a curse and sin but he was called by those names that he might abolish bâ—th the curse and sinne Christ was no more a curse then hee was sinne who indéede and with God was neither but with men he was reputed both wicked and accursed by reason God suffered him to endure that vilde and shamefull kinde of death which hee did to saue vs from the curse of sinne Epiphanius saith he was A CVRSE VNTO THE CVRSE that is a dissoluer and finisher of the curse Ignorat omnino miser ille quod neque Christus maledictio factus sit absit sed maledictionem quae propter peccat a nostra fuit abstulit seipsum cruci dedeâ—s factus est mors morti propter peccata nostra MALEDICTIO MALEDICTIONI Quapropter non est Christus maledictum sed maledicti solutio benedictio autem omnibus verè in ipsum credentibus That wretch Marcion is vtterly ignorant that Christ was not accursed God forbid but he tooke away the curse that lay on our sinnes in yeelding himselfe to the crosse and was made death vnto death for our sinnes and A CVRSE VNTO THE CVRSE Wherefore Christ WAS NOT A CVRSE but THE DISSOLVER OF THE CVRSE and A BLESSING to all that â—â—ulie beleeue in him These though they diuerslie applie the Apostles speach Factus pro nobis maledictum Christ was made a curse for vs some to the toleration of death some to the opinion of men and some to the depulsion of the curse from vs yet in this they all agrée that by giuing his bodie to die on the Crosse Christ receiued sustained and abolished the curse due to vs for transgressing the law of God And to iustifie their assertion they haue not onelie the plaine text of Paule and Moses Cursed is he that hangeth on the tree but the manifest wordes of Peter He bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree To proue the death which Christ suffered to be a cursed kinde of death the place of Moses is verie pregnant to proue the person to bee accursed in soule it hath neither cause nor truth For innocents maie suffer that wrong to bee hanged on trées and shall they then be accursed in soule And be they malefactors they may repent as did the theefe on the crosse and shall they notwithstanding their repentance bee accursed Shall we close both penitent and innocent within the true curse of the soule rather then we will suffer Pauls words to be referred to the death of the bodie For he saith Cursed is EVERIE ONE that hangeth on the tree excusing none and if anie might bee excepted out of the generall rule Christ Iesus most of all But euerie one that hangeth on the tree hath a cursed kinde of death though a blessed soule Paule therefore expresselie teacheth that Christ subiected himselfe to a cursed kind of death and in so dying he deliuered vs from the curse of the Lawe Ex parte quippe mortali pependit in ligno mortalitas autem vnde sit notum est credentibus Ex poena quippe est maledictio peccati primi hominis quam Dominus suscepit peccata nostra pertulit in corpore suo super liguum That part sayth Austen which was mortall in Christ hung on the Crosse and whence mortalitie came the faythfull knowe It came from the punishment of sinne and is the malediction of the sinne of the first man which the Lorde tooke vnto him and bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree Yea when Christ tooke the curse hee tooke the sinne of the olde man into his flesh and fastened it togither with his flesh vnto the Crosse. Quid pependit in ligno nisi peccatum veteris hominis quod Dominus pro nobis in ipsa carnis mortalitate suscepit Vnde nec erubuit nec tumuit Aposâ—olus dicere peccatum eum fecisse pro nobis addens vt de peccato condemnaret peccatum Non enim vetus homo noster simul crucifiâ— cretur sicut Apostolus alibi dicit nisi in illa morte Domini peccati nostri figura penderet What hung on the tree but the sinne of the olde man which sinne the Lorde tooke vpon him for vs in the verie mortalitie of his flesh Wherefore the Apostle was neither ashamed nor afraied to say that God made him sinne for vs that by sinne he might condemne sin For our olde man could not be crucified togither with Christ as the Apostle else where writeth except the figure of our sinne did hang on the Crosse in that death which the Lord died And if Peters words be true which can not be false Christ bare our sinnes that is the malediction and punishment of our sinnes in his body on the tree and thereby saued vs from the eternall malediction which is Go you cursed into euerlasting fire My resolution then is which I hope will bee receyued because it is the Apostles WE ARE DEAD TO THE LAVV BY THE BODIE OF CHRIST that we should be to another euen to him that is raised from the dead We are quit from the feare from the yoke from the curse from the vengeance of the law in one word WE ARE DEAD to the lawe which hath no more chalenge to vs nowe then a man hath to his wife that is long since dead And if you aske when and how we became dead to the lawe Saint Paul answereth BY THE BODIE OF CHRIST when hee suffered on the Crosse for our sinnes And as he that is dead is freed from sinne so we dying in and with the bodie of Christ are LOOSED FROM THE LAVVE OF SINNE AND DEATH Sinne beeing condemned and death conquered in the flesh of Christ VVHICH IS OVR FLESH not onelie because it was taken of vs but also for that it is vnited vnto vs as the heade to the members and communicateth with vs both in life and death as appeareth by that we died and rose againe in him and to this daie he suffereth in vs then which no coniunction can be surer or neerer Since then the corruption of our flesh the guilt of our sinne the curse of the lawe the sting of death were all closed and crucified in the bodie of Christ on the Crosse and his death hath discharged vs from their dominion iustlie doth the Apostle saie of Christ that hee did partake with flesh and bloud that through death hee might destroy him that had power of death euen the diuell For in that wee bee freed from the curse of the lawe which brought and bound sinners by death to hell the chaynes of darkenesse are broken and Satans force wholie frustrate and he himselfe nowe left to beholde the ruine of his kingdome to grieue at the spoyle of his goodes and to feare the vengeance prouided for him howsoeuer for a season hee bee suffered to pursue the members of Christ here on earth to his owne shame and their greater comfort in trying the mightie
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 effect of certaine Sermons TOVCHING THE FVLL REDEMPTION of mankind by the death and bloud of CHRIST IESVS WHEREIN Besides the merite of Christs suffering the manner of his offering the power of his death the comfort of his Crosse the glorie of his resurrection Are handled What paines Christ suffered in his soule on the Crosse Together With the place and purpose of his descent to hel after death Preached at Paules Crosse and else where in London by the right Reuerend Father Thomas Bilson Bishop of Winchester With a conclusion to the Reader for the cleering of certaine obiections made against the said doctrine 1. Corinth 3. I esteeme not to knowe any thing saue Christ Iesus and him crucified Athanasius de Incarnatione verbi dei Therefore the sonne of God tooke to him a bodie that might die that enduing it with a reasonable soule it might suffice for a full satisfaction to Death for all Imprinted at London by Peter Short for Walter Burre and are to be sold in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Flower deluce 1599. To the Christian Reader IT is some time since good Christian Reader that lying in London and preaching at Paules Crosse as the feast of Easter drawing neer did admonish mee I made choice to speake of the redemption of mankinde by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus And because that Citie then had and yet hath as manie learned and religious preachers so some conceited and too much addicted to nouelties who spared not in their Catechisings and readings to vrge the suffering of the verie paines of hell in the soul of Christ on the crosse as the chiefest part and maine ground of our Redemption by Christ I finding how fast that opinion had increased since it was first deuised and doubting where it would end thought it my dutie publikelie to warne them that were forward in defending this fansie to take heed how farre they waded in that late sprong speculation For as these words of Dauid The sorrowes of hell besieged me and these of Ionas Out of the belly of hel I cried thou heardest my voice may be tolerablie applied to Christ if they be metaphorically interpreted of Christ as the scriptures meane them in Dauid and Ionas so if wee grow from the figuratiue vse of the worde HELL to the proper signification thereof and rise from the degrees of sorrowes and feares which pursue the Saints in this life to the highest sense and suffering of ALL and THE VERIE SAME paines and punishments which the damned do and shall endure for euer freeing Christ from nothing but from the place and continuance of hell vve make not a curious and superfluous but an erroneous and daungerous addition to the mysterie of our Saluation The better to slacke their inconsiderate heate I laboured to prooue these foure pointes vnto them First that it was no where recorded in the holie Scriptures nor iustlie to bee concluded by the Scriptures that Christ suffered the true paines of hell and so the Consciences of the faythfull coulde not iustlie bee forced to the necessarie beleeuing of anie such strange assertion Secondlie that as the Scriptures describe to vs the paines of the damned and of hell there are manie terrors and torments which without euident impietie cannot be ascribed to the Sonne of God as namely extreame Darkenesse Desperation Confusion vtter separation reiection and exclusion from the grace fauour and kingdome of God remembrance of sinne gnawing the conscience horrour of Diuels tormented and tormenting and flame of fire intolerablie burning both bodie and soule Thirdlie that the death and bloud of Christ Iesus were euidentlie frequentlie constantlie set downe in the writinges of the Apostles as the sufficient price of our Redemption and true meane of our reconciliation to God and the verie same proposed in the figures resembled in the sacrifices of the Lawe and sealed with the Sacraments of the new Testament as the verie grounde worke of our saluation by Christ and so haue beene receaued and beleeued in the Church of God fourteene hundred yeares before anie man euer made mention of hell paines to bee suffered in the soule of Christ. Lastlie where the Scriptures are plaine and pregnant that Christ DIED for our sinnes and by his DEATH destroied him that had power of death euen the Diuell and reconciled vs when we were strangers and enemies IN THE BODIE OF HIS FLESH THROVGH DEATH for wee are reconciled to God by the DEATH of his sonne and sanctified by THE OFFERING OF THE BODIE of Iesus Christ once who himselfe bare our sinnes in his BODIE on the Tree where hee was put to death concerning the FLESH Besides that the holie Ghost in these places by expresse wordes nameth the bodilie death of Christ as the meane of our redemption and reconciliation to God no considerate diuine might affirme or imagine Christ suffered the Death of the soule for so much as the Death of the soule must exclude Christ from the grace spirit and life of God and leaue in him neither faith hope nor loue sanctitie nor innocencie which God forbid anie Christian man shoulde so much as dreame Wee shoulde therefore do well to reuerence the manifest wordes of Gods Spirit in so high a pointe of Religion and suffer our selues as schollers to bee taught by the leader into all trueth what to beleeue and confesse in the mystery of our redemption and not to controle or correct the doctrine so cleerelie deliuered in the Scriptures so consonantlie retained of all learned and vnlearned in the Church of Christ for so many hundred yeares And if anie man to maintaine his deuise woulde inuent a newe hell and another death of the soule then either scriptures or fathers euer heard or spake of they shoulde keepe their inuentions to themselues it sufficed me to beleeue what I read and consequently not to beleeue what I did not read in the word of God which is and ought to be the foundation of our faith Thus farre I purposed when I first entered by Gods grace to proceede in this cause according to y e simple vnderstanding wherwith god hath endued me for the good of his Church The article of the Creed Christ DESCENDED INTO HELL I meant not to meddle with choosing rather to leaue y t vntouched then to presse any sense as a point of faith for vvhich I had not so full and faire warrant as for the redemption of man by the death and blood of Christ Iesus but the vehemencie of some contradicting that I taught and the importunitie of others requesting to knowe what they might safelie beleeue of that article made mee to alter my minde For whē some vrged others doubted that if Christ did not suffer the paines of hell whiles he hung on the Crosse that part of the Creed was added in vaine and the wordes of Dauid Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell applied by Peter vnto Christ in
euerie man according to his works our sauior for warneth vs not in vaine that hel fâ—er is VNQVENCHABLE EVERLASTING Since then neither the remorse reiection malediction nor desperation of the damned nor the darkenes destruction death fire of hel can without euident impiety be attributed to the soule of Christ I am farre from admitting into anie part of the Créed this ambiguous if not dangerous assertion that Christ in his soule on the crosse felt the verie paines and torments of the damned but I preferre the simple and plaine doctrine of the holie Ghost which teacheth vs that Christ died for our sinnes according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that hee rose againe the thirde daie according to the scriptures and by Christs so doing death was swallowed vp into victory and we may ioifully saie O death where is thy sting O hell where is thy victory thanking God which hath giuen this victorie through our Lorde Iesus Christ as it was forespoken by the prophet Esay The Lorde will destroy death for euer and by Osee O death I will bee thy death O hell I will bee thy destruction The manner of Christes offering is the second effect of Christs crosse which must be bloudie before it can be propitiatorie In this part I will deliuer you thrée thinges worthie to be obserued with what Sacrifice God was pleased for our sinnes with what price the Diuell was concluded for our ransome with what Seale the newe couenant of grace and mercie was confirmed vnto vs for our safetie These three depend eache on other God as the Iudge offended was to haue a sacrifice for our sinne that might content him the Diuell as the Iailour was to haue a ransome for vs that were by Gods Iustice deliuered into his handes Our selues as prisoners were to bee restored by GODS pardon and to be assured of his protection that the like miserie might not the second time preuaile against vs which is performed by the newe Testament of mercie forgiuing and grace repressing sinne that wee relapse not into the pit of perdition whence wee were deliuered What was the true propitiatorie sacrifice which God accepted for the sinnes of the world if the new testament did not plainelie declare the olde testament would sufficientlie witnesse vnto vs. For as well Patriarks as Prophets yea all the godlie from Abel to Christ did by their sacrifices and seruice of God professe and confirme their faith to be this that they looked for the Seede of the woman who by his death and bloud should purge their sinnes and make peace betwéene God and them This was the promise of grace which God made in Paradise to our first parents threatning the serpent with the séede of the woman in these words He shall crush thine heade and thou shalt bruise his heele As the heele of man is the basest part of his bodie and nearest the earth so the Serpent shoulde bruise the weakest and earthliest part of Christ but euen that bruized heele should bee of force enough to crush the Serpentes head For by the flesh of Christ wounded and bloud shed the power pride of satan should be conquered and confounded This sence of Gods promise made to his parents Abell the first martyr by faith accepted by sacrifice adored and in that respect his bodilie and bloudie offering was preferred before his brothers This faith did all the Patriarkes testifie by their bloudie sacrifices that they expected the bodie of the Messias to be bruized and his bloud to be shed for the remission of their sinnes And as they receiued it from their fathers so they deliuered it to their children for the shoot anchor of all their hope This God did ratifie by his lawe written suffering his people to haue no sacrifices for sinne but such as represented the bloudie offering of Christ on the crosse So that all the sacrifices and sacraments of Moses lawe were nothing else but figures and examples of better thinges as the Apostle calleth them namelie of Christes bodie once to bee offered and his bloud once to bee shed for the abolishing of sinne The FIGVRES of Christ before and vnder the lawe what else doe they point but to the death bloud and crosse of Christ to be the redemption and saluation of all mankinde Abrahams readinesse to offer vp Isaac for which the blessing was annexed to him with an othe what doth it import but the loue of God Not sparing his owne sonne but giuing him for vs all The blâ—â—d of the passeouer sprinkled on the postes of the Israelites fâ—â—uert the destroier doth it not represent the bloud of that immaculate lambe which saueth vs from the fiercenesse of Gods wrath The lifting vp the brasen serpent to cure the people that were stung with fierie Serpents doth it not foreshewe Christ hanging on the crosse to cure our soules from the poison of sinne which is the sting of that deadlie serpent The strength of Sampson pulling the house on his owne and his enemies heades doth it not declare the voluntarie death of Christ to be the destruction of death and hell which insulted at him on the crosse When the truth came expressed by all these sacrifices and resembled in all these figures what offering made he on the altar of the crosse Did he yeelde his soule to the paines of hell or his bodie to be crucified of the Iewes both they will saie for so they must saie except they will haue their supposall of hell paines cleane excluded from the sacrifice for sin But which of these two was beleeued of the Patriarks witnessed by the sacrifices shadowed in the figures of the law expected of the faithfull from the foundation of the worlde The bloudie sacrifice of Christes bodie is so plainelie proclaimed by them all that there can bee no question of their faith and expectation And were they deceiued in the obiect of their faith and hope Did they all mistake the true sacrifice for their sinnes and did God by his lawe confirme them in that errour And doeth the Apostle falselie conclude from the sacrifices of the lawe that Christes offering before it coulde take awaie sinne must of force bee bloudie These were verie strange positions in Christian religion and yet I sée not howe wee shall auoide them if we strictlie maintaine the suffering of hell paines to bee the chiefer and principaller part of our redemption without which the rest is nothing If their faith fastened on the death and bloud of Christ for the remission of their sinnes did saue them then was the death of Christ of force enough without the paines of Hell to release them from their sinnes and bring them vnto God And if it wrought that effect in them it is still of the same power and strength to worke the like in vs. If it were insufficient to release them from the rigour of GODS wrath then are the
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
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
obtained And noting the remedie prouided for vs in the bodilie death of Christ he saith Vitae mediator ostendens quam non sit mors timenda quae per humanam conditionem iam euadi non potest sed potius impietas quae per fidem cauerâ— potest occurrit nobis AD FINEM QVO venimus sed NON QVA VENIMVS Nos enim ad mortem per peccatum venimus ille per iustitiam ideo cum sit mors nostra poena peccati mors illius facta est hostia pro peccato The Mediatour of life Christ Iesus to shewe vs that death is not to bee feared which by humane condition can nowe not bee escaped but rather impietie which by fayth may be auoyded mette vs in the ende whither wee were come but not in the way by which we came For we came by sinne to death but hee by righteousnesse and so where our death is the punishment of sinne his death is the sacrifice for sinne And therefore the death which Christ suffered in his bodie on the Crosse did purge abolish and extinguish all our sinnes whereby the power of satan iustly detained vs to abide the punishment of our transgressions Quia viuum spiritu mortuus spiritu non inuasit quoquo modo auidus mortis humanae conuertit se ad faciendam mortem quaÌ„ potuit PERMISSVS EST IN ILLVD QVOD EX NOBIS MORTALE vinus mediator acceperat Et vbi potuit aliquid facere ibi omni ex parte deuictus est vnde accepit exterius potestatem dominicae carnis occidendâ—e inde interior eius potestas quâ nos tenebat occisa est Factum est enim vt vincula peccatorum multorum IN MVLTIS MORTIBVS PER VNIVS VNAM MORTEM quam peccatum nullum praecesserat soluerentur Ita Diabolus hominem in ipsa morte CARNIS amisit Because the Diuell deade in spirite coulde not inuade Christ liuing in spirite as most desirous to kill man hee fastened on that death which hee coulde compasse and was suffered to kill that mortall bodie which the liuing Mediatour tooke from mankinde and where he could doe anie thing euen there was hee euerie waie conquered and whence hee receyued outwardlie power to kill the Lords bodie thence was his inwarde power whereby hee helde vs ouerthrowne By which it came to passe that the chaines of manie sinnes deseruing manie deathes were loosed by the one death of one in whome was no sinne So the Diuell lost man BY THE VERIE DEATH OF Christs FLESH Yea the death of Christ should leade vs patientlie to suffer the same death for him which hee suffered for vs. Hactenus morerentur ad Christi gratiam pertinentes quatenus pro illis ipse mortuus est Christus CARNIS TANTVM MORTE NON SPIRITVS So farre shoulde they which belong to the grace of Christ die as Christ died for them that is the DEATH OF THE BODIE ONELIE AND NOT OF THE SPIRIT And by that death of his bodie he fréed vs from both SOLIVS CORPORIS MORTEM Dei silius pro nobis accepit per quam à nobis dominationem peccati poenam aeternae punitionis exclusit The death OF THE BODIE ONLIE THE SONNE OF GOD SVFFERED FOR VS by which he deliuered vs both from the dominion of sin and from eternall damnation Cyrillus teacheth the same doctrine Si intelligatur Deus incarnatus propria carne passus parua est erga ipsum omnis creatura sufficit ad redemptionem mundâ— VNIVS CARNIS MORS If wee vnderstand Christ to bee God incarnate and to haue suffered in his owne flesh of small value in respect of him are all creatures and sufficient to redeeme the worlde is the DEATH OF HIS ONELY FLESH And likewise Gregorie Nos quia mente a Deo recessimus carne ad puluerem redimus poena duplae mortis astringimur Sed venit ad nos qui SOLA CARNE PRO NOBIS MORERETVR ET SIMPLAM SVAM DVPLAE NOSTRAE iungeret nos AB VTRAQVE MORTE liberaret Because in heart wee were departed from God and in flesh returning to dust wee are tied to the punishment OF A DOVBLE DEATH But Christ came vnto vs which DIED IN THE FLESH ONLY FOR VS and ioyning HIS ONE KINDE OF DEATH TO BOTH OVRS DELIVERED VS FROM BOTH And more at large the same father debating the same matter Vmbra mortis mors carnis accipitur quia sicut vera mors est qua anima separatur á Deo ita vmbra mortis est qua caro separatur ab anima Quos enim constat NON SPIRITV SED SOLA CARNE MORI nequaquam se vera morte sed vmbra mortis dicunt operiri Quid est ergo quod beatus Iob postulat vmbram mortis nisi quod ad delenda peccata ante Dei oculos Dei hominum Mediatorem requirit qui SOLAM PRO NOBIS MORTEM CARNIS susciperet veram mortem delinquentium per vmbram suae mortis deleret Ad nos quippe venit qui IN MORTE SPIRITVS CARNISQVE TENEBAMVR VNAM ad nos suaÌ„ morteÌ„ detulit DVAS NOSTRAS quas reperit solâ—it SI ENIM IPSE VTRAMQVE SVSCIPERET NOS A NVLLA LIBERARET sed VNAM misericorditer accepit IVSTE VTRAM QVE damnauit SIMPLAM SVAM DVPLAE NOSTRAE coÌ„tulit DVPLAM NOSTRAM MORIENS SVBEGIT Qui ergo SOLAM PRO NOBIS MORTEM CARNIS SVSCEPIT vmbraÌ„ mortis pertulit a dei oculis culpam quam fecimus abscondit The shadow of death is takeÌ„ for the death of the bodie for that as it is the true death whereby the soule is separated from God so it is but the shadow of death whereby the bodie is separated from the soule For they which assuredly die NOT THE DEATH OF THE SPIRIT BVT ONLY OF THE FLESH they doe not say they are couered with the true death but with the shadow of death To what end then doth blessed Iob aske for the shadow of death but that to wipe away sinne out of Gods sight hee seeketh for the Mediator of God man who should vndertake FOR VS THE DEATH OF THE BODIE ONLY and by the shadow of his death might extinguish the true death of sinners Hee came to v that WERE SVBIECT BOTH TO THE DEATH OF THE SPIRIT AND OF THE FLESH and by HIS SINGLE DEATH HE LOOSED BOTH OVR DEATHS If he should haue SVFFERED BOTH HE COVLD HAVE DELIVERED VS FROM NEITHER But he mercifully VNDERTOOKE ONE OF THEM and iustlie CONDEMNED BOTH He ioyned HIS SINGLE DEATH TO OVR DOVBLE DEATH and dying CONQVERED BOTH OVR DEATHS He then which for vs TOOKE VPON HIM ONLY THE DEATH OF THE BODY suffered the shadow of death and hid from Gods eies the sinne which we had committed Bernard likwise Cum gemina morte secundum vtramque naturam homo damnatus fuisset altera quidem spiritali voluntaria altera corporali necessaria vtrique deus homo
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
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
then descended Next that neither paradise nor Abrahams bosome which was the receptacle for y e soules of all the sonnes of Abraham that held the faith and did the works of Abraham was anie part or member of hell So that CHRISTS DESCENDING INTO HELL cannot be expounded of his conuersing with the spirites of the iust and perfect men after his death nor of his enduring the state of the deade since the place where their soules doe rest after death is no where in the scriptures called HELL or SHEOL or as S. Austen speaketh INFERI And this I take to be so cleere that neither Iewish Rabbines with their grammaticall obseruations nor Gréeke poets with their fantasticall imaginations may be suffered to contradict it Howe easie it is to wrangle with the words NEPHESH SHEOL and HADES a meane scholar maie soon perceiue but I hold it no sound course to fetch the explication of the mysteries of christian religion either from such impudent impugners of it as were the Rabbines or from such ignorant deluders of it as were the prophane poets who talke euerie where of heauen and hell according to the false and lewde perswasion of their own hearts And therfore they may spare their paines that promise vs so manie thousand deponentes both Iewish and heathen that Sheol and Hades do not signifie hell It wil trouble them more then they thinke to bring vs but one good proofe out of the scripture that the soules of the righteous before Christs comming were in Sheol or Hades and till they doe I rest on Saint Austens collection out of the wordes of Christ that Abrahams bosome is no péece nor part of Hades or Inferi which the hebrew calleth Sheol as being deuided from it with a mightie distance and that the soules of the iust departing this life before Christs death were CARIED VP BY THE ANGELS INTO ABRAHAMS BOSOME So that as yet wee haue not the true meaning of these words of our creed he was CRVCIFIED DEAD BVRIED HE DESCENDED INTO HEL neither doeth anie of the precedent opinions come nére the plaine and true exposition thereof For in my iudgement they must haue a sense both DIFFERENT in matter and CONSEQVENT in order euen as they lie before we can rightlie vnderstand thē First he must be DEAD then BVRIED in body which was laid in y e earth lastlie the soule after it was seuered by death from the bodie DESCENDED INTO HEL this third point he descended into hell must neither be ALLEGORIZED which in matters of faith is verie dangerous so long as the proper sense containeth a truth nor CONFOVNDED VVITH THE FORMER for so the Créed shal not shortly touch mysteries of religion but darckly trouble vs with phrases of variation And therefore for my part I retaine in expounding this Article 3. things DISTINCTION of matter CONSEQVENCE of order PROPRIETY of words and those thrée considered the sense of the Article maie must be that Christ after his BODY was BVRIED in SOVLE DESCENDED VNTO that place which the scripture properly calleth HEL this sense I find to be so far from any falsity or absurdity that it is more honorable to Christ and more comfortable to christians then any of the rest that we haue yet examined Which that you may the better perceiue giue me leaue somewhat farther to repeat the fruit and force of his glorious resurrection Christ is called the first fruits of them that slept not that neuer none before Christ was restored from the deade to liue héere on earth but though many were so reuiued againe yet from the foundation of the worlde not one was euer raised vnto a blessed and immortall life before Christ. Elias raised the widow of Sareptas sonne Elizeus the Sunamites Christ himselfe restored to life the daughter of Iairus the widowes onlie sonne of Naim and Lazarus yet all these after their returne to life were still subiect to sinne and death as they were before but he whom the scripture nameth the first begotten of the dead was indéede the first that euer rose from the deade into an happy and heauenly life For where man here on earth is beset with thrée dangers with SINNE during life with DEATH shortning life with HEL tormenting after life the iust vengeance of sinne deliuering the body to death the soule to hel the resurrection of Christ being the ful conquest of all his our enemies that impugne either his glory or our safety must ouerthrowe sinne death hel not in his own person onlie to whom no such thing was due but in our stéed for our good y t we might bee likewise fréed from the power of those foes and as members be ioyned vnto our head wholy without any hinderance euerlastingly without anie disturbance and ioyfully without any gréeuance Wherfore Christ rising into a SPIRITVAL IMMORTAL CELESTIAL life fréed vs from the dominion of sinne feare of death and fury of Satan and by quickening vs raising vs vp and setting vs together with himselfe in heauenly places hath not only giuen vs the victorie against sinne and death but euen trodden down Satan vnder our féet Of Christs conquest against sinne death I shall not néed to say much things not impugned require lesse paines to be defended his conquest ouerhel as in himself it shewed most power purchased most honor so from vs it deserueth greatest thanks as bringing vs greatest comfort that though sinne remaine death preuaile against our bodies there is yet no cause to feare or doubt the fulnesse and surenesse of our redemption since the strength of hell is altogether conquered abolished from the faithfull which before was the very sting of sinne and death As therfore Christ was deliuered to death for our sinnes and is risen againe for our iustification so by MERCY REMITTING and GRACE REPRESSING he pareth the branches and drieth the roote of sinne till the bodie of sinne and death turning to dust withering in the graue be restored againe after Christs example to perpetuall celestial life and blisse Insomuch that by lamenting sinne past and resisting sinne to come sin daily dieth in vs and the inward man of the heart being lightened and renewed by grace doth daily more and more by desire and delight of heauenly thinges aspire to the imitation and participation of Christes resurrection The force of sinne then being quenched by Christes dying vnto sinne and his rising againe vnto righteousnesse the power of death is abolished by the pardoning and decreasing of our sinnes that being nowe the passage to glorie for all repenters which before was the gate to hell for all transgressors In his owne person Christ shewed his conquest ouer death not by kéeping his flesh from death which he could easilie haue done but by sauing it from rotting in the sepulchre and by raising it againe into an immortall and glorious state that death being swallowed vp
stronglie for which cause Dauid spake it then if wee applie the name of hell to the state of Paradise For if Christ did rise againe without corruption because his soule was not forsaken of God in Paradise then all the soules that rise not in like maner are forsaken of God though they still remaine in the rest and cōfort of Paradise which is a palpable falsity if not impietie But if neither the graue could corrupt his flesh nor hell detaine his soule what better assurance could be brought of his resurrection then that neither death could dissolue his bodie into dust nor hell preuaile against his soule And this I take to be S. Peters reason when hee saith to the Iewes Iesus of Nazareth haue ye taken by the handes of the wicked crucified and slaine whom God raised againe BREAKING THE SORROVVES OF DEATH in as much as it was IMPOSSIBLE he should BE HELD THER OF God made way for Christ to rise againe by BREAKING THE SORROVVES OF DEATH before him that they should not hinder him Christes bodie lying dead in the graue lacking sense could haue no sorrow In Paradise a place of rest ioie if his soule were there much lesse may we imagine any sorrow Since then the sepulchre hath no SENSE where Christs flesh lay Paradise hath NO SORROVV the SORROVVES OF DEATH must needes be referred to the paines of hel which were all loosed and dissolued before Christ because IT VVAS IMPOSSIBLE THEY SHOVLD TAKE HOLD OF HIM But Peter they will say nameth the SORROVVES OF DEATH and not of hell as if the name of death did not extende as well to the SECOND DEATH which is hell as to the first which is the dissolution of nature and THE SORROVVES OF THE FIRST DEATH Christ apparantly suffered as much as any man and they ended with death they dured not after death But in Peters words the sorrows of death were broken at Christs resurrection God raised him vp loosing the sorrowes or paines of death Wherefore the SORROVVES OF THE SECOND DEATH must necessarilie be vnderstoode those were all broken and dissolued before Christ by reason his soule was not forsakē in hell but vnited vnto God aided by the mighty hand of God to tread vpon al the power of y e aduersary in his own person to triumph ouer Satan and al the strength of the kingdom of darknes Lastly howsoeuer some presumers on their Hebrew may wrangle with the word Sheôl in Dauids speach thou wilt not forsake my soule in hel yet the worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which S. Luke expresseth Dauids meaning doth properly import in the new testament the place of the damned I remit poets Pagans vsing that word after their prophane imagination to the alleagers in what sense the Euangelists and Apostles take it wil soone appeare by their writings Vpō this Rock saith Christ wil I build my church the gates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of hel shal not preuaile against it The church doth not assure the godly that they shall not die but that the gates of the second death shal not hurt thē When the merciles rich man died was buried as wee read in the gospel of S. Luke y e scripture saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being in hel in TORMENTS he lift vp his eies and saw Abrahā a far off Lazarus in his bosome I hope the soule of this rich man was neither in the graue nor in paradise but plainelie IN HEL euen in the PLACE OF TORMENTS where no mercy can be shewed nor release hoped for and that place state of the damned S. Luke calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and our Sauior expressing it maketh the rich man most truly to saie I AM TORMENTED IN THIS FLAME S. Iohn in his Reuelation noting the coherence of death and hell in the destruction of the wicked saith Behold a pale horse and his name that sate thereon was death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HEL FOLLOVVED AFTER HIM and power was giuen THEM ouer the fourth part of y e earth After death followeth none other death but HEL which is the second death and y t as it commeth AFTER the death of the body so is it distinguished from the death of the bodie because it killeth the soule for euer and that S. Iohn calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He doth the like in the 20. chap. of the same booke The sea saith he gaue vp her dead which were in her death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HEL deliuered vp her dead that were in them and death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HEL were cast into y e lake of fire this is the second death When our sauiour then saith I haue y e keies of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of hel he doth not onlie mean the graues of dead bodies are subiected to his power but the place and paines of damned soules are likewise at his disposition And when Paule saith O death where is thy sting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ò hel where is thy victory he teacheth vs that God hath giuen vs the victory ouer DEATH AND HEL through our Lord Iesus Christ. That victorie Christ could not make vs partakers of except hee had first triumphed ouer them both in his owne person And that victorie Christ did foresee and foreshew when he said to God thou wilt not forsake my soule g d = fo in hell or leaue it to the power of hell but assist me there and bring me thence with safetie and victory If my collections were not allowed by the scriptures the generall faith and confession of all the fathers in all ages and countries since the first foundation of Christs church should moue men that are modest not hastelie to leape from the vniuersall consent of al places and persons grounding themselues on the manifest words of the sacred scriptures To quote them all were to increase another volume I will therefore content my selfe with shewing you how soone it began and howe long it continued in the church of Christ to be receaued and beléeued as a matter of faith Thaddaeus one of the 70. disciples mentioned in the tenth of Luke taught the citizens of Edessa within ten yeares after Christs death amongst other points of faith as Eusebius reporteth Quomodo Christus crucifixus fuerit ad inferos descenderit sepemque illam antea nunquam diruptam sciderit resurrexerit etiam ac mortuos qui à seculo dormierant vná excitauerit quomodo solus quidem descenderit multâ vero turbâ comitatus ad patrem ipsius ascenderit Howe Christ was crucified and descended into hell and ouerthrew the wall which was neuer before that time broken and rose againe and raised vp with him those y t had bin dead long before how he descēded alone but ascended vp to his father with a great multitude This report by
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
together Góod Sir awake out of your sleepe and learne at least to vnderstand before you aunswere As this presumer euerie where with disdaine casteth away the iudgements of the fathers which I produce preferreth his owne peeuish conceite before them all so when he reporteth my reasons he either ignoraÌ„tlie mistaketh them or purposelie peruerteth them y â— they may the lesse encumber him In the effectes of Christes crosse I noted out of the Apostle to the Hebrues three properties of the true propitiatorie sacrifice which tooke awaie the sinne of the world It was a bodilie a bloudie and a deadlie sacrifice and amongst manie reasons to confirme the same I brought these two which the confâ—ter after his forgetfull maner roueth at The first in effect was this The true sacrifice for sinne which the Redeemer should offer was shadowed and foreshewed by the sacrifices which God commanded and accepted in the old testament but the sacrifices of the Patriarches and of the faithfull appointed by Moses foreshewed and figured a bodilie bloudie and deadlie sacrifice and no paines of hell therfore the true sacrifice for sinne was made by the bodie bloud and death of the Redéemer and not by the paines of hell suffered in his soule The second this As the sacrifices of the law prefigured what the Sauiour of the world should do for the abolishing of sinne so the sacraments of the newe testament confirme and scale that performed in the person of Christ Iesus which was the true propitiation for our sinnes and price of our redemption but the sacraments of the new testament and speciallie the Lordes supper declare and confirme vnto vs the bodie of Christ giuen for vs vnto death and his bloud shed for the remission of our sinnes therefore this was the true propitiation for our sinnes and price of our redemption and not the paines of hell suffered in the soule of Christ as some imagine To the first the Confuter answereth The proposition is false taking it generally The carnall sacrifices of the Iewes signified that which they were apt to signifie but not anie further The sacrifices of beastes coulde not prefigure the personall vnion of God and man nor the reasonable and immortall soule of Christ nor his resurrection all which were necessarie pointes in the meritorious sacrifice Secondlie he denieth the assumption For certaine of the Iewes sacrifices set foorth the sufferinges of the soule of Christ also As the scape Gote in the 16. of Leuiticus which was a sin offering though it were sent awaie free and vntouched To the reason drawne from the Sacraments hee saieth Wee are to answere as we did before These are bodilie and earthlie Elements and therefore fitte to set soorth bodilie and apparant effects in Christ they can not set out the spirituall and inuisible effects in him And yet the ceremonie of breaking the bread which is to shewe that Christes bodie was broken for vs can not belong properlie to the bodie but to the soule These I trust are your words now heare my replie I had no such proposition as you frame to your selfe that either the sacrifices of the lawe or Sacraments of the Gospel were figures of our whole and absolute redemption which is as you expound it of all the fruits and causes of our redemption This is your euasion not my proposition I tolde you that as God had promised so the faithfull beléeued that his owne sonne should be the Seede of the woman and by his death and bloud should purge their sinnes To continue this promise and confirme the faith of all before and vnder the lawe God appointed bloudie sacrifices as continuall remembrances and figures not of the person nor of the function of Christ but of the Sacrifice by which hee shoulde abolish sinne to wiâ—te by his bodie slaine and his bloud shedde which the carnall sacrifices were fittest to resemble since God would not haue the bloud of anie man but of his owne sonne shedde for remission of sinnes My proposition then speaketh of the true sacrifice for sinne and auoucheth that to bee the true sacrifice for sinne which was shadowed and figured by the death and bloud of those beasts that God commaâ—â—ded to bee offered vnto him This proposition you doe not denie for you graunt The Iewes sacrifices signified what they were apt to teach and signifie but they were apt and ordained of GOD to teach the Iewes that by the death and bloud of the Messias they shoulde bee redeemed and saued from their sinnes ergo they were apt and ordained of God to figure and shadowe the true propitiatorie sacrifice And so the patriarkes and Prophetes beléeued and expected whose faith and hope could neither be vaine nor frustrate since they were thereto directed by Gods owne appointment This proposition be you Christian or Iewe you may not denie and therefore you doe well to denie the assumption and to affirme that certaine sacrifices of the Iewes as namelie the scape Goate in the 16. of Leuiticus did signifie the immortall soule of Christ which was a sacrifice for sinne and did properlie beare our sinnes and suffer for our sinnes But Sir if a man aske you howe you proue that the scape Goate signified the soule of Christ what haue you to saie Because both Goates saie you are a sacrifice for sinne as the Text speaketh You abuse the Text and deceiue your selfe The wordes are Aaron shall take of the assemblie of the children of Israel two hee Goates fâ—r a sinne offering that is to make a sinne offering of one of them on which the Lordes lotte shall fall So followe the wordes in the 8. verse of that chapter Aaron shall cast lottes ouer the two hee Goates one lotte for the Lorde and another lotte for the scape Goate And Aaron shall offer the Goate on which the Lords lot shall fall and MAKE HIM A SINNE OFFERING The taking of the Goates from the people doth not make them sacrifices for sinne but the offering them vnto the Lord by the Priest so that though two were taken yet lots were cast which of them should hee the sinne offering and which of them the scape Goat which consequentlie was no sinne offering because that was made a sinne offering on which the Lords lot fell And so if the scape Goate did signifie the soule of Christ as you affirme more boldlie then wiselie then was not the soule of Christ a sinne offering neither did it suffer for sinne if your owne example maie bee trusted Howbeit what the scape Goate signified I am not so forwarde to pronounce as you bee though I haue better warrant so to doe then you haue For Cyrill or as some thinke Origen writing vpon that place of Leuiticus 〈◊〉 If all the people of God were holie there shoulde not bee two lottes cast vpon the Goates one to bee offered to the Lorde the other to bee sent to the desart but there should bee one lotte and one offering
to the Lord alone But nowe where in the number of them that come to the Lord some belong to the Lord some deserue to bee cast awaie and seuered from the Lordes offering therefore part of the sacrifice which the people bring to wit one of the Goates is offered to the Lorde the other is cast off and sent into the Desart Ambrose in the like sense As of two founde in the fielde one istaken the other forsaken so are there two Goates one fitte for sacrifice the other to bee sent awaie into the Desart Hee serued for no vse neither might hee bee eaten or tasted of by the children of the Priestes Beda ioyneth with them If all the people were holie there shoulde not bee two lottes vpon the Goates but one lotte and one offering nowe when manie are called and fewe chosen part of the peoples sacrifice is offered to the Lord the other parte is cast awaie Or else this maie bee vnderstoode of Iesus and Barrabas that one of them which was the Lordes lotte euen Iesus was slaine the other accursed caitife was sent into the Iewes Desart bearing the sinnes of the people that cried Crucifie him So that the scape Goate by the iudgement of these fathers signified the reprobate among the people and not the soule of Christ as you boldlie auouch But did it signifie the soule of Christ what gaine you by that The scape Goate was neither done to death nor made anie sinne offering as you falslie suppose but was separated from the Lords offering and let go free and vntouched Then by your owne similitude the soule of Christ neither died anie death as you after falselie and absurdlie conclude that the soule of Christ died and was crucified neither was it anie part of the offering for sinne to GOD which you so much endeuour to proue Such is your vnderstanding that by your owne examples you ouerthrow your owne positions whiles you labour to establish them with faint conceits of your owne deuising But in the burnt offering or holocaust prescribed Leui. 6 you find more helpe then in the scape Goate to proue that Christ soule suffered for our sins as wel as his body If you meane that Christs soule suffered the paines of hel I would faine sée how you proue that out of the holocaust or burnt offering If you thinke the name of fire doth somewhat relieue you remember Sir besides the sundrie references that fire hath in the scripture the holocaust was first slaine and after burnt and therefore vnlesse you will fasten the fire of afflictioÌ„ as you call it to Christs body or soule after his death the burning of the dead sacrifice by fire will little further your purpose Again in one and the same fire was the holocaust consumed If this therefore touch the death and passion of Christ his bodie and soule must iointly suffer one and the same kind of affliction which is the thing you so much impugne And since by your owne position the bodies of beasts could not prefigure the immortall and reasonable soule of Christ how commeth it now to passe that y e body of the holocaust after death shall signifie as well the soule as the bodie of Christ Can you thus plant and plucke vp with a touch It is no waie denied or doubted by mee that the soule of Christ was afflicted and tormented with sorrow and paine all the time of his passion which this Trister so much laboureth to proue and therefore if the holocaust did signifie the whole manhood of Christ suffering for our sinnes it could not preiudice anie thing that I did or doe teach as anon thou shalt gentle Reader more plainlie perceiue but yet whie the burning of the holocaust should signifie Christes affliction on the Crosse either in bodie or soule I see no proofe made by this Confuter â—nd why it should not resemble Christes afflictions before death these two reasons mooue me First it was burnt after it was dead next it was wholie consumed by fire neither of which can accord with Christes sufferings or the crosse but by the burning of that sacrifice I take rather the acceptation of Christs death or his incorruption after death to be signified For that part of each sacrifice which God reserued for himselfe and receiued to himselfe was alwayes burnt with fyre and the Hebrue word HOLAH which the Scripture vseth for the holocaust signifieth that which ascendeth vp to God by fire whence God is often saide in the scriptures when hee accepteth an holocaust to smel a swéete sauour Which words saint Paul applieth to the death of Christ in saying Christ gaue himselfe for vs to be a sacrifice vnto God of a sweet smelling sauour that is well pleasing and acceptable vnto God So likewise because the fire consumed in the holocaust all that was subiect to corruption the holocaust may signifie Christs incorruption after death This sense S. Austen approoueth when he saith Sic leuetur holocaustum vt absorbeatur mors in victoriam Let the holocaust so ascend that death bee swallowed vp in victorie And againe Quando totum consumitur igne diuino holocaustum dicitur Totum moùm consumat ignis tuus nihil inde remaneat mihi totum sit tibi Hoc erit in resurrectione mortuorum quando mortale hoc induerit immortalitem Cum absorbet ignis diuinus mortem nostram holocaustum est When the whole sacrifice is consumed with heauenlie sire it is called an holocaust Let thy fire ò Lord consume me wholie let nothing therof remaine mine let the whole be thine this shall bee in the resurrection of the dead when this mortalitie putteth on immortalitie When Gods fire consumeth our Death then is it an holocaust And other kinde of holocaust is mentioned by Saint Austen which I mislike not Holocaustum est totum igne consumptum Est quidam ignis flagrantissimae charitatis totus exardescat igne diuini amoris qui vult offerre Deo holocaustum An holocaust is when the whole is consumed with fire There is a fire of most feruent charitie hee must wholie burne with the fire of the loue of God which will offer to God an holocaust No man euer burned with this fire comparable to Christ Iesus whose loue towardes God and man flamed as vnto death so after death most feruentlie So that touching the holocaust the Confuter presumeth but proueth nothing and yet if his supposall were granted it weakeneth not the force of my reason since by the bodily and bloudie sacrifice shadowed in the law I do not exclude the torments on the crosse imparted to the soule or rather wholy discerned by the soule of Christ but onelie the paines of hell which were neuer figured by anie sacrifice nor scaled by anie Sacrament of the old or new testament though now they bee made the principall part of our redemption which indéede was purchased by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus In auoiding the reason which
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
be stirred himselfe in his special and choise arguments as thou hast heard christiaÌ„ reader now drawing to an ende purposeth like a politicke captaine so to entrench himself that no force shal fetch him out of his hold And because wordes are the weapons that can endanger him he taketh the readie waie with them to turne wind them at his wil and so maketh anie thing to be euerie thing that nothing should hurt him The scriptures affirmeâ— that Christ crucified is the wisedome and power of God to all that be called and that we are reconciled to God by the death of his sonne and our sinnes redeemed and the diuel destroied by the death of Christ Iesus as also that hee suffered for vs in the flesh yea he suffered for our sinnes being put to death in the flesh And least it should hence bee collected that Christ died not y e death of the soule but rather the death of his bodie was a sufficient price for the life of the worlde the Refuter vndertaketh this place of Saint Peter that Christ was done to death in the flesh and thence will proue that the flesh comprehendeth bodie and soule and that the soule of Christ DIED and was crucified as well as the bodie Reason or authoritie besides his owne he bringeth none but out of the hinder part of his head he giueth an obseruation which if he saie the worde must needes prooue sounde and good and this it is Whensoeuer in scripture the flesh and the spirit are opposed together the flesh is alwaies Christes whole humanitie as well his soule as his bodie From whence it followeth that Christs soule also died and was crucified How proue you this note Sir Refuter had you saide that wheresoeuer the flesh of Christ liuing is spoken of there the flesh of a man endued with a humane soule is intended you had saide well for Christ was perfect man and perfect God in one and the same person but when you will stretch all the attributes of the bodie and make them common to the soule because Christ had a soule as well as a bodie it is no true obseruation deriued from the scripture but a partiall supposition intended to further your hellish sorrowes In the 26. of Matthew when Christ telleth his disciples that the spirit is readie but the flesh weake doth hee take spirit there for the godheade as if that were readie to suffer anie thing or for the soule which was willing but that the flesh was weake In the 24. of Luke when Christ saieth a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me haue had his soule flesh and bones and those to be seene as his bodie had To the Romanes when Paul saith Christ our Lord was made o the seede of Dauid according to the flesh and declared to be the sonne of God touching the spirit of sanctification by the resurrection from the deade will you conclude that Christes soule was made of the seede of Dauid and came from Dauids loines as Christes flesh did The like he repeateth in the same Epistle of the Israelites came Christ according to the flesh which is God ouer all to be blessed for euer whereâ—f your obseruation faile not Christes soule must be kinne to the Iewes as well as his flesh Whie thenâ— when Peter saith Christ was put to death according to the flesh but quickned by the spirit doe you make it so cleere a case that the worde flesh there compriseth both bodie and soule and therefore by Peters confession Christ died in soule as well as in bodie so when Paul saith Christ was crucified through infirmitie yet liueth through the power of God what leadeth you to imagine that his soule was crucified as well as his bodie who did crucifie him I praie you God or the Iewes Peter saieth to the Iewes Iesus of Nazareth a man approoued of God after you had taken with wicked hands you haue CRVCIFIED and slaine So againe the holy and iust one ye denied and killed the Lord of life And likewise By the name of Iesus whom ye haue crucified whom God raised againe from the deade doth this man heere stande whole who before was a creeple If the Iewes then crucified and killed the Lorde Iesus coulde they crucifie and kill his soule Are you so simple that you remember not the wordes of our Sauiour Feare not them which kill the bodie but are not able to kill the soule And you make it not an ouersight but a positiue point of your holie truth as you call it that Christes soule was crucified and died and consequentlie that the Iewes directlie against the wordes of Christ were able to kill and crucifie the soule of Christ. Will you saie that God crucified the soule of Christ for what will you not saie that say Christs soule was crucified died in what scripture shall wee reade that God crucified the soule as the Iewes did the bodie of Christ you woulde seeme to conclude it out of the scriptures which whensoeuer they speake of Christ crucified they note the shamefull and cruel death which the Iewes executed on him not anie thing that God did vnto him And out of that word euerie where in the scriptures referred to the Iewes to inferre that God also crucified his soule is as much madnesse as the former If you feare not the paines of hell because you are so well acquainted with them feare at least the shame of the worlde least they deride you to skorne as lacking that common vnderstanding which boies in the streetes and prentices in the shoppes haue But what if your selfe being be like amazed and as you saie of Christ all confounded in all the powers of your soule and senses of your bodie when you wrate in defence of your holie cause do contradict your selfe and call your owne assertion ABSVRD and MOST FALSE and that not ten or twelue leaues off but in the verie same place where you labour to iustifie this position and prouing and pronouncing it to be absurd and most false you presently conclude it as a principle of your newe faith well if it bee not so then I must confesse I was a sléepe when I thought you did so But if it fall out to be true which I saie I hope christian Reader thou wilt thinke my time anie waie better imploied then longer to reason with such a brainsicke babler The words of Peter are Christ hath once suffered for sinnes the iust for the vniust and was put to death in the flesh but quickned by the spirit Saint Austen writing vpon this place obserueth this for a sure rule to expounde the whole In eare quippe viuificatus est in qua fuerat mortificatus Christ was quickned in that verie part wherein hee suffered death or was put to death This rule hath in it a mightie truth that maie not be resisted For if any part of
become an ale-house where no maÌ„ should heare you but in the face of the world to bray after this sort is tolerable in no man but in you that neither know what you say nor see what you should prooue nor vnderstaÌ„d what maketh with you or against you You no sooner reade in any maÌ„ new or olde mention of Gods wrath or of death but you straight fansy that he meaneth your hel paines the death of the soule and so you play with the homilies allowed by the lawes of this Realme Where because you find that Christ interposed himselfe betweene the wrath of God vs to auert it from vs you forthwith resolue the Homilies teach your doctrine But awake Sir Refuter and you shall sée great difference betwixt the doctrine taught in the booke of Homilies and publikely approoued by the lawes of this Realme your frenzies that Christ DIED the DEATH of the SOVLE that the VVHOLE CVRSE of God was executed on Christ that he was by our sins defiled sinful hateful accursed that al the powers of his soule senses of his body were ouerwhelmed distracted and all confounded that he felt the verie Diuels to be instruments executing the wrath of God vpon him that the sufferings of Christs soule by Sympathie as you call it that is from and by the body make not to our redemption that Christs soule died and was crucified where it is absurd and most false to say Christ was made aliue ether in his humane soule or by the same these and an hundred such absurdities and impieties haue no allowance in the bookes of Homilies nor any thing sounding towards your hellish paines of the damned The doctrine there taught is sound true and plaine that we are redeemed by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus that such was the iust displeasure of God against our sinnes that though he were his owne son that vndertooke the cause for vs the iustice of God pursued him with most painfull smart and anguish euen vnto death and forced the weaknesse of his humane flesh to crie my God my God why hast thou forsaken mee But you content not your selfe with this you must haue him suffer the verie paines of the damned in Hell or nothing His bodilie death were it neuer soe paynefull and sharpe you make light account of the theeues crucified with Christ suffered you say as great bodily violence as he did yea wicked vngodly men indure with boldnes great ioy far more exquisite barbarous tormeÌ„ts sharper tortures as touching the body then Christ could endure and therefore in plaine words you saie such follie in the sonne of God bee it farre from yâ—u once to imagine as that he should stagger shrink or faile for any corporal tormentes whatsoeuer forgetting what Ambrose writeth Neque enim habent fortitu linis laudem qui stuporem magis vulnerum tulerunt quaÌ„ dolorem it can haue no praise of fortitude to be desperately confirmed rather then patientlie subiected vnto paine of torments And what AusteÌ„ confesseth Nihil erat tunc IN CARNE INTOLERABILIVS there was nothing more intolerable in the flâ—sh then the crosse of Christ as likewise what Bernarde resolueth Nec aliquo modo dubitandum quin infirmitatem exterminationem corporis incomparabilem sustinuerit it must not be doubted but Christ suffered incomparable weakenes and torment of body For this if you did striue it were to be tolerated for that which no father euer testified nor scripture euer affirmed when you shew your selfe so eager you bewray your humor you benefit not your cause Thou hast heard christian Reader what things I haue misliked in the first part of this opponents pamphlet but nothing more then this that he wasteth so manie wordes and neither expresseth what hee meaneth nor proueth what hee pretendeth All that he hath saide is this in effect Christ suffered in soule the wrath and curse of God foâ— our sinne or due to sinne but these are so generall termes that in parte they bee true in parte they bee false and therefore hee that walketh in these cloudes and descendeth not to particulars meaneth to hide his heade vnder the Couert of these generalities when neede is and out of these to fashion to himselfe such assertions as please best his humour The waâ—e to come by a trueth is to specifie the partes of Gods wrath and curse which they suppose Christ suffered and then shall wee in fewe wordes trie whether those sufferings accord with the rules and groundes of the scriptures or no. And this I foretell because if hee or anie other for him bee disposed to reuiue his cause hee must not bring a sacke full of words for so waightie matters but plainlie and particularlie declaring what he holdeth and proouing what he affirmeth go directly to the point and then by Gods grace we shall soone trie where trueth standeth But if anie man will draw the grounde of our redemption to generall and ambiguous termes which shall still increase contention to noe purpose I meane not to repell words with words till they answere these proofes I will not trouble my selfe with their emptie phrases In the second Question of Christs descent to hell I shall not hold thee long gentle reader because this babler forgetting what I sayd concerning the proofe and purpose of Christs descent to hell runneth a new course to Pagans and Poets for help to expound that article of our Creede and there presumeth himselfe to be so strong that of the rest he doth prate without reason or remembrance The end of Christs descent to hell I noted out of Athanasius Fulgentius and others and prooued their speach conformable to the Scriptures the places thou hast in the latter part of the treatise I meane not to increase this close with néedlesse repetitions The CoÌ„futer belike distracted and distempered with the cogitation and confusion of his hell paines vtterly mistaketh or forgetteth the whole He supposeth Christs descent to hell had none other purpose but to triumph and insult vpon the thrice miserable and wofull wretches in their present vnspeakeable damnation infinitely confounded alreadie inferreth Sure a verie sorie triumph this were for the sonne of God which euen among men were nothing but dishonorable but if his braines be so briâ—kle that he can neither conceaue nor carrie awaie what I sayd I must not beate it into his head that I then preached is here now printed let him refell it if hee can Soe when I made the subduing of hell and treading on Satan with all the power of darknesse a chiefe part of the glorie of Chrits resurrection this scorner in his foolish conceite mocketh at it and saith a worthie priuiledge surelie and verie honorable All men would thinke it a greater honour neuer to haue come in hell at all For his actuall triumphing in hell all the world knoweth is the most inglorious and vilest debasing In sadnes Syr refuter if
SOVLES From thence you leape to the Reuelation and there when Saint Iohn sawe one sitting on a pale horse whose name was death and HADES followed after him that is saie you the world of the dead It cannot be hell certainely because hel slaieth none in that sort Againe to saie preciselie that the fourth part of the world should go to hell I take it to bee a strange phrase in scripture Here first is a plaine proofe that death and HADES are two seuerall things the one following after the other For nothing doth follow it selfe The doubt is now what HADES importeth The world of the dead saie you The worlde of the dead if thereby you mean dead bodies is al one with death if you vnderstand the world of soules that hath two partes heauen and hell which of these two did follow after death to destroy the fourth part of the earth the kingdome of heauen is neuer proposed in the scriptures as a destroyer but the diuell hath his proper name in this booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the destroyer Againe this vision S. Iohn saw at the opening of the fourth Seale but the world of soules in heauen was shewed him in the opening of the fift Seale which presentlie followeth in the next verse in these words And when the lambe had opened the fift Seale I saw saith Iohn vnder the altar the soules of men slayne for the word of God and for the testimonie of the Lambe The world of soules in heauen was séene in the opening of the fift seale therefore that world of soules was not séene in the opening of the fourth Seale but of force if by HADES you will vnderstand anie world of soules it must be of those that were in HELL Howbeit because hee did accompanie death that was sent to destroy I take it rather to bee the power of the deuill that is there described then anie world of soules as you dreame And that the diuell destroyeth as well the bodie as the soule if it be strange to you you are a greater stranger in the Scriptures then you would seeme to bee Who threw the house vpon the heads of Iobs Children can you tell or who smote Iob himselfe with that loathsome disease But the fourth part of the earth you saie could not go to hell God graunt no more then the fourth part go thither Neuer reade you many called and few chosen and though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the Sea yet but a remnant shall be saued And why might not the dragon as well deuoure the fourth part of y e earth as draw downe from heauē with his tayle the third part of the starres Or if there you take a certayne number for an vncertain which is S. Iohns manner of writing in this booke why not as well here as else where these therefore are a couple of idle quarrels if these be your best you are more willing then able to do harme But by y e same words in the same booke we shall better vnderstand what is ment by HADES then by your wandring and weake gloze Death and HADES saith S. Iohn were cast into the lake of fier It were absurd you adde to saie death and hell were cast into hell True but more absurd and more blasphemous to saie that death and the world of soules shall bee cast into the lake of fier For then not onlie the Saints of God but heauen it selfe should bee cast into hell fier Yet if we take the containing for the contained which is the most vsuall phrase of the Scripture as wo be to thee Chorazin wo to thee Bethsaida thou Capernaum as likewise Ierusalem Ierusalem which killest the prophets it shal be easier for Tyrus Sydon with a thousand such euery wher occurrent then is it an easie true speach that hel to witte the powers of hell euen the diuels themselues shall be cast into the lake of fier And so doth Andreas Bishop of Cesaria expound it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked spirits the possessours of HADES shall be cast into hel fier And so Bede Mors Infernus missi sunt in stagnum ignis Diabolum dicit et suos quem supra in equo pallido sedentem Infernus sequebatur Death hel shall be cast into the lake of fier He meaneth the diuel his whō before sitting on a pale horse hell followed As yet then HADES in the new Testament is not onlie a thing different from death but euen hell it selfe and your world of soules in none of these texts can find any hold or help Let vs sée the rest That Christ triumphed ouer hell and Satan not ouer death onely the Apostle fully affirmeth when he saith Christ spoyled principalities powers made an open shew of them and triumphed ouer them in his owne person that likewise hee hath the keyes of hell and not of death onlie S. Iohn plainlie sheweth when he saw an angell come down from heauen hauing the key of the bottomeles pit and there binding shutting vp the diuell The same key of the bottomeles pit was in the 9 Chapter of the Reuelation giuen to the Star that slidde from heauen This keye must Christ haue for hee saith of himselfe that he hath the key of Dauid which openeth and no man shutteth which shutteth and no man openeth Since then there are keyes not of heauen onlie which Christ committed to Peter and his fellow labourers but of the bottomles pitte where Satan lyeth bound which of force must bee HELL when Christ professeth in the first of the Reuelation that he hath the keyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of death and of HADES who séeth not that HADES there must signifie hell it selfe the key whereof is so expreslie mentioned in that booke And so when the Apostle maketh two parts of Christs conquest against death and hell ô death where is thy sting ô HADES where is thy victorie what reason is there to exclude out of these words Christs victorie ouer HELL since the same Apostle witnesseth that Christ had a glorious triumph against hell and the word HADES in all the places of the new Testament which we haue yet viewed inferreth hell The Apostle you saie speaketh not of the Damnation of the wicked but of the resurrectiō of the dead And so do I and therefore inferre that when the bodies of the saints shall be raised from death whose soules be already saued from hell then shall these words be openlie verified ô death where is thy sting ô hell where is thy victorie For since by sinne hell gate possession of both parts of man as well of his bodie as of his soule the full deliuerance of man must free both parts and the full conquest ouer hell is the losse of both parts which in the resurrection of the dead shall be performed and
horrible torment of Stripes Thornes Wounds Sinewes and ioynts our Sauiour hoong on the crosse aboue thrée houres in most perfect sense with most extream paine till the verie instant that hee breathed out his soule A violenter death by fyre or otherwise our Sauiour might happilie haue suffered but a more painfull with perfection of patience neuer martyr much lesse malefactor did or could endure The torments of others when they are violent do either hasten death or ouerwhelme the sense and so the paine when it is most grieuous is least perceiued In Christ there was no such thing He died not by degrées as we do his senses did not decay no pangs of death tooke hold of him but in perfect sense and perfect patience both of bodie and soule he did voluntarily and miraculously resigne his spirit as hee was praying into his fathers handes Longer tortures others haue endured but neuer greater for the time nor with like patience For in all men Christ excepted though the spirit be neuer so willing the measure of faith neuer so strong yet vnles it please God to shorten or lighten the rage of their paine the flesh repineth at the present anguish howsoeuer grace support the soule that it sink not vnder the burthen But He which shortneth and lightneth the force of torments in his saints when they be grieuous in his owne would doe neither He spared not himselfe that knoweth how to spare his but suffered and indured all to the vttermost with so exact obedience and patience that he did not shrinke at the paine nor striue with death but yâ—elded so voluntarie a sacrifice to god that in the sharpest torments he made no shew of sense nor suffered his flesh so much as to tremble or struggle with paine or death The manner of rendring vp his soule the Scriptures and Fathers do carefullie obserue Saint Iohn thus describeth it When Iesus had tasted of the vinegar hee said all is finished bowed his head and gaue vp the Ghost Whereupon Bernard saith It is a great infirmity to die but so to die doth plainlie proue an infinite power S. Luke reporteth that Iesus cried with a loud voice to shew himselfe to be frée from any touch of death and saide Father into thy handes I commend my spirit Whereupon Hierom obserueth that the Centurion hearing his prayer and seeing him Statim spiritum sponte dimisisse presently of his owne accord to sende forth his spirite Commotus signi magnitudine mooued with the greatnesse of the wonder saide Truly this man was the sonne of God Augustine largely handling the maner of his death saith Who can so sleepe when he wil as Christ died when he would Who can so laie aside his garment at his pleasure as Christ laid aside his flesh Who can so leaue his place as Christ left his life with how great power shall he come to iudge that shewed so great power when he died Christ himselfe ralifteth these obseruations with his owne mouth in the Gospell of saint Iohn None taketh my soule from mee but I laie it downe of my selfe By this we may perceiue the coniunction of the Humane nature with the Diuine in the person of Christ was so fast and sure that neither sinne death nor hell assaulting our Sauiour could make anie separation no not of his bodie but he himselfe of his owne accord must put off his earthlie tabernacle that dying for a season he might conquer death for euer and so the laying downe of his life was no imposed punishment nor forceable inuasion of death vpon him but a voluntary sacrifice for sinne rendred vnto God for our sakes to appease the wrath and satisfie the curse which our manifold wickednes had most iustlie deserued Thus farre without feare we maie fréelie extend the crosse of Christ by the warrant of the holie scriptures Some men in our daies stretch it a great deale farther to the death both of bodie and soule and to the WHOLE PAINES OF THE DAMNED IN HELL but vpon how iust grounds when you heare you may iudge as you sâ—e cause This opinion hath growen by degrees and euerie daie taketh newe encrease At the first men contented themselues to thinke Christ suffered the paines of hel that is great and intolerable paines which metaphoricall kind of speach the Scriptures will beare if we conclude no worse meaning withâ—â— those words Out of the bellie of HEL saith Ionas I cried and thou heardest my voice The sorrowes of HEL compassed me about saith Dauid and the griefes of HEL tooke hold of me Some others affirme that Christ in sustaining the wrath of God due to vs wrastled with the verie powers of hell that sought to fasten on him and howsoeuer beholding the terror of Gods vengeance prouoked by our sinnes he did somtimes tremble yet by firme faith alwaies fixed on God he repelled and repressed those assaults of Satan and so saued not himselfe onely but vs also This might be indured if men could stay here it were to be wished that in matters of so great weight and danger we would rather try where we are then hasten to go onward But as water breaking her bankes still runneth and neuer stayeth so some lighting on other mens inuentions neuer leaue adding till they marre all In the case which we haue in hand the name of Hell paines being once admitted into the worke of our redemption some in our daies will no nay but that Christ on the crosse suffered the selfe same paines in soule which the damned do in hell and endured euen the death of the soule yea others auoucâ— that hee sustained farre greater torments then anie are in hell to wit as much paine in 15. houres as all the faithfull should haue suffered euerlastinglie and that as well in body as in soule To these dangerous deuises are some men slipt in our time And because I knowe not when or where they will make an ende I thinke it néedfull for discharge of my dutie and direction of your faith as well to set downe certaine limits beyond which you may not go as also to reiect such extremities as by no meanes may be closed in the crosse of Christ without apparant impietie The paines of hell if I be not deceiued make a fourefold impression in the soules of men a carefull feare which declineth them a doubtfull feare which conflicteth with them a desperate feare which sinketh vnder them and a damned feare which suffereth them The first is and must be in all the godlie and chieflie in Christ himselfe For the more we loue God the more wee detest and shunne all separation from God Hell therefore which is an vtter exclusion from the kingdome of God is most iustlie abhorred of all his saints and speciallie of his owne Son who not onelie by will but by nature is one with his Father A conflict with Hell if it come not from the inward
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
PROPITIATE the Iudge It doth SEALE THE COVENANT of mercie grace glorie betwixt God man It doth CONCLVDE and bind the diuell what more can be required I verily cannot coÌ„iecture If the blood of Christ performe al these things for vs more we can not aske or expect why shrinke we from it as vnable to saue vs except it be supplied with the paines of hell Whether I affirme any thing of mine owne or deliuer you that which is plainly taught in y e scriptures iudge you Ye were REDEEMED saith Peter by the pretious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe vnspotred and vndefiled Christ by his own bloud saith Paul entered once into the holy place OBTAINING eternall REDEMPTION The bloud of Iesus Christ CLENSETH VS froÌ„ all our sinnes He WASHED vs from our sinnes in his bloud Beeing now IVSTIFIED by his bloud we shall bee saued from wrath through him Iesus suffered that hee might sanctifie the people with his bloud By Christ then wee haue redemption through his bloud euen the remission of sinnes and nowe in Christ Iesus yee which once were farre off are made neere by the bloud of Christ. For it hath pleased the Father by him to reconcile all thinges vnto himselfe And to pacifie through the bloud of his Crosse both thinges in earth and things in heauen Whome God hath purposed to bee a Reconciliation through fayth in his bloud And therefore the new testament is sealed with Christes bloud This is saith hee my bloud of the new Testament which is shed for manie for the remission of sinnes Yee are come to Iesus the mediatour of the newe Testament saith Paul to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things then that of Abell For Abels bloud cried for vengeance but Christs bloud speaketh for mercie and grace And for that cause Paul calleth it The bloud of the euerlasting Testament For this is the Testament that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes sayeth the Lorde I will put my lawes in their minde and in their heart I will write them and I will bee their God and they shall bee my people I will be mercifull to their vnrighteousnesse and I will remember their sinnes and iniquities no more This testament of mercie grace and glorie is confirmed by the death of Christ and sealed with his bloud which if we weaken or frustrate with our inuentions or additions wee must looke for that fearefull iudgement which the Apostle threatneth He that despiseth Moses lawe dieth without mercie vnder two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shal he be worthie which treadeth vnder foote the sonne of God and counteth vnholie the bloud of the Testament wherewith he was sanctified and reprocheth the spirite of grace The wrong that is offered to the bloud of the newe Testament treadeth vnder foote the sonne of God and reprocheth the spirit of grace Now howe can we more vnsanctifie the bloud of the Testament then to make it so vnprecious that it cannot redeeme vs without the paines of hell or to set vp another price for which we haue no expresse record against or aboue the bloud of Christ by which we are cleansed from our sinnes and reconciled to God I knowe they will and must answere the paines of hell are contained in the bloud of Christ for so much as he suffered the one in â—heir imagination when hee shed the other Could they prooue by expresse and infallible testimonies which they cannot do that Christ suffered in soul the paines of the damned they had some reason to comprise the one within the other but no such thing being warranted or witnessed in the scriptures they must take héed that they do not elude rather then expound the words of the holie ghost with a perpetuall Synecdoche which shall frustrate the very force of all those euident and vehement speeches For it is strange to mee first that without iust proofe any such thing should be ioined to the bloud of Christ to helpe the price thereof Next that the holie ghost should alwayes vrge the one and as if were continuallie forget the other Thirdlie the things which are named in the Scriptures as they were the last so are they the chiefest parts of Christs sufferings the rest being vnderstood as antecedent to them and not eminent aboue them Nowe the CROSSE BLOVD and DEATH oâ— Christ are euerie where mentioned in the scriptures as the verie ground worke and pillars of our redemption Lastlie the bodie of Christ wounded and his bloud shed for the remission of sinnes are the seales that confirme and ratifie the new testament and therefore they giue chiefest power and strength to the whole couenant as appeareth by the Sacraments which import vnto vs not the paines of hell but the death and bloud of Christ as the right and true meanes of our redemption Know ye not saith Paule that all we which haue beene baptised into Iesus Christ haue beene baptised into his death Wee are buried then with him by baptisme into his death And speaking of the Lords Supper he saith As often as ye shall eate this bread and drinke this cuppe ye shewe the Lords death vntill he come The cuppe of blessing which wee blesse is it not the communion of Christes blood The bread which we breake is it not the communion of Christs bodie By these we are grafted into Christ by these wee are quickned nourished into life euerlasting And these propose vnto vs no inuisible paines of hell but the bodie of Christ wounded and his bloud shed for the remitting of our sinnes â—ow vniting vs vnto Christ that we may be members of his bodie of his flesh and of his bones Yea what an vnthankefull part were it for the captiues that are inlarged to chalenge the ransome which was paide for their fréedome as defectiue when the aduersarie from whom we were bought receyued it by the rule of Gods iustice as a price most sufficient for vs all that were deliuered F I will redeeme them from the power of hell I will ransome them from death saith God by his Prophet g you were bought with a PRICE saith Paul The price then which Christ paid must be fully worth the thing redéemed For since it pleased God not by force to take vs from Satan but with a price to buie vs out of his hands it were dishonour to God and a kinde of reproch to giue lesse for vs then might counteruaile vs. And therefore let vs rest assured that the price which Christ payed for vs was of farre greater value then we were not onelie in the vpright iudgement of God but euen in the malicious and furious desire of Satan who thirsted after the bloud of the sonne of God with greedier â—awes then after all the worlde besydes and tryumphed more in bringing him to a shamefull death then in
the destruction of all the faythfull Wherefore the wisedome and iustice of God suffered him to shewe his rage on the flesh of Christ and as it were to trample in his bloud which hee spilt like water on the earth and left him that which hee so eagerly pursued and in his malice against Gods glorie preferred before all the worlde as a full payment for all those that shoulde be deliuered by the death of Christ. And for this cause the bloud of Christ is called by y e holie ghost the PRICE of our REDEMPTION Ye were REDEEMED saith Peter WITH THE PRECIOVS BLOVD of Christ as of a lambe vnspotted and vndefiled Yea the song which the Saints in heauen do sing vnto the lambe is this Thou wast killed and HAST REDEEMED VS TO GOD BY THY BLOOD When I say the bloud of Christ was â—he price wherewith God redéemed vs out of Satans power I doe not meane that God made anie contract with Satan or tooke his consent to exchange much lesse that Christ did profer his bloud to the diuell to set vs free it were an iniurie to Christ for vs to thinke his bloud was shed to satisfie the diuell as Gregory Nazianzene wel obserueth in his oration de Paschate but Christ offered his bloud as a sacrifice to god his father to verifie the iudgement pronounced against vs Thou shalt die the death and to satisfie the iustice of God prouoked with our sinnes yet in comming to his death since his life might not be ended neither with his owne hand nor by the hand of his Father the wisedome of God deliuered him into the handes of sinners by whose blinde zeale and bloudie rage the diuell that worketh in the children of disobedience conspired and compassed his death and with all maner of contumelie and crueltie abused his body and spilt his blood insulting at him by the mouthes of the wicked and reioycing in the conquest he gate ouer Christ in bringing him to a reprochfull death But this extreame rage of Satan against the person of Christ turned to the vtter ruine of his owne kingdome For God did not onely raise againe the Lord Iesus from death as dying an innocent without all desert but in recompence of the wrong which he receiued at Satans hands to the which he willingly submitted himselfe God gaue him power to spoyle the kingdome of the diuell and to deliuer all that euer did or should beleeue in his death and passion And in this sort Christ bought vs with his precious bloud from the daunger of sinne and hell not offering but suffering Satan by the hands of the Iewes to take his life from him neither compounding with his aduersarie but repressing him in the middest of his malice who assaulting Christ Iesus our head as he had done all the members was ouerthrowne by him and vanquished with an euerlasting victorie Mortuus est volens vt inuoluntarie mortuos exuscitaret Deuorauit ipsum mors ignorans vbi deuorasset cognouit quem non deuorauit Deuorauit vnum cum omnibus perdidit omnes propter vnum Rapuit vt leo confracti sunt dentes ipsius Christ died willinglie saith Basill that hee might raise those which died against their wils Death ignorantly deuoured him which when hee had done hee knewe whom he had not deuoured Hee swallowed vp one as he did all and for that one hee lost all Hee seased on him as a Lion but his teeth were therwith broken The créed extant vnder the name of Ruffinus Sacramentum carnis susceptae hanc habet causam vt diuina filij dei virtus velut hamus quidam habitu humanae carnis obtectus principem mundi inuitare posset ad Agonem cui ipse carnem suam velut escam tradens hamo eum diuinitatis intrinsecus teneret insertus ex profusione immaculati sanguinis The mysterie of Christes taking flesh was to this end that the diuine power of the Sonne of GOD couered as a hooke vnder the shewe of mans flesh might prouoke the Prince of this worlde to assault him to WHOM CHRIST DELIVERING HIS FLESH AS A BAITE helde fast the diuell with the hooke of his diuinitie sticking in him through the shedding of his immaculate bloud Conditorem omnium Satanae manui traditum quis vel desipiens credat sed tamen edoctus veritate quis nesciat cum se pro nostra redemptione Dominus membrorum Satanae manibus tradidit quod eiusdem Satanae manum in se saeuire permittit vt vnde ipse exterius occumberet inde nos exterius interiusque liberaret That the maker of all was deliuered into the hande of Satan who is so foolish as to beleeue And yet who taught by the trueth is ignorant that when the Lorde for our redemption yeelded himselfe into their handes that were the members of Satan hee suffered the hande of Satan to rage agaynst him that whence he outwardlie dyed in body thence he might both outwardlie and inwardlie deliuer vs And therefore hee concludeth Cum corpus eius ad passionem accipit electos eius à iure suae potestatis amittit When Satan receyued the bodie of Christ to crucifie it hee lost the elect of Christ from subiection to his power Saint Austen shewing howe Christ conquered the Diuell first by iustice and then by power sayeth Placuit Deo vt propter eruendum hominem de Diabolâ— potestate non potentia Diabolus sed iustitia vinceretur It pleased God for the deliuering of man out of the Diuels power that the diuell should be conquered by iustice and not by might Qua est igitur iustitia qua victus est Diabolus Quae nisi iustitia Iesu Christi Et quomodo victus est Quia cum in eo nihil morte dignum inuenit occidit eum tamen utique iustum est vt debitores quos tenebat liberi dimittantur in eum credentes quem sine vllo debito occidit Hoc est quod iustificari dicimur in sanguine Christi What then is the iustice whereby the Diuell was conquered What but the iustice of Iesu Christ And howe Because that when the Diuell founde in Christ nothing woorthie of death hee killed him notwithstanding and surelie iustice requireth that the debtours which Satan helde shoulde bee sette free beleeuing in him whome Satan slue without any debt This is it that wee are sayde to bee iustifyed in the bloud of Christ. Sanguis enim ille quoniam eius erat qui nullum habuit omnino peccatum ad remissionem nostrorum fusus est peccatorum vt quia eos Diabolus merito tenebat quos peccatireos conditione mortis obstrinxit hos per eum meritò dimitteret quem nullius peccati reum immerito poena mortis affecit hac iustitia victus hoc vinculo vinctus est fortis vt vasa eius eriperentur For that bloud because it was his who was vtterlie voyde of sinne was shedde for the remission of
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
VNA SVA CORPORALI ac voluntaria benigne potenter occurrit ILLAQVE SVA VNA NOSTRAM VTRAMQVE DAMNAVIT Where man was condemned vnto a double death to witte in either part of his nature the one death spirituall and voluntarie the other corporall and necessarie God beeing made man did mightilie and mercifullie release both our Deathes with his ONE CORPORALL and voluntarie Death and with THAT ONE DEATH OF HIS DESTROYED BOTH OVRS And so concludeth Dum sponte tantum in corpore moritur vitam nobis iustitiam promeretur VVhiles Christ dyed willinglie and ONELY in his BODY he merited for vs both righteousnesse and life I hope to all men learned or well aduised it will séeme no Iesuiticall phrensie but rather christian catholike doctrine that the son of God dying for our sinnes suffered NOT THE DEATH OF THE SOVLE but ONLIE OF THE BODIE by the hands of the Iewes and by the bodily bloudie sacrifice of himself did not only redeeme clense both our souls bodies but destroied sin death purging our transgressions by the merit of his obedience swalowing vp death by power y t of his life And howsoeuer the scriptures sometimes affirme that hee gaue himselfe a ransome for all men and the Fathers likewise teach that hee gaue his flesh for our flesh and his soule for our soules yet neither Scriptures nor Fathers haue anie meaning either to subiect Christ to the death of the soule which assertion they abhorre as wicked or to diminish the force or fruit of his bodily death which they extoll as most sufficient but to expresse that in the death of his flesh on the crosse his soule did suffer the sense of paine and smart of death which parted the bodie and soule in sunder and so ioyntlie with the bodie and seuerallie by it selfe the soule of Christ had not onely temptations afflictions and passions but euen endured the naturall sting and sharpenesse of death to which he submitted his soule that he might haue the feeling of our infirmities and in all things bee tempted as wee are but still without sinne How Christ gaue himselfe wholy for vs we maie learne out of Bernard Sicut TOTVM HOMINEM saluâ—m fecit sic DE TOTO SE HOSTIAM fecit salutarem corpus exponens tantis supplicijs iniurijs animam vero geminae cuiusdam humanissimae compassionis affectui inde super moerore inconsolabili sanctarum foeminarum inde super desperatione dispersione discipulorum In his quatuor crux domiâ— mea fuit As Christ saued the VVHOLE MAN so of HIMSELFE WHOLIE hee made a wholesome sacrifice yeelding his bodie to so great torments and wrongs and his soule to the feeling of a double most tender compassion on the one side for the vncomfortable greefe of the holie women on the other side for the desperation and dispersion of his disciples In these foure consisted the crosse of Christ. Since then the death of Christ did both affect and afflict his soule and his bodie iustlie might Irenaeus say The Lord bought vs with his owne bloud and gaue his soule for our soules and his flesh for our flesh For in dying hee layde downe his soule not onelie to sorrowe gréefe and paine but euen to the bitter diuorce of death that brake the communion of bodie and soule Sicut TOTVS SEMETIPSVM tradidit TOTVS HOMO SEMETIPSVM OBTVLIT ita totus homo ANIMAM SVAM POSVIT cuÌ„ anima in cruce moriente carne discessit As WHOLE Christ gaue HIM SELFE saith Fulgentius and the WHOLE MAN OFFERED HIMSELFE so the whole man LAYD DOWNE HIS SOVLE wheÌ„ the flesh dying on the crosse the soule departed So that Christ yéelded his soule for our soules to the susception of sorrow prepossion of paine and dissolution of nature but vnto the death of the soule he did neither offer nor yéelde himselfe since that is a separation from God and exclusion from grace from which it was vtterlie impossible the soule of Christ could either willingly or forceablie for an houre be remoued yea where you find the suffering of his soule witnessed there shall you see the DEATH OF HIS FLESH ONELIE to be auouched Quia TOTVM HOMINEM deus ille suscepit ideo TOTIVS HOMINIS in se passiones in veritate monstrauit ammam quidem rationalem habens quicquid fuit infirmitatis animae sine peccato suscepit pertulit vt dum humanae animae passiones in anima quam accepit vinceret nostras quoque animas ab infirmitatibus liberaret Carnem quoque humanam accipiens in eiusdem veritate carnis veritatem voluntariae habuit passionis vt IN CARNE MORTVVS TOTAM in se HOMINIS OCCIDERET MORTEM Because the sonne of God tooke vnto him the WHOLE NATVRE of man therefore he shewed in himselfe the sufferings OF THE VVHOLE MAN and hauing a reasonable soule he tooke vpon him and endured all the infirmities of the soule but without sinne that whiles in the soule which he tooke hee conquered the passions of mans soule he might free our soules also from infirmities Taking likewise mans flesh in the truth of the same flesh he suffered a true and voluntarie passion that DYING IN THE FLESH hee might kill in his person the WHOLE DEATH dew to man Christ endured the passions of the whole man hauing neither bodie nor soule frée from suffering but yet he died ONLY in the FLESH and thereby he killed the WHOLE DEATH inflicted on the body and soule of man Quis ignorat Christum IN SOLO CORPORE MORTVVM sepultuÌ„ Who is ignoraÌ„t that Christ in BODY ONLY DIED and was buried And againe Sicut in MORTE SOLIVS CARNIS immortalis fuit sic in passionibus totius hominis impassibilis omnino permansit The godheade of Christ was immortall when ONELY HIS BODY DIED and impassible when the whole man suffered Moriente carne non solum deitas sed NEC ANIMA CHRISTI POTEST OSTENDI COMMORTVA When Christs bodie died not onelie his deitie but his SOVLE CANNOT BE SHEWED TO HAVE BEEN PARTAKER OF DEATH Wherefore I easilie admitte the wordes of Nazianzene to be true that euerie part in man is sanctified by the like in Christ our condemned flesh by his flesh our soule by his soule our vnderstanding by his vnderstanding yea I dislike not the wordes of Cyrill Carnem suam in redemptionis pretium pro omnium carne dependit animam suam similiter pro omnium anima redemptionis pretium constituit quamuis iterum reuixerit vita secundum naturam existens Christ yeelded his flesh as a ransome for the flesh of all men and made his soule likewise a price to redeeme the soules of all though he were restored againe to life as beeing life by nature so long as we abuse not his wordes to maintaine our fansies impugning his generall and setled doctrine that sufficient for the redeÌ„ption of the
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
the redemption of mankind is altogither vncertain and vnsufficient if our head being God and man could doe no more but by long struggling wind himselfe out of Satans clawes We must confesse an other kind of conquest before the kingdome of Christ can ouerrule all as it must and his Church bee secure from the gates of hell to wit that ALL POVVER in heauen and earth was giuen vnto him that EVERIE KNEE in heauen and earth and hell bowed vnto him that he had and hath THE KEIES of death and OF HELL and could RVLE his enemies with a rodde of yron and breake them like a potters vessell that by his death hee DESTROIED him that was the ruler of death euen the diuell This conquest Christ purchased by his passion but he did not execute it till his resurrection otherwise he could not haue died if death on the crosse had beene throughlie conquered But hee was humbled and exinanited on the crosse euen vnto death that he might after in his resurrection bee exalted and replenished with all honour power and principalitie in heauen earth and hell Howbeit of the time VVHEN hee triumphed wee shall afterwarde speake we nowe obserue VVHAT hee did in his triumph ouer hell and Satan and by the Scriptures wee finde that Christ ENTERED Satans house TIED him and SPOILED his goodes or as the Apostle expresseth it hee SPOILED POVVERS PRINCIPALITIES MADE AN OPEN SHEVV of them and TRIVMPHED OVER THEM IN HIS OVVNE PERSON And least I be thought to pretend an ancient and vniforme reading of Paules wordes in this place without iust proofe let vs see what ancient fathers haue followed the same The Siriacke translation of the newe Testament which is of no small antiquitie readeth IN SEMETIPSO IN HIS OVVNE PERSON as I doe So do Origen in Epistola ad Romanos lib. 5. cap. 5. Epiphanius in Anchorato contra Pneumatomacheos haeres 74. Chrysostome homili 6. in 2. ca. ad Colos and Theodorete likewise in 2. cap. ad Colos. Of the Latine Fathers in whome it maie better bee distinguished the booke de Trinitate vnder Tertullians name Augustine contra Faustum lib. 16. cap. 29. Epistola 59. a Hilarius de Trinitate lib. 1. lib. 9. Fulgentius ad Thrasimundum lib. 3. Hieronymus in cap. 2. ad Colos. Ambrose vpon the same place Ruffinus in Symbolum Apostolicum and so throughout the Latine Church without anie dissenting Onelie the Greeke collections vnder Oâ—cumenius name referre that triumph which saint Paul here speaketh of to the Crosse saying that Christ shamed and confounded the diuell on the crosse in that he was openlie crucified in the eies of all the people And although I condemne not the sense as false that Christ wrestled with Satan on the crosse and euen there ouermaistred his power yet that Christ had no further or greater triumph ouer hell and Satan then by dying on the crosse in the sight of men doth vtterlie abolish the glorie of his resurrection and contradicteth the whole course of the scriptures By his suffering and dying on the crosse hee deserued and purchased the exaltation and triumph which he had afterwards when he rose from the dead and euen before he died he was fullie assured that neither his soule should be left in hell nor his flesh see corruption but that God would raise him again and giue him all power in heauen and earth and make all knees in heauen earth and hell to bow vnto him and place him at his right hand in the brightnesse of eternall glorie It may therefore be confessed beléeued that Christ ouerthrew Satan on the crosse and so triumphed in spirit against him or had a spirituall triumph ouer him as Dauid foretolde when he said in the person of Christ Mine heart was glad and my tongue ioyfull yea my flesh shall rest in hope but that the glorie of his resurrection did not farre excell the shame of his passion and that his rising from the deade was no more victorious and triumphant then his yeelding himselfe vnto death is directlie repugnant to the truth of the scriptures Though he were CRVCIFIED THROVGH INFIRMITIE yet liueth he saith Paul through THE POVVER of God So that to die euen in Christ was infirmitie though voluntarie to liue againe as hee liueth in the height of celestiall glorie was a cleare demonstration of the power of God in him He was declared to be the son of God in power by the resurrection from the dead Insomuch that if Christ had died and not risen againe his conquest had not beene woorth the speaking of If Christ bee not raised your faith is in vaine saith Paule and ye are yet in your sinnes Christes death then without his resurrection had béene a full conquest of Satan ouer Christ and all his members That which Paule sayeth is true as well in Christ as in vs It is sowen in dishonour it is raised in glorie it is sowen in VVEAKENESSE it is raised in power Since then in the death and crosse of Christ the holie ghost noteth reproach shame and weakenesse wee do foulie erre if wee ascribe no greater nor other triumph to Christ ouer death and hell then his crosse and passion These things Christ was to suffer and so to enter into his glorie but we must make as great difference betwixt his dying and his rising againe as wee woulde betwixt his weakenesse and his power his conflict and his conquest his depression and his exaltation his suffering in reproch and his raigning in glorie For the better euidence whereof you shall see the holie scriptures at large expresse the verie same parts and the verie same time which I obserued vnto you Christ humbled himselfe and became obedient vnto the death euen the death of the crosse WHEREFORE God also highly EXALTED him and gaue him a name aboue euery name that at the name of Iesus euery KNEE SHOVLD BOVV of things IN HEAVEN IN EARTH AND BENEATH THE EARTH Under the earth are no reasonable creatures to kneele to Christs person and scepter but the damned spirits and soules in hell except we take holde of Purgatorie or Limbus patrum the elect in heauen doe willinglie serue him such as liue on earth doe endure his iustice or loue his mercie the spirits beneath doe finde his truth and feele his hand the most aduerse acknowledge his name and feare his force This exaltation of Christ to raigne ouer heauen earth and hell came after his death as being the rewarde and effect of his obedience vnto death So saith the Apostle He humbled himselfe and became obedient to the death euen the death of the Crosse. WHEREFORE or for which cause God highlie exalted him that in the name of Iesus all knees in heauen earth and hell should bowe Then on the crosse or afore his death the time was not yet come that Christ should be thus exalted but there rather was the time
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
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
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
Sâ— enim mortuus est dominus immo quia mortuus est Dominus mortuus est enim pro nobis in cruce sine dubio caro ipsius expirauit animam Hoc est ergo ponere animam quod est mori Cum ergo exit anima a carne et remanet caro sine anima tunc homo ponerâ— animam dicitur Carni hoc tribue caro ponit animam suam caro iterum sumit eam Caro ponit animam suam expirando Ipse Dominus Christus dictus est sola caro Audeo dicere et sola caro Christi dictus est Christus Confiteris illud quod habet fides in eum Christum te credere qui crucifixus est sepulâ—ns Ergo sepultum Christum esse non negas tamen sola caro sepulta est Ergo Christus erat etiam caro sine anima quia non est sepulta nisi caro Disce hoc etiam in Apostolicis verbis Humiliauit scmetipsum factus obediens vsque ad mortem Iam in morte SOLA CARO a Iudaeis est occisa tamen carne occisa Christus occisus est Ita cum caro animam posuit Christus animam posuit cum caro vt resurgeret animam sumpsit Christus animam sumpsit What did the Passion what did the death of Christ but separate his bodie from his soule If the Lord died for vs yea rather because indeede the Lord did die for vs for hee died for vs on the crosse doubtlesse his flesh did breath out his soule Soe that to laie downe his soule and to die is all one When the soule departeth from the flesh the flesh remaineth any soule then a man is said to lay downe his soule VnderstaÌ„d this of the flesh for the flesh laieth down her soule taketh it againeâ— the flesh laieth down her soule by breathing it forth The Lord Iesus is called his flesh alone I dare be bold to auouch it THE ONLY FLESH of Christ is called Christ. Thou confessest as it is in thy Creede that thou beleeuest in that Christ which was crucified buried Then thou acknowledgest Christ to be buried yet only his flesh was buried Therefore flesh without a soule was Christ because nothing of him but his flesh was buried Learne the selfe same in the Apostles words Christ humbled himselfe was obedient vnto Death Now in his death ONLY HIS flesh was killed of the Iewes and yet the flesh being slaine Christ was slaine So when the flesh laid downe her soule Christ laid downe his soule and when the flesh tooke her soule againe to rise Christ tooke his soule againe To men that do not wilfullie blind themselues these words are cleare enough and they haue for their warrant the full consent of Scriptures Councels Fathers for 1400 yeares without dissenting from it Christ suffered for you saith Peter leauing you an ensample that you should follow his steppes who himselfe bare our sinnes in his bodie on the Tree that we being dead to sinne should liue in righteousnes Then when Christ died to sin his body died on the tree his soul liued in righteousnes So must we do for so did he when he left vs an example how to follow his steppes Our soules must not die before we can resemble his death they must liue in righteousnes as he did Euery where saith Paul we beare about in our bodie the dying of the Lord Iesus that the life of Iesus might also be made manifest in our bodies which he thus expoundeth afterward Therefore we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is daily renewed Then in our bodies we carrie about the death of Christ who for our example died in his bodie vnto sinne that we should follow his steppes And why doubt we hereof since the same apostle doth in as plain expresse words as might be spoken testifie that Christ when we were enimies reconciled VS IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH THROVGH DEATH to make vs holy and without fault in his sight grounded and stablished in faith and not mooued awaie from the hope of the Gospell What could the hart of Paul inuent or his toong vtter more effectuall then this that Christ THROVGH DEATH IN THE BODIE OF HIS FLESH reconcileth vs to God and maketh vs holie and without fault in his sight If you can quarrell with these words Sir Refuter you maie do what you will with the Scriptures No words will bind you that take bodie for soule life for death faith for amazed feare hope for intolerable horror descending for ascending and hell for heauen What is this els but to make a confusion of all Religion and giue open defiance to the trueth by taking one contrarie for the other You do not so you will saie Leaue so doing and these Questions will soone be determined I prooue there was alwaies in Christ euidence of faith assurance of hope Ioy of loue euen in the midst of his paines on the crosse and you graunt there was not anie the least diminution in Christ of his faith patience or obedience to God neither was Christ so much as touched with anie wauering much lesse fearing in his trust and confidence of Gods loue and protection towards him How then can the horrour of Gods seuere iustice and wrath like them that indeed be separated from the grace and loue of God bee in Christ Or how can the sorrowes of the damned which are separated from the life of God bee found in Christ how could Christ suffer the same terrours of Gods wrath and assaults of the Deuill yea far greater then the godlie féele in their consciences for want of faith and feare of Gods displeasure What are these but plaine contrarieties Againe in Christ you saie was no defect of grace how then could the soule of Christ replenished with the spirite of life and liuing in all fulnes of grace and trueth bee dead can you make one and the same part of Christ both aliue and dead Soe likewise if Christ had but feared to bee vtterly forsaken with the hatred of his Father that indéed you saie were desperation which God forbid And yet you doe not doubt but Christ was as deepelie touched with the vnspeakeable horror of Gods seuere wrath due to sinne as the Reprobates themselues A number of these hogepots you haue made vs speaking of things which your selfe cannot or dare not expresse Sometimes you would faine affirme it in generall words and when you come to particulars you renounce it againe In the verie case that gaue vs occasion of this rehearsall when the Apostle saith we are reconciled to God by the death of his sonne and explaining himselfe saith the death that reconciled vs to God was the death which Christ suffered in the bodie of his flesh Is it not as cleare as daie light that the bodilie death of Christ which he suffered on the crosse is by
For that which fell that rose againe that which fell not needed not rise Hee rose then according to the flesh which being dead did rise againe Ergo also he died in our nature which he tooke vnto him and suffered in the body which he tooke that we might beleeue he tooke a true bodie To the vnbeleeuer asking Shall I beleeue God in flesh God borne of a woman God crucified whipped dead wounded buried Austen answereth thy God remaineth vnchangeable feare not he perisheth not Christ was borne of a woman but in his flâ—sh Hee was an infant but in his flesh Hee sucked increased was nourished and grewe in age but in his flesh Wearied he slept but in his flesh Hee hungred and thirsted but in his flesh He was taken bound whipped mocked yea he was CRVCIFIED AND KILLED BVT IN HIS FLESH Why art thou afraid The word which was God remaineth for euer He that despiseth this humblenes of God wil neuer be cured from the deadly swelling of pride The Lord Iesus therefore by his flesh gaue hope to our flesh To be borne and to die were here on earth common to liue for euer was not here Christ found here our earthlie wares which were vilde and brought with him his heauenlie which were strange If thou feare his death loue his resurrection He came to the place of our pilgrimage to take that which aboundeth here eueÌ„ mocks whippes blowes spittings in his face reproches hanging the crosse and death These things abound in our region to this entertainment hee came What hath he giuen thee here Instruction exhortation and remission of sinnes What hath he promised thee O mortall man that thou shalt liue for euer Doest thou not beleeue it Beleeue it I say beleeue it It is more that he hath alreadie done then that hee hath promised It is more incredible that the eternall died then that the mortall shall liue for euer If God died for man shall not man liue with God But can God die Hee tooke from thee wherein to die for thee THERE COVLD NOT DIE BVT FLESH THERE COVLD NOT DIE BVT A MORTALL BODIE Hee clothed himselfe with that wherein hee might die for thee hee will clothe thee wherin thou shalt liue with him In that part Christ died in which thou shalt die in that part Christ rose in which thou shalt rise Thou wilt pardon mee Christian Reader if among so much lothsome stuffe of reprobate horrors damned paines and hellish torments as this Confuter hath heaped together I solace my selfe sometimes with the longer comfort of sounde and sweete doctrine so sincerelie and sensiblie deliuered by the learned and auncient Fathers I will alledge one place more wherein thou shalt see the full consent of prouinciall and generall Councels not to bee gainesaide by anie man that will beare the name of a Christian and so shutte vp this point Cyrill writing to Nestorius to stay and suppresse that false doctrine which hee beganne then to spreade teacheth vs verie plainelie howe the sonne of God is saide in the Scriptures to SVFFER DIE AND RISE AGAINE for vs and our saluation So wee saie the sonne of God suffered and rose againe not that the sonne of GOD suffered in his owne nature either the stripes or the boaring of the nailes or the rest of the woundes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Deitie coulde not suffer by reason it is no bodilie substance but because THAT BODIE which hee made his owne suffered these things himselfe is saide to suffer these things for vs. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that coulde not suffer was then in his bodie which suffered After the same manner wee thinke of his dying The sonne of God is by nature immortall incorruptible life and the giuer of life but because the bodie which was his owne tasted death for all by the fauour of God as Paule speaketh hee himselfe is saide to haue suffered death for vs not that hee had experience of death as touching his owne nature it were a madnesse so to thinke or say but for that as I saide euen nowe his flesh tasted death So his flesh rising againe it is called his Resurrection not that hee fell to corruption God forbidde but that his bodie rose againe When this stayed not the frenzie of Nestorius the heretike but that hee replied in swelling woordes Cyrill called a Councell at Alexandria and there with one consent they approoued the trueth and sent it vnto Nestorius to bee confessed in these woordes amongst others If anie man doe not confesse that the Sonne of GOD suffered in his fleshe was crucified in his flesh and tasted death in his flesh let him bee accursed Dilating this and the rest of their Articles in their Synodall Epistle sent to Nestorius they saie Wee confesse that the onelie begotten God euen the sonne borne of God his father though hee were impassible in his owne nature yet suffered hee in his flesh for vs according to the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and was in his bodie that was crucified accounting the sufferings of his owne flesh as proper vnto him though he were without suffering and by the grace of God tasted death for all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he gaue his owne bodie vnto death This doctrine came to bee scanned in the third generall Councell helde at Ephesus and being there deliberatelie read was woâ—de for worde allowed of the whole Councell as agréeable to the Scriptures and the Nicene fathers The like approbation it had not onelie in the Councell of Constantinople vnder Fluuianus but in the great councell of Chalcedon where the proceedings of both these Councels were a fresh examined and the former woordes of Cyrill repeaâ—ed and confirmed with the ful consent of that general Councel as most â—ound and catholike So that he shall ill deserue the name of a christian that after so manie fathers and Councels both Prouinciall and Generall will begin to teach vs a new faith and tell vs that the Scriptures meane Christ was crucified and died as wel in his soule as in his bodie since the whole Church with one assent hath euer so conceiued and expounded the Scriptures that Christes crucifying and dying must bee referred to his bodie and consequentlie that the ioynt sufferings of Christ the soule feeling what the bodie suffered were most auailable for our redemption For when they ascribe the crucifying and death of Christ to his bodie they doe not exclude the soule from the sense and feeling of the paine which is a naturall consequent to the coniunction with her bodie but they shew what part of Christs manhoode suffered the crosse and death that the Scriptures so much speake of and whereby wee are redeemed and reconciled vnto GOD. One place repeated in the Councell of Ephesus maie serue in steede of manie to declare their meaning Howe can the Creator of all thnges who is neither visible palpable nor mutable sustaine the Crosse
these be your best exceptions against Christs triumphing ouer hell all the world will know that you are a worthie man to weare a woodden dagger The Apostle made it a part of Christs high exaltation that euerie knee as well of things vnder the earth as of things in heauen should bow vnto him and euerie toong confesse that Iesus Christ is the Lord and do you thinke it a méete matter to be mocked and derided Paul saith Christ spoyled principalities and powers of hell darknes and made a shew of them openlie and triumphed ouer them in his owne person for so I must reade till you shew me better authoritie against it then I haue brought for it your selfe both sée and sate that whyles Christ suffered and whyles he died it was a miserable triumph yea a piteous triumph it was indeede where himselfe remayned in such woful tormeÌ„ts where appeared no shew of conquest but rather of being conquered stil he suffered til he gaue vp the ghost What letteth them I praie you since these words were not verified on the Crosse but they did take place in his resurrection as I teach and therein as by the effects it was most euident and apparant to the eies of all men he did spoyle powers and principalities made a shew of them openly and triumphed ouer them in his owne person Doth the holy ghost attribute this as a great honour to the humane nature of Christ that ascending on high he led captiuitie captiue and doe you make a merriment of it appealing to the whole world for their censure on your side Your strongest sort is this There can bee no commoditie nor benefit to the godlie by it For what good is there so much as pretended The generall redemption of all Gods elect and chosen people was wrought and fullie finished on the Crosse what could his going downe to hell adde more Is the subduing of hell powers and the treading on all their force and the restraining of all their furie so small a matter with you that it doth no good to the godlie Hee hath triumphed and spoyled them to frée vs from feare and hath taken the keyes of death and of hell into his owne hands to shew that all power is giuen him in heauen earth hell and that he can restrayne and bind Satan at his will and pleasure Is the performance and assurance of these things no coÌ„modity nor benefit to the godlie The redemption of Gods elect was you say fully finished on the Crosse. Deserued and obtained it was on the Crosse and by the crosse but not there executed There were our sinnes pardoned and our selues reconciled to God but as Christ died for our sinnes so he rose for our iusâ—ification His resurrectioÌ„ in that glorious manner which I haue mentioned in the treatise his ascension are necessary parts of our Saluation and therefore vse not the force of Christs crosse to exclude but to induce the rest For so doth the Apostle when he saith Christ humbled himselfe became obedient vnto y e death of the crosse Wherfore that is euen for that his humility obedience God hath highly exalted him giuen him a name aboue euerie name that at the name of Iesus should euery knee bow of things in heauen in earth vnder the earth So that his descending rising and ascending added nothing to the force of his death but shewed the fruite thereof and tend all to our good since wee are presentlie secured from the power of hell and Satan and shall be certainelie raysed and receaued to glorie Christes death without his resurrection and ascension had beene our confusion and no redemption for if sinne had slaine him without rising it must needes haue damned vs without hoping now in his Resurrection as euery Enemie was most mighty so was there most néed he should be subdued But hereof I haue spoken so largelie before that I shall not néede to rehearse it againe with turning the page it maie soone bee seene But The Scriptures you tell vs are clearely against Christs going to Hell For this daie sayd Christ to the theefe thou shâ—lt bee with mee in Paradise All this must needes be of his humane soule verelie without all question There is none can consider herein his Deitie If anie thinke his soule might goe to hell first and presentlie goe thence to heauen yer night also that is ridiculous and toyish You haue so manie toyes in your head Syr Refuter that a coloured cap would well become it when you come to a non plus in your proofes then you crie this is ridiculous and toyifh Go like your selfe and looke to the ridiculous toyes that you bring vs in euery page almost You would prooue forsooth that the SCRIPTVRES ARE CLEARE against Christs being in hell at anie time betwéene his death and his Resurrection for your warrant you bring his words to the theefe on the crosse this daie thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise and at his death when he sayd Father into thy hands I commend my spirite And when the places conclude no such thing as you would haue them nor anie thing néere it then you helpe it with outcries and saie There is no man of sense considering these circumstances that can iudge otherwise But will your wisdome remember that S. Austen in his 57. Epistle discussing this place of purpose to day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise saith the word MEE maie verie readily and easily bee referred to Christs Godhead promising the thiefe Paradise that present daie and all the childish amplifications that you haue brought vs to the contrarie are not worth a nut-shell to conteruaile S. Austens iudgement But graunt it were ment of Christs soule are you so perfect in the length of the waie from hell to Paradise and the wearines of Christs soule in going to both that you be sure he could not do both that daie You thinke belike Christ would not goe thither but to view the deuils one by one and call their names to sée who were absent You haue forgotten that with his presence or with his word whiles hee liued here on earth hee could torment the diuels and therefore if it pleased him but to shewe himselfe who hee was whom they had so despitefullie pursued by the handes and tongues of the wicked on the Crosse all hell must not onelie bende and bowe vnto him but feare and fall before him Againe what coulde hinder though he did not descende that daie which hee died but hee might so doe the daie that hee rose and euen when hee was to rise to loose all the strength of hell before him and to let Satan see that his kingdome was ouerthrowne by that death at which hee so much insulted and reioyced The time I doe not determine though I thinke it pertained rather to the glorie of his resurrection then otherwise as I
not afore and therefore then is the time for all the faithfull to thanke God for their full victorie ouer DEATH AND HELL and to saie with the Apostle ô death where is thy sting ô HELL where is thy victorie But what hath your world of soules to do with these words or with anie other where HADES is named in the new testament All these places serue fitlie for hell and the most of them necessarilie since either is expressed as a diuerse thing from HADES or not to bee comprised in the name of HADES But your world of soules is most absurd and false in euery one of these and can not stand with the circumstance of the text the first of the Reuelation onelie excepted where though there be no wordes to impugne it yet are there none to approue it For is it anie curse for Capernaum to bee brought to the worlde of soules except you meane hell Doth your world of soules impugne the Church of Christ or destroy the fourth part of the earth or shall it be cast into the lake of fire And what victorie shal the iust haue against the world of soules in the last day since their owne soules reioice to receiue their bodies and against the soules of the wicked they neither may nor will insult It therefore remaineth that though HADES with the Septuagint signifie either BODILIE DEATH or HELL yet in the new Testament where HADES is described as a different thing from DEATH and following AFTER DEATH HADES of necessitie being NOT DEATH must needes import HELL Of the place in question Thou wilt not leaue my soule in HADES I will yet saie nothing but will come to the words of the Creede Christ descended to HADES and search what must be the meaning of HADES in that article What I take to be the meaning of Hades in the Creede where it is said Christ descended to HADES as also what reasons lead me thereunto thou hast Christan Reader in the former treatise thou shalt with more ease finde it there then I repeat it here howe much this Confuter confesseth or resisteth that must I now examine When I obiect that in a short sum of the Christian faith made for the simple and common people to repeate one thing twice were néedlesse and against the nature of the Creede and to vse a darke and hard phrase after a plaine and easie is vnreasonable and absurde he answereth It is true I hold it vnreasonable altogither in the short and vulgar Creed appointed euen for the common Christians to vse words darke and difficult And when the same thing is by diuers words expressed the later ought to be the lighter and cleerer Therefore I fullie grant in the Creede speciallie the phrase must be familiar triuiall easie and plaine I vrged thrée things to be obserued in the expounding the Creede the words to be proper and euident without figuratiue obscuritie the things to be different without idle repetition and the order to be consequent without anie confusion The Confuter agreeth with me in all these and he doubteth not but his exposition is such Since then there be three expositions of that article Christ descended to HADES that is either to the GRAVE or to HELL or to the VVORLDE OF SOVLES which in Christes case you saie was HEAVEN which of these thrée Sir Refuter commeth neerest to the nature of a short easie and orderlie summe of a Creede The first you like not because it expresseth that in darke and hard circumloquution which was familiarly and plainely said before he was dead and buried The question then resteth betweene the two last which of the twaine best expresseth the proper sense and vulgar vse of the worde HADES For the Apostles and Apostolike men you confesse did so write and speake as the people then might best vnderstand If it bee so then your exposition Sir Refuter is cleane thrust out of doores For neither with the auncient Maisters of the Gréeke tongue which were the Poets nor with the Septuagint nor with the writers of the newe Testament nor with the people of that time in their vnderstanding did HADES euer signifie the worlde of soules without anie limitation of state or place Againe that generall and indefinite worlde of soules without respect of hell or heauen is no point nor part of the Christian faith For faith touching Christ must not be generall or ambiguous but particular and certaine It is no faith much lesse an article of the faith to saie Christes soule after death went some whither the Creede muste specifie the place whither it went before it can bee a matter of faith that must bee beleeued And therefore HADES doeth point out the particular place as hell or heauen whither Christes soule went after death before any man may chalenge it to be the true meaning of that article If anie doe aske particularlie whither is this You aunswer namely into heauen for whither should the Saints go else This in déede is a familiar triuiall easie and plaine exposition Christs soule DESCENDED DOVVNE TO HADES that is it ASCENDED VP TO HEAVEN And so by taking heauen for hell and ascending vppe for descending downe you haue quickelie made an ende of this matter Whie then goe on with your wise Maister and make HADES which is the chiefe Diuell to bee God and you haue made a perfect exposition of the Creede fitte for such as attribute to Diuels what they shoulde attribute vnto GOD. Was this the plainest and easiest waie for the Apostolike men 〈◊〉 teach the people Christes soule ascended vppe to heauen by saying hee DESCENDED TO HADES And did the people so best vnderstande them You that expounde this by the cleane contrarie and saie they be best so vnderstoode no maruaile if you arrogate so much vnto your selfe in framing the Scriptures to your fansies you maie with little studie prooue a speedie expositour of the Scriptures But Sir wise men that regarde their faith more then your follyes will aske where you finde descending for ascending and Hades for heauen If you pretende Plato they will tell you that to embrace a priuate conceite of Socrates against all the former Greekes against the Septuagint against the Euangelists and Apostles and euidentlie against all the fathers is not to expounde an Article of the faith but the next waie to bring Paganisme into the Creede and that by so licentious and lewde a trade of open peruerting the wordes of the Creede and taking sowre for sweete colde for heate euill for good that nothing shall stande sounde if this bee admitted a It is you saie an Hebrewe phrase So Iacob spake I will goe downe mourning to my Sonne vnto Sheol yet Iacob thought not to goe to hell to his sonne but among the soules of the godlie deade that is to saie into heauen It hath beene meetelie well tolde you that Sheol neuer signifyeth Heauen in all the Scriptures but that Iacob meant hee would goe mourning
were inclosed in a place vnder the earth expecting Christs comming to bee carried vp to heauen of which I haue spoken as much as is néedfull in the treatise before yet they absolutelie acknowledge that Christ descending destroyed the kingdome of Satan and fréed all the faithfull from euer comming thither The rest of the Confuters talke is like y e froth of the sea which wind waues roll to and fro sometimes he runneth this way and then backe againe another way saying and vnsaying hee knoweth not how nor what Sometimes he saith the Creede and namely this article Christ descended to Hades could not bee made long after the Apostles time whereof Ignatius and others most ancient do speake In another place he saith We find almost all the Creedes certainlie the most ancientest and the best of them to want these wordes of Christs descending into hell In one place he saith The Creedes which we find in Ignatius Irenaeus Iustinus Martyr TertulliaÌ„ Origen Athanasius Augustinus the Nicene CoÌ„stantinopolitan Toletan Ephesine al these neuer thought that Christs going downe to hell was anie distinct or certaine Article of the Christian faith And yet before he confessed y â— Ignatius and others most auncient doe speake namelie of this Article But Sir haue these Creedes which here you cite all the rest of the Articles that are in the Apostles Creede I hope there want in some of them a good manie For these rehearsals in the eldest Fathers doe but touche some of the Articles of the Creede and shewe that there was such a compendious briefe of the Faith receiued amongst Christians from the beginning The Councels of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and others want euerie one of them sundrie Articles that are in the Apostles Creede and adde other that are not there so as in deede they are rather expositions then recitals of the Apostles Créed And yet I hope Athanasius creede hath this Article in precise wordes and rehearseth it as a part of the Catholike faith that Christ descended into Hell Neither is there anie one of these Fathers whome heere you haue named as Ignatius Irenaeus Iustinus Martyr Tertullian Origene Augustine but they expresselie touche and teache Christes locall descent to Hell as all the rest doe without exception And if Councels will content you you shall not goe farre for both Prouinciall and Generall The Councell of Alexandria that wrote to represse the heresie of Nestorius maketh the spoiling of hell a part of Christes resurrection and saieth Tertia Die reuixit expolians infernum Christ rose againe the thirde daie hauing spoyled hell This confession was read and allowed as Catholike in the first generall Councell of Ephesus in the great Councell of Chalcedon and in the fifth generall Councell of Constantinople So that fathers and Councels both decumenicall and prouinciall haue receiued and approoued this article euen from the foundation of Christs church as a part of Christes resurrection howsoeuer they did not alwayes annexe it to their Creedes With like follie and inconstancie he saith it is the naturall and necessarie deuision of the articles of the Creede that these Christ suffered was crucified dead buried descended into hell should concerne Christs humiliation and hee supposeth euerie sensible man will confesse so much whereas he himselfe expoundeth the last of them to haue this meaning that Christes soule ascended to heauen Now to ascend to heauen euery boy knoweth is a part of Christes exaltation and not of his humiliation Howe his note booke deuideth the Creede I know not but Saint Paule whence this diuision hath his ground saieth this is Christs exaltation that at the name of Iesus euerie knee should bow of things in heauen earth and vnder the earth which is hell His humiliation stretcheth no farther then the death of the Crosse then beginneth his exaltation With like discretion when I alledged the Parable from Christes owne mouth that his triumph ouer Satan must haue thrée parts the ouerrunning the binding the spoyling of Satan and his kingdome and further from that Parable I deriued nothing This wisdome to shew himselfe learned crieth out a fine toy or rather a shamefull gloze by vnsauorie allegorizing to corrupt the Text. Is this a good waie to prooue Articles of the fayth videlicet by Allegories As if the moste parte of Christes doctrine were not deliuered by Parables and Allegories The parables of the Sower of the labourers in the vineyard the husbandmen killing the heire of good trees straight gates of the lost sheepe vniust Steward and vnrighteous Iudge of Tares sowed by the enemie and haruest at the end of the world of the great Supper and wedding garment of the wounded Samaritane and wise virgins of the prodigall sonne and euill seruants one y t neglected his masters talent the other that imprisoned his fellow of the rich man Lazarus to be short the allegories of light of salt of leauen of chafâ—e of the vyne and branches of the good shepheard and a thousand such in the prophets Euangelists and Apostles do they teach no matters of faith What Buzzard was euer so blind as so to saie no points of faith maie be prooued by allegories Had I extended the Parable farder then Christ himselfe did or applied it to anie other purpose then he did there might haue beene some cause of quarrell but kéeping my selfe preciselie both to the Scope and words of our Sauiour I could not tread awrie But in a brauerie to chalenge all the Parables and allegories in the Scriptures as vnfitte to teach points of faith neuer came in anie sober mans head As you vse the Scriptures so you vse the Synode of this Realme that is you arrogantlie and absurdlie falsifie it The manifest meaning of the whole Synode of this Realme which is our publik doctrine and established by law in England APPARENTLY RENOVNCETH saie you this doctrine of Christs going downe to the hell of the damned If you prooue that you saie I must confesse it is verie materiall by Gods grace I my selfe will reuoke all that I haue said in this point but if you brag not onlie without cause but against the verie trueth and tenor of their proceedings are you not worthie in steede of H. I. to be named W. F but let vs heare how this appeareth Euen thus the Synode before holden in king Edwards time affirmed this doctrine directly and expresly in their article of Christs descent to hell This Synode comming after repeateth and ratisieth apart of that article in expresse words but part of it euen all and euerie whit that containeth this doctrine expreslie of Christs going downe to the hell of the damned all this I saie our Synode anno 1562 cutteth off it putteth out it casteth awaie The words are these of the former Synode Quemadmodum Christus pro nobis mortuus est sepultus ita est etiam credendus
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
obedient to the death euen to the death of the crosse By his humilitie obedience and charity hee purged the pride rebellion and selfe-loue which our first father shewed when he fell and we all expresse in our sinnes and therefore as wee all died in Adams transgression so we are all iustified that is absolued from our sinnes and receaued into fauour by the obedience of Christ. Yea the obedience of Christ did in farre higher degrée please God the Father then the rebellion of Adam did displease him For there the vassall rebelled here the equall obeied there earth presumed to be like vnto God here God vouchsafed to bee the lowest amongst men there the creature neglected his maker here the creator so loued his enemies euen his persecutors that hee tooke the burthen from their shoulders and laid it on his owne contentedly giuing his life for them who cruellie tooke his life from him to conclude those were the sinnes of men these are the vertues of God which doe infinitelie counteruaile the other and for that cause the iustice of God is farre better satisfied with the obedience of Christ then with the vengeance it might iustlie haue executed on the sinnes of men For God hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked neither doth hee delight in mans destruction but with the obedience of his sonne he is well pleased and therein euen his soule delighteth This is my beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased Loe my chosen my soule taketh pleasure in him In which words God doth not onlie note the naturall loue betwixt his sonne and himselfe but he giueth full approbation of his obedience as being thereby throughlie satisfied for the sinne of man By Christs obedience I doe not meane the holinesse of his life or performance of the lawe but the obedience of the person vnto death euen the death of the Crosse which was voluntarilie offered by him not necessarily imposed on him aboue and besides the lawe and no way required in the lawe For it could be no dutie to God or man but onelie mercie and pitie towardes vs that caused the sonne of God to take our mortall and weake flesh vnto him and therein and therby to pay the ransome of our sinnes and to purchase eternall life for vs. He must be a Sauiour no debter a redéemer no prisoner Lord of all euen when hee humbled himselfe to be the seruant of all his diuine glorie power and maiestie make his sufferings to be of infinite force and value And from this dignitie and vnitie of his person which is the maine pillar of our redemption if we cast our eies on any other cause or deuise any new help to strengthen the merits of Christ wee dishonour and disable his diuinitie as if the sonne of God were not a full and sufficient price to ransome the bodies and soules of all mankind On this foundation doe the scriptures build the whole frame of mans redemption GOD purchased his church saith Paule WITH HIS OVVNE BLOVD GOD noting the dignitie HIS OVVNE the vnitie of his person and both importing a price far worthier then the thing purchased God spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for vs all In that he was the sonne of God al nations are counted vnto him or in ballance with him lesse thē nothing and vanitie in that he was giuen for vs the ransome excelleth the prisoner as much as God doth man We are reconciled to God by the death of his sonne Maruell we to sée Christs death of that power price with God that it appeased his wrath when he was angrie with vs as with his enemies when as his owne son being equall with him in the forme of God humbled himselfe to the death of the crosse for our sakes Fairer or fuller causes of our redemption we neede not aske the holie Ghost doth not expresse God cannot haue If the son of God be not able with his bloud to redeeme vs wee must giue ouer all hope and despaire For heauen cannot yéeld vs a greater value and the earth hath none like Wherfore if any man be disposed to seale his own condemnation with his own heart let him distrust the merits of Christs death but all that will be saued must acknowledge the infinite price of his death and bloud aboue our worth and we must learne being sinfull and wretched creatures not to amend the wordes of God in the mysterie of our redemption but suffer him that is trueth to be the guider of our faith and not by figures to frustrate all that is written in the word of God touching our saluation purchased by the death and bloud of Christ Iesus I am not the first that obserued or vrged this doctrine it is auncient and Catholike Cum super omnes esset Dei verbum merito suum ipsius templum corporale instrumentum pro omniū ammis pretium offerens id quod morti debebatur persoluit Where as the word or sonne of God saith Athanasius was aboue al worthily then by offering his owne temple bodily instrument as a price for the soules of all men did he pay that was due vnto death Cyril Si non esset deus quomodo ipse solus sufficeret ad hoc vt sit pretiū Sed sufficit solus pro omnibus mortuus quia super omnes est deus igitur est morte suae carnis à mundo mortē depellens If Christ were not God how could he alone suffice to be the ransome for al but he alone dead sufficeth for all because he is aboue all he is therefore God by the death of his flesh driuing away death from the worlde And againe Redempti sumus Christo proprium corpus dante pro nobis Sed si vt communis homo intelligeretur Christus quomodo corpus eius ad rependendum omnium vitam sufficeret At si deus fuit in carne qui dignissimus sufficiens ad redemptionem totius mundi per suum sanguinē merito fuit We are redeemed Christ giuing his own body for vs. But if Christ be taken to be no more then a man how should his body be sufficient to restore life to al men but if he were God in our flesh worthily thē did he suffice to redeem the whole world with his bloud Austen Si propter hominē mortuus est deus nō est victurus homo cum deo quomodo mortuus est deus accepit ex te vnde moreretur pro te nōposset mori nisi caro nōposset mori nisi mortale corpus If god died for mā shall not mā liue with god but how died god he took of thine wherin to die for thee There could nothing die but flesh there could die nothing but a mortal body And elsewhere an anciēt writer vnder his name if not himselfe Indubitanter credamus quod totum mundum redemit qui plus dedit quā totus mundus valeret