on his owne shoulders yea the Lorde Laid vpon him the iniquity of vs all but when it came to light vpon him the verie iustice of God found great difference betwixt his person and ours and so great that what should haue condemned vs bodie and soule for euer that could take no hold on him but so far forth as he did voluntarilie yeeld himselfe to bee obedient vnto the death of the crosse and in our flesh to quench the curse of the lawe pronounced againsâ— our sinnes insomuch that neither sinne nor death were able to sease on his bodie till he did of his owne accord resigne it into their handes If we thinke it strange to sée so much difference betwixt him and vs we must remember wee were sinnefull he was innocent we were defiled hee was holie we were hatefull he was beloued we were the seruants of sinne and enemies vnto God he was the Lord of life and of glorie we were seuered and estranged from God both in bodie and soule his verie flesh was personallie vnited and inseparablie ioined vnto God besides that himselfe was the true and euerliuing sonne of God What maruell then if sinne which should haue wrought in vs an eternall destruction both of body and soule could not farther preuaile in him but to the wounding of his flesh and shedding of his bloud for the iust and full satisfaction of all our sinnes euen in the righteous and sincere iudgement of God Though therefore THE SAME PART might and did suffer in Christ which sinned in man I meane the soule yet by no meanes could it receaue THE SAME WAGES which we should haue receiued And since hell is the greatest vengeance that God inflicteth for sinne if Christes soule were frée from anie it must néedes be cléered and acquited from that which is greatest and most repugnant to the fulnesse of grace truth and spirit that dwell in the humane soule of Christ but hereof I shall haue occasion to speake afterward againe The signes that Christ suffered the paines of hell are left and those are his agonie in the garden and his complaint on the crosse that he was forsaken Of Christs agonie since the scriptures haue nor reuealed the right cause it is cut losâ—tie to examen presumption to determine impossibilitie to conclude certainelie what was the true cause thereof Howbeit if we will néedes coniecture at causes wee must take héede that with our obscure and priuate guesses we do not contradict such plaine and euident places as testifie the perfection and coniunction of Christs humane nature with this diuine and so wrong the person of our Sauiour This rule remembred though I bee most willing to refraine the searching of that which is concealed from vs yet since they make this the most aduantage of their cause that there caÌ„not be anie other reason assigned of Christes sorrow besides his suffering the paines of hell I will let you vnderstand how manie there might be besides that which they bringâ— and that theirs of all others is least probable if not altogether intolerable I will offer you sixe causes that might be of Christs agonie euerie one of them more likelie and more godlie then this deuise of hell paines others at their leasures maie thinke on moe which I shall be content to heare Those sixe are these Christs SVBMISSION to the maiestie of God sitting in iudgement The REIECTION of the Iewes The DISPERSION of his Church The LAMENTATION of mans sinne The DEPRECATION of Gods wrath The VOLVNTARY DEDICATION of his bloud to be shed for the sinnes of the world and sanctificatioÌ„ of his person to offer his true eternal sacrifice So great is the MAIESTY OF GOD euerie where and at all times but speciallie sitting in iudgment and so farre excelling the capacitie of all his creatures that no flesh lining is able to appeare before him without feare and trembling The day of the Lord whensoeuer hee riseth to iudge is great and fearefull and who shall indure it When God gaue his lawe which was but the rule of his iudgement so terrible was the sight that Moses said I feare and tremble My flesh saith Dauid to God trembleth for feare of thee and I am afraide of thy iudgements Since then it is a point not onelie confessed but vrged by the defenders of this new deuise that Christ appeared here before the tribunall of God to submit himselfe to his fathers pleasure and the wordes of Christ in that twelfth of Iohn tend to that effect where he saith Nowe euen at hand is the iudgement of the world Now euen shortlie shall the prince of this world be cast out and if I were lift vp from the earth I will draw all vnto me whie might not the humane nature of Christ tremble before the maiestie of that iudge whose glorie the Seraphins in heauen doe not behold without yealing their faces whereby Christ teacheth vs not to presse into Gods presence whiles wee are loden with sin but in much feare and trembling since he would not appeare before God to take our sinnes on him but in this agonie The REIECTION OF THE IEWES might be another cause of his agonie He wept ouer their cittie when he beheld it and remembred the subuersion of it how woulde he then be grieued when he foresawe the finall reiection of y e whole nation and his bloud to be laid on them and their children for euer for their sakes Moses desired To bee wiped out of Gods booke and Paule could haue wished himselfe to be separated from Christ for his brethren the Israelites If the seruants of Christ had so great heauinesse and sorrow in their hearts for their kinsmen according to the flesh what agonie must it néedes bréede in their king and Messias in whome were the bowels of mercie and pittie to sée the wicked rage of the people kindling Gods fearefull vengeance against themselues and their ofspring by putting him to a most cruell and shamefull death that came to redéeme them from sin and death This cause is obserued by Ambrose Hierom Augustine and Bede Nec illud distat à vero si tristis erat pro persecutoribus neither is that dissonant from truth saith Ambrose if he were heauy in soule for his persecutors whom hee knewe should dearelie pay for their sacrilegious putting him to death Hee was not then afraide to die but hee was loath to haue them though they were euill to perish least his passion should bee their destruction which hee meant for the saluation of all Christs soule was not heauie saith Ierom and Bede for any feare of his passioÌ„ but for that most vnhappy Iudas for the scandall of all his Apostles for the reiection of the Iewes and subuersion of wretched Ierusalem And Austen If wee saie the Lorde was sorrowfull for the Iewes when his passion drewe neere where they would commit so haynous a sinne non incongruè
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
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
power and steadfast fauour of God for their perpetuall defence and eternall recompence So that in all thinges wee are more then conquerours through him that loued vs and gaue himselfe for vs who will tread downe Satan vnder our feete that God may bee all in all Uerie mightie then is the power of Christes death by whose BLOVD the Saintes OVER COME the greate Dragon that olde Serpent called the Diuell and his ouerthrow prooueth all the enemies of mans saluation to bee vanquished and impediments remooued since he was the first perswader and procurer and is the Prince and ruler of them all We haue seene the power of Christs death in subduing sin and Satan as likewise in ending abolishing the curse of the lawe which obliged man for his vncleannesse and vnrighteousnesse to euerlasting condemnation and find that hee which bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree did in that mortall part which hee tooke of vs crucifie as well the flesh and sinne of man as the curse and death that raigned ouer man and so much hee performed in the bodie of his flesh through death by which hee reconciled vs vnto God to make vs holie and blamelesse in his sight let vs nowe see whether the death of the spirite and the curse of the soule will anie thing helpe the woorke of our redemption or whether the death of Christes bodie doe not more fullie demonstrate the mercies of God and merits of Christ then if the paines of hell had beene ioyned with it And where some men thinke it woulde much commende the TRVTH POVVER and IVSTICE of God and more amplie declare the OBEDIENCE PATIENCE and LOVE of Christ if hee refused not the verie torments of hell for our sakes shunning no part of the burthen that pressed vs I must confesse I am rather of a contrarie minde that the bodilie death of Christ on the crosse doth more plainlie expresse the vertues of God and Christ his sonne then if the terror and horror of hell were therewith coupled And first for the TRVTH of god his threatning Adam in this wise Thou shalt die the death or thou shalt certainely die was truelie performed in the bodie of Christ in the soule of Christ it could not without sinne or damnation neither of which with anie truth can be ascribed vnto Christ. That the mouth of God lied or the soule of Christ died is a choâ—se so hard that I wish all men that haue anie care of Christian religion to refraine either Next touching the POVVER of God the weaker the instrument which God vseth to ouerthrowe his enemies the greater is both his glory and their shame Then for flesh which was the feeblest part of Christ after it was deade and voide of all hope in shew to rise againe into a blessed and heauenlie life and to foile both death and Satan by recouering it selfe into the full possession and all his members into the ioyfull expectation of euerlasting glorie was farre a mightier conquest then for his soule with much adoe at length to escape and resist the assaultes of hell From the depth of hell here on earth manie sinnefull soules haue by grace struggeled and cléered themselues from the graue neuer rose none into an immortall incorruptible life before the flesh of Christ. Déeper in desperation and al other temptations of hel haue others been that yet were saued then anie man dare affirme of Christ déeper in death without corruption then the bodie of Christ neuer was nor euer shall be anie of the sonnes of men It was therefore an harder thing for the bodie of Christ past all sense to rise from death to immortalitie then for his soule voide of sinne and full of grace to repell the force of Satan and yet to repell it sheweth greater power then to suffer it to conquere it sheweth greatest of all But to beare the burden of Gods wrath due to our sinnes and to frée vs from it néeded greater strength they will saie then Christes flesh could haue To support and auert Gods iust indignation from vs the humane bodie or soule of Christ of themselues were not able but the DIGNITIE and VNITIE of his person must be placed in the gap to quench the flame of Gods iust vengeaÌ„ce against our sinnes which was euerlasting destruction both of bodie and soule yet for so much as the sincerity and sanctitie of Christes soule personallie ioyned quickened and blessed with the perpetual vnion communion and fruition of his deitie could feele no want of grace no lacke of spirit no losse of fauour with God in which thinges consist the inwarde death and curse of the soule the wrath of God was executed on the flesh of his sonne which hee tooke of purpose from Adam that the rein he might beare the sinne and curse of Adam and so by his death might satisfie the sentence and pacifie the displeasure of God against our vnrighteousnesse And this is more agréeable to Gods iustice then if Christs soule had suffered the death and curse of the soule For to take life from the soule must be Gods proper and peculiar action No creature can giue the grace or spirit of God to the soule of man which is the life of the soule but onelie God Therefore no creature can take it from the soule but God alone that GIVETH it must TAKE IT AVVAY Since then Christ might suffer nothing iustlie but as the iust for the vniust that is willinglie but vniustlie his death must come by the handes of the wicked who might wrongfullie take his life from him but not touch his soule and not by the immediate hande of GOD who will doe no wrong and can kill the soule I haue sinned saith Iudas in betraying the INNOCENT bloud You denied the HOLIE AND IVST and killed the Lorde of life saith Peter to the Iewes warning them howe great a sinne they had committed in putting Christ to death If hee were an INNOCENT and deserued no punishment if hee were HOLIE and IVST and could not bee persecuted or put to death without haynous impietie and iniurie wee may doe well to remember that the death of his soule had beene a farre greater wrong then the death of his bodie was And therefore if the iustice of God would not farther interpose it selfe in killing his bodie then by deliuering him into the handes of the wicked permitting them to shed his blond which hee woulde accept for the sinnes of the worlde much lesse woulde God with his owne mouth accurse or with his owne hande slea the soule of his sonne whome hee sent to restore and quicken those that were accursed and dead in their sinnes Againe corporallie or temporallie God punisheth one for anothers fault bicause he can recompence them eternally that thereby repent and turne from their sinnes but eternally or spiritually he punisheth no man but for his owne vncleannes either naturally sticking in him or
other manner of purchases then the due paiment of mans debt Howe coulde that bee due vnto the lawe which ouerthrew the law Sinners such as we are were to die by the lawe but that the sonne of God should die for vs what lawe did or coulde require that at his handes you shall doe well therefore to leaue these â—angerous discourses and learne to saie with the scripture and fathers that loue not lawe desire not debt mercy not necessity brought the sonne of God from his throne in heauen to his crosse on earth Such was the sentence of the lawe you will saie that without death he could not redeeme vs. Naie such was his loue you should saie that euen with his death hee would redeeme vs. Cum posset nobis etiam non moriendo succurrere subuenire tamen moriendo hominibus voluit quia nos videlicet minus amasset nisi vulnera nostra susciperet nec vim suae dilectionis nobis ostenderet nisi hoc quod a nobis tolleret ad tempus ipse sustineret Passibiles quippe mortalesque nos reperit qui nos existere fecit ex nihilo reuocare etiam sine sua morte potuit à passione Sed vt quanta esset virtus Compassionis ostenderet fieri pro nobis dignatus est quod esse nos voluit vt in semetipso temporaliter mortem susciperet quam á nobis in perpetuum fugaret Christ when he might haue succoured vs without dying woulde rather helpe man by dying saieth Gregorie because he had loued vs lesse if he had not taken to himselfe our woundes neither had hee shewed vs the strength of his loue vnlesse hee had for a tyme sustayned that from which he deliuered vs. Hee founde vs miserable and mortall yet hee that made vs of nothing might haue recalled vs from our miserie without his owne death But that hee might declare howe greate the vertue of Compassion is hee vouchsafed to bee that which hee appointed vs to bee that receauing a temporall death in himselfe hee might chase it from vs for euer Those saieth Austen that aske did GOD so want meanes to deliuer men from the miserie of this mortalitie that hee woulde haue his onelie begotten sonne to bee made a mortall man and to suffer death It is not enough so to refute that wee shewe this waie to be good and agreeable to the diuine excellencie whereby God vouchsafed to deliuer vs by the Mediatour of God and man Christ Iesus verum etiam vt ostendamus NON ALIVM MODVM POSSIBILEM DEO DEFVISSE cuius potestati cuncta aequaliter sub iacent sed sanandae nostrae miseriae conuenientiorem alium modum non fuisse nec esse oportuisse but also that wee shewe God VVANTED NOT OTHER MEANES to whose power all thinges are subiect but that neither there was nor coulde bee a more conuenient way to heale our misery For what was so needefull to raise vp our hope and to free mens mindes from despairing immortalitie being alreadie deiected by the condition of their mortalitie as to make euident shewe vnto vs how much God esteemed vs and how much hee loued vs whereof what plainer or perfiter proofe could be made then that the sonne of God remaining that he was would take from vs for vs that which he was not and vouchsafe to be amongst vs and first without anie deserte of his to beare our miseries and vpon vs then beleeuing how greatly God loued vs and hoping where afore wee despaired to bestowe without all merit of ours yea when wee deserued euill at his handes the giftes of his grace with bounty no way prouoked by vs. And so Ambrose By one mans death the world was redeemed Christ might if hee woulde haue refrained from death but hee neither refused death as vnprofitable neither could he haue saued vs any better waie then by dying So that no legall necessitie much lesse Iudiciall seueritie brought Christ to his Crosse but to teach vs obedience to God by his example to demonstrato his loue to vs by refusing nothing for our sakes and to declare his owne power whose weakenesse was stronger then all his and our enemies and to strengthen our patience and giue vs comfort in all the troubles of this life he chose the paynefull and shamefull death of the Crosse and there shewed so perfitte a patterne of obedience innocence patience that the Angels themselues did admire it So farre you make Christ suertie for vs that in taking our person on him hee became by our sinne sinnefull defiled hatefull and accoursed Similitudes if you sucke nothing from them but that which is agreeable to y e truth in teaching may be tolerated in concluding they wil halt That Christ is a suerty we find it once mentioned in the scriptures but not to y e law to pay our debtes but of a better testament euen of the new couenant of grace established in his bloud wherof he is also the mediator priest Now he died for vs not as a suerty bound to y e law but as a mediator to God for vs he interposed himself of his own accord to yeeld such recompence vnto his father as hee should be pleased to accept for vs. If you wil needs vse similitudes vse rather the similitude of a mediator and Redeemer which the scriptures often call him then of a suerty therby to bind him not onely to suffer the paines of hell in our stéede but also to defile him with our sinnes and make him hatefull to God by our curse No similitudes can prooue Christ in taking our person on him to be SINNEFVLL DEFILED HATEFVL and ACCVRSED and therfore your vncleane mouth and vncleaner heart that thus speake and thinke of the sonne of God are worthier of castigation then of refutation I know you will pretend the Apostles wordes God made him sinne for vs that knewe no sinne but howsoeuer some late writers turne sinne into sinner and thence giue cause of these and the like speaches the church of God from the beginning hath warilie declined such irreuerent wordes and yet plainelie confesse the truth That God MADE HIM SINNE hath two good and approoued senses one that he made him a sacrifice for sinne and so the clenser of sinne and no waie defiled by our sinne the other that he punished our sinnes in him and vsed him as hee doth sinners They that know saith Austen the scriptures of the olde testament acknowledge this that I saie Not once but often and verie often it is found Sacrifices for sinnes are called sinnes Then him that knewe no sinne God made sinne for vs that is a sacrifice for sinne Christ was made sinne in that he was offered to abolish sinne And againe peccatum vocabatur in lege sacrificium pro peccato assidue lex hoc commemorat non semel non iterum sed saepissime Tale peccatum erat Christus Peccatum non habebat peccatum erat peccatum erat
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
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
THE LAVV to do theÌ„ the remitting of sinne is the releasing of the curse that is consequent to sinne The curse importeth vengeance due to sinne Then where sinne is pardoned the curse is determined But wee haue redemption euen remission of sinnes through his bloud Ergo the bloud of Christ doth quench the curse of the law The maner how the curse of the law lighted seased on the person of Christ is thus expressed by S. Paule Christ redeemed vs from the curse of the lawe being made a curse for vs. For it is written accursed is euery one that hangeth on the tree As by his stripes we are healed so by his curse we are blessed In as much as he submitted himselfe to the curse of the law for our sinnes not only our transgressions are pardoned for which Christ suffered but the law stinging him to death lost his force for euer For the vengeance of the law once executed on our suertie can no more in Gods iustice be exacted of vs. But Christ receiued the sentence of the lawe in himselfe when he bare our sinnes in his bodie on the tree wee therefore are quited for euer from the power of the lawe Since then by his receiuing and suffering the curse of the lawe in his owne person wee are fréed and blessed it remaineth wee search howe farre the curse preuailed against him Wherein we must take héede that wee slep not an hayres breadth from the Apostles words For if we stretch the curse farther on Christ then in truth it did or coulde take place wee arrogantlie and impiouslie pronounce that cursed which indeede was blessed and falsifie the promise of God made to Abraham that in his seede which was Christ All the nations of the earth should be blessed For howe could the blessing of Abraham be deriued from Christ to vs if euerie part of his humane nature were accursed Wherefore Christ must receiue the curse of the lawe in one part of himselfe which was his flesh and in the other which was his soule retaine the blessing of God as well for his flesh to bee raised againe as for his members to bee vnited vnto him If this bee not the doctrine of the holie Ghost I vrge no man to beléeue it if it bee let such as will wante GODS curse beware howe they refuse it It is no small aduenture to extende the curse of God vpon the soule of Christ Iesus without cléere sound and sure testimonie of the holie scriptures To shew that Christ sustained the curse of the lawe and by his enduring it acquited vs Saint Paul in effect vseth this reason CVRSED saieth Moses is euerie one that is hanged on the tree But Christ was content for our sinnes to be hanged on the tree of the crosse He therfore submitted himselfe to the curse of the law to redeeme vs from it That this is Saint Paules argument the thirde to the Galathians to proue Christ vnder the curse of the lawe I hope the simplest amongst you will soone perceiue the learnedest dare not denie By which it is euident that part of Christ which hung on the crosse was subiected to the curse but the soule of Christ was not crucified Ergo the soule of Christ was not made a curse but onelie his bodie And by suffering this curse that is by hanging on the tree hee redéemed vs from the curse of the lawe which wee had deserued both in bodie and soule Which of these thinges canne we contradict Shall wee saie the Apostle mist his marke in that hee cleareth vs from the spirituall and perpetuall curse of the lawe by Christes suffering a corporall and temporall parte thereof or shall wee chalenge him to be so simple that he knew not the difference betwixt the one the other I am far from any such thought I loue to follow and not to leade the holie ghost In matters of so great depth I dare not wade without or before my guide That Christ died hanging on a tree the Euangelistes are plaine That hanging on a tree is a cursed kinde of death in the lawe of Moses is as manifest That by hanging on the tree hee wâ—s made a curse for vs and thereby redeemed vs from the curse of the lawe the Apostle is resolute If anie man will offer farther I must leaue him To fasten the internall or eternall curse of the lawe on the soule of Christ is to my vnderstanding verie desperate diuinitie For men might naile his bodie to the trâ—e as did the Iewes but none coulde inflict the curse on his soule but onelie God Since then the innocencie obedience patience humilitie and sanctitie of his soule were so perfect euen in the sight of God that it could not â—ustlie be but blessed howe shoulde the righteousnesse of God immediatelie and vniustlie laie the curse which bringeth inwarde and euerlasting death on the soule of Christ Againe God spirituallie curseth none but whome hee first deseruedlie hateth as all vncleane and wicked persons If then the soule of Christ could not worthilie be hated of God it coulde not truelie bee cursed of God for the hatred and curse of God cannot bee seuered This doctrine is ancient and catholicke Saint Austen ripping this matter to the quicke saieth Securus Apostolus ait de Christo factus est pro nobis maledictum sicut non timuit dicâ—re pro omnibus mortuus est hoc est enim mortuus quod maledictus quoniam mors ipsa ex maledicto est maledictum est omne peccatum siue ipsum quod fit vt sequatur supplicium siue ipsum supplicium quod alio modo vocatur peccatum quia fit exâ— peccato Suscepit autemâ— Christus sine reatu supplicium nostrum vt inde solueret reatum nostrum finiret etiam supplicium nostrum Securely the Apostle saieth of Christ that he was made a curse for vs euen as he feared not to say Christ DIED FOR ALL. For HEE DIED IS ALL ONE VVITH HE VVAS ACCVRSED BECAVSE DEATH CAME FROM THE CVRSE and all sinne is accursed as well that which is committed and deserueth punishment as THE PVNISHMENT IT SELFE which in a sort is called sinne because it is consequent to sinne Nowe Christ bare our punishment without any desert that thereby hee might acquite our guiltinesse and ende our punishment And againe Maledictus omnis qui pendet in ligno non hic aut ille sed omnis omnino Etiamne filius dei etiam prorsus DISPLICET VOBIS MALEDICTVS PRO NOBIS QVIA DISPLICET MORTVVS PRO NOBIS Tune extra maledictum illius Adam si extra illius mortem Cum vero ex homine pro homine mortem suscepit ex illo pro illo etiam maledictum quod mortem comitatur suscipere non dedignatus est etiam ille prorsus etiam ille filius Dei semper viâ—â—s in sua iustitia mortuus autem propter delicta nostra in carne suscepta
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
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
If he were not drawne against his will hee consented to come both which are absurd to beleeue of so iust a person And this is the sleight of Satan that to deceiue the more hee maketh as if the iust were in his hands The storie doth describe the mind of Saul and the shew of Samuel expressing what was seene and said but pretermitting how true or false either was For what saith it Saul hearing in what habite the spirite was raised vnderstoode it to be Samuel It reporteth what Saul conceiued and because hee conceiued amisse hee adored another then God against the scripture and thinking it to bee Samuel worshipped the Diuell that Satan might reape the fruite of his fallacie For if Samuel had indeede appeared vnto him the iust person woulde neuer haue suffered himselfe to bee worshipped which preached God alone to be worshipped And how did the man of god that was with Abraham in rest say to that pestilent man worthie of hell fire to morrowe thou shalt bee with me By these two wayes Satan afore he was ware betraied his fraudulent subtiltie because he suffered himselfe to be worshipped vnder the habite and name of Samuel against Gods lawe and lied that Saul loden with sinne should after death be with righteous Samuel whereas there is a great distance betwixt the iust and vniust after this life and Saul went hence to him whom he worshipped If the fathers so much varie and dissent from themselues and from others whie do I presse their testimonie touching Christs descent to hell I presse them no further then they accord with the words of the scripture and with the grounds of faith wherein they all concurre with one consent When they swarue aside or part asunder I dissemble it not wishing the reader as not to regarde their priuate opinions without good proofe so not to reiect their general confession in matters of faith agreeing with the scriptures without better demonstration then I yet sée made for the contrarie That the diuell was destroied and man deliuered by Christes death from the feare of death is no supposall of mine or theirs but the manifest conclusion of the holy ghost That Christ in his owne person spoiled powers and principalities and openly triumphed ouer them that death and hell might bee swallowed vp in victorie is not mans imagination but the Apostles resolution That Christs soule was in hell and there not forsaken if Dauids prediction and Peters application were not plaine inough S. Lukes interpretation is so pregnant that without wrong to the word it can not bee pared Lay these togither and sée what they lacke of Christs soule descending into hell His being there must néeds inferre his descending thither And yet least some scrupulous person should stick at the phrase of Christs DESCENDING INTO HEL I think S. Paul hath words equiualent to them Ascending on high he led captiuitie captiue That he ascended what is it but that he FIRST DESCENDED into the lower partes of the earth He that descended is euen the same that ascended aboue al the heauens that he might fil al. If hell be any where there can be no doubt but it must be in the lower parts of the earth From the earth vpward is heauen where hell can not be Christ then DESCENDED into the lower partes of the earth and thence ledde captiuitie captiue that hee might fill all places with his presence Christs sepulchre was in the higher parts of the earth hewen out in a rock and thence he might lead the death of the bodie captiue but not the diuell that was ruler ouer death and had a chalenge to the soules of men that came not neare their graues Since then ascending from the lower parts of the earth he lead captiue all y e powers that held man in bondage and those chiefelie were the powers of hell which had interest into the soule of man by reason of sinne it must needes bee that Christ descended to those partes of the earth where mans captiuitie was strongest which is in hell and thence fréed him by his presence and led those captiues that ruled ouer him as conquerour of all the power of the deuill and darkenesse whose prisoner man was before hee was redeemed Againe hee first descended to the lowest and then ascended to the highest that he might fill all places with his presence If hee descended not to hell howe filled hee that place where hee neuer was except with the brightnesse of his diuine glorie which is euerie where present without descending or ascending But the Apostle saith he descended to the lowest and ascended to the highest that he might fill all places with the presence of his manhoode all knees in heauen earth and hell bowing vnto the exaltation of his humane nature And if the lower partes of the earth whither Christ descended to leade captiuitie captiue bee not lowe enough to shewe the scituation of hell Saint Paul hath plainer wordes of Christes descending as lowe as might bee when he writeth to the Romanes in this wise Say not in thine heart who shall ascende into heauen that is to bring Christ downe from aboue or who shal DESCEND INTO THE DEEPE that is to bring Christ backe from the deade Christ dying DESCENDED INTO THE DEEPE as rising from the deade hee ascended into heauen Nowe the deepe is so lowe that no place canne be lower yea hell it selfe and the prison of Diuels is knowne by that name in the newe Testament When the spirits that possessed the mad man amongst the Gadarens were to bee cast out by Christ they besought him that hee would not commaund them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to departe into the deepe In the Reuelation of Saint Iohn hell is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pit of the deepe and the Diuell is there named the Angell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the deepe yea the verie place where the Diuell is shut vp is expressed by that word I sawe an Angell saith Saint Iohn come downe from heauen hauing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the key of the deepe and a great chaine in his hand And he took the dragon that olde serpent which is called the diuell and bounde him and cast him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the deep shut him vp If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be a bottomles deep then which can nothing be déeper if in the scriptures it properly signifie the verie dungeon of hel where the diuels are kept the Apostle then auouching that Christ when hee died DESCENDED 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 INTO THE BOTTOMLES DEEP doth cléerely confirme that he descended into hell As therefore if we aske who can descend into the deep or ascend into heauen we reuerse Christs being among the dead and his sitting at the right hand of God in the heauens so if wee confesse thē both to be verified in Christ but in Christ they neuer were nor euer
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
suffered it was ours not his owne that is for our sakes and for our Sinnes This the Prophet in the words following confirmeth He was wounded for our transgressions He was bruized for our iniquities The next is he sustained our sorrowes that is such weaknes faintnes wearines as are incident to our nature and that the Prophet confesseth in the words before He is a man full of sorrowes and hath experience of infirmities euen of such as naturallie offend afflict vs. But when the scripture faileth you you flie to similitudes of your owne making and where Paule saith Christ gaue himselfe a ransome for all you saie the Scripture speaking heere after the common vse and custome of redeeming captiues taken in warre doth meane that Christ paid for vs THE SAME PRICE which else wee should haue paid First whoe told you that the Scripture speaketh here after the common vse of Enimies since in our Saluation the sonne of God interposed himselfe as a mediator with his father to answere what the iustice of God would require at the hands of his sonne for the pardoning of a seruant that had offended You and your friends cannot abide to heare that the enimie who had vs in captiuitie should haue any price for our deliuerance you condemne that as a Manicheisme and doe you nowe for an aduantage vrge that the enemie must haue a price for his captiue Secondlie the price that wee shoulde haue paide was eternall condemnation of bodie and soule into hell fire If Christ paide the same looke wel least with séeking helpe from an enemie you light not on open blasphemie Lastlie to ioyne with you in your owne similitude is it not the common vse in warres to redeeme captiuitie with monie The Captiue himselfe is tyed to perpetuall imprisonment or seruitude hee that will ransome a prisoner is not bounde to bee a Prisoner himselfe but to yéelde such recompence in money or otherwise as the conquerour shall demaunde So that euen by your owne comparison it is euident the sonne of GOD in redeeming vs was not tied to our captiuitie but might yeelde his Father a greater recompence for our absolution then our condemnation woulde haue amounted vnto Your seconde speciall follie Sir Confuter is grounded vpon the wordes of Saint Paule Christ redeemed vs from the curse of the Lawe beeing made a curse for vs. Whence you reason It is vaine and senselesse to thinke that the Apostle speaketh here of two seueral kindes of curses And if Christ sustained anie curse for vs what curse could it be not the curse of the lawe or what was it not the curse of God If you aske to learne you may bee soone taught If you aske to brag you maie be soone cooled The curse of God vpon the sinne of man proceedeth from the wrath of God against the sinne of man howbeit God curseth not onelie sinners but other his creatures with whom he is not angrie but only because they shoulde not serue the pride and lustes of the wicked When Adam transgressed God cursed the earth for his sinne in saying Cursed is the earth for thy sake thornes and thistles shall it bring thee For not onelie the soules and bodies of the wicked are cursed and consumed with plagues resting in them and on them but all that they take in hand and all that belongth to them is accursed like wise If thou wilt not saieth Moses obey the voice of the Lorde thy God to doe all his commaundementes then all these curses shall come vpon thee and ouertake thee Cursed shall thy basket bee and thy store Cursed shall bee the fruite of thy bodie and the fruite of thy lande the increase of thy kine and the flockes of thy sheepe The Lorde will sende vpon thee cursing in all that which thou settest thine hande to doe vntill thou bee destroyed and perish because of the wickednesse of thy workes The rest of GODS curses there numbred vnto the ende of that Chapter and laide vpon bodie and soule wife and children goods and landes life and death of such as transgresse peruse gentle Reader at thy leâ—â—ure and thou shalt easilie see how farre the curse of GOD in this life pursueth sinners besides the horrible tormentes of the nexte life kept in store for them So that as I did in the wrath of God I must in the curse of God aske you Sir Confuter whether you meane that Christ suffered for vs the whole curse of the lawe or parte thereof if you aunswere the whole looke in that place which I now cited how manie kinds of curses there be reckned which neuer touched our Sauiour besides the graunde curse which closeth vp all and continueth for euer Depart from me ye CVRSED into euerlasting fire If you saie a parte then proue you nothing with your hot and sharpe spurres as you thinke when you saie what curse could it be not the curse of the law or what else not the curse of God Christ suffered a parte of that curse which God by his owne mouth laid on Adam and all his posteritie for sinne By one man sinne entred into the worlde saieth Paul and by sinne death hee also suffered other partes of the curse which GOD by his lawe threatned vnto sinners to wit shame and TROVBLE VVRONG and VIOLENCE CAPTIVITY and MISERY THIRST and NAKEDNES GRIEFE and PAYNE of bodie and minde Besides the verie kinde of death to which he submitted himselfe was accursed by speciall words in the law accursed is euery one that hangeth on the Tree Now to verifie the words of S. Paul that Christ redeemed vs from the curse of the law due to our sinnes being made a curse for vs it sufficeth that the sonne of God being equall with his Father in glorie and maiestie vouchsafed to vndergoe not all the partes of our curse but some partes thereof Gods euerlasting curse which is most due to sinne I hope you will free him from Gods spirituall curse by which he depriueth the wicked of his trueth of his grace and other giftes of his spirite you must likewise cleare the sonne of GOD from Hee cannot be subiected to that parte of Gods curse without apparant impietie Take from him trueth you make him a lyar take from him grace you charge him with a reprobate minde take from him the Spirit of GOD you giue place to Satan to worke in him as in the children of vnbeliefe I trust Sir Refuter you bee neither so wicked as to thinke neither so desperate as to defend that the sonne of God might suffer any of these curses Then haue you boldelie but falsely and lewdly concluded out of S. Paul that he putteth a part of the iust curse of the lawe thereby meaning the whole Are you so well acquainted with Saint Paules minde that of your owne heade to vphold your humorous fansie you will vrge his meaning without his wordes to support a manifest falsitie
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
Saint Austens assertion which I cited before standeth good that because the death of the bodie was a part of the curse inflicted vpon Adams sinne Christ vndertaking that part of the curse for vs that is dying in his bodie loosed vs from the whole curse of the lawe Against Chrysostomes iudgement that not onelie death but the very kind of death which Christ died was accursed by the very words of the lawe saying accursed is hee that hangeth on a tree you replie Not euery one that is hanged is cursed for manie innocents and martyrs are hanged who are most blessed but euerie one that is iustlie hanged is accursed and so was Christ here condenmed by the iust sentence of the lawe to paie his debts for whome hee had willinglie and aduisedlie vndertaken And so indeede he bare the true curse of the lawe Chrysostoms iudgement is as I reported it Crux signum erat mortis maledictae mortis omnium diffamatissimae Hoc enim soluÌ„ mortis genus maledictioni erat obnoxium The crosse was a signe of a cursed death of a death most infamous This onelie kinde of death was subiected to the curse And againe Non quaeuis mors isti similis est ista namque omnium videbatur esse probrosissima ista plena dedecore ista maledicta Propterea Iudaei satagebant eum ista morte interimere vt sinemo abstineret ab eo quod esset occisus abstineret tamen vel ideo quod hoc pacto esset occisus Not euerie death was like to this This seemed most reprochfull most shamefull and accursed Therefore the Iewes laboured to put him to this kind of death that if no man would refuse him because he was killed at least yet they should forsake him for that he died this vild kinde of death The kinde of death which christ submitted himself vnto was a shameful a cursed kind of death as for the cause of christs death Chrysostom was far from thinking Christ was iustlie hanged he saith Christ thus honoured his father Non coactus nec inuitus sed hoc ex suae ipsius virtute not coÌ„strained nor vnwilling but of his own virtue or humilitie And the Apostle warranteth Chrysostoms speech for he saith Christ humbled himselfe and was obedient to the death euen to the death of the crosse But what warranteth your spéech that Christ was hanged on the tree by the iust sentence of the lawe I had thought he had suffered the iust for the vniust and hauing no sinne had beene willinglie and by no sentence of the law hanged on a tree Is it wrong you aske for the law to lay the penaltie on the suretie when the debtor cannot discharge it But if it be meere and true iustice and no wrong then was Christ by the iust sentence of the lawe hanged on the tree and so he bare indeed the true curse of the law For though God alwayes loued and imbraced Christ in regard of his owne innocent person yet in another regard of our person which he sustained we may say God HATED him God CVRSED him Yea he tooke our person on him and so became by our sins SINFVLL DEFILED HATEFVL ACCVRSED Is this the holines of your cause you haue in hand Sir refuter with a simple similitude against the scriptures against the faith against the fathers against the consciences of gods people openly to pronounce the eternall and euerlasting sonne of God SINFVL DEFILED HATEFVL accursed of his father for that he took vpon him the punishment of our sinnes Your similitude had néed be sound that shall beare the waight of these wordes if you faile can you tell howe déeply you come within the iust sentence of gods law for opening your irreligious mouth against God and his sonne but thereof anon In the meane while because with scorning Chrysostom you make way to your vnholy coÌ„ceit that Christ being truly accursed in soule for the guilt of mans sinne was iustlie hanged by the sentence of the lawe and say it is VAINE and SENCELESSE to thinke the Apostle speaketh there of two kinds of curses as Chrysostom affirmeth but rather that hanging on a tree is set downe as a part for the whole execution of Gods iust curse and argueth the whole to be on Christ let vs see whether you or Chrysostom hee deceiued As many as are of the workes of Gods lawe are vnder the curse saith Paul for it is written Cursed is euery man that continueth not in all things which are written in the booke of the lawe to do them We shall agree I hope that this is Gods curse both temporall and eternall laid on the bodies and soules of sinners for transgressing anie part of Gods commandementes proposed in his lawe and to this all that haue sinned are subiected because it is the GENERALL curse EXECVTED by God himself vpon ALL sinne committed either in deede word or thought From this curse saith Paul Christ hath redeemed vs beeing made a curse for vs as it is written Cursed is euerie one that hangeth on a tree If this be all one with the other then euerie man that transgressed Gods law in thought word or deede was by the sentence of the lawe to bee hanged on a fâ—ée Shewe that sentence in the lawe and Chrysostom shall yeelde vnto you if you caÌ„not then haÌ„ging on a trée is no necessarie part of the generall curse of God vpon all sinners and consequentlie being no part of it it is not all one with it neither can it argue the whole to haue béen in Christ. How standeth the Apostles reason then that Christ was made a curse where in sinne there are two thinges the committing of it and the reuenging of it by God or man in this life or the next and magistrates had vnder Moses as they haue vnder Christ power giuen them from aboue as Gods ministers to take vengeance in this life on him that doth euill the Apostle knowing that Christ though he committed no sinne was yet content to beare the punishment due to sinne in his bodie on the trée and by his smart to abolish our fault citeth a place out of Moses where the Iudiciall and corporall punishment of a man by death is not onelie called a curse but counted a satisfaction for sinne which being suffered the law had ended his forme vpon the sufferer And so concludeth that Christ receauing a Iudiciall and corporall punishment of death for our sinne not onlie therein suffered the curse but satisfied the force of the law by that curse of his suffering redéemed vs from the curse of our transgressing The place cited out of Moses is this if a man haue committed an offence worthy of death and is by the lawe to die and thou hang him on a tree his body shall not remaine all night on the tree but thou shalt bury him the same day for the curse of God is alreadie
ex poena nostra Sic semper benediâ—tus in sua iustitia maledictus autem propter delicta nostra in morte suscepta ex poena nostra ac per hoc additum est OMNIS ne Christus ad veram mortem non pertinere diceretur si à malediâ—to quod morti coniunctum est insipienti honorisicentia separaretur Cursed is euerie one that hangeth on the woodâ— not this or that man but euery man without exception What the sonne of God himselfe yea in anie case You Manichees mislike Christ should be accursed for vs because you beleeue not hee died for vs. Then is Christ without the curse of Adam when he is without the death of Adam But for so much as from man and for man he did admit death euen from man and for man he vouchsafed to admit the curse which accoÌ„panieth death I meane euen that verie son of God alwayes liuing in his owne righteousnesse but dying for our sinnes in the flesh which he tooke from our punishment So alwayes blessed in his owne righteousnesse he was accursed for our sinnes in the death which hee suffered by reason of our punishment and therefore the Scripture sayth EVERIE ONE least Christ should be thought not truly to haue died if by an intent of foolish honour he should be excepted from the curse which is vnited vnto death And answering Faustus obiection if a king commaund anie Christian to worship the Sunne Moone or to be hanged on a trée hee must either way of necessitie be accursed Austen saieth Christianus videt vnum maledictum pertinere ad corpus mortale quod ligno suspenditur alterum ad ammum quo sol adoratur sicut mors est corporis in ligno pendere it a mors est animi solem adorare Eligendum est igâ—tur maledictum in corporis morte quo maledicto ipsum corpus in resurrectione liberabitur deuitandum autem maledictum in animi morte ne cum suo corpore in aeterno igne damnetur Nolite timere maledictum corporalis mortis quod temporaliter soluitur sed timete maledictum mortis spiritualis per quod anima in aeternum cum suo corpore cruciatur A Christian perceiueth the one curse to belong to the mortall bodie that hangeth on the woodde the other whereby the Sonne is worshipped to pertaine to the soule Hee must therefore choose the curse of the corporall death from which curse euen his verie bodie shall be deliuered in the resurrection and shunne the curse of the spirituall death least togither with the bodie the soule bee damned in euerlasting fire Feare not the curse of the corporall death which is dissolued with time but feare the curse of the spirituall death by which the soule is euerlastingly tormented with her bodie This doctrine is so sounde it cannot bee confuted and so cleare it neede not bee explained The temporall death of the bodie came first from sinne as a part of the curse and punishment of sinne and so to this daie doth it continue Christ therefore in that hee yeelded his bodie to die on the Crosse subiected himselfe to the curse of our sinne and by suffering a part of the curse abolished the whole but the curse of the soule which is the spirituall death Christ coulde not taste because that damneth bodie and soule for euer The rest of the ancient fathers tredd the same path The people saith Chrysostome were subiect to the curse which saith accursed is euery one y t abideth not in those things which are written in the booke of the law For none of them had continued therein neither had any man fulfilled the whole lawe but Christ exchanged the curse with another which saith accursed is euerie one that hangeth on the tree Where then he that hangeth on the tree is accursed and he that transgresseth the law is likewise accursed he that shall dissolue this curse must not bee subiect to the same but must admit an other in steede of that which Christ did and so by the one loosed the other The crosse therefore tooke away the curse Can we wish plainer words then that Christ by suffering the CVRSE OF SVSPENSION on the crosse tooke away THE CVRSE OF TRANSGRESSION to which the people were subiect Theodorete When all were subiect to the curse of the lawe Christ suffered that kinde of death which is accursed in the lawe that hee might deliuer all men from the curse Cyril Factus est pro nobis maledictum crucem ferens pendens in ligno ut soluat peccatum mundi Christ was made a curse for vs when hee endured the Crosse and hung on the tree that hee might release the sinne of the worlde Ambrose Quare maledictum dicatur Apostolus te docet dicens quia scriptum est malediclus omnis qui pendet in ligno Hoc est qui in carne sua nostram carnem in suo corpore nostras infirmitates nostra maledicta suscepit vt cruci sigeret Why Christ is called a curse the Apostle teacheth thee when hee sayth because it is written accursed is euerie one that hangeth on the tree that is which in his flesh bare our flesh AND IN HIS BODIE TOOKE OVR INFIRMITIES AND OVR CVRSES that he might fasten them to his Crosse. Hierom. It ought to trouble no man that Christ was made a curse for vs because God who is saide to make him a curse did also make him sinne for vs though he knew no sinne yea being life he died and being the wisedome of God he is called foolishnes but he died that we might liue he was made foolishnes that we should be made wisdome hee hung on the tree that being fastened to the tree hee might wipe out the sin which we had coÌ„mitted in y e tree of the knowledge of good and euil Oeâ—umenius We were vnder the curse because wee had not kept the lawe Christ was free from that because he had fulfilled the law and yet hee suffered a curse not due to him when he was hanged on the tree that he might dissolue the curse pronounced against vs. Other expositions if anie man séeke hee shall find euen in the learned and ancient writers Non maledictum vel peccatum factum est verbum sed cum iniquis reputatus est iustus existens vt aboleat peccatum appellatus est maledictus qui benedixit creaturam vt soluat nostrum maledictum liberet à poenà credentes in ipsum Igitur non est factus secundum veritatem maledictum peccatum appellatus autem illorum nominibus vt aboleat maledictum peccatum Christ was not made indeede a curse or sinne sayth Cyrill but hee was reputed amongst the wicked beeing iust that hee might put awaie sinne and he who did blesâ—e the creature was called a curse that he might dissolue our curse and free from vengeance such as beleeued in him Therefore he was not in truth made
I haue fullie shewed before the worthinesse of the person is the surest ground of our saluation and chiefest weight of our redemption and therefore his death is of infinite force and his bloude of infinite price euen as his person is For since all mens actions are and ought to bee esteemed according to the giftes which they haue and place which they holde from GOD whie shoulde not the death and bloud of Christ bee valued in Gods iustice according to the height and worth of his person and if in all thinges wee receaue honour not due to our fleshe wherein wee partake with Beastes but fitte for the soule wherein wee communicate with Angels howe seemeth it strange in our eyes that the dooinges and sufferinges of Christ Iesus which hath the natures of God and man in a surer and nearer coniunction then wee haue our soules and bodies shoulde not bee reckned and accepted in GODS iustice as the ACTIONS and PASSIONS of HIS OVVNE SONNE and haue their value from the diuiner and worthier parte of Christ As the death of Christes flesh ONELIE doth more expresse the TRVETH POVVER AND IVSTICE of God then if the death of the soule had beene ioyned with it so the same setteth forth Christes merites namelie his OBEDIENCE PATIENCE and LOVE in farre better sorte then if wee adde vnto it the death of the spirite which is the rewarde of all the reprobate and damned For what a man vnwillinglie suffereth that sheweth neyther obedience nor patience Obedience hath readinesse and patience if it bee perfect hath gladnesse both haus willingnesse If then wee bee forced against our willes to endure that which wee woulde gladlie auoide it is violence it is neither obedience nor patience and consequentlie it hath neither merits nor thankes with GOD. The death then of the soule which is a separation from the fauour and grace of God did Christ suffer it willinglie or vnwillinglie if willinglie there coulde bee no greater neglect of GOD then to bee willing to bee separated from God It were disobedience and insolence in the highest degree to be glad and forwarde to forsake God or to bee forsaken of him Christ therefore must not bee willing to suffer the death of the soule least wee wrap him within the compasse of contemning and reiecting the grace and fauour of GOD which are sinnefull enormities Was hee vnwilling to suffer it then coulde hee bee neither obedient nor patient in suffering it All vertue is voluntarie compulsion hath no merite God loueth a cheerefull giuer and sufferer Hee that murmureth in heart rebelleth though hee holde still his tongue So likewise I must aske if Christ suffered the death of the soule did hee suffer it iustlie or vniustlie if vniustlie God could not be the sole and immediate agent in imposing it and besides God no creature canne bereaue the soule of life Did hee suffer it iustlie then must hee be voide of all vertue for nothing but sinne deserueth the death of the soule Obedience and patience merite thankes with God and cannot wante the blessing of God where the death of the soule is the greatest curse that God inflicteth heere on earth And where they thinke it woulde greatelie increase the loue of Christ towardes vs if hee vouchsafed to taste the death of the soule for our sakes I replie that supposition woulde make Christ a sinner if not a lyar which God forbid shoulde once enter our thoughtes For â—irst Christ saieth Greater loue then this hath no man that one should laie downe his life for his friendes But God commendeth his loue towards vs that whiles we were yet sinners Christ died for vs. If it be loue for a man to loose his soule for his friend then is there found a greater loue then Christ euer knew for he saith there is no greater loue theÌ„ for a maÌ„ to laie downe his life And the Apostle applying it to Christ saith The height of Gods loue was this that Christ died for sinners that is for his enemies not for his friendes sinne beeing enmitie to God and sinners enemies to the holinesse of his will and glory of his kingdome This loue of Christ by which he died for vs we reiect as little worth vnlesse hee endured the losse of Gods fauour for vs which I take to bee sinne and not loue For loue is due first and aboue all to God then to men this order of loue if we breake it is no charitie it is iniquitie What doe all wicked ones but preferre the loue of themselues or of others before the loue of God to loue men so well that wee waxe willing to forsake the fauour and fellowship of God is transgression against God and not compassion towards men and therefore wee maie not bring the sonne of God within the listes of this loue no not for an houre by reason the loue of God afore all others may not faile in the hart of Christ not for a moment bee it neuer so short For our loue then he tooke flesh when he was God which was infinite humilitie and gaue his life for his enemies which was exceeding charitie and in the course thereof referred himself wholie to the wil and pleasure of God which was exact obedience willinglie but wrongfullie suffering whatsoeuer the malice of Satan and rage of the wicked contriued against him the wise and gracious counsell of God so turning the mischiefe of the diuell and his members to the generall good of mankind that Christes innocent and righteous bloud being furiously and vniustly shed by the hands of his enemies became the true sacrifice for sinne and the full price of mans redemption Farther then this if we will force the sonne of God with our fancies as namelie to the death or curse of the soule wee doe not onelie diminish the strength of his loue towardes God but we debase the price of his bloud and make it rather detestable then acceptable in Gods sight For nothing can please God but that which is RIGHTEOVS INNOCENT HOLIE VNDEPILED And in a dead or cursed soule what place leaue we for these giftes and graces of the holie Ghost Since then our high Priest must be holie harmelesse vndefiled and separate from sinners before his sacrifice coulde bee accepted the soule of Christ must necessarilie bee replenished with all goodnesse and embraced with all fauour before the death of his bodie could be an offering of a sweete sauour vnto God and so the power of Christes death is no whitte encreased but altogither weakened if wee conioyne it with the death of the soule The death of the soule then doth not encrease the obedience patience and loue of Christ towardes vs but doth rather decrease and endanger all the vertues of our Sauiour For if Christ suffered the death of the soule which is Gods immediate action since God will offer his owne sonne neither violence nor wrong wee must confesse that Christ deserued the death
manner and merit of Christs suffering death on the crosse to saue vs from the wrath of God that was kindled against our transgressions And since the scriptures mention none other meanes of our redemption but the DEATH and BLOVD of the SONNE of God I hold them wisest that leaue deuising any better or other help for our saluation then God himselfe hath reuealed And as for the death of the soule I take that to be the greatest hinderance that maybe to the worke of our redemption and to shake the verie foundation of our faith and hope in the crosse of Christ. Which least I should seeme to say no way to proue let vs view the COMFORT of Christes crosse and thereby see howe his soule was affected towardes God euen whiles his bodie suffered that grieuous and opprobrious death of the crosse I haue often mused what made men of great learning and iudgement otherwise to swarue so much from the plain tenor of the scriptures and to imagine in the soule of our sauiour such doubt and feare of Gods fauour such horâ—ors and torments of hell that they sticke not to match them with the paines of the damned considering there is no manifest ground nor euident proofe of so dangerous doctâ—ine in the word of God but contrariwise when the scriptures describe Christ on the crosse they propose his bodie martyred with al kinde of crueltie but his soule cleaning to God with all perfection of constancie Read the xvi and xxii Psalme who will which purposelie treate of Christes passion and tell mee whether there bee so much as a worde importing anie distrust of Gods fauour or anie suspicion of the paines of hell suffered in the soule of Christ The first entrance of the xxii Psalme you will say is My God my God whie hast thou forsaken me This is that Helen that hath bewitched the world I meane the misconstring of these words Of which though I haue spoken before as much as may content any man that is not fastned to his fancies more then to the truth yet let vs shortlie see whether the rest of the Psalme admit their new found exposition or no. It followeth in the same place Thou didst bring me out of my mothers wombe thou gauest mee confidence at my mothers breasts On thee was I cast from my birth THOV ART MY GOD FROM MY MOTHERS BELLIE Bee not farre from mee for trouble is neere and there is none to helpe Bee not farre O Lord my strength hasten to helpe me I will declare thy name vnto my brethren in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee for HE HATH NOT DESPISED nor abhorred the weakenesse or basenesse of the poore neither HATH HE HID HIS FACE FROM HIM but when he called vnto him HE HEARD HIM Is this the praier of a man whose soule is forsaken of God Did he doubt of Gods fauour that with such confidence pronounced Thou gauest me assurance at my mothers breasts thou art my God from my mothers belly Was he perswaded that god had refused and left him when as he saith God hath not DESPISED y e weaknes of the poore he hath not hid his face from him when he called God heard him If these be flat contradictions to their imaginations why wrest they the first verse to euert all the rest Christ therfore in the beginning of the Psalm might well complain that god had for the time of his passion withheld his PROTECTION or diminished his CONSOLATION but in no wise that God had decreased his loue or shut vp his fauor towards the humane soule of his sonne Yea the next words are an explication of the former Why hast thou forsaken me and art so farre from mine helpe Not to helpe in trouble is to forsake though God bee not angrie with the soules of such as suffer affliction The very words agrée to GO FARRE OFF froÌ„ a man is to FORSAKE HIM so he that desireth God not to be far off praieth not to be forsaken but rather to receiue helpe in time of néed Uerilie S. Ambroses iudgement and reason doth satisfie me whatsoeuer it doth others Ille nunquam derelictus est à patre cum quo pater semper erat Sed secundum corpus in quo traditus est passioni vox ista processit quoniam derelinqui nobis videmur quando sumus in periculis constituti Christ was neuer forsaken of his Father with whome the father alwayes was but this complaint came from his bodie which was left to suffer death for so much as wee thinke our selues forsaken when wee are oppressed with anie troubles If the xxii Psalme content vs not let vs examine the sixteenth and there marke what the holie Ghost doth attribute to the soule of Christ in the middes of his sufferings on the Crosse and then iudge which opinion draweth nearest to the truth of the sacred Scriptures I haue alwayes SET the Lord BEFORE ME for hee IS AT MY RIGHT HAND THAT I SHOVLD NOT BE SHAKEN therefore my heart is glad my tongue reioiceth my flesh also shall REST IN HOPE Because thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell nor suffer thine holie one to see corruptioÌ„ Thou wilt SHEVV ME THE VVAY OF LIFE THE FVLNES OF IOY IS IN THY PRESENCE and delectation at thy right hand for euer Thrée plentifull and wonderfull graces of the holie Ghost are here described in our Sauiour as he hung on the crosse in the middest of his miseries abundance of FAITH assurance of HOPE persistance in IOY The ground of our faith is the truth of Gods word sealed in our hearts by the working of his spirite The faith of Christ had a farre stronger foundation and clearer reuelation then ours can possible haue He was hoped for by the Patriarks searched after by the Prophets he was the end of all the lawe and truth of all the former testament He was serued by Angels acknowledged by starres seas windes beasts fishes and trees hee was obeyed by diseases death and diuels the holie Ghost visiblie descended on him when hee was baptised the father by thunder from heauen often proclaimed him to be his welbeloued sonne and commaunded all men to heare him he knewe the thoughts of mens hearts yea the secrets of heauen he was transfigured in the Mount and tasted of that heauenlie glorie prepared for him The confessing him to bee the sonne of God openeth heauen preuaileth agaynst hell supporteth his Church and obtaineth blessednes This he heard with his eares sawe with his eyes and wrought with his hands yea he spake with his mouth knew in his heart that God had sanctified him and sent him to saue the world I aske now a meane diuine was it possible that Christ Iesus after all this intelligence euidence and experience both of his owne person who he was and of his fathers loue and purpose how setled determined and euerlasting it was should feare or
sepulchrum corrumpendam perduceret animam inferno torquendam protinus manciparet Vt autem peccator fuisset gratuito munere liberatus factum est vt mortens corporis quam à Deo iusto peccator homo pertulerat iusté Deifilius a peccatore pateretur iniuste ad sepulchrum perveniret caro iusti quousque fuerat caro deuoluta peccati vsque ad infernum descenderet anima saluatoris vbi peccatimerito torquebatur anima peccatoris Hoc autem ideo factum est vt per morientem temporaliter carnem iusti donaretur vita aeterna carni per descendentem ad infernum animam iusti dolores soluerentur inferni It remained for the full effecting of our redemption that man assumed of God without sinne shoulde thither descend whither man seuered from God fell by desert of sinne that is vnto hell where the soule of the sinner was woont to bee tormented and to the graue where the flesh of the sinner was woont to bee corrupted yet so that neither Christes flesh shoulde bee corrupted in the graue nor his soule bee tormented with the paines of hell because the soule free from sinne was not to be subiected to that punishment nor flesh cleane from the contagion of sinne shoulde suffer corruption In so much as man sinning deserued by punishment to bee seuered from himselfe who by his transgression woulde needes bee seuered from God therefore it was appointed that the death of the sinner should bring his sinfull flesh to the graue there to rotte and presentlie should send his soule to hell there to be tormented But when the sinner by the gift of Gods grace was to bee deliuered it was prouided that the sonne of God should vniustlie suffer at the hands of sinners the death of the bodie which sinfull man had iustlie beene wrapped in by the iustice of God and the flesh of the iust should come to the graue whither sinfull flesh was tumbled and that the SOVLE OF OVR SAVIOVR SHOVLD DESCEND TO HELL VVHERE THE SINFVLL SOVLâ— VVAS TORMENTED FOR THE REVVARD OF SINNE This was therefore done that by the flesh of the iust temporally dying eternall life might be giuen to our flesh and by the soule of the iust descending to hell the torments of hell might be abolished Out of Fulgentius I obserue two things which if it please men to marke they shall cleare themselues from all absurdities touching Christs descent to hell The first is THE PLACE VVHITHER he desended the next is THE CAVSE VVHY he descended The place whither hee descended was hell whither the soule of man sinning against God was adiudged for the wages of his transgâ—ession The cause of his descent was to free all the faithfull from the beginning of the world to the ende thereof from comming thither And in both these the Scriptures and fathers doe fullie concurre though some auncient writers doe swarue and striue about Christes deliuering some from hell that were there at the time of his descent as they suppose Which varietie and vncertaintie of opinions concerning the state of the deade before Christes comming hath verie much entangled this question and induced manie men of learning and iudgement otherwise to reiect Christs descent to hell as a fable or to wrest it to an other sense with newe founde expositions Howbeit I see no cause but the doctrine of the Scriptures confessed by all the fathers may stande verie cleare whatsoeuer we resolue of this other assertion touching the state of the righteous departed this life before Christs death I will therefore shortly discusse both the place and the cause and so draw to an end As for the place whither Christ descended the Church of Rome gréedily hunteth after it to heare of her Purgatorie hoping whence the soules of the righteous were by Christ deliuered there to make a stand for soules not perfectlie confessed and absolued in this life that she maie set to sale her praiers and pardons But if shee follow Christ descending her deuotion must reach to the place and paines of the damned for thither Christ descended And so by their leaues both Scriptures and fathers auouch First the wordes are plaine and must bee proper as well in the Canon as in the Créed Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell and he descended into hell Againe the kingdom of Satan consisteth of these three SINNE DEATH and HELL SINNE RAIGNING whiles the bodie and soule are ioined togither DEATH SEVERING them both and TVRNING the bodie to earth HELL RECEIVING and TORMENTING the soule till the daie of iudgement when bodie and soule shall for euer bee cast into hell fire If these three bee not abolished by Christ Satans kingdome is not destroyed by Christ and speciallie if hell bee not vanquished no part of our saluation is performed The woorke of sinne is sweete if the wages were not sower which is hell fire To raise our bodies from death is no fauour if Hell bee not ouerthrowen it were more easie for them to lie in dust then to burne in hell Howe hath Christ restored vs to Heauen if hee haue not yet freed vs from Hell Or brought vs to God if he haue not yet taken vs from Satan Wherefore either Hell must bee destroyed or wee are no waie redeemed And in all these when I speake of Hell I speake of the place of the damned For if the feare of damnation continue what hope of saluation can wee conceiue But the Apostle saieth plainlie that Christ through death DESTROIED HIM that had power of death euen the DIVELL and DELIVERED ALL them which for feare of death were all their life time subiect to seruitude If the DIVELL bee DESTROIED then Hell is fullie conquered for whiles that retaineth force against the faithfull the Diuell is in the height of his kingdome Neither is death to bee feared at all but in respect of hell following after death If then all the Saintes heere on earth be DELIVERED FROM THE FEARE OF DEATH and from the handes of all that hate them to serue God without feare all the dayes of their life in holinesse and righteousnesse before him it is euident that hell is spoyled of all right and claime to the members of Christ by reason our heade beeing there in our names and for our sinnes brake the strength of hell abolished the power and loosed the sorrowes and paines thereof that they shoulde not take holde on him nor euer after on anie of his For as hee suffered and died not for his owne sake but for ours so hee descended and loosed the sorrowes of death and hell not as prouided for him but for vs. And since to our sinnes was due damnation and no lesser or easier punishment it was requisite that Christ shoulde thither descende and by dissoluing the wages of our sinne in his owne person thence deliuer vs though not there tormented yet thither adiudged and so release vs not as beeing there but from comming thither
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
contrarie to their course must needs import that he reioiced in nothing so much as in that shamefull death which the Sauiour of the world endured on the crosse and to that and he saieth in the former Chapter where hee more largelie hâ—ndleth this matter If I yet preach circumcision why doe I yet suffer persecution Then is the slaunder of the crosse abolished meaning there was none other cause why the Iewes hated and persecuted him but for preaching Christ crucified to bee the true and onlie meane of our saluation without circumcision or whatsoeuer ceremonies of the law As the text is cleere with the sense â—hich I followed so the fathers concurre with the same Christ saieth Austen chose that kind of death to hang on the crosse that a Christian might saie â—ar be it from me to reioice but in the crosse of Christ. Chrysostome vpon this place what is the reason saith hee that Paul so reioyceth in Christes crosse because Christ for my sake â—â—oke the shape of a seruant and for my sake endured that hee suffered Adding farâ—her Annon est gloriandum quum ille dominus quiverus est deus non erubescit pro nobis crucem subire Haue we not good cause to reioice when that Lord which is true God was not ashamed to endure the crosse for vs Paul doth not reioice saith Ierom in his owne righteousnesse or knowledge but in the faith of the crosse by which all my sinnes are pardoned me Christ bearing his crosse on his shoulders saith Bede commendeth it that Paul might saie be it far from me to reioice but in the crosse of Christ. He was despised in the eyes of the wicked for that wherein the heartes of the Saintes should reioice I staâ—e somewhat longer gentle Reader on this point for that as it had bin a childish ouersight in me at the verie first entrance to mistake the meaning of my text so it is more then a malepart tricke in him vniustlie to chalenge me for it but I maâ—e the better content my selfe with it since this Refuter sâ—icketh not to vse all the Fathers with like disdaine whereof I will giue thâ—e an example or two that thou maiest see the headinesse of this hasty writer In the contents of Christs crosse I obserued out of Augustine Ierom and Bernard that no violence of death wrested Christes soule from him as it doth ours but when he sawe his time hee euen at an instant laide it downe of himselfe no paines hastening his death This is a pâ—radoxe in Nature saieth this Controller and contrary to scripture which saith he was like vs in all things sinne only excepted You might giue the learned and auncient Fathers better wordes Sir trister what soeuer you do me your wits are too weake to refute their resolution For where like a Pâ—ncée you praie you know not what they ground themâ—â—lues on the plaine and expresse wordee of the scriptures No man saith our Sauiour taketh my soule from mee but I laâ—e it downe of my selfe I haue power to laie it downe and haue power to take it againe Howe thinke you Sir coulde anie violence or paines of death take Christes soule from him or had hee power to laie it downe when and as he woulde which no man else euer had or shall haue you replie he was like vs in all things sinne only excepted Such proofes became well your person Was he like vs in his birth can we lie in the graue without corruption as he laie or raise our selues from death as he did Reade more for shame and write lesse till you bee better aduised or better instructed Upon these words of Christ I haue power to laie down my soule and haue power to take it again Chrysostom writeth thus vtrumque nouum fuit praeter communem consuetudinem Potestatem habeo ponendi eam hoc est ego solus potestatem habeo quae vobis non est Both these powers were strange and aboue the common course of men I haue power to laie down my soule that is I ALONE haue this power which you haue not If you denie this that Chrysostom saith remember what God himselfe saith ô foole this night shal they fetch away thy soule froÌ„ thee which Christ saith none could do from him because he had power by his fathers appointment to laie it down of himselfe In like sort when I shewed not mine own opinion but the iudgments of the ancient fathers as well for the causes that might be of Christes agonie in the garden as for the meaning of his complaint on the crosse my God my God why hast thou forsaken me obserue gentle Reader I praie thee how absurdly he roleth from the one to the other how insolentlie he reiecteth al the fathers for that they vphold not his humour of hell paines to be the ground of both I alleaged Ierom and Chrysostom that Christ on the crosse cited the beginning of the 22. Psalme My God my God why hast thou forsaken me that the Iewes might knowe they had fulfilled the words of the prophet Dauid in that psalme foreshewing the passioÌ„ of Christ. His answere is this sence is most absurd To Athanasius Augustine and Leo that Christ spake those words in the person of his church which then suffered in him and with him he saith This is no lesse absurd then the former there is no reason or likelihood for it When I brought Ierom Ambrose Austen and Bede that in the garden Christ might sorrow for the reiection of the Iewes who would pul the vengeance of God on their owne heads to the vtter destruction of their whole nation by putting him to death this Confuter foolishly and forgetfâ—lly maketh this an interpretation of Christes complaint on the crosse and addeth This is more fond and absurd then the other So when among other causes of Christs agony in the garden that might â—e for I tooke vpon me to determine none being sixe in number I brought this for one out of Ambrose that Christ sorrowed for vs was SAD for vs and GRIEVED for vs he LAMENTED OVR VVOVNDES not his OVR VVEAKENES not his owne death This in effect saith hee is nothing but what wee affirme howbeit this ought not to haue anie place heere how could these wordes hang together when hee meaneth to tell his father howe zealous hee is for his glorie to saie My God my God why hast thou forsaken me There is no fashion in them thus signifying What you speake boldlie but erroneouslie of the sonne of God It cannot bee strange if often times Christ fell amazed confounded and forgetfull of himselfe for feare and griefe I maie trulie and iustlie say of you it is not strange to see you amazed confounded and forgetfull in your writing What I spake of Christes agonie in the garden you applie to his complaint on the crosse and sale the words will not hang
laid or executed on him that is hanged This most apparantly was a publike punishment executed by the magistrate vpon the body of the offender and because by his open and shamefull death which Moses rightlie calleth the curse of God hee had satisfied the sentence of the Iudiciall lawe God commandeth no farther reproch to be offered his bodie in suffering it to hang in all mens eies any longer but to bee buried the same daie For that by his death the curse of God ceased The difference betwéene these two curses is soone perceiued Euerie sinne receaued the first curse whereof Paul spake before fewe crimes receaued the iudgement of this seconde kinde of curse which was to bee hanged The first was inflicted by God himselfe the second was executed by the magistrate The first touched bodie and soule in this life and the next the second ended with the death of the bodie The first was committing of sinne the seconde was suffering for sinne And therefore Chrysostomes exposition is verie true when hee saieth The people were obnoxious to another curse which was this Cursed is euerie one that continueth not in that which is written in the booke of the lawe for there was not one of them that had fulfilled the whole Lawe but Christ insteede of that tooke vpon him another curse which said cursed is euery one that hangeth on the tree He that should take away the first curse must not bee subiect to the same but vndertake an other in place thereof and by that dissolue the first As if one being adiudged to die for some crime an other no way guilty of the same but willing to die for him should deliuer him from the punishment So did Christ not being subiect to the curse of trāsgression insteede thereof he tooke an other curse and dissolued the curse that laie on them Before a man can be accursed by his death hee must you saie be iustlie hanged for manie Innocents and martyrs are hanged who are most blessed Innocentes and martyrs bee their soules neuer so blessed maie beare in their bodies a shamefull death as Christ did in his and that is a kinde of corporall curse though by men vniustlie inflicted euen as death in the godlie is a remnant of Gods curse vpon sinne though their soules bee blessed before and after death Yea the worde KALAL whence the Hebrewes deriue that which with them signifieth a curse noteth also to make vilde and contemptible as if shame reproch and contempt were the greatest outwarde curse that coulde befall anie man in this life The cause why wee suffer it shall make it iust or vniust but wee must call thinges by those names which GOD first allotted them Nowe death shame wrong reproch and such like God ordayned at first to bee punishmentes of sinne and so partes of the curse due to sinne If wee suffer at mens handes for piety that which God appointed to be the wages of iniquity so wee bee patient and willing to abide the triall which is righteous with God though iniurious from men the name is not altered but the reward increased Yea God it is that causeth iudgement to beginne at his own house oftentimes by the handes of persecutors hee doth vs right when men doe vs wrong and dealeth not with vs according to our sinnes in the greatest wrongs that can be done vs. Therfore martyrs and innocents may do well to remember that God hath cause enough though man haue none and so submit themselues as worthie of worse from Gods handes But none of these thinges may be saide of our Sauiour who alone among all the children of men wanted sinne and suffered wrong and therefore his punishments with God were iust not by his deseruing but by his desiring to suffer for man How then commeth it to passe that martyrs which are sinners before God are vniustlie hanged because they deserue no such thing at mens handes and Christ who was most innocent before men and most righteous before God you wil needs haue to be iustly hanged The suerty you say by his suertiship is a debtor to the creditor and to the law and so Christ though most innocent in himself yet was hee iustlie hanged as our suretie by the iust sentence of the law You mistake Sir Confuter as well the sentence of the lawe as the suertiship of Christ. For though mans lawe permit which is the rule of charitie that men should beare each others burdens and vndertake one for an other in money matters and such like things which God leaueth in each mans will and power yet tell me I praie what lawe Gods or mans permitteth a murderer or like offender to be spared and an other that is willing to bee hanged in his steede I thinke mans law will allow you no such suertiship I am sure Gods lawe will not As I liue saith the Lord the soule that sinneth that soule shall die The wickednes of the wicked shall bee vpon himselfe Hee shall haue then no suerties to die for him much lesse shall his suertie be compelled to die by the sentence of the law Their monie men may giue awaie but their liues they may not till God call for them and if not their liues much lesse their soules by anie sentence of the law The sonne of God did not by LAVV but by LOVE interpose himselfe to beare our sinnes So God loued the worlde that hee gaue his onely begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue euerlasting life Yea the sonne of God loued vs and gaue himselfe for vs not by anie obligation to the lawe for hee was aboue the lawe and could not be bound by the lawe and we were condemned by the sentence of the law and not put to finde suerties The eternall wisedome and counsell of God then out of his inestimable loue towardes vs without the lawe and before the law decréed as to create vs so to redéeme vs by Christ his sonne And the sonne not as debtour to anie nor for anie but of his good will and fauour toward vs offered himselfe to suffer for vs whatsoeuer the iustice of his father would impose Wherein he became not a Suertie bound to the law but a Mediatour to God and a Redeemer of man Suerties that stand bounde and must paie the debt may not looke to be Mediators and he that redeemeth a prisoner from the enemie is not bound but content so to doe And that the death of Christ should be paide as a debt to the lawe whereto Christ was bounde is to mee a strange position I tooke Christes sufferings all this while for a voluntarie oblation to God and not for a due obligation to the lawe and himselfe to be a mediatour not a debtour his death I reckned to bee a richer offer then man coulde owe and a greater price then the lawe could exact And therefore the newe testament of mercie grace and glorie was made by his bloud which are
from the life of God of which death the Diuell is sayde to haue the power and execution Therefore in the former place death signifieth so to euen the death of the soule that is the torments and sorrowes due to the damned and consequently Christ suffered the death of the soule And because this reason will seeme altogether vnreasonable and harsh in the eares of some to saie the least of it let them soberlie consider it and it is most true and euident Or if this will not perswade men to beleeue that Christ died the death of the soule men liuing being surprised with grieuous sorrowes and paines will saie as Terence witnesseth occidi perij interij they die they perish So likewise the death of the soule sometimes maie bee vnderstoode and that most sitlie for the paines and sufferinges of Gods wrath which alwayes accompanie them that are separated from the grace and loue of God And if Terence bee not authoritie sufficient Saint Peter against whome lieth no exception saith that Christ in his suffering for vs was done to death in the flesh but made aliue by the spirite And in the Scripture whensoeuer the fleshe and the spirite are opposed togither the flesh is alwayes Christes whole humanitie I saie not his bodie onelie but his soule also From hence nowe it followeth that Christes soule also died and was crucified according to the death and crucifying which soules are subiect vnto and capable of I haue Christian Reader neither peruerted the reasons nor pared the authorities on which this Confuter groundeth his conclusion that Christ died the death of the soule and that Christs soule was also crucified as well as his bodie I haue onelie sette them togither that thou maiest with one view behold both the deepnes and soundnesse of this vpstart writer and in thy secrete and vpright iudgement is it not patience enough to heare and endure a two legged creature to talke in this sort without all learning religion or discretion controlling all the fathers as fooles for thinking otherwise then hee doth commaunding the Scriptures pretor-like to serue his ignorant and lewd assertions and estéeming none to be sober or considerate except they confesse his shamefull absurdities to bee most true and euident But I haue not learned nor vsed to giue reuiling spéeches the Lorde reprooue his follie Though it bee not worth the answering yet for their sakes that bee simple I will not refuse to speake to it and to let them see what difference there is betwixt truth and errour Your maine reason Sir Refuter is this in these wordes of the Apostle Christ through death abolished the diuell that had power of death This worde DEATH say you hath the same meaning in both places the proofe you make for it is this verie fond it were to take it here otherwise Your assumption is but death in the latter place questionlesse signifieth the death of the soule Therefore Christ died the death of the soule It were as easie for mee to saie it is not so as for you to saie it is so but that course which you holde is but prating of euerie thing it is no proouing of anie thing Howe manie kinds of death there are wee shall better learne by the graue father Saint Austen then by the young louers in Terence Dicitur mors prima dicitur secunda Primae mortis duae sunt partes vna qua peccatrix anima per culpam discessit a creatore suo altera qua indicante Deo exclusa est per poenam à corpore suo Mors autem secunda ipsa est corporis animae punitio sempiterna There is a first death and a second Death Of the first death there be two parts one when the sinfull soule by offending departed from her Creator the other whereby the soule for her punishment was excluded from her bodie by Gods iustice The second death is the euerlasting torment of bodie and soule The same partes and kindes of death are often repeated by him in his 13. booke de ciuitate Dei as namelie Mors animae fit cum eam deserit Deus sicut corporis cum id deserit anima Ergo vtriusque rei id est totius hominis mors est cum anima à Deo deserta deserit corpus Ita enim nec ipsa vixit ex deo nec corpus ex ipsa Huiusmodi autem totius hominis mortem illa sequitur quam secundam mortem diuinorum eloquiorum appellat authoritas Nam illa poena vltima sempiterna recte mors animae dicitur The death of the soule is when God forsaketh her as the death of the bodie is when the soule forsaketh the bodie So y e death of both that is of the whole man is when the soule forsaken of God forsaketh her bodie For so neither she liueth by God nor the bodie by her This death of the whole man that other death followeth which the diuine scriptures call the second death for that last and euerlasting punishment is rightlie called the death of the soule Here are thrée kinds of death sinne which separateth vs from God bodilie death which separateth the soule from the body and eternall damnation which tormenteth body and soule for euer In the Apostles words to the Hebrues that Christ through death abolished y e diuell that had power of death you wil by no meanes haue the death of the bodie intended that is a benefite and gaine to the godlie Then of sinne and eternall damnation the diuell must be said to haue power and indeede so he hath For hee is the perswader and leader to sinne and the executioner and tormentor in damnation And so by your diuinitie Christ must sinne and be euerlastinglie condemned to hell fire before he can abolish the Diuell that hath power of both these For he must abolish him by the same kind of death whereof hee hath power Looke Sir Refuter what an wholsome exposition of the Apostles words you haue made vs which the diuell himselfe durst not aduenture it is so blasphemous God forbid you will say this should be anie part of your meaning But if such bee your ignorant rashnesse that you will so expound scriptures as these consequents shall necessarie followe you must leaue writing and fall to learning an other while till you be able to foresée what may iustly be inferred vpon your positions Deaths of the soule there are none mentioned in anie Scripture or father but sinne and eternall damnation Leaue the patheticall hyperbolicall metaphoricall phrases of Terence to boies in the Grammer schoole speake at least like a diuine though you bee none If your cause bee so holie a truth as you talke of it hath both foundation and approbation in the Scriptures You shall not neede to runne to heathen Poets to prooue that the Sauiour of the worlde died the death of the soule What the death of the soule is what consequentes it hath and what maine
and thou shalt see both the textes and the proofes whie the place of the damned must often bee vnderstoode by Sheôl in the bookes of the law and the prophets I hope thou wilt thinke it supersfluous for mee to defende it or enlarge it before anie man doe particularlie impugne it So that whatsoeuer you prate Sir Refuter without waight or warrant touching Sheol I count it lip labor when you or your helpers bring anie thing worth the regarding you shal find me readie to receaue it or refute it as the matter deserueth Sheol then in the olde Testament and Hades in the Septuagint signifiyng somtimes the state of deade bodies which is the graue sometimes the place of deade soules which is hell but neuer the world of soules whereof some are in heauen let vs see what force HADES hath in the new testament or whether it can thence be proued that HADES importeth the world of soules As y e mysteries of God were more fully declared by the gospel then by the law so the kingdom of heauen was more preciselie seuered from the kingdome of Satan by Christ then by Moses What Moses darkelie shadowed vnder figures that Christ reuealed in plaine wordes and therefore hell fire which is obscurelie mentioned in the law and prophets is often and openlie named by the mouth of our Sauiour and HADES which before extended to good and bad is nowe by the writers of the newe testament restrained to the place of the damned So that Hades with thē signifieth hell and the powers thereof and not the death of the bodie much lesse the world of soules Examples hereof I haue giuen thée gentle Reader in the Treatise before saue that I then reasoned the death of the bodie was not signified by HADES which now those deuisers haue changed into the VVORLD OF SOVLES I must therefore nowe ouerrun all those places againe and shewe that the VVORLD OF SOVLES cannot bee expressed by anie of those places Which I will with as much brenitie as I canne considering the wise Reader will soone bee able to discerne this newe Camisadoe latelie offered with the VVORLD OF SOVLES The first place is Woe to thee Chorazin and woe to thee Bethsaida saith our Sauiour And thou Capernaum exalted to heauen shalt bee brought downe euen to hell it shall bee easier for Sodome in the day of iudgement then for thee What is Gods curse and threates to impenitent sinners HELL or the VVORLD OF SOVLES and in the daie of iudgement when their punishment shall bee greater then the Sodomites shall they go to hell fire or to the VVORLD OF SOVLES I praie you Sir Refuter were are the Sodomites at this houre in hell or in your VVORLD OF SOVLES In hell I thinke Saint Iude saith They do sustaine the punishments of euerlasting fire Is that your VVORLDE OF SOVLES if it be not they shal certainlie be where the Sodomites are yea in worse case shall they bee and that I suppose must bee in hell and not in heauen The second place is in the wordes of Christ to Peter Vpon this rocke will I builde my church and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it and I wil giue thee the keyes of the kingdom of heauen The VVORLD OF SOVLES doth not impugne y e church therfore it is no signe of Gods fauour for that not to preuaile against the church Againe whatsoeuer preuaile not yet if hell preuaile what safetie hath the church Heresie and iniquitie are the gates of hell fighting against the church as well as crueltie Ego portas Inferni reor vitta atque peccata vel certé haereticorū doctrinas per quas illecti homines ducuntur ad Tartarum Nemo itaque putet de morte dici quòd apostoliconditioni mortis subiecti non fuerint quorum martyria vides coruscare I thinke saith Ierom the gates of hell to be vices and sinnes or else heresies by which men being enticed are led to hell Let no man therefore imagine it is spoken of death as if the Apostles were not subiect thereto whose martyrdoms thou findest so famous Digna aedificatione illius Petra quae infernas leges Tartari portas omnia mortis claustra dissolueret It was a Rocke saith Hilarie worthy of Christs building which should dissolue the lawes of hell the gates of Tartare and all the Cloisters of death So Origen Portae inferorum dicentur etiam principatus ac potestates aduersus quas nobis est colluctatio The gates of hell may the powers and principalities bee called against the which we haue to striue Portas inferni haereticam prauitatem nominat siue vitia peccata vnde mors ad animam venit The gates of hel Christ calleth Haeresies saith Bede or else vices and sinnes by which the soule dieth So Ambrose Quae autē sunt portae Inferni nisi singula quaeque peccata What are the gates of hell but all kind of sinnes And Gregorie Portae Inferni haereses sunt quae quasi inferorum aditum pandunt The gates of hell are heresies which open as it were the passage to hell The fifte generall councell of Constantinople with one full consent alloweth the same Portae inferni non praeualebunt aduersus eam id est haereticorum linguae mortiferae The gates of hell that is the deadlie tongues of heretickes shal not preuaile against the church You might haue more but these are enough Here Sir Refuter you tell a long and a foolish tale of death out of your owne heade as if Christ did promise his Apostles protection against the violence of Tyrants but not against the rage of Satan To vnderstande sinnes and errours as some of the ancient writers doe the circumstances of the texte you saie doe seeme not to beare it Your ignorant humour is loth to haue it so otherwise the wordes of Christ respect the trueth of Peters confession that himselfe was Christ the sonne of the liuing God against the which faith no policie nor tyrannie of Satan shoulde preuaile and so by your leaue the Fathers goe directlie to the meaning of the texte and you woulde wrest it to your priuate fansie least HADES shoulde signifie HELL and yet at length vpon aduisement you confesse it may bee heere the GATES OF HELL and that HADES is thus vsed sometimes and namelie in the last example out of the 16. of Luke It is well then that in the 16. of Luke you yeelde HADES doeth signifie HELL where the wicked are tormented and did you denie it the Scripture auoucheth it the wordes are plaine I am tormented in this flame againe least they come into this place of torment Then HADES without anie other addition noteth HELL and when Christ saith the rich man IN HADES LIFT vp his eyes he addeth this as a necessarie consequent being in tormēts to shew that HADES is the place of torment and not the VVORLD OF