greater subiection can there be than for euer yea for euer and euer to abide a slauish vassall in all seruitude horror trembling Therfore suppose not that the Holy one saw other corruption than in flesh for he droue the prince of darknes into a corner where the sink of all corruption is Now what perfection he could draw out of this sink that he himself had cursed let the consciences of all men try and iudge and be warned with Peter that they defile not the things that the Lord hath purified and that they cleaue not so fast to corruption as to peruert the Lords waies and besot their own vnderstanding Concerning the word Apoc. 6. 8. Hell it is written Behold a pale horse and his name that sate on him was Death and Hell followed after him and power was giuen to them ouer the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword and with hunger with death and with the beasts of the earth Heer we see that our expositors plainly take Hel for the graue that is alwaies woont to follow after death Pet. 2. 13. So when the day of the Lord shall come by which the heauens being on fire shall be dissolued and the elements shall melt away with heat and a new heauen and a new earth established wherin dwelleth righteousnes Apoc. 21. 1. and the first heauen and the first earth passed away and when the Lord shall creat new heauens and a new earth and the former not remembred For Isai. 65. 19. saith the Lord as the new heauens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me Isai. 66. 22. so shall your seed and your name continue and from moneth to moneth and from sabaoth to sabaoth shall all flesh come to worship before me saith the Lord and they shall go forth and looke vpon the carkases of men that haue transgressed for their worm shall not dy neither shall their fire be quenched and they shall be an abhorring vnto all flesh This is the miserable condition of the wicked ones the second death the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Apoc. 2. 8. at the opening of the books the resurrection of all flesh which is to say when the sea death and Hell shall giue vp their dead Apoc. 20. 1. which are in them and they shall bee iudged according to their works then both death and Hell which haue all this while had power ouer flesh to cut it off from inheritance of this life through the curse shall at the last resurrection be vanquished to all flesh and cast into the burning lake by our Lord sauiour Iesus Christ our forerunner In this world shall the cursed endure his damnation and the happy shall feel his blessednes He that liueth in this world an hundred yeeres shall dy a yoong man neither shall any be called a child of yeers but he that buildeth in this world shall inhabit and they that plant vineyards shall eat of the fruit neither shall they plant and another eat but they shal inioy the works of their own hands and shall not be made to labour in vaine and bring foorth in fear for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord and their buds with them Yet concerning his descension remaineth this one thing he made his graue with the wicked with the â—ich in his death though he had done no wickednes neither was any deceit in his mouth Now in that it is said he made him a graue he chose him a place in the earth whereinto he vouchsafed to descend and be buried for our saluation though many wicked and rich men lay as glorious as he whom the cell of the earth was far vnworthy to conteine Dan. 12. 2. Where the many that sleep shall awake to euerlasting life and some to shame and perpetuall contempt Againe that he was buried and descended also into hell read the ancient Christian meaning of the word Hell in the example of the rich man written by Luke the Euangelist translated into Saxonish many yeeres ago which saith thus ha peand re peleza dead and paer on Hell bebynzed which is now as much as to say And the rich man died and was buried in hel I should think it very absurd therfore farther to vrge any comment or exposition for the word Hell seeing no doubt these expositors of the Gospels sufficiently vnderstood what they said in their owne language Nay whosoeuer will not yeeld vnto so plain a testimony of truth the mark of controuersie he may be thought little zealous yea obstinate in his own profession Now of such as would haue Hell to be in the earth and to meane the place of the damned and would prooue it by the word Luk. 16. 26. Gulf that was betweene Abraham and the rich man the worde in the Greek originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HIATVS FISSVRA a gap or cliffe as Virgil citeth the word properly foorth of Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 TELLVS IMA DEHISCAT Let the earth cleaue But we vnderstand the word Gulf a concaue and a deuouring place which is hardly argued by the circumstance following seeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signify neither vp nor downe but passing ouer as it were from shore to shore as TRANSCENDERE and TRANSRIMARE agreeing with the prophets words before recited they shall go foorth and look vpon the carcases of men c. And beside Saint Iohn proueth a further punishment to insue after death and hell which is to say the burning lake Let vs absteine therfore farther to inquire of the places which the Lord hath shut vp from vs and our vnderstanding For saith the Lord Gen 3. 22. Behold the man is becom as one of vs to know good and euill And now least he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and liue for euer therfore the Lord God sent him foorth from the garden of Eden to till the earth whence he was taken And the Lord hath set Cherubims and the blade of a sword shaking to keep the way of the tree of life Heer we see that the iealous God excluded Adam out of the garden least he should attain to see the state of the eternall Wherfore the plaine and open things are for vs and our children to obserue and do but the secret and hidden things pertaine vnto God only The prophet Ionah was a most excellent figure of our sauiour if a man do diligently mark his prophesie 2. King 14. 25. First his name signifieth a doue in the Hebrue voice in the likenes wherof Iesus receiued the spirit of his father from heauen wher he himself confesseth Math. 3. 16. that he saw the heauens open and the spirit of God descending like a doue Psal. 74. 16. and lighting vpon him the true turtle doue whose soule the beast had neuer power of Ionah his message was to
therfore in these words consisteth the perfection of the church the members of Christ which is the rock and foundation therof For had not the Iewes had a perfect warning of redemption to come through the Messiah sauiour of the world and the full meanes therof and of all that he was to perform for the saluation of mankind how could they take notice of their redemption or be iustly condemned for misbeleef for they that liued in the time of Christs humanity were to see that which their fathers hoped for If then we will further know what ought the substance of our faith to be I answer in a word Our faith ought to be the haruest of our fathers hope so that we beleeue that we haue receiued that which they hoped for so through one faith in one Iesus they and we are both saued Isai. 53. 8. Who shall declare his age for he was cut out off the land of the liuing Heer my purpose was to shew that this article might safely be vsed without aduātage to the Papists or offence to such as I before meant Therfore as we now see with our eies and beleeue that Iesus the true Christ came and finished his pilgrimage heer on earth being the only begotten sonne of God conceiued by the holy Ghost born of the virgine Mary crucified according to the prophets so what he was to do he himself declared to the fathers in spirit insomuch that they also saw their saluation by the eie of faith which they had in the same Messiah Colos. 1. 18. the first born of the dead and of al things to haue the preheminence He is the reconciliation of all the world and euen as his father spred the heauens and adorned them and created the earth and sea with all the implements so is the sonne commaunder of all and the beginning and end of all things are in his hand he is made iudge of all flesh comming as it were in the meane time to reconcile the limits and to constraine all nations to worship him He was made all one with the father the beginning of the world and the last end must ply vnto him from whom al sentence of ioy eternall or perpetuall misery shall proceed and to this end he preached in spirit long before he was incarnated Gen. 6. 3. The Lord said And my spirit shal not alwaies striue with flesh and his daies shall be an hundred and twenty yeeres 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to say 1. Pet. 3. 19. By which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison which were somtime disobedient when the long suffering of God waited in the daies of Noah while the ark was in making Your father Abraham reioiced to see my daie Ioh. 8. 56. and he saw it and was glad Suppose saith Peter 2. Pet. 3. 15. that the long suffering of the Lord is saluation euen so our brother Paul according to the wisdom giuen to him wrote vnto you Doest thou the same Rom. 2. 3. and thinkest to escape iudgement and despisest thou the riches of his bountifulnes and patience and long sufferance not knowing that the bountifulnes of God leadeth to repentance Wherfore as by one man sinne entred into the world Rom. 5. 12. and death by sinne so death went ouer all men for vnto the time of the law was sinne in the world but sinne is not imputed while there is no law Gal. 3. 17. The law fower hundred and thirty yeeres after the promise cannot disanull the couenant God gaue the promise to Abraham but death reigned from Adam to Moses euen on them also that sinned not after the maner of Adams transgression which was as a figure of the second Adam Seeing then before the law all men were dead in sinne without any hope of iustification to eternall life it was most needfull that the Gospell should be preached vnto them 1. Pet. 4. 6. Wherupon it seemeth Saint Peter continueth his speech of preaching to this end was the Gospell preached also to the dead that they might be condemned according to men in the flesh but might liue according to God in the spirit Now this is plaine that whoso were vnder the law were condemned by the law according to the flesh By this all men vnder the law were iudged by the law But seeing the dead were before the law howbeit many righteous men to whom the promise was giuen were iustified by faith they were not to be iudged or condemned by the law but by the spirit of Christ that preached vnto them while they were in the prison of death that they might beare fruit in the resurrection also otherwise should they be born without adoption in Christ at all like as the cloudes are congealed and melt againe to nothing or as the wind passeth through the aire and no man marketh it so without law or grace should they perish without conscience which the Atheists now adaies would soon graunt But their iudgement long ago is not far off 2. Pet. 2. 3. and their condemnation sleepeth not They are wels without water and clouds caried about with a tempest to whom the black darknes is reserued for euer Now if we doubt that Christ did preach in the spirit before he came in the flesh let vs consider the Epistle of Saint Iude Iude. vers 9. where is said touching blaspheming of authority Yet Michael the Archangel Christ when he stroue against the diuell about the body of Moses durst not blame him with cursed speaking but said The Lord rebuke thee Mark then this Michael was a cheef Angell yea more than an Angell Apoc. 12. 5. as the Reuelation sheweth also There was a battell in heauen Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon and the Dragon and his angels fought but they preuailed not neither was their place found any more in heauen And the great Dragon that old serpent called the Diuell and satan which deceiueth all the world he was euen cast into the earth and his angels were cast out with him Heer Christ the seed of the woman brused the serpents head This Michael is the man-child that was borne to rule all nations with a rod of iron Psal. 2. 9. and break them in peeces like a potters vessell Diuers times is this Michael spiritually mentioned through the old and new Testament Dan. 10. 12. Lo Michael a cheef prince holpe me and there is none that holdeth with me Dan. 10. 22. but Michael your prince Dan. 12. In that day shall Michael stand vp the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people And in the same place Lo Michael one of the cheef princes cam to help me Wherfore it is to too absurd for vs to think that a king hauing banished an offender for punishment into a most desolate place of the world to remaine there for euer would himselfe go after to obteine greater power ouer him For what
imperfection when as the works of God in beginning middle and end are absolutely perfect for euer His beginning endeth his mean time both beginneth and endeth his beginning is a momentary end and there is no other mean time with him Is it then ynough to say I BELEEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH In no wise for although we are bound to beleeue so much yet is it not all that is required of vs for the very Iews beleeued thus much whose beleef was to be saued They saw the saluation of the Lord a far off through remorse in conscience considering their fall and the wickednes of mans thoughts all day long Adam their father had lost his state of knowledge they therfore remained in ignorance sinfull and their whole hope was to be grounded vpon the comfortable promises of that God and otherwise it had been hard for them to haue conceiued in their minds so great an eternity and such an immortall happines But God bereauing man his image of that honor which he once affoorded him which is to say the inheritance of a paradise would not vtterly destroy him but rather make him by a liuely faith to await for a blessed estate to abide for euer yea for euer and euer As Adam being first in the adoption of blessednes and life and consequently we all by him became accursed and died made vs accursed and to dy daily and as he by the almighty Gods meanes hoped to regain his saluation so we particularly ought to scan the meanes of his saluation to keepe our fraile flesh from desperation to comfort our guiltines of death and to keep vs from euerlasting damnation His meanes was the comfort of a victory wherin he reioiced as a giant to run his course Psal. 19. 5. and he did most constantly beleeue that as God promised so he should vanquish his most subtile and deadly enimy What could more win the hart of man thā such a promise Sundry such promises from age to age were reuealed to his posterity Gen. 9 26. As to Noah Blessed be the God of Sem. To Abraham Gen. 17. 6. I will multiply thee as the stars of heauen when as yet he had no child and his wife was old To Dauid by the prophet Nathan I will be his father 2. Sam. 7. 14. he shall be my sonne if he sin I will chasten him with the rod of men but my mercy shall not part away from him as I tooke it from Saul whom I haue put away before thee and thine house shal be established and thy kingdom for euer before thee thy throne shall be established for euer Ier. 33. 14. In that day I will cause the branch of righteousnes to grow vp vnto Dauid and he shall execute right iudgement in the land then shall Iuda be saued and Ierusalem dwell safely and he that shall call her is the Lord our righteousnes For thus saith the Lord Dauid shal neuer want a man to sit vpon the throne of the house of Israell This is the good then which the Lord will performe vnto the house of Israell and vnto the house of Iuda These were all most delightfull promises still to stay the hart of man in his owne saluation Isay. 7. 14. yet receiued Isay a greater light when he vnderstood the name of this conqueror Dan. 9. 24. but Daniell the greatest comfort to whom the precise time of victory and blessing to all the world was foretold which was in the comming of Messias which we call CHRIST the annointed Iesus that was promised the sauiour of the world These men were reuiued by meer promises but we being adopted heires of their hope do exceed their faith in beleeuing in this Iesus for we conclude with Peter Matt. 16. 16. that he is the sonne of the liuing God Wherfore we say AND IN IESVS CHRIST to be vnderstood euery mans Iesus or Sauiour that beleeueth whom Iesus or Iehoshua the sonne of Nun sauiour and captain of the Israelites prefigured long before that as he led Moses people into the promised land and sustained them in all their iourneyes so shall this Iesus defend and keep vs that call and trust vpon him from all subtile and malitious inuentions of satan and the world whatsoeuer and most couragiously carrie vs through this vale of misery to a promised land of rest a paradise wherin he himselfe is Lord and they that will not endure patiently the calamities vexations and variety of this iourney to rest shall surely haue their reward with the murmurers of Israell and the ten wearied and vncomfortable spies of the land of Canaan which might not see the land againe that they had once without cause blamed Numb 13. 29. to hinder Gods decree And no doubt with their false reports greeued many thousand soules and had not the Lord put into the harts of Iosua and Caleb his valiant seruants to speak the truth many surely might haue perished in infidelity but the Lord found Caleb as a hart harty and couragious not fearing death who was therfore rewarded with a second youth Ioshu 14. 11. both in strength and wisdome his youth came againe vnto him and his age returned forty yeeres answering well the question of regeneration or second birth made by Nicodemus to our true Iosua Iohn 3. 4. or sauiour in the Gospell to still and pacify the grudging mutiny of the people which the false spies had raised through the host Iosua was to them a shepheard signifying our shepheard Iesus that guideth vs to heauen The blind Iewes maketh saluation in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saue vs where they haue both in word and sense Iesus yet will it not agree with their consciences to say Iesus saue vs but the cause of their wilfull error in this point is that they may couer many sinnes with one excuse For to say he came not vtterly denieth his condemnation to be by them it denieth that he was crucified by them it denieth that they so wickedly pierced him it denieth that they gaue him gall and vineger to drink it excuseth their buffering mocking and scourging of him their spitting at him their crowning of him with thornes and generally whatsoeuer else they did despitefully vnto him But when these things were alleaged to them and the certainty of his comming to be iust in the fulnes of time prooued they began wheras before they skilfully contended with bashfulnes to plead their own ignorance in the prophets standing amazed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. II. as stags at a gaze they say they be the sons of Abraham Christs owne kindred which Iohn Baptist answereth Say not with your selues Matth. 3. 9. that we haue Abraham to our father for God euen of these stones can raise children vnto Abraham Matt. 8. 11. And againe Many shall come from east and west and rest with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in heauen but the children of