destruction if he did not take awaie the sting thereof and by his sundring the one from the other which was the hope of all his saints before he died and faith of al the godlie since death was and is to all beléeuers no cause of feare but rest from their labors and passage to a better life The feare then which Christ had and shewed of death was either the curing of our infirmities in his flesh or the breaking the knot betwixt death and hell which none but he was able to doe or the mitigating of Gods anger which might be executed on his bodie or lastlie the desire hee had to continue the féeling and enioying of Gods presence and coherence with bodie and soule in the vnitie of his person and if in anie of these wee charge Christ with nicenesse wee knowe not what we saie except we will bee guiltie in a worse issue which I perswade my selfe was no part of their meaning that first broched this matter The last cause of Christs agony might be the sanctifying of himselfe to praie for trangressors and the voluntarie dedicating of his bloud to bee shed for the redemption of mankind for where some coniecture Christ did sweate bloud for feare Hilarie plainâ—lie denieth it and saieth Sudoremnemo audebit infirmitati deputare quia contra naturam est sudare sanguinem nec infirmitas est quod pot estas non secundum naturae consuetudinem gessit No man shoulde dare attribute Christs bloudy sweate to infirmitie because it is against nature to sweat bloud and can bee no weakenes which power did aboue the course of nature Austen maketh it a signification of the martyrs bloud that should willinglie bee shedde throughout the church for the testimonie of the trueth Ideo toto corpore sanguineÌ„ sudaâ—it quia in corpore suo id est Ecclesia Martyrum sanguinem ostendit Christ sweat bloud along all his bodie to this ende that he might shew the bloud of martyrs in his bodie which is the church Prosper agréeth with S. Augustine in iudgement and saith Oranscum sudore sanguineo dominus Iesus significabat de toto corpore quod est Ecclesia emanaturas martyrum passiones The Lorde Iesus praying with a bloudy sweat signified the sufferings of the martyrs that should be in his whole body which is the church Bede thereby noteth that Christes praier made for his Apostles was hearde and that by his bloud he should not onelie redresse the frailtie of his disciples but quicken the whole earth being dead in their sinnes Nemo sudorem hunc infirmitati deputet sed intelligat per irrigatam sacratamque eius sanguine terram non sibi qui nouerat sed nobis apertè declaratum quod effectum suae precis iam obtineret vt fidem discipulorum quam terrena adhuc fragilitas arguebat suo sanguine purgaret quicquidilla scandali de eius morte pertulisset hoc toruÌ„ ipse moriendo deleret immo vniuer sum latè terrarum orbem pâ—ccatis mortuum sua innoxia morte caelestem resuscitaret ad vitam Let no man attribute Christs bloudie sweat to infirmitie but rather learne that by sprinkling and hallowing the
pono pro ouibus meis I lay down my LIFE for my sheep Diligit me pater quia pono animaÌ„ meaÌ„ vt iteruÌ„ sumaÌ„ eam My father loueth me because I lay downe my life to take it againe And indéed that phrase PONTRE ANIMAM in the Scriptures doth alwaies note a voluntary yeelding of the life which is A LAYING ASIDE OF THE SOVLE for y e loue of others as where Peter saith Ponam animam meaÌ„ pro te he did not meane he would go to hel for his master there was no cause nor néede thereof but I wil lay down MY LIFE for thee And when S. Iohn telleth vs Quoniam ille animaÌ„ suaÌ„ posuit pro nobis nos debemus animas ponere pro fratribus hee doth not charge vs to hazard our soules by sin or hel for others but insomuch as Christ gaue HIS LIFE for vs wee ought to GIVE OVR LIVES for our brethren So that for Christ to LAY ASIDE HIS SOVLE or to POVRE IT OVT VNTO DEATH was not to suffer hell paines for our sakes but to die for our sins al those places are rather coherent theÌ„ dissident to the rest of y e scriptures which I alleaged And yet because the ancient fathers some times saie that Christ gaue his soule for our soules as hee did his flesh for our flesh the scriptures often affirme hee gaue himselfe I will come to the third effect of Christs crosse which is the MIGHTY POVVER OF HIS DEATH and there examine what part of Christ died for our sinnes and howe by his death the guilt of sinne the curse of the lawe the sting of death and the strength of Satan are not onelie weakened and wasted but extinguished and abolished that they shal neuer preuaile against him or his elect That the Sonne of God loued vs gaue himselfe for vs making the purgatioÌ„ of our sinnes in his own person by the sacrifice of himself to put away sinne is a case so cléere that it néed not to be prooued much lesse may be doubted without apparant subuersion of the christian faith but whether Christ suffered the death of the whole man his soule tasting for the time an inwarde and spirituall death in satisfaction of our sinnes as his flesh did an externall corporall dissolution of nature this by some men is questioned in our daies That for our sakes he humbled himself was obedient vnto death euen the death of y e crosse is out of al doubt the Euangelists describe the maner of his death the apostles the cause to wit the REDEMPTION of our sins the CONFIRMATION of the new testament the RECONCILIATION of man to God the DESTRVCTION of him that was ruler of death the IMITATION of his obedience who suffered for vs leauing an exaÌ„ple y t we should follow his steps Al this he performed with y e death of his flesh the Scriptures no where mentioning anie other kinde of death that I can read Where a testament is there must be the death of him that made the testament r For the testameÌ„t is confirmed when men are dead Christ is the mediator of the new Testament that through death which was for the redemption of the trespasses in the former Testament they which are called might receiue the promise of eternall inheritance This plainelie expresseth the death of the bodie For God forbid mens Testaments should be frustrate till their soules haue tasted the second death but from the death of the bodie all testaments take their force Wherefore the new testament is confirmed by the bodilie death of Christ and there neede no paines of hell before it can be good You y â— in times past were strangers and enemies in mind by euill works hath he nowe reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to make you holie vndefiled and faultlesse before him Paul thought it not enough to saie Wee were reconciled vnto God by the death of his sonne but that death he addeth was IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH to exclude all supposals of the death of the soule since THE BLOVD OF CHRISTS CROSSE did PACIFY thinges in earth and in heauen For so much as the children were partakers of flesh and bloud hee also did therein partake with them that through death hee might destroy him that had power of death euen the deuill The death of the spirit maie bee without fâ—esh and bloud as we see in the Deuils who are dead in spirite But Christ tooke flesh and bloud that by the death of his flesh hee might destroie the deuill that insulted and raigned ouer the weakenesse of mans flesh Wee are buried with Christ by baptisme into his death and if we bee grafted with him into the similitude of his death we shalbe likewise into his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sinne might bee destroied that henceforth wee shoulde not serue sinne for hee that is dead is freed from sinne So manie wordes so manie reasons to prooue that Christ died not for vs the death of the soule but onelie of the bodie Wee are buried with him by Baptisme his bodie not his soule was buried Wee are grafted into the similitude of his death not the soule but sinne dieth in vs when we are grafted into Christ for hee quickeneth our spirits Our olde man was crucified with him his soule was not crucified but his flesh that the body of sinne might be destroied by the death of the soule the body of sinne is strengthned and encreased That henceforth we should not serue sinne they must needes serue sinne whose soules are deade with sinne He that is dead is freed from sinne but he that is deade in spirit is subiected to the force furie of sinne The death of Christ then is mentioned no where in the Scriptures but the verie words or circumstances doe cléerely confirme that they speake of the death which he suffered for vs on the crosse IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH That Christ did or could suffer the death of the soule is a position far from the words but farther from the groundes of the sacred scriptures For in God there is no death and without God there is no life of the soule So that it is neither possible for the soule ioyned with God to die nor for the soule separated from God to liue Then if Christs soule were at anie time deade it lost all coniunction and communion with God and consequentlie the personall vnion of God and man in Christ was for that time dissolued and the grace and presence of Gods spirit were vtterlie taken from him and so during that space there coulde bee in Christ neither obedience humility patieÌ„ce holines nor loue which are the fruits of Gods spirit yea the soule of Christ if it were but for an houre depriued of Gods grace and spirit must néedes for that time be subiected to all
that is to an inuisible place which in latine is called hell and also the assertion of true religion y t the graue was the receptacle of the body only animaruÌ„ auteÌ„ superiora esse habitaculâ— scripturae testimonijs valde probatur But y e mansions of the soules are aboue as may easily be proued by y e testimonies of scripture These are the habitatioÌ„s of which Christ said there are many mansions with his father But I take no delight in rehersing their ouersights it will suffice that with one consent they make Abrahams bosome a receptacle for all the iust and the place of tormente where the rich man was a prison for the wicked calling the one hell and confessing the other to be the fruition of rest and happinesse after this life They that depart this world by death are according to their deeds deserts bestowed saith Origen alij in locuÌ„ qui dicitur Infernus alij in sinuÌ„ Abrahae some to y e place which is called hel others to AbrahaÌ„s bosom Omnes quipatrem habent AbrahaÌ„ virtutuÌ„ eius similes esse meruerunt requiescunt in sinu eius Al that haue AbrahaÌ„ for their father and obtained to be like him in virtues rest in his bosome saith Ierom Iusti in Abrahae sinurequiescere leguntur quod in eius gratia in eius requie in eius placiditate requiescunt qui conformeÌ„ ei fideÌ„ induerunt et â—andem in bonis operibus fecerunt voluntatem The iust saith Ambrose are said to rest in Abrahams bosome because they rest in like fauor in like ease in like contentation which put on like faith to AbrahaÌ„ and followed his exaÌ„ple in wel doing And therfore he speaketh else where to AbrahaÌ„ Expande sinus tuos vt plures suscipias quia plurimiin deuÌ„ crediderunt Open wide thy bosom to receaue mo because many haue beleeued in God Extendit Dauid spes suas ad infinitam perennitatis aetateÌ„ nec concluditur mortis occasu quuÌ„ sciat sibâ— in Abrahae sinibus exemplopauperis Lazariesse viuenduÌ„ Dauid stretcheth out his hope to infinite eternity endeth it not with y e fal of death knowing y t he should liue in AbrahaÌ„s bosome as did that poore Lazarus saith Hilary Neither Dauid onely but all the faithfull were and still are kept in Abrahams bosome as Hilarie thinketh vntill the day of iudgement Exeuntes de corpore ad introitum illuÌ„ regni caelestis per custodiaÌ„ domini fideles omnes reseruabuntur in sinu scilicet interim Abrahae collocati quô adire impios interiectum chaos inhibet quousque introeundi rursum in regnum caelorum tempus adueniat All the faithfull departing this life shall bee reserued in the Lords keeping for that entrance into the kingdom of heauen placed the meane while in Abrahams bosome whither the gulfe betweene will not suffer the wicked to come till the time approch that the godly shal enter into the kingdom of heauen This time of entring into the kingdom of heauen he maketh to be the day of iudgement Excipit impios statim vltor infernus decedentes de corpore si ita vixerunt confestim de via iusta peribunt Testes nobis sunt Euangelij diues et pauper quorum vnum angeli IN SEDIBVS BEATORVM in Abrahae sinu locauerunt alium statim regio paenae suscepit Nihil illic dilationis aut morae est Iudicij enim dies vel beatitudinis retributio est aeternae vel paenae Tempus vero mortis habet interim vnuÌ„quemque suis legibus duÌ„ ad iudiciuÌ„ vnuÌ„quemque aut Abraham reseruat aut paena Hel as a reuenger presently taketh the wicked and thâ—y leauing this body according to their liues do forthwith perish froÌ„ the right way The rich and poore man in the gospel do serue vs for witnesses wherof the one was caried by the Angels INTO THE SEATES OF THE BLESSED placed in Abrahams bosome the other the region of punishment did straightway sease on No delaie or stay may there be looked for The day of iudgment bringeth with it the reward of eternal blisse or paine but the verie time of death in the mean season subiecteth all men to these lawes that either Abraham or hell paines detaineth euerie soule vnto iudgement These Fathers confesse that all the iust as well before Christes resurrection as after were and are still in Abrahams bosom and there shall continue till the daie of iudgement Howe then could either Abrahams bosome be in hell or the Saintes of the olde testament be thence deliuered by Christes descent since they remaine still in Abrahams bosome as these fathers write and so shall do to the end of the world If Abrahams bosome were in hell beeing deliuered from hell they must needes bee deliuered likewise from Abrahams bosome If they be still in Abrahams bosome then were they neuer deliuered thence and that being in hell as some fathers would haue it the iust of both testamentes are still in hell and so none were deliuered thence by Christes descending thither But the calling vp of Samuel by the Witch at Endor prooueth y t Samuel so the rest of the prophets were in hell For she saw him ascending vp out of the earth he saide to Saul To morrow shalt thou and thy sonnes be with me Now that Saul being a reprobate and killing himselfe should bee in Abrahams bosome it was not possible Since then Samuel and Saul after death were both in one place and that place was beneath in the earth it is likelier that Samuel was in hell with Saul till he were deliuered thence then that Saul was in Abrahams bosome with Samuel The raising vp of Samuel after his death by the Witch hath mooued much question in the church of God whether it were Samuel in déede that rose and spâ—ke or whether it were the diuell transforming himselfe in to the likenesse of Samuel to driue Saul into dispaire And albeit the matter may be largelie disputed on either side yet neither opinion will infer that Samuels soule was in hell which is the point we haue in hand That it was not Samuel himselfe which appeared but the Witches familiar spirit in his likenesse these reasons preuaile with mee First neither by Witches nor Diuels coulde the soules of the saints bee commanded or disquieted from their places where they are in rest and peace Secondlie we are assured by the doctrine of our Sauiour that God will sende none from the dead to instruct the liuing yea all such conference is prohibited pronounced abominable by the law of God not that the dead can arise or aduise the liuing but because the diuell vnder that colour should not delude and abuse the people of God Thirdlie that which appeared receiued adoration at Saules hands which the Angel refused at S. Iohns and the soule of Samuel neither might nor would haue accepted Fourthlie Saul
idem verus homo fieret morteÌ„ gustare non posset Et ideÌ„ homo qui mortem gustauit siverus deus vita aeterna non esset morteÌ„ vincere non valeret Excepto illo qui sic homo est vt idem sit deus quis est homo qui destruxerit mortem aut quis eruet animam suaÌ„ de manu inferi mors autem filij dei quam SOLA CARNE suscepit VTRAMQVE IN NOBIS MORTEM animae scilicet carnisque destruxit resurrectio carnis eius gratiam nobis spiritualis corporalis resurrectionis attribuit vt prius iustificati per fidem mortis resurrectionis filij dei resuscitemur ab infidelitatis morte post primam resurrectionem scilicet animarum quae nobis in fide collocata est etiam istacarne in qua nunc vistimus resurgamus nunquam denuo morituri The true and liuing God yea the God that is truth it self and life euerlasting if he were not also true man could not haue tasted death and that man which tasted death except he had beene likewise the true God and eternall life hee could not haue conquered death Sauing he that was both God and man what man could haue destroied death or deliuered his own soule from the power of hell But the death of the sonne of God VVHICH HE SVFFERED IN HIS FLESH ONELIE destroied both deaths in vs as well of soule as bodie and the resurrection of his flesh gaue vs the grace both of a spirituall and corporall resurrection that being first iustified by faith in the death and resurrection of the sonne of God we might bee raised from the death of infidelitie and after the first resurrection which is of the soule from sinne giuen vs by faith we may also rise in this flesh in which we now liue neuer to die anie more Cum SOLA MORERETVR ET RESVSCITARETVR IN CHRISTO propter vnitatem personae dei hominis filius dei dicitur mortuus Totum igitur HOMINEM cum suis infirmitatibus sine peccato dei filius accepit in tota traditus idem Christus SECVNDVM SOLAM CARNEM MORTVVS Totus Christus secundum solam animam ad infernum descendit Humanitas ergo vera filij dei nec tota fuit in sepulchro nec tota in inferno sed in sepulchro secundum carnem Christus mortuus iacuit secundum animam ad infernum Christus descendit Secundum diuinitatem vero suam quae nec loco tenetur nec fine concluditur totus fuit in sepulchro cum carne totus in inferno cum anima Aciper hoc plenus fuit vbique Christus quia non est deus ab humanitate quam susceperat separatus qui in anima fuit vt solutis infernidolosuus AB INFERNO VICTRIX REDIRET in carne suafuit vt celeri resurrectione corrumpi non posset Whereas ONELIE THE FLESH died and was raised againe in Christ yet for the vnitie of the person being God and man the sonne of God is said to haue died The whole nature of man then with our infirmities the sonne of God tooke vnto him for our sakes but without sinne in the whole nature the same Christ beeing deliuered DIED ACCORDING TO THE FLESH ONLY and whole Christ descended into hell according to the soule onlie So that the true manhood of the sonne of God was neither wholie in the sepulchre nor wholie in hell but in the sepulchre Christ lay dead in his true flesh and in his soule Christ descended into hell But as touching his diuinitie which is neither comprehended in place nor measured with end whole Christ was in the graue with his flesh and whole Christ in hell with his soule And thereby whole Christ was euery where because his Godhead was not seuered from his manhood but was with his soule that dissoluing the sorrowes of hell it might returne conquerour from hell and with his flesh that speedilie rising it might not see corruption The darke places of Peter that Christ by his spirit preached vnto the spirites that are now in prison which in the daies of Noe were disobedient whiles the Arke was preparing and likewise that the Gospell was preached vnto the dead I omit as nothing pertinent to Christs descent to hell the first being verified in the time and by the mouth of Noe and the second performed by the preaching of the Apostles as Saint Austen long since obserued who saith of the first Considera ne fortè totum illud quod de conclusis incarcere spiritibus qui in diebus Noe non crediderant Petrus Apostolus dicit omnino ad inferos non pertineat sed ad illa potius tempora quorum formam ad haec tempora transtulit Take heede least happily all that which Peter speaketh of spirits closed in prison which beleeued not in the daies of Noe doe not at all pertaine to hell but rather to those times which Peter compareth with our age and of the second Quod Petrus dicit propter hoc mortuis Euangelizatum est vt iudicentur secundum homines in carne vinant autem secundum deum spiritu non cogit apud inferos intelligi Propterea ènim in hac vita mortuis Euangelizatum est idest infidelibus iniquis vt cum crediderint iudicentur secundum homines in carne hoc est in diuersis tribulationibus in ipsa morte carnis That which Peter saieth to this purpose was the Gospel preached vnto the deade that they might bee iudged according to men in the flesh but liue according to God in the spirit hath no necessitie to be applied to hell For the Gospel is preached in this life to the dead that is to the infidels and sinners that when they beleeue they might be iudged in the flesh after the maner of men by diuerse troubles and euen by the death of the flesh This I repeate the rather because some late writers haue borrowed Saint Austens exposition and suppressed Saint Austens name as if they were the first that euer looked into the truth of these places Other reasons there are but they are not worth the ripping vp I will therfore trouble you no further To the father that spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for vs all to the sonne that laide downe his life for vs and redeemed vs with his precious bloud to the holie Ghost which sealeth the sufferings and comforts of Christ in our harts euen to the king euerlasting immortal inuisible and God onelie wise be honour and glorie for euer and euer Amen The Conclusion to the Reader for the cleering of certaine obiections made against the doctrine before handled I Promised thee Christian reader in y e preface of this booke to giue thée a taâ—â— in the conclusion how rashly weakly the doctrine which thou hast now read was confuted before it was printed by one that professeth He could not forbeare but imploy his talent to cleare the
and moste sufficient reasons there are why Christ neither did nor might die the death of the soule thou hast good Reader before in the Treatise it selfe if this fumbler either will skippe them or can not answere them I must not repeate them as often as hee will neglect them Yet to ease thee of going backe I will here giue thee the effect thereof The life and death of the soule is in manie hundred places learnedlie and trulie vouched and prooued by Saint Austen Mori carni tuae est amittere vitam suam mori animae tuae est amittere vitam suam Vita carnis tuae anima tua vitae animae tuae Deus tuus Quomodo moritur caro amissa anima quae vita eius est sic moritur anima amisso Deo qui vita est eius For thy bodie to die is to loose his life and for thy soule to die is to loose her life The life of thy bodie is thy soule The life of thy soule is thy God As the bodie dieth when the soule is departed which is his life so the soule dieth when God is departed which is her life And againe Quomodo ergo mortua est anima de qua viuit corpus Audi ergo disce corpus hominis creatura Dei est anima hominis creatura dei est De anima deus viuificat carnem ipsam autem animam viuificat de seipso non de seipsa Vita ergo corporis anima est vita animae Deus est moritur corpus cum recedit anima moritur ergo anima si recedit Deus Carnem iacentem sine anima vides animam miseram sine Deo videre non potes Crede ergo adhibe oculos fidei How dieth the soule then by which the bodie liueth Hearken and learne The bodie of man is the creature of God so is the soule By the soule God giueth life to the flesh but the soule her selfe God quickeneth by himselfe and not by herselfe The life of the bodie then is the soule the life of the soule is God The bodie dieth when the soule departeth ergo the soule dieth if God depart from her Thou seest the flesh lying dead without a soule and canst thou not see the soule wretched without God Beleeue then and open the eies of faith And speaking of the particular consequents to the life and death of the soule the same father saith Quomodo cum anima est in corpore praestat illi vigorem decorem mobilitatem Sic cum vita eius Deus est in ipsa praestat illi sapientiam pietatem iustitiam charitatem veniente itaque verbo audientibus infuso resurgit anima à morte sua ad vitam suam hoc est ab iniquitate ab insipientia ab impietate ad Deum suum qui est illi sapientia iustitia charitas As when the soule is in the bodie shee giueth vigour comelinesse and motion to the bodie so when God her life is in the soule he giueth her wisedome pietie righteousnesse and charitie The worde of God then sounding and infused to the hearers the soule riseth from her death to her life that is from iniquitie follie and impietie to her God who is to her wisedome righteousnesse and charitie If this were not plaine inough the Scriptures themselues are so euident that no man can mistake the life of the soule except hee will purposelie blinde himselfe least hee shoulde come to the knowledge of the truth For the sonne of God is life and comming down from heauen gaue life to the world quickning whom hee would with the waters of life that is by the spirite of life yea whosoeuer beleeueth and abideth in him hath life and beareth fruite in him For the iust shall liue by faith and he that dwelleth in loue dwelleth in God and God in him for God is loue So that not onely Christ is our life and he that hath the sonne hath life but with him and in him alwaies was and alwaies will bee the fountaine of life which neuer did nor can drie vp how then could Christ die the death of the soule whose soule was personallie vnited vnto the worde that was life in it selfe And if the grace and spirite of God in vs make vs liue by God and in God if faith and loue knitte men to the life of God howe coulde the soule of Christ alwaies full of grace and truth alwaies full of faith and loue and of the holie Ghost bee deade But this Refuter meaneth another death of the soule What his meaning is is not materiall but whether hee meane truth or no. If he wil frame vs a monster in christian religion what haue I to do with that but to detest it There is another death after this life mentioned both in scriptures and fathers which is the second death But I hope this Confuter will eate and sléepe vpon the cause before hee wrappe our Sauiour within euerlasting damnation That is a death in déed from which God blesse and saue vs all They must néedes bee good Christians that labour to bring Christes soule within the compasse of the second death Haec mortalitas est vmbra mortis vera mors est damnatio cum Diabolo Our death is here but a shadow of death the true death indeede is damnation with the diuell saith Austen And againe Quid est istamors Est relictio corporis depositio sarcinae grauis mors secunda mors aeterna mors gehennarum mors damnationis cum Diabolo ipsa est vera mors What is this death It is the leauing of the bodie and the laying downe of an heauier burthen for the second death the death that is eternall the death of hell the death of condemnation with the Diuell that is the true death Which of these two deathes of the soules you will haue the soule of Christ subiected vnto you must tell vs Sir Refuter if you will néedes haue him die the death of the soule and the choise is so good that take which you will you inâ—ur hainous and horrible blasphemie I wish you to bee better aduised then to procéede to the defence of so wilfull a frensie As for new deaths of the soule you haue no commission to inuent anie shewe what scripture or Father spake it before you or you must giue the godlie leaue to thinke you no fit founder of a newe faith S. Austen was of opinion that no Christian durst auouch that Christ died the death of the soule Nam quod Iesus anima mortificatus fuerat quis audcat dicere cum mors animae non sit nisi peccatum a quo ille omnino immunis fuit That Christ was dead in soule VVHO DARES AFFIRME IT whereas the death of the soule in this life is nothing but sinne from which hee was altogether free you not onelie auouch it but you thinke no man sober that will not consent to it
But you did well to prophesie of this conceite of yours that it woulde seeme harsh and altogether vnreasonable in the eares of some to◠saie the least of it In the eares of all that bee wise and learned it will sound worse for it is a flat repugnancie not only to all the Fathere but euen to the christian faith that Christ died as well in soule as in bodie and as meane a man as I am I thinke I shall bee able to make that good which I saie For if the soule of Christ were alwaies perfectlie vnited vnto life fullie possessed of life and aboundantly able to giue life tell me I praie you howe it maie stande with the trueth of the scriptures that the same soule was for anie time deade you may euen as well defende that Christ sinned as that his soule died for the death of the soule is sinne in this life and damnation in the next Certe anima Christi nulla mortificata peccato vel damnatione punita est quibus duabus causis mors animae intelligi potest Surelie the soule of Christ was deade with no sinne nor punished with any damnation which are the two waies that the death of the soule may bee possibly conceaued The death of the soule say you may be vnderstood that most fitly for the paines and sufferings of Gods wrath which alwaies as company them that are separated from the grace and loue of God This death of the soule yee affirme Christ suffered yet hee himselfe neuer separated but most intirely beloued yea most holie most innocent and most blessed You contradict Sir Refuter not onlie the scriptures and fathers but euen your selfe in one and the same sentence and reele like a man whose braines are not steadie Secundum scripturas triplicem esse mortem accepimus Vna est cum morimur peccato deo viuimus Beata mors quae a mortali nos separat immortali conseruat Alia mors est vitae excessus cum anima nexu corporis liberatur Tertia mors est de qua dictum est anima quae peccauerit ipsa morietur Ea morte non solum caro sed etiam anima moritur haec mors non est perfunctio huius vitae sed lapsus erroris By the scriptures saith Ambrose we learne there is a triple death One when we die to sinne and liue to God This is a blessed death which seuereth vs from that which is mortall and ioineth vs to that which is immortall The second is the departure out of this life when the soule is deliuered from the bandes of her bodie The thirde death is that of which it is written the soule that sinneth shall die this death dieth not onelie the flesh but the soule also for it is not the ending of this life but the running into errour The first is the life of the soule and the death of sinne which is SPIRITVALL The second is the ceasing of this life which is NATVRALL the thirde is not onelie sinne but destruction which is PENALL Which of these agreeth to Christ Ambrose himselfe will tell you Quid est Christus nisi mors corporis spiritus vitae What is Christ but the death of the bodie and the Spirit of life Then Christ died not the death of the soule for the spirit of life cannot die vnlesse you will make life it selfe to bee death Yea they which in this worlde die the death of the soule are separated from Christ for did they abide in him they shoulde abide in life he is the waie the truth and not onelie liuing but life it selfe This testimonie our Sauiour giueth of himselfe Verilie verilie I saie vnto you hee that beleeueth in mee hath eternall life If they cannot die the death of the soule which beleeue in Christ howe mush lesse can Christ himselfe die that death And heere Sir Refuter you broch so grosse and palpable an errour that women and children will deride you For if the tormentes of hell and paines of the damned do alwayes accompany them that are separated from the grace and loue of God howe manie hundred thousand thousandes of all sortes sexes and ages in all kingdomes and countries shoulde bee disturbed distracted and confounded in all the powers of their soules and senses of their bodie where are the riches of Gods bounteousnesse patience and long suffering which the Apostle so highlie commendeth as leading vnto repentance How could Abraham with anie truth saie to the rich man in hell Sonne remember thou in thy life time receauedst thy good thinges and Lazarus paines where if your position be true the paines of Lazarus coulde not bee comparable to the tormentes and paines that ALVVAIES ACCOMPANIE the wicked I assure thee christian Reader a man could not with fewer and foolisher wordes then these more crosse the whole tenor of the scriptures For the wicked here in this life abound with all wealth ease and prosperitie insomuch that manie of the godlie haue beene and still are offended with it Reade the 72. Psalme and see whether these intolerable and horrible feares sorrowes paines and tormentes of hell and the damned do alwaies accompanie them heere in this life My feete were almost gone saith Dauid when I sawe the peace of the wicked There are no bands in their death they are Iustie and strong they are not in trouble nor plagued with other men their eies stand out for fastnesse they haue more then their heart can wish Lo these are the wicked yet PROSPER THEY ALVVAIE and increase in riches This was too hard for me till I went into the sanctuarie of God then I vnderstood their ende So that God with much patience suffereth the vessels of wrath prepared vnto destruction who according to their harde and impenitent hearts heape vp wrath vpon themselues against the daie of the declaration of the iust iudgement of God whose suddaine destruction is then nearest when they shal say peace and safety And what maruell you crosse the scriptures in confounding the wrath of God to come with the wrath of God present in this life when you doe not see your owne wordes to be contrarie one to the other For if Christ died the death of the soule which is an alienation from the life of God howe was he neuer separated but alwaies intirely beloued and most blessed If hee were neuer separated from the life of God howe came he to die the death of the soule which must néeds be a separatiō for the time from God vnlesse you can match light and darkenesse death and life together and make the one to be the other and both to cleaue to God himselfe But what cannot you do that can make the paines of the damned and torments of hell the onlie true and perfectlie accepted sacrifice to God These are your words Such a sorrow indeed of a broken and contrite heart is the only true and perfectly accepted
Christ died which was not againe quickned but still left dead then that parte suffered perpetuall death which is not onelie plainelie false but openlie blasphemous Then must this stande for an vndoubted grounde that whatsoeuer part of Christ was dead the same must be quickned againe to auoid the eternall death of anie part And if anie part of Christ néeded not quickning or restoring to life it neuer died for quickning is heere the restoring of life to that which was dead and not the giuing of life to that which had none before Then if Christs soule died of force it must either be quickned againe or kept vnder eternal death but to saie that Christs soule was quickned or made aliue IS ABSVRD AND MOST FALSE Ergo to saie that Christes soule died IS ABSVRD AND MOST FALSE You will aske me howe I proue the Minor or second parte of this Argument if Saint Austen did not helpe me to proue it the Confuter will Loe Sir Refuter your own words in the very same place take care I praie you that I misrepeat them not for if I hit theÌ„ right you wil proue your selfe as verie a baby as euer suckt a bottle BOTH THESE saie you ARE ABSVRD AND MOST FALSE that Christ was made alïue either in his HVMANE SOVLE OR BY THE SAME Sée and shame if there be anie grace or sense in you that going about purposelie to prooue that Christs soule died and was crucified you set this for a preface vnto it it is ABSVRD and most FALSE that Christ was made aliue in his humane soule which without any shift or colour you do saie must saie before your conclusion can be true except you wil flie to this that Christes soule died in deede but was neuer restored to life or made aliue againe which if wee come to I must proclaime you no longer foolish but blasphemous Howbeit I hope you will rather see your follie then fall to this frensie for my part I wish you better counsell and more reading and although you tell me of errors corrupt fansies and vayne imaginations shameful questioÌ„s toyish fables fond absurd without sense or reason when I doe but repeat the iudgementes of the ancient and learned Fathers yet I will beare them at your hand and from my heart doe pittie your ignorance for I hope it bee but ignorance howsoeuer you take vpon you to controle all as fond and absurde that yeelde not to your humour For the cleering of this place of Peter wherein the Confuter hath so much ouerseene himselfe I stand not vpon the aduantage of his wordes but vpon the sounde and learned exposition of Saint Austen whose antiquitie and authoritie concurring with the truth of the scriptures doth please me I trust christian reader wil content thee Christus spiritu viuificatus est cuÌ„ in passione esset câ—rne mortificatus Quid est enim quod viuificatus est spâ—ritu nisi quod eadem Caro qua sola fuerat mortificatus viuificante spiritu resurrexit Nam quod anima fuerat mortificatus Iesus hoc est eo spiritu qui hominis est quis audeat dicere cum mors animae non sit nisi peccatum a quo ille omnino immunis fuit Certe anima Christi non solum immortalis secundum naturam caeterarum sed etiam nullo mortificata peccato vel damnatione punita est quibus duabus causis mors animae intelligi pâ—test ideo non secundum ipsam dici potuit Christus viuificatus spiritu In ea re quippe viuificatus est in qua fuerat mortificatus ergo de carne dictum est Ipsa euim reuixit anima redeunte quia ipsa erat mortua anima recedente Mâ—rtificatus ergo carne dictus est quia secunduÌ„ solam carneÌ„ mortuus est viuificatus autem spiritu quia spiritu operante etiaÌ„ ipsa caro viuificata surrexit Christ was quickned by the spirit when in his Passion he was put to death in his flesh What meaneth it that he was quickned by the spirit but that the same flesh in VVHICH ONLY HE DIED rose againe by the quickning of the spirit For that Iesus DIED IN SOVLE I meane in his humane spirit VVHO DARE AFFIRME IT where as the death of the soule is nothing in this life but sinne from which he was wholie free Surelie the soule of Christ was not onlie immortal by nature as others are but neither died by sinne nor was punished by any damnation which are the two waies how the soule maie possiblie die And therefore Christ could not bee said to bee quickned in soule by the spirite for in that part was hee quickned in which hee died Therefore it was spoken by Peter of Christs flesh That reuiued when the soule returned because that died when the soule departed Christ then is sayd to bee done to death in his flesh for that hee died ONLY IN HIS FLESH and to be quickned by the spirite because that verie flesh rose againe being quickned by the working of the spirite These learned and sound conclusions of S. Austen are derectlie repugnant to your weake and false obseruations Syr Refuter Christ died in the flesh saith Peter that is saith Austen in THE FLESH ONLY for the soule of Christ died not since the death of the soule is either sinne in this life or damnation in the next both which were farre from Christ. You tell vs that Christs soule not onlie died but was also crucified and all the proofe you bring for it besides Terence is that Peter saith Christ died in the flesh Now the flesh saie you signifieth as well the soule as the bodie and so Christ died in both but such proofes if you vse them often will prooue you to haue a great deale lesse religion and learning then you would seeme to haue What death the Scriptures affirme Christ died for vs if you bee now to séeke at these yeares it is pittie your shoulders haue beene so long troubled with your head Can there bee fuller or plainer words then those which the foure Euangelists vse in describing the death buriall and resurrection of the bodie of our Sauiour Shew but one such word in Scripture or father that Christs soule died at the time of his Passion and take the cause He layd downe his soule vnto death you will saie You should haue done well in your pamphlette at least to haue laid that downe for a shewe and not vpon your single word to haue vouched so weightie a matter as the death of Christs soule is but you must be borne with your wits are often not at home What is ment by this that Christ laid downe or yéelded his Soule vnto death S. Austen largelie disputeth in his 47 treatise vppon S. Iohns Gospell The effect is when Christ laid downe his soule vnto death his bodie died and not his soule Quid fecit Passio quid fecit mors nisi corpus ab anima separauit
and soule of Christ were both free he did not suffer the true paines of hell nor the same torments which the damned do in hell and which wee should haue suffered had wee not béene redéemed This you saie is great iniquity yea plaine sophistry to amplifie against you and to make your most holie truth odious with the people onely by the ambiguitie of the worde hell Begin you nowe to finde the sensible absurditie of your mishapen fancie if you woulde haue taken the name of hell metaphoricallie for great and excéeding paines this question had béene sooner calmed and our Creede freed from your newe found exposition But to father your opinion vpon the créed with more likelihood where the word hell is properlie taken though you now hatch vs a new signification of hell out of Socrates you then vrged as your selfe in this present confutation do still vrge that Christ must haue the FVL VVAIGHT AND BVRDEN of our sinnes laid vpon him and suffer those sorrowes and paines for sinne VVHICH ELSE VVE SHOVLDE that his price VVAS THE SAME which else wee shoulde haue payde that seeing it was possible for him to feele THE FVLL SMART of our sinnes yea ALL OVR SMART and Gods strict iustice so required IT VVAS SO AND MVST BE SO as also that it is not proportionable with iustice that an easier punishment should satisfie for a greater sinne and of al absurdities the greatest that meere men shoulde suffer more deepelie then Christ did and therefore Christ sustained euen the sense of Gods wrath DVE to our sinnes and had the VVHOLE CVRSE of God for sinne executed on him that is the DEATH OF THE SOVLE and the TORMENTES and sorrowes DVE TO THE DAMNED Without anie Sophistrie Sir what is the FVLL BVRDEN of our sinnes and THE SAME PRICE which we should haue paide what is OVR FVLL SMART yea ALL OVR SMART and the VVHOLE CVRSE OF GOD what is the DEATH of the soule and the TORMENTS DVE TO THE DAMNED but those verie things which I by the warrant of Gods word told the people were prepared and threatned to the wicked and shall bee executed on them in hell as they shoulde haue bin on vs if we had not bin redéemed by the bloud of Christ you must recall all your reasons and vnsaie all these positions before you can auoid that which I obiect If Christ did and must by Gods iustice suffer the VVHOLE the SAME and ALL that was due to vs for our sinnes shewe me good Sir I praie you for I confesse it passeth my reach how you can free him from the darknes destruction reprobation malediction worme or fire of hel yea those words if you looke not well to them and rebate them in time with some fresh write they wil carrie with them both the PLACE and PERPETVITY of hell for both these were DVE to our sinnes and are parts of Gods CVRSE and should haue béene executed on vs as they shall bee on the damned and out of ALL the VVHOLE and the SAME how can you except anie but by an open Vray dire of dotage The local hel of the damned you speake not of Speake of what you will so long as your assertions in full and plaine termes inferre and conclude so much well your words may runne without your wits but I tell you trulie what is the consequent of them and leaue those wordes and then your most holie trueth is left naked without shew or shadow of proofe For these generals the VVHOLE the SAME and ALL giue life such as it is to your childish reasons Without them you cannot open your mouthe to make one conclusion But because hell fire so much crosseth your cause that you would faine be rid of it and burneth your fingers so fast Sir Refuter that you striue to cast water on it giue mee leaue a little to let you vnderstand it flameth more fiercelie then that you can quench it with the licour of your mouth And the rather for that in the eares of all men it is a most sensible reproofe of your vnsauorie position For if Christ suffered not the fire of hell in bodie nor soule then most apparantlie he suffered not the FVLL burden of our sinnes nor paid the SAME price which wee should haue paide nor endured ALL our smart nor felt the VVHOLE curse of God nor sustained the tormentes DVE to the DAMNED and therefore the true kindeling of this fire is the vtter quenching of your new deuised hell paines Knowe you therefore Sir Refuter that your metaphoricall fire in hell is a phantasticall errour of yours and you shall doe well to tremble at the terrible iudgement of God threatned in his worde with more religion then to cast off that fire as a toyish fable I shall not néede to rehearse how often it is denounced in the Scriptures and in what vehement and constant manner let vs learne rather carefullie to shunne the place then cunninglie to shift the word which they shall finde to bee no figure that feele it A fire saith God himselfe is kindled in my wrath and shall burne to the bottome of hell it shall eate through the earth and the depth thereof and shal inflame the foundations of the hils Behold saith Esay the Lord wil come with fire that he may recompence his anger with wrath and his indignation with the flame of fire for the Lorde shall iudge with fire The slaine of the Lorde shall bee manie their Worme shall not die neither shal their fire be quenched Which wordes our Sauiour directlie reffereth to hell It is better to enter into life haulting then hauing two legs to bee cast into hell into the fire that neuer shall bee quenched where their Worme dieth not and the fire neuer goeth out If wee sinne willinglie saieth the Apostle to the Hebrues there remaineth no more sacrifice for sinnes but a fearefull expectation of iudgement and raging fire which shal deuoure the aduersaries As Sodome and Gomorra and the cities about them are set forth for an ensample and suffer the vengeance of eternall fire The fearefull and vnbeleeuing the abhominable and murtherers and whoremongers and sorcerers and Idolaters and all lyars shal haue their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death To whome the Iudge shall saie when they shall see the truth thereof before their eies Depart from mee ye cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the Diuell and his angels For the Lord Iesus shall shewe himselfe from heauen with the Angels of his power in flaming fire rendering vengeāce to them which know not God and obey not the Gospell That the fire with which Christ shall appeare to iudge shall bee corporall and visible to all mens sights can bee no question it shall dissolue the heauens melt the elements and burne vp the earth with the workes that are therein as Peter
and get you some other profession So then the paines which the damned feele besides the griefe of heauen lost is FLAMING FIER intolerably formenting both bodie and soule and as Cyprian obserueth Omni tormento atrocius desperatio condemnatos affliget Desperation which shall afflict the condemned worse then al their torments To these if you subiect the Sonne of God you know what will follow from these if you frée him as you needes must then is the Question at an end for in euery mans sight Christ did not suffer the paines of hell nor the torments of the damned which the scripture maketh to be these not those which you can neither expresse nor proue FroÌ„ slender reasons you come Sir Refuter to slenderer authorities and though you quote but few and not one of them speaking one word to your purpose yet before you produce them you chalenge them as vnsufficient to testifie in this or any cause against your liking For where they may not be iudges nor with you so much as witnesses of the Scriptures sense you so reieâ—t their expositions euerie where with pride disdaine yet you in your wisedome take vpon you to build vpon the words of the holy Ghost what absurdities and follies you list and your best reason is it were fond to thinke otherwise but be more sober if you will be ruled by me it is the way to hazard your own wits not their credits to entertaine theÌ„ in this maner They speake not plainly nor fully you say because it was neuer in question in their time Touching the redemption of man by the death blood of Christ Iesus they speake as plainly and fully as it is possible for men to speake and kéepe exactly the forme of wholesome doctrine deliuered in the Scriptures touching your hell paines they say nothing in déed because it was neuer heard of in y e Church of Christ in their times but that Christ died NOT THE DEATH OF THE SOVLE and by the ONLY DEATH OF HIS BODY and shedding of his blood sufficiently ransomed redéemed vs this cannot be spoken in plainer and exacter terms then they haue proposed it and proued it And therfore you and others shal doe well not to make al the ancient learned lights of Christs Church so ignorant in their Créed Catechisme as not to know how they were saued by y e Crosse death of Christ before your hellish paines of the damned were of late deuised Your better sifting of this matter is the open wresting and forcing of the scriptures against their true proper and perpetual sense to serue your strange conceits And as you do with the scriptures you must be suffered to do with the Fathers which you produce that is to put theÌ„ quite from their own meaning frame their words to your fancies before any man can tell to what end you cite them The first word you quote out of Ierom you falsifie by putting maledictum to it where Ierom doth not so but simply saith VVHAT VVE should haue suffered for our sinnes that he suffered for vs. The very next words that are his owne for he interposeth a place of Scripture that in his fâ—esh Christ dissolued our enmitie with God and healed vs with his stripes are these Ex quo perspicuum est sicut corpus flagellatum laceratum ita animam verè doluisse pro nobis Whereby it is euident that as his bodie was whipped and torne so his soule truely sorrowed for vs. Here you must be permitted to adde of your owne besides Ieroms meaning that this sorrow was your hellish sorrow or else I cannot sée why you cited Ierom except it were to falsifie him But how and why Christ sorrowed for vs when Ieroms own words were alleaged by me your answer was this is more fond and absurd than the other Cyprians words you neither vnderstand nor like he saith that Christ taking our person and cause vpon him sayd in our names that he was forsaken Quod pro eis voluisti intelligi qui deseri à Deo propter peccata meruerant quorum reconciliationis causam agebas which he would haue to be vnderstoode of vs or for vs who deserued by our sinnes to be forsaken of God whose reconciliation he then vndertooke So S. Austen expounded those words of Christ My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Illa vox membrorum ipsius vox erat non capitis that voyce was the voice of his members and not of the head but you could not endure either Austen or my other father so to say without controlement But Cyprian saith Christ endured like punishment to those that be sinners accursed In part not in all otherwise he must haue suffered eternall death of bodie and soule and therefore expounding himselfe in the next sentence he saith In tantum infirmis compateris vt nec crucifigi nec mori dum illi viuant non pereant nec erubescas nec formides So far didst thou suffer with the weake that thou didst neither shame to be crucified nor feare to dye so they might liue and not perish Ambrose saith With the sorrow of his soule Christ abolished the sorrow of our soules Here you must haue leaue to bring in your hellish sorrowes against Ambroses minde or else this is but lost labour the causes of Christs heauines and sorrow when I repeated out of this very place of Ambrose you reiected them as fond and false and now with the bare name of sorrow you think Ambrose dreamt of your hell paines For shame reade out the chapter and leaue these mistakings But Ambrose saith the man in Christ now readie to die by the separation of the Diuinite cried my God my God why hast thou forsaken me A man dieth when his soule leaueth his body Christ therefore ready to die the death of the body which was left of y e deitie vnto death by withdrawing it selfe for a time vttered these words Death of the soule or dereliction vnto hell paines there are none to be found in Ambrose nor any words sounding that way vnlesse you peruert them at your pleasure The words next going before are these Gloriosa Dei professio vsque ad mortem se pro nostris descendisse peccatis vel euidens manifestatio contestantis Dei secessionem Diuinitatis CORPORIS It was a glorious profession of God that he descended euen vnto death for our sins or an euident manifestation of God witnessing the departure of his Diuinitie from HIS BODIE when it dyed The next words of Ambrose why you alleage I doe not sée but to make vp the number which is very smale and lesse forcible Who doubteth but Christ offered that which he put on He put on his body his body he offered S. Paul will tell what Christ offered We are sanctified by the offering of the bodie of Iesus Christ once made Your own author Saint
be these wicked fancies either to the Créede or to Christian Religion Séeing therefore your Gréeke Poets with one consent make HADES to be a god below vnder the earth and put vnder his power as well the Elisian fields and seates for the iust soules as the prisons and dungeons for the vniust and this fantasticall conceite of Socrates touching a speciall place for himselfe and such Philosophers as hee was together with Swannes beasts trees flowers fruites as it was singular and secret to himselfe so it was most absurd and wicked you may by no meanes bring your Classicall writers that were Pagans to expounde the Créede much lesse must you binde the holy Ghost in the new Testament to vse the word HADES as the infidels did since the holy Ghost onely knoweth and speaketh trueth and their imaginations of the dead or as you speake of the world of soules was not onely false and foolish but impious and blasphemous And yet if you doe admit them to bée interpreters of the Créede which I vtterlie refuse for the causes I haue tolde you they make directly against you For HADES with them was the Ruler or place of soules that were beneath vnder the earth were they in rest or in paine and that Christian Religion will assure you must néedes be hell howsoeuer to beare out your broken matter you beginne halfe to doubt where hell is The authenticke authors of the Greeke tongue vsed hades for the place of the blessed soules you say and not properlie for hell So Leonidas cheered vp his men not to feare such a blessed death to suppe in hell had beene a colde comfort vnto them You reade nothing your selfe belike that you hit nothing right In Plutarch whome you alleage this is no comfort giuen by Leonidas but hée séeing the Persians now in sight as his men were dining and in number so infinite aboue his who were but an handfull willeth them to make short and saith So dine as men that must suppe in HADES that is care not for meate since death is so neere but prepare to fight for your Countrey It sheweth a resolution to dye but no consolation after death more than they knew before which was that in HADES were places as well for the good to rest as for the bad to bée punished but both were below vnder earth and in Plutoes kingdome as the Gentiles supposed Neither did Homer meane to make a new heauen for such as Achilles slue but to send them to the place where hée thought all soules did abide and therefore hée put Achilles soule in Plutoes region vnder the earth as well as the rest of the Grecians and Troians that died in that Battaile And because your Proctor will néedes haue the words that Achilles spirite spake to Vlisses at his descent to hell to bee a dictionarie for hades what place it is against which if the Creede had gone it had been a skoffe to all Hellas and had hindered all the proceeding of the Gospell Let vs sée whether his owne dictionarie will not returne all his allegations vppon his owne head If HADES in the Créede must bee the same place where Achilles spirite was whither Vlisses descended and where he saw and spake with so many Ghostes then apparantly HADES must bée the Poets HELL At Vlisses entrance Homer telling how the soules came about him saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The soules flocked together out of Erebus now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the very place where the Poets place Cerberus and whence the same Poet saith Hercules 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Was sent to fetch from Erebus the dogge of HATEFVLL HADES Againe Vlisses mother asking him how hee came to that place saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My sonne how camest thou vnder this darke mist Of Aiax Ghost who would not for anger speake to Vlisses Homer saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee went away to other soules in Erebus There Vlisses saith hée saw Sisyphus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suffering grieuous torments as also Titius and Tantalus to endure the like There he saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hercules strength a Ghost for hee himselfe was in ioye with the immortall Gods There Achilles spirite tooke so small comfort that when Vlisses said There is none happier then thou Achilles before whiles thou liuedst wee honoured thee as a God and now art thou a great commaunder among the Dead bee not therefore so fadde hée replied Praise not death to mee Vlisses I had rather serue any poore man on earth as his drudge though hee were scant able to liue then to raigne here ouer all the dead If the place bee darke and déepe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If Cerberus bée there which the Poets make the very kéeper of hell if there bée grieuous and cruell punishmentes for such as deserue them if the best haue there so little ioye of the place as Homer maketh Achilles ghost here to confesse what place can this bée but that hell which all the Poets acknowledge though in some part thereof there hée worse punishmentes then in other This is not that Tartarus you will saye which the Poets make the â—ayle and Prison for the wicked What is that to the purpose if some punishmentes in hell bée worse than other Looke to those whome the Poets place without the dungeon and sée whether they bée in heauen or no And because you and your friends talke so much of the worlde of Soules and of heauen to bée found in HADES and INFERI and your selfe bring Virgill as one of your Classicall authors to proue this matter Who though hee were a Poet and fayned many things yet hee spake you say familiarlie and after the vulgar vse and for the substance of the matter vttered touching heauen and hell the opinion of the worlde then I must pray the Readers leaue and patience whiles I follow you in your owne fantasticall deuise though against mine owne liking to let the simple sée what your world of soules and your heauen is euen in those very writers which you produce for this purpose and whether they bée fitte things to bée Presidents for the Créede or no. In Plutoes kingdome vnder earth whether Aeneas went to sée his Father Anchises Virgil your authenticke author maketh besides Tartarus and your goodly Elisian fields the eternall habitation as you call it of the blessed many lodgings As first for sicknes care weeping pouertie labour warres discord dreames and death besides for Centaures Briareus Hidra Chimera Gorgon Harpies and Gerion and sundrie other monsters There wander the Ghosts whose bodies are not buried a hundred yeare before they can get ouer the foule and silthie riuer of Styx The other side of Styx is kept by Cerberus the Dogge with thrée heads where first are placed the soules of infants weeping and crying then such as were vniustly condemned to death