all them that are sanctified Blotting out the hand-writing of Ordinances which was against us and nailed it to his cross for ever to the end that being mindful of the price wherewith we were bought and of the enemies from whom we were delivered by him We might glorifie God both in our bodies and our souls and serve the Lord in righteousness and holiness all the days of our lives For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh in the time of the Mosaical Ordinances How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God in the time of the Gospel This is the constant tenor of the Word of God touching remission of our sins by the Blood of Christ. And unto this we might here adde the consonant suffrages and consent of the antient Fathers If the addition of their Testimonies where the authority of the Scripture is so clear and evident might not be thought a thing unnecessary Suffice it that all of them from the first to the last ascribe the forgiveness of our sins to the death of Christ as to the meritorious cause thereof though unto God the Father as the principal Agent who challengeth to himself the power of forgiving sins as his own peculiar and prerogative Isai. 43.25 Peculiar to himself as his own prerogative in direct power essential and connatural to him but yet communicated by him to his Son CHRIST IESUS whilest he was conversant here on Earth who took upon himself the power of forgiving sins as part of that power which was given him both in Heaven and Earth Which as he exercised himself when he lived amongst us so at his going hence he left it as a standing Treasury to his holy Church to be distributed and dispensed by the Ministers of it according to the exigencies and necessities of particular persons For this we finde done by him as a matter of fact and after challenged by the Apostles as a matter of right belonging to them and to their successors in the Ministration First For the matter of fact it is plain and evident not onely by giving to St. Peter for himself and them the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven annexing thereunto this promise That whatsoever he did binde on Earth should be bound in Heaven and whatsoever he did loose on Earth should be loosed in Heaven But saying to them all expresly Receive the Holy Ghost Whose sins soever ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained And as it was thus given them in the way of fact so was it after challenged by them in the way of right St. Paul affirming in plain terms That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself by not imputing their trespasses unto them but that the Ministery of this reconciliation was committed unto him and others whom Christ had honored with the title of his Ambassadors and Legates here upon the Earth Now as the state of man is twofold in regard of sin so is the Ministery of reconciliation twofold also in regard of man As he is tainted with the guilt of original sinfulness the Sacrament of Baptism is to be applied the Laver of Regeneration by which a man is born again of water and the Holy Ghost Iohn 3.5 As he lies under the burden of his actual sins the Preaching of the Word is the proper Physick to work him to repentance and newness of life that on confession of his sins he may receive the benefit of absolution Be it known unto you saith St. Paul that through this man CHRIST IESUS is preached unto you remission of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses And first for Baptism It is not onely a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christian men are discerned from others which be not Christned as some Anabaptists falsly taught but it is also a sign of regeneration or new birth whereby as by an instrument they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church the promises of the forgiveness of sin and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost are visibly signed and sealed Faith is confirmed and Grace increased by vertue of Prayer unto God This is the publick Doctrine of the Church of England delivered in the authorised Book of Articles Anno 1562. In which lest any should object as Dr. Harding did against Bishop Iewel That we make Baptism to be nothing but a sign of regeneration and that we dare not say as the Catholick Church teacheth according to the holy Scriptures That in and by Baptism sins are fully and truly remitted and put away We will reply with the said most Reverend and Learned Prelate a man who very well understood the Churches meaning That we confess and have ever taught that in the Sacrament of Baptism by the death and Blood of Christ is given remission of all manner of sins and that not in half or in part or by way of imagination and fancy but full whole and perfect of all together and that if any man affirm that Baptism giveth not full remission of sins it is no part nor portion of our Doctrine To the same effect also saith judicious Hooker Baptism is a Sacrament which God hath instituted in his Church to the end That they which receive the same might thereby be incorporated into Christ and so through his most precious merit obtain as well that saving grace of imputation which taketh away all former guiltiness and also that infused divine vertue of the Holy Ghost which giveth to the powers of the soul the first dispositions towards future newness of life But because these were private men neither of which for ought appears had any hand in the first setting out of the Book of Articles which was in the reign of King Edward the Sixth though Bishop Iewel had in the second Edition when they were reviewed and published in Queen Elizabeths time let us consult the Book of Homilies made and set out by those who composed the Articles And there we finde that by Gods mercy and the vertue of that Sacrifice which our High Priest and Saviour CHRIST IESUS the Son of God once offered for us upon the Cross we do obtain Gods grace and remission as well of our original sin in Baptism as of all actual sin committed by us after Baptism if we truly repent and turn unfeignedly unto him again Which doctrine of the Church of England as it is consonant to the Word of God in holy Scripture so is it also most agreeable to the common and received judgment of pure Antiquity For in the Scripture it is said
everlasting and after preached by the Apostles both to Iew and Gentile was finally committed unto writing to this end and purpose that by reading it or hearing it read and declared by others we may believe that IESVS is the CHRIST the Son of God and that believing we may have life through his name as St. Iohn assures us And though this be affirmed by him of his Gospel only I mean that written by himself yet we may safely say the same of all the rest of the Apostolical and Evangelical writings as being dictated by the same Spirit writ by men equally inspired and all conducing to this end to teach us to know IESVS CHRIST and him crucifyed and to enable us to give a reason to all that aske of the faith that is in us But being the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles were of too great a bulk to be committed unto memory and that there were some things in them so obscure and difficult that many ignorant and unstable but well meaning men both might and did wrest them to their own destruction other things which related rather unto moral duties then to points faith it was thought fit by the Apostles to draw the points of saving faith such as were necessarily to be believed of all Christian people into a briefe and narrower compasse It was not for the ordinary sort of men to trouble themselves with doubtful disputations as St. Paul calleth them whereof many do occurre in his Epistles disputes of too great difficulty and sublime a nature for every man especially the weak in faith either to understand or conceive aright Nor was it possible that men of mean parts and laborious callings of which the Church consisted for the most part in the first beginning should either have so much leasure as to read over their writings or so much judgment as to gather and collect from thence what of necessity was to be believed that they might be saved what not or so much memory as to treasure up and repeat by heart the infinite treasures of divine knowledge which are comprehended in the same And if it were so as no doubt it was when the Apostles and Evangelists had left those excellent Monuments of themselves in writing which the Church hath ever since enjoyed to which men might resort as occasion was for their information and instruction how necessary then must we think it was for some such Summarie and Abstract of the Christian faith to be resolved upon amongst them which men of weak memories might repeat by heart and men of shallow comprehensions righly understand Those blessed souls knew well none better how to apply themselves to the capacities of the weakest men that there were many Babes in Christ who were to be fed with milk and not with meats and that if they became not all things unto all men they must resolve amongst themselves to save but few Upon this ground then which what juster could there be to induce them to it it is conceived they drew up that brief abstract of the Christian faith which we call the CREED and couched therein whatever point was necessary for all sorts of men in all times and all places of the world both to believe in their hearts as also to professe and confesse upon all occasions though to the apparent hazard of their lives and fortunes And why this might not be that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that form of sound words whereof St. Paul saith to Timothy Hold fast that form of sound words thou hast heard of me I must confesse that I could never yet see a convincing reason Certain I am that Irenaeus who lived very near the Apostles times hath said of this confession of the faith this Creed which hath so generally and unanimously been received over all the world Ecclesia per universum orbem usque ad fines terrae c. The Church saith he throughout the world even to the ends of the earth received from the Apostles and their Disciples that faith which believeth in one God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth c. and in IESVS CHRIST the Son of God incarnate for our salvation and in the holy Spirit which preached by the Prophets the dispensation and coming of God and the birth of CHRIST our Lord by the Virgin his passion resurrection and ascension with his flesh into heaven and his coming from heaven in the glory of his Father to raise up all flesh and to give just judgement unto all Which words lest possibly we might interpret of the doctrine of faith which questionlesse was alwayes one and the same over all the world and not of any summary or abstract which they had digested for the use and benefit of Gods people or think that they relate rather to the substance of faith then to any set and determinate form of words in which that substance was delivered let us behold what the same Father hath delivered in another place This faith saith he which the Church though dispersed through the world received from the Apostles and their Disciples yet notwithstanding doth it keep it as safe as if it dwelt within the wals of one house and as uniformly hold N. B. as if it had but one only heart and soul and this as consonantly it preacheth teacheth and delivereth as if but one tongue did speak for all He addes which makes the point more plain that though there be different languages in the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet the effect and summe of the tradition i. e. the faith delivered in that forme is one and the same and I presume he means not by tradition those doctrines of faith which are delivered in the books and writings of the Evangelists and Apostles Finally he concludes with this expression and it is worthily worth our marking in the present case that he amongst the Governours of the Church who is best able to speak saith no more then this and no lesse then this the simplest and the most ignorant person which certainly he had not said but that there was one uniforme and determinate order of words which every one was bound to learn and adhere unto Tertullian he speaks plainer yet and affirmes expresly regulam fidei unam omnino esse solam immobilem et irreformabilem that there is but one rule of faith at all and that unmoveable and unalterable How could he say that there was but one rule of faith in the Church if every several Church had a several rule or that it was unmoveable and unalterable as he saith it was if there were no certain form of words prescribed which men were to keep to but every one might change and alter as he saw occasion So that I take it for a truth unquestionable that in the first ages nay the first beginnings of the Church of CHRIST there was a certain form of words prescribed for the ease and benefit of the Church a summarie or abstract of the Articles
also as before was shown Which if it may not be admitted in the Articles of the Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints with the rest that follow I see no cause why it should be admitted in the front of all which was to be the leading Case unto all the rest But other men of higher mark have seen this before me who give no other sense theâ—eof in this place of the Creed then to believe that there is one only eternal God the Maker of all things For thus the Book entituled Pastor and commonly ascribed to Hermes St. Pauls scholar Ante omnia unum credere Deum esse qui condidit omnia i. e. Before all other things believe that there is one God who made all things Origen thus Primum credendus est Deus qui omnia creavit i. e. In the first place we must believe that there is a God by whom all things were created S. Hilary of Poyctiers thus In absoluto nobis facilis est aeternitas Iesum Christum a mortuis suscitatum credere i.e. Eternity is prepared for us and made easie to us if we believe that Christ is risen from the dead And finally thus Charles the Great in the Creed published in his name but made by the most learned men which those times afforded Praedicandum est omnibus ut credant Patrem Filium Spiritum sanctum unum esse Deum omnipotentem i. e. the Gospel must be preached to all men that they may know that the Father Son and holy Ghost is one God Almighty Which resolution and authority of the antient Fathers is built no doubt upon the dictate and determination of S Paul himself who did thus lead the way unto them viz. He that câ—meth to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Where the first Article of the Creed I believe in God is thus expounded and no otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I believe that God is that there is a God According to which Exposition of the blessed Apostle our Reverend Iewell publishing the Apology and Confession of the Church of England did declare it thus We believe that there is one certain Nature and Divine power which we call GOD c. and that the same one God hath created Heaven and Earth and all things contained under Heaven We believe that Iesus Christ the only Son of the Eternal Father when the fulness of time was come did take of that blessed and pure Virgin both flesh and all the nature of man c. that for our sakes he died and was buried descended into Hell c. We believe that the holy Ghost is very God c. and that it is his property to mollifie and soften the hardness of mens hearts when he is once received thereunto c. We believe that there is one Church of God and that the same is not shut up as in times past amongst the Iews into some one corner or Kingdom but that it is Catholick and Universal and dispersed throughout the whole world c. and that this Church is the Kingdom the Body and the Spouse of CHRIST c. To conclude we believe that this our self same flesh wherein we live although it dye and come to dust yet at the last shall return again to life by the means of Christs Spirit which dwelleth in us c. and that we through him shall enjoy everlasting life and shall for ever be with him in glory Which consonancy of expression being so agreeable to that observed before by the antient Fathers and that observed before by the antient Fathers so consonant unto the expression of S. Paul the Apostle is the last reason which I have for this resolution that the so much applauded explication of the phrase in Deum credere is not to be admitted in this place of the Creâ—d And this shall also serve for a justification of that gloss or Commentary which I have given on this first Article viz. that to believe in God the Father Almighty is only to believe that there is one Immortal and Eternal Spirit of great both Majesty and Power which we call GOD and that this God is the Father Almighty the Father both of IESVS CHRIST and of all mankinde who as a Father hath not only brought us into the world but hath provided us of all things necessary both for body and soul protecting us by his mighty power and governing us and our affairs by his infinite wisdome But against this there may be some objections made which must first be answered before we come unto the further explication of this Article For if Faith be no other then a firm assent to supernatural truths revealed the Reprobate as they call them may be said to have faith which yet is reckoned in the Scripture as a peculiar gift of God unto his Elect which is therefore called Fides electorum or the Faith of the Elect Tit. 1.1 2. If to believe in God the Father Almighty and in IESVS CHRIST his only Son c. be only to believe that there is a God and that all those things are most undoubtedly true and certain which be affirmed of IESVS CHRIST in the holy Scripture the Devil may be reckoned for a true believer S. Iames assuring us of this that the Devils do believe and tremble Iam. 2.19 And 3. if the definition and the explication before delivered be allowed for currant it will quite overthrow the received distinction of Faith into Historical temporary saving or justifying faith and the faith of Miracles so generally embraced in the Protestant Schools This is the sum of those objections which I conceive most likely to be made against me but such as may be answered without very great difficulty For that the Reprobate as they call them may have Faith in CHRIST is evident by many instances and texts of Scripture Of Simon Magus it is written in the Book of the Acts that he believed and was baptized and continued with Philip the Evangelist Adhaerebat Philippo saith the Vulgar he stuck so fast unto him that he would not leave him Ask Calvin what he thinks of this faith of Simons and he will tell you Majestate Evangelii victum vitae salutis authorem Christum agnovisse ita ut libenter illi nomen daret that being vanquished by the power and Majesty of the Gospel of Christ he did acknowledge him to be the Author of salvation and eternal life and gladly was inrolled amongst his Disciples And whereas some had taught and published amongst other things that Simon never did believe but counterfeited a belief for his private ends Calvin doth readily declare his dislike thereof acknowledging this faith of Simons to be true and real though but only temporarie Non tamen multis assentior qui simulasse duntaxat fidem putant quum minime credâ—ret I cannot yeild to them saith he which think
from the sight of men And if the wise Gentile could affirme so sadly nunquam minus solum esse quam cum solus esset that he was never lesse alone then when he was by himself what need can any rational man suppose in Almighty God of having more company then himself in If this suffice not for an answer to that needlesse demand What God did before he made the World let him take that of Augustine on the like occasion who being troubbled with this curious and impertinent question is said to have returned this answer Curiosis fabricare inferos that he made Hell for all such troublesome and idle Questionists But it pleased God at last when it seemed best unto his infinite and eternal wisdome to create the World and all things visible and invisible in the same contained A point so clear and evident in the Book of God that he must needs reject the Scripture who makes question of it And as the Scripture tels us that God made the World so do they also tell us this that because he made the World he is therefore God For thus saith David in the Psalms The Lord is great and very greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all Gods As for the Gods of the Heathen they are but Idols but it is the Lord which made the Heavens Where plainly the strength of Davids argument to prove the Lord to be God doth consist in this because it was he only not the gods of the Heathen which created the World The like we also finde in the Prophet Ieremy The Lord saith he is the true God he is the living God and an everlasting King and the Nations shall not be able to abide his indignation Thus shall ye say unto them The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens He hath made the Earth by his power and established the World by his wisdome and hath stretched out the Heavens by his discretion In which two verses of the Prophet we have proof sufficient first that God made the World by his power and wisdome and secondly that this making of the World by his power and wisdome doth difference or distinguish him from the gods of the Heathen of whom it is affirmed expressely that they were so far from being able to make Heaven and Earth that they should perish from the Earth and from under Heaven But what need Scripture be produced to assert that truth which is so backed by the authority of the Learned Gentiles whose understandings were so fully convinced by the inspection of the Book of nature especially by that part of it which did acquaint them with the nature of the Heavenly Bodies that they concluded to themselves without further evidence that the Authour of this great Book was the only God and that he only was that great invisible power which did deserve that Soveraign title And this Pythagoras one of the first founders of Philosopie amongst the Grecians who in all probability had never seen the works of Moses as Plato and those that followed after are supposed to have done doth most significantly averre in these following verses which are preserved in Iustin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which may be thus paraphased in our English tongue He that will say I am a Power divine A God besides that one let him first make A world like this and say that this is mine Before he to himself that title take For the next point that God the Father Almighty did create the World it is a truth so clear and evident in the Book of God that he must needs reject the Scripture who makes question of it it being not only told us in the holy Scriptures that God made the World but also when he made it and upon what reasons with all the other circumstances which concern the same The very first words of Gods book if we look no further are in themselves sufficient to confirme this point In the beginning saith the Text God created the Heaven and the Earth As Moses so the royal Psalmist He laid the foundations of the Earth and covered it with the deep as it were with a garment and spreadeth out the Heavens like a curtain He made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that therein is And so the whole Colledge of the Apostles when they were joyned together in their prayers to God Lord said they thou art God which made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is Made it but how not with his hands assuredly there is no such matter The whole World though it be an house and the house of God cum Deo totus mundus sit und domus said the Christian Oratour yet it is properly to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an house not made with hands How then He made it only by his word Dixit et facta sunt He spake the word and they were made saith the sweet finger of Israel There went no greater paines to the Worlds creation then a Dixit Deus And this not only said by Moses but by David too Verbo Domini coeli firmatī sunt et spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum i. e. By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth In which it is to be observed that though the creation of the World be generally ascribed unto God the Father yet both the Son and the holy Ghost had their parts therein Verbo Domini by the word of the Lord were the Heavens made saith the Prophet David In the beginning was the Word All things were made by him and without him was nothing made saith St. Iohn the Apostle The Spirit of God moved upon the waters saith Moses in the Book of the Law and Spiritu oris ejus by breath of his mouth were all the hosts of Heaven created saith David in the book of Psalmes Made by his word but yet not made together in one instant of time to teach us men deliberation in our words and actions and to set forth unto us both his power and wisdome His power he manifested in the Method of the worlds creat on in that he did produce what effects he pleased without the help of natural causes in giving light unto the World before he had created the Sun and Moon making the earth fruitfull and to bring forth plants without the motion or influence of the Heavenly bodies And for his wisdome he expressed in as high a degree in that he did not create the Beasts of the field before he had provided them of fodder and sufficient herbage nor made man after his own image before he had finished his whole work filled his house and furnished it with all things necessary both for life and pleasures
Roman Emperours who though they ruled the people by the advice of the Senate yet ruled the Senate as they pleased and made the intimation of their own will and pleasure to pass as currant as Law Quod Principi placuerit Legis habet valorem saith the book of Institutes And such almost is the conclusion of those Royal Edicts which daily is set out by the French Kings which generally ends with these formal words Car tel est nostre plaisir for such is our pleasure But this in these and other Princes of the like authority is rather a character of power then a Rule of justice the Rule of justice being to be straight and even and always constant to it self not alterable on occasions or turned aside by passions and humane affections The will of God is subject to no such vicissitudes to such turns and changes as the wils of men but an unalterable and most constant rule without variation such as the rule of equal and impartial justice is of right to be And by this rule it is that the Lord proceedeth in executing justice over all the World Which justice either doth consist in the performance of his promises for even a just and righteous man is as good as his word and then it may be called veracitas and is a species or kinde of Commutative justice or else in punishing or rewarding the sons of men according to the exigence of their several works and then it hath the name of distributiva or distributive justice That part thereof which doth consist in the performance of his promises and is called Veracitas may be defined to be a constant and unalterable purpose in Almighty God of bringing every thing to pass which he hath either promised to the sons of men or spoke concerning them by his holy Prophets which have been since the World began In the first sense it is said so often of him in the holy Scipture that he remembred the Covenant made with Abraham Isaac and Iacob performing to their seed and their children after them whatsoever he was pleased to promise more generally by the Royal Psalmist Custodit veritatem in seculum that he keepeth his promise for ever Psal. 146.6 And in the other sense it was said unto the Virgin Mary by her Cousin Elizabeth that there should be a performance of all those things which had been told her by the Lord Luk. 1.45 by the Apostle that all the Promises of God in Christ Jesus are yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 by CHRIST himself that Heaven and earth should pass away but that there was not one Iod or title in the Word of God which in due time should not be accomplished If it consist in punishing the impenitent sinner or chastising his own dear children for their wilful follies we then call it punitive and so it comes within the compass of Gods heavenly anger which as St. Augustine doth define it non aliud est quam voluntas puniendi is nothing but the will of God to punish such as do offend against his Commandements If in rewarding those who conform themselves as far as humane frailty will permit to his laws and precepts it is called Remunerative and hath a great admixture in it both of love and mercy in passing by our faults to reward our faith that saying of St. Bernard being always true Semper invenies Deum benigniorem quam te culpabilem Nay even his anger or his punitive justice is so mixt with goodness that in the midst of judgement he remembreth mercy and dealeth not so extremely with us as we have deserved it being as true which I finde noted by Nicephorus Deum vindictae gladium oleo misericordiae semper acuere that God doth always scour the sword of his vengeance with the oyl of his mercy The World had been reduced by this time to its former nothing had not he sweetned the severity of his judgements by the balm of his mercies and grown into a Wilderness or vast confusion had he not held in by his Iustice the exorbitant power of those who make their lusts and their wils a Law And certainly if we consult the Monuments and Records of former times we shall finde no Age nor State of men or Nations which do not give us evident and plain examples of Gods proccedings in this kinde when the necessities of his Church or the sins of men do require it of him The subtle tyrannie of the Egyptians had not only taught them to oppress Gods people for the present but to extinguish the whole race of them for the time to come and therefore a command was given to the Midwives of Egypt to murder all the Male Children which were born to Israel Did not God scourge them with their own rod and pay them in their own coin as we use to say when he slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt And possibly the piety compassion of the Midwives of Egypt in sparing many of the Male children whom they might have murdered occasioned God to lay the fury of his vengeance on the first-born Male not on any of the Females throughout the Countrey When David surfeiting on plenty and the sweets of power not only had defiled the wife but destroyed the husband how fitly did God square the punishment unto the offence For presently a violent mixture of rape and incest is committed by one of his own sons on his daughter Tamar that rape revenged not long after in the death of the Ravisher the Murderer getting in short time such a potent party as to drive his Father out of Hierusalem and to defile his Wives and Concubines in the fight of the people When David was restored to his Crown again and growing vain in conceit of his own great power must needs command a general muster to be made of all his subjects that all the World might see of what strength he was and stand in fear of his displeasure how justly did God punish him and take down his pride in cutting off so many thousands of his people in whose strength he trusted and bringing him to this confession that all his strength and power was from God alone The loss of so many of his subjects was a loss to David the glory of a King consisting in the multitude of his subjects as the Wise-man tels us And though David interceded for them and took all the fault upon himself saying in the affliction of a troubled soul At oves istae quid fecerunt what had those sheep done yet was there none at all of that seventy thousand who had not many ways offended against Gods Commandements and therefore had deserved death as the wages of sin How patiently did God bear with the house of Iudah in their Idolatries and apostasie from his Laws and Precepts how frequently did he command them to rely on him in all times of danger By consequence how justly did
the meaning of this text will be briefly this that according to the Christian faith these actions which to men seemed so impossible those namely ascending up into heaven and descending down into the deeps of hell were performed for us in the person of Christ and therefore now to doubt of either were nothing else but to enervate and weaken the power of Christ who most perfectly hath accomplished both to save us from the one and bring us to the other Besides the Reader may take notice that that which our Translatours have rendred by these words the deep is called in the Greek Original by the name of Abyssus which signifieth a bottomlesse pit and is so taken and translated in the Revelation Chap. 9.2 11.7 where it can probably meant of no place but hell In the next place we meet with that of the Ephesians where it is said When he ascended up on high he led captivitie captive and gave gifts unto men Now that he ascended what is it but that he also descended first into the lowest parts of the earth He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fil all things Now in these words we may observe First that before Christs ascending by way of relation the Apostle putteth Christs descending Secondly that because descending and ascending must have contrary extremes from which and to which the motion is made therefore St. Paul opposeth the lowest parts of the earth to which Christ first descended unto the highest heavens of all above which he ascended Thirdly that these lowest parts of the earth could not be the grave as some men would have it which is seldome two yards deep in the ground and so not opposite in that respect to the height of the heavens according to the words and inference of the Apostle And Fourthly that the end of his descending was to lead captivity captive to beat them from the place of their chiefest strength even as the end of his ascending after he had led captivitie captive was to give gifts to men For what place fitter for the scene of so great an action as the full conquest of death sin and Satan the final dissolution of the kingdome of darknesse then the chief seat and fortresse of their whole empire which is hell it self situate in the lowest parts of the earth as before was shewn And hereunto agreeth the exposition of the antient Fathers St. Irenaeus citing these very words of the Apostle that Christ descended into the lower parts of the Earth makes them equivalent with those words of David concerning Christ viz. thou shalt not leave my soul in the neathermost Hell saying Hoc David in eum prophetans dixit and so much David said of him by way of prophesie Tertullian alleadging the same words of the Apostle concludeth thence Habes ergo Regionem Inâ—erum subterraneam i. e. by this thou mayst perceive that the place of Hell is under the earth Chrysostom thus Christ descended to the lower parts of the earth beneath which there are none other and he ascended above all higher then which there is nothing St. Ambrose on these words of Paul gives us this short gloss After death Christ descended to Hell whence rising the third day he ascended above all the heavens St. Hierome on the same saith thus Qui descendit in anima ad infernum ipse cum anima corpore ascendit in Coelum that is to say he that descended to Hell in his soul only ascended into Heaven both with soul and body Primasius doth not only concur with Hierom in his Exposition of the place but repeats also his very words Oecumenius out of Photius thus To the lower parts of the earth he meaneth Hell beneath which place there is no lower Next Haymo Christ descended first into the lower parts of the earth that is into hell and after ascended into heaven Which said he gives this reason of his Exposition as Hierom and Primasius had done before that by the lower parts of the earth he must needs mean hell which is called infernus in the Latine because it is lower then the earth or rather under it And finally Theophylact thus asks the question Quem in locum descendit into what place did Christ descend And presently returns this answer in infernum c. into hell which St. Paul calleth the lowest parts of the earth after the common opinion of men There is another part of this Text of Scripture touching the leading of Captivity Captive of which we have said nothing from the antient Writers because I purposed to consider it with another Text neer of kin unto it where it is said that having spoyled principalities and powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them In both which texts we must distinguish between the taking of Captivity captive and the leading of them as in triumph being once so taken between the spoyling of those principalities and powers the Apostle speaketh of and the open shew or triumph which was made upon it The first was only the great work of Christs descent into Hell the other the chief pomp and glory of his Resurrection and Ascension For clearing of which point we may please to know that the Devil since the fall of man laid a claim to mankinde and held him like a captive in the bonds of sin by means whereof as he drew many after him into the pit of torments so he presumed to have the like advantages over all the rest And though Christs over-mastering Satan began here on the earth when he cast him out of such as he had possessed yet his full and final conquest could not be accomplished till he had followed and pursued him over all the world driven him at last into the very heart and seat of his Dominion which was Hell it self and there in the presence of his Angels and other instruments of mischief destroyed his power dissolved his Empire and put a period to his tyranny over the sons of men And this is that to which the Fathers doe attest both with heart and hand but none more clearly to this purpose then St. Athanasius The Devil saith he was fallen from Heaven he was cast from the earth pursued through the ayr every where conquered and every where straightned in which distress 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he determined to keep Hell safe which was all that was left him But the Lord a true Saviour would not leave his work unfinished nor leave those which were in Hades as yeilded to the enemie so that the Devil thinking to kill one lost all and hoping to carry one to Hell or Hades was himself cast out By means whereof Hades or Hell is abrogated death no more prevailing but all being raised unto life neither can the Devil stand any more against us but is fallen and indeed creepeth on his brest and belly Which
mereri is no more then consequi to obtain or procure and in that sense the word is generally used in antient writers of which we may see more hereafter in a place more proper Take this of Tacitus once for all where speaking of Agricola he gives this Item Illis virtutibus iram C. Caesaris meritus est that by those vertues he procured the displeasure of Caius Caesar. That Christ did merit for himself in this sense of the word I take to be a matter beyond all controversie For first he merited or procured to be adored by his Apostles with religious worship the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek Original which he never could procure at their hands before Maldonates note upon this Text and the reasons of it are in my minde exceeding apposite but then his inference thereupon is like mors in olla an herbe that poysoneth the whole pottage His note is this Non legimus nisi hoc loco Christum a discipulis suis adoâ—atum we do not read saith he but in this place only that Christ was worshipped or adored by his Disciples His reason of it is this because whilest he conversed amongst them they looked upon him only in his humane nature as one made of the same mould that themselves were of Nunc demum adorant cum in calum eum ferri vident c. But when they saw him taken up into heaven they could not but acknowledge that he was a God also and therefore was to be adored which they did accordingly So far the Iesuite hath done well none could do it better His inference is if I rightly understand his meaning that the Eucharist is to be adored though they of Rome are for so doing quarrelled by the modern Hereticks Assuredly were Transubstantiation an Article of the Christian faith as that of Christs ascension is well known to be or could I see Christ in the the Eucharist with my bodily eyes as the Apostles saw him when he went up into heaven none should be forwarder then my selfe to adore the Eucharist But our great Masters in that Church do affirme unanimously that there is nothing to be seen but the outward elements the accidents of bread and wine as they please to phrase it And Suares one of the greatest of their Clerks doth affirme in Terminis Hoe tantum pendet ex principiis Metaphysicis Philosophicis ad fidei doctrinam non pertinet that Transubstantiation doth depend only on Metaphysical and Philosophical principles and is not de fide or a matter of faith Nay in the Church of Rome it self neither the Pastors nor the people were bound to believe it till Innocent the third defined it in the Lateran Councell about 400 years agoe upon whose definition it doth wholly rest as many of their Schoolmen cannot chuse but grant it being free till that time saith the learned Tunstal once Ld. B. of Durram to follow their own conjecture concerning the manner of the presence How all this doctrine doth agree with the Lords ascension and how one overthrowes and destroyeth the other we shall more fully see in the close of this Chapter Now therefore leaving these disputes let us follow Christ in his Ascension and see what he did further merit or procure for himself thereby That he obtained to be adored by his Disciples we have seen already the next point that he gained was this to be acknowledged by his followers for their Lord and King So witnesseth St. Peter in his first Sermon saying Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus whom ye have crucifyed both LORD AND CHRIST Made him both Lord and Christ but when After his ascension after he had exalted him and placed him at his own right hand as the foregoing verses ballanced and compared together do most clearly evidence What then was he not Lord and Christ before No not in fact but only in the way of designation as first begotten Son of God and his heir apparent Him he made heir of all things from the first beginnings but being as he was in the forme of a servant he was to do his Fathers businesse and attend his leasure Who having raised him from the dead exalted him but not before with his own right hand to be a Prince and Saviour to give repentance unto Israel and forgivenesse of sins Shall we have more then to the Apostle of the Iews add we him of the Gentiles and he will tell us more at large how first God raised him from the dead then set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come lastly that having so exalted him he did put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the Church which is his body Now as he gained this power and Empire from the hands of God so he obtained or merited obedience at the hands of men the reverence of the knee in their adoration the tribute of the tongue in their acclamations Christ saith the same Apostle humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Which being suffered and subdued God also highly hath exalted him and given him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth And that every tongue should confesse that IESVS CHRIST is the Lord to the glory of God the Father But here I must be understood of speaking all this while of the man CHRIST IESVS as he appeared in our likenesse and was found in the fashion of us men in which nature as he only suffered and humbled himself unto the death even the death of the Crosse for the remission of our sins so in that nature only was he capable of an Exaltation of being raised from the dead and caried up into heaven and placed there at the right hand of the Father almighty Which sitting at the right hand of the Father Almighty though it be another of those high preheminences which Christ did merit for himself in his humane nature yet being he was not actually possessed of it untill his ascension shall be considered by it self in the following Chapter which is designed particularly to that branch of the Article In the mean time to shew that all the steps of Christs exaltation are spoken and intended of his humane nature whereof we shall speak more anon on the like occasion take this of Ruffine as a taste of what others say as well concerning this point of the Lords ascension into heaven as that of sitting there at the right hand of God both which he understandeth as the antients did of the manhood only Neque enim ulli
judicii pronouncing them with his own mouth to be forgiven in Heaven According to the promise made unto St. Peter or the Church in him when he delivered him the Keys that whatsoever he did loose on Earth should be loosed in Heaven And so we are to understand St. Chrysostomes words Iudex sedet in terris dominus sequitur servum The Judge remains upon the Earth the Lord followeth the servant His meaning is That what the servant doth here upon the Earth according to his Masters will the same the Lord himself will confirm and ratifie To which effect it is affirmed by others of the Antient Writers but in clearer words That the judgment of man goeth before the judgment of God The Priest is then a Iudge to pronounce the sentence and not a Cryer onely as some say to proclaim what the Judge pronounceth and as a Judge doth actually absolve or condemn the sinner by the same power of pardoning or retaining sins which he had from Christ or which Christ executes by him as his lawful deputy For as Kings are said to minister Justice to their Subjects though they do it not in their own persons but by a power devolved on subordinate Officers and as Christ himself may properly be said to have fed the multitudes though he gave the loaves onely unto his Disciples and his Disciples to the multitudes So he may also be affirmed to absolve the penitent although he do it by the mouth of the Priests or Ministers it being his act 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and theirs but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 originally his and ministerially theirs the same power in both And this may further be made good by that form of Speech used by our Saviour in the delegation of this power unto his Apostles and by them to his Ministers in all ages since being the very same with that which he himself hath given us in the Pater noster In his Commission it is thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose sins soever ye remit Iohn 20.23 And in the Lords Prayer it is thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and forgive us our sins Luke 11.4 The same word used in the original for the one and the other And if it be a Solecism to say as no doubt it is That we desire no more of God in that clause of the Prayer than that he would signifie or declare that our sins are pardoned The Solecism must be as great for ought I can see to say That they are onely signified or declared to be pardoned by the mouth of the Minister Now that this is the meaning and intent of the Church of England some of our Romish adversaries do not stick to grant though others to calumniate this most Orthodox Church have given out the contrary For one of their great Controversors hath declared in print that it is the doctrine of some of the Protestants That Priests have power not onely to pronounce the remission of sins but to give it also And that this seemeth to be the doctrine of the Communion Book in the Visitation of the sick where the Priest saith And by his authority committed unto me I absolve thee from all thy sins c. And therefore when a foul-mouthed Iesuite had been pleased to charge us with denying power unto the Priests of forgiving sins Bishop Usher telleth him to his face That he doth us wrong and proves it by the very formal words in our Ordination Whose sins soever ye remit they are remitted and whose sins soever ye retain they are retained But no man can say more to this than hath been said already by Bishop Morton now Lord Bishop of Durham The power of absolution saith that learned Prelate whether it be general or particular whether in publick or in private is professed in our Church where both in our Publick Service is proclamed Pardon and Absolution upon all Penitents and a particular applying of particular Absolution unto Penitents by the Office of the Ministery And greater power than this hath no man received from God And this hath also been acknowledged by the Leaders of the Puritan faction who in their Petition to King Iames at his first coming to this Crown excepted against the very name of Absolution as being a Forinsecal and Iuridical word importing more surely than a Declaration which they desired to have corrected And thereupon it was propounded in the Conference at Hampton Court That to the word Absolution in the Rubrick following the general Confession these words Remission of sins might be added for Explanations sake And though Dr. Raynolds one of the Four Proctors for the said Petitioners in the foresaid Conference may be conceived to have been of the same opinion with these of the agrieved sort whom he did appear for yet he was so well satisfied in the power and nature of Sacerdotal Absolution that he did earnestly desire it at the time of his death humbly received it at the hands of Dr. Holland the Kings Professor in Divinity in the Vniversity of Oxon for the time then being and when he was not able to express his joy and thankfulness in the way of speech did most affectionately kiss the hand that gave it But what need more be said for manifesting this judicial power in the remitting of sins than what is exercised and determined by the Church in the other branch of this Authority in retaining sins By which impenitent sinners are solemnly and judicially cut off from the sacred Body of the Church and utterly excluded from the company and Communion of the rest of the faithful Of which the Church hath thus resolved in her publick Articles viz. That person which by open denunciation of the Church is rightly cut off from the unity of the Church and Excommunicate ought to be taken of the whole multitude of the faithful as an Heathen and Publican until be be openly reconciled by penance and received into the Church by a Iudge that hath authority thereunto Where clearly we have found a Iudicial power and a Iudge to exercise the same and that not onely in the point of retaining sins in case of excommunication but also in reconciling of the penitent in remitting sins in the way of ordinary absolution Which whether it be given in Foro poenitentiae or in Foro Conscientiae either in private on the confession of the party or publickly for satisfaction of the Congregation doth make no difference in this point which onely doth consist in the proof of this That the Priests or Ministers of the Gospel lawfully ordained have under Christ a power of forgiving sins Which comfortable doctrine of the remission of sins by Gods great mercy at all times and the Churches Ministery at some times as occasion is is the whole subject of this branch of the present Article Proceed we next to those great benefits which we reap thereby The Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting ARTICLE XI
whom with thee and the holy Ghost be praise for ever But leaving these more intricate speculations to more subtill heads The name of Father in this sense is ascribed to God by two severall titles First Iure Creationis by the right of Creation by which he is the Father of all mankinde And secondly Iure Adoptionis by the right and title of Adoption by which he hath anew begotten us in St. Peters language to an inheritance immortall undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved for us in the Heavens First GOD is said to be our Father in the right of Creation by which as all the World and all things in the same contained may be called the workmanship of his hands so may all mankinde be called his children not only those which trust and believe in him but also those which know him not nor ever read so much of him as the Book of nature those which yet live as out-lawes from the rule of reason and barbarous and savage people of both the Indies Thus Malachi the last Prophet of the Iewes Have we not all one Father hath not God created us Thus the Apostle of the Gentiles doth affirme of GOD that out of one bloud he hath made all kindreds of men And CHRIST himself who brake down the partition wall between Iew and Gentile Call no man Father on Earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven Not that the Lord would have us disobedient to our naturall Parents or ashamed to own them for this is plainly contrary both to Law and Gospeâ—t but that we should refer our being unto him alone which is the fountain of all beeing Solus vocandus est Pater qui creavit said Lactantius truly Now God is said to be our Father by the right of Creation for these following reasons as first because he was the Father of the first man Adam out of whose loyns we are descended or of whose likeness since the fall we are all begotten Therefore St. Luke when he had made the Genealogie of our Saviour CHRIST in the way of ascent doth conclude it thus which was the son of Seth which was the son of Adam which was the Son of God the son of God but not by generation for so our Saviour only was the Son of God and therefore it must be by Creation only Secondly GOD is called our Father because he hath implanted in our Parents the vertue Generative moulded and fashioned us in the secret closets of the Womb. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me Thine eyes did see my substance being yet imperfect and in thy book were all my members written saith the Royal Psalmist The bodies of us men are too brave a building for man and Nature to erect And therefore said Lactantius truly Hominem non patrem esse sed generandi ministrum Man only is the instrument which the Lord doth use for the effecting of his purpose to raise that godly edifice of flesh and bloud which he contemplates in his children Last of all for our souls which are the better part of us by which we live and move and have our beeing they are infused by GOD alone man hath no hand in it God breathes into our nosthrils the breath of life and by his mighty power doth animate and inform that matter which of it self is meerly passive in so great a wonder In each of these respects and in all together we may conclude with that of Aratus an old Greek Poet as he is cited by S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for we are all his off-spring all of us his children The second Interest which GOD hath in us as a Father in the way of adoption by which we are regenerate or anew begotten to a lively hope of being heirs unto the promises and in the end partakers of eternal glories by which we are transplanted from our Fathers house and out of the Wilderness and unprofitable Thickets of this present world and graffed or inoculated on the Tree of life Adoptare enim est juxta delectum sibi quos quisque velit in filios eligere Adoption is the taking of a childe from another family to plant and cherish in our own say the Civil Lawyers and he that so adopteth may be called our Father by approbation of the laws though not by nature Examples of this case have been very ordinary from Moses who was adopted for her son by the daughter of Pharaoh though he refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter as St. Paul said of him down through all the stories both of Greece and Rome And if it may be lawful to make such resemblances the motives which induced GOD to proceed this way and other the particulars of most moment in it do seem to carry a fair proportion or correspondency with such inducements and particulars as hath been used by men on the same occasions For in the Laws adoption was to be allowed but in these four cases First Quod quidam Matrimonii onera detrectarent because some men could not away with the cares of Wedlock Secondly Quod conjugium esset sterile because God had not blessed the marriage with a fruitful issue Thirdly Quod liberi ipsorum morerentur because their own children by untimely death or the unluckie chance of War had been taken from them in which last case adoption by especial dispensation was allowed to women Fourthy Quod liberi ipsorum improbi essent degeneres because their own children were debauched and shameless likely to ruine that estate and disgrace that family into which they were born And upon such grounds as these is GOD in Scripture said to adopt the Gentiles to make them who by nature were the sons of wrath and seemed to be excluded from the Covenant which he made with Abraham to be the heirs of God and Coheirs with Christ. God looked upon the Iews as his natural children And at the first one might have known them easily for the sons of God by the exemplarie piety of their lives and actions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as men know commonly their neighbour children by a resemblance to their Fathers St. Paul hath made a muster of some chiefs amongst them in the 11. chap. to the Heb. But they being took away by the hand of death there next succeeded in their room a gâ—neration little like them in the course of their lives and therefore little to the comfort of their heavenly Father For his part he was never wanting unto his Vineyard nor could there any thing be done to it which he did not do yet when he looked for grapes in their proper season it brought forth nothing but wilde grapes sit only for the wine-press of his indignation So that the Lord was either childless or else the Father of a stubborn and perverse generation of whose reclaim there was no hopes or but small if any
In quibus etiam hoc est quod apud Inferos fuit c. Amongst which this is one point also that he was in Hell and loosed the sorrows of the same of which it was impossible that he should be holden In which last words the Father plainly doth relate to the 24. verse being the beginning almost of St. Peters Sermon Where though the Copies of the Testaments which are extant now read not as Augustine doth Solutis doloribus inferni having loosed the pains of Hell but the pains of death yet many of the antient Copies were as St. Augustine readeth it For Athanasius sometimes useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he loosed the pains of Hell and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sorrows of death Epiphanius in two places reads it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was impossible for Christ to be holden or detained in Hell And the same Copies as it seemes were followed also by Irenaeus l. 3. c. 12. by Cyprian in his tract de Passione Christi by Fulgentius l 3. ad Thrasimundum and by Bede also in his Retractations on the Acts. Which strong agreement of the Antients with the sight perhaps of some of the antient Copies did prevail so far on Robert Stephans the famous Printer of Paris that in the New Testament in Greek of the larger volume of the year 1550. he caused this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be put in the margin as a different reading remaining still in divers copies But this is only by the way not out of it as that which did afford another argument unto the Antients for proof of Christs descent into hell and his short stay in it by the pains or sorrows whereof it was impossible that he should be holden Nor did it only serve as a good argument for them in their several times and is to be of no use since the Text went otherwise I believe not so For since both readings have been found in the antient Writers and neither can be rejected as false the word death must be so expounded where it is retained as that it may not contradict that of Hell or Hades For being that death hath a double power place and subject upon the body here on earth and on the soul in Hell hereafter the Text may not unfitly be understood of the later death the pains and sorrows whereof were loosed by Christ because it was impossible they should fasten on him But to return unto the not leaving of Christs soul in Hell the tricks and shifts for the eluding of which Text we shall see hereafter it could not be intended of the grave only as some men would have it or to relate only to the Resurrection as they give it out For to rise simply from the grave was not sufficient to shew the soveraignty of Christ as the Lord of all Heaven Earth and Hell being made subject to his Throne nor to express and signifie the eternity of it which was to last till all his Enemies were made his footstool Some had been raised from death to life by the two famous Prophets in the Old Testament some by our Saviour in the New none of which could lay claim under that pretence to the Throne of David or to be Lord of all things as our Saviour was Besides this passage being recorded by St. Luke who in his Gospel useth the same word Hades for the place of torments as before was shewn it is not probable that he should use it here in another sense or if he did that none of all the Latine Fathers and Interpreters should ever observe it who render it by Infernus Hell as often as they have occasion to speak thereof I close this point with that of Augustine who speaking of this Prophesie of David concerning Christ he saith it is not to be contradicted nor otherwise to be expounded then it is there interpreted by St. Peter himself and then addes this for a conclusion of the whole Who but an Infidel will deny Christs descent into Hell So far the light of holy Scripture interpreted according to the general consent and Exposition of the Antient Fathers hath directed us in this enquiry and we have found such good assurance in the cause that the addition of more evidence would but seem unnecessary yet that the Catholick Tradition of the Church of Christ may be found to incline the same way also we will draw down the line thereof from the very times of the Apostles to those days of darkness in which all good learning was devoured and swallowed up in the night of ignorance For first Thaddaeus whom St. Thomas sent to preach the Gospel to Abgarus the King or Prince of Edessa taught him and his amongst other Catechetical points contained in the Apostles Creed that they must believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that is to say that Christ descended into Hell and broke the wall which had been never broke before since the world began and rose again and raised the dead some of the which had slept from the first creation I know this story of Thaddaeus hath been called in question in these later dayes nor have I time and leisure to assert it now All I shall say is that Eusebius who relates it refers himself unto the monuments and Records of the City of Edessa out of which he had it and 't is well known Eusebius never was reputed either to be a fabulous or too credulous Author Next to Thaddaeus comes Ignatius the Apostles scholar who speaks of Christs descent into Hades in the same tearms as before adding withall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he went down alone to Hades but ascended with a great multitude unto his Father And this he saith after he had made mention of his death and burial in a former passage of the same Epistle St. Irenaeus he comes next and he tels us this that David prophecyed thus of CHRIST thou shalt not leave my soul in the neathermost Hell After him Origen Christ saith he having bound the strong man and conquered him by his Cross went even unto his house to the house of death and unto Hell and thence took his goods that is the souls which he possessed Then cometh Eusebius next in order To him only saith he speaking of Christ were the gates of death opened and him only the keepers of Hell-gates seeing shrunk for fear and the chief Ruler of death the Devil knowing him alone to be his Lord rose out of his Throne and spake unto him fearfully with supplications and intreaty Next him another Eusebius surnamed Emisenus The Lord saith he descending darkness trembled at the sudden coming of an unknown light and the deepness of the dark mists of Hell saw the bright star of Heaven Deposito corpore imas atque abditas Tartari sedes filius hominis penetravit and the Son of man laying by his body penetrated to the lowest and
Translation it is called a washing yet in the Greek and Latine both it is a baptization Next to these positive and practical Proofs we will add some natural and experimental Evidences which conclude the same and are more within the compass of the observation of the meanest capacities We see the Sun withdraweth from us every evening the comfort both of light and heat and yet we doubt not of his rising on the morrow morning We go to bed as to our grave yeelding our selves to sleep-which is the image of death with prayers and supplications to Almighty God in hope to be restored unto sense and action on the day insuing We note it in the common course of the works of Nature that Herbs and Plants and all the Flowers of the field do in the time of Winter seem to lose that life which made them flourish with more lustre than the Court of Solomon but we observe withall as a thing of course that the next Spring returns them to their perfect beauties Expectandum nobis etiam corporis ver est we have a Spring to come said the Christian Advocate The Husbandman commits his seed unto the ground in expectation of a plentiful and joyful Harvest his hope deceiveth him not at last though that which he buried in the womb of the Earth must die before it quicken unto life again This is another of St. Pauls Arguments to our present purpose Thou fool saith he that which thou sowest is not quicked except it die upon which words of the Apostle take this gloss or descant out of an old Greek M. S. in Bodleys Liberarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Earth laboureth not after the ordinarie manner of a woman in travel Her Infant Corn is not quickned except it die Should it live still it could not be formed in that womb The earth receiveth the bare corn onely and by corrupting it restoreth it in a better fashion than she took it in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And can we have saith he a more forcible impression or representation of our own restitution than by this example Observing these things as we do in the works of Nature how can we think so poorly of the Lord our God as if it were not in his power with the like facility to re-give to us our former beauties as either to the Plants or Planets Should we make search into the secret and more wonderful works of prudent nature we may be told by Plinie That dead Bees are restored both to life and motion onely by sprinkling them with Nepenthe young Pellicans by the blood of the old ones and Eels with vinegar and blood The raising of the new Phenix out of the ashes of the old one hath been a thing so generally received over all the world that for my part I dare not question it though I know some do And of the Swallows it is said that at the beginning of Winter they use to fall down together in heaps into the dust or water and there sleep in their Chaos till hearing the voyce of returning Nature at the Spring they awaken out of this dead sleep and live amongst the fowls of the Air again And more than so it is affirmed by George Maior a German writer that he found a company of Swallows lying dead under an old Table in the Church of Witteberge which by an artificial heat he restored to life the ordinary time of nature being then not come in which they should revive of course This makes it plain that nature is no Enemy to a Resurrection by consequent our Faith in this agreeable to the course of Nature and not to be denyed by a natural man though no one Point or Article of the Christian Faith hath been more eagerly opposed by the ancient Gentiles nor more pertinaciously decried by Heretical Christians And howsoever men of inferior parts might make scruple of it yet can I not but wonder at those great Philosophers that they should plead so earnestly against a Tenet so consonant to the waies and works of Nature and otherwise not much a stranger to their own opinions Themselves both Platonists and Pythagoreans acknowledge an eternal being of the soul and though the man did dye and his corps was buried yet the Soul lived again in another Body And so the antient Druides were perswaded also Regit idem spiritus artus Orbe aâ—io as the Poet hath informed us of them The truth of this opinion I dispute not here I know it to be vain and foolish Onely I shall conclude from their own Position and think the Argument will be good ad homines That the same Soul may be as easily beleeved to live again in its own body as in the body of another made of purpose for it And this Tertullian doth retort against those Philosophers who did admit of this Pythagorean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this transmigration of the soul from body to body and yet deny the Resurrection of that body to which the Soul more naturally ought to be united Si quaecunque ratio praeest animarum humanarum reciprocandarum in corpora cur non in eandem substantiam redeant cum hoc sit restitui id esse quod fuerat as his words there are That which most stumbled both these Philosophical and our Christian Hereticks was That the faithful of the Primitive times did not onely stand for the Assumption of a new Body which perhaps the others would have granted with no great difficulty but the Resurrection of the old The restitution of a body which had either been consumed to ashes eaten by Worms devoured by Fishes and wilde Beasts and finally incorporated into the substance of those Beasts and Fishes which had so devoured it Which being thought impossible by some old Philosophers and not well understood by some poor weak Christians occasioned it on both sides to be called in question and by some Christian Hereticks to be more decried than ever it had been by the Gentiles formerly The Marcionites of old denied it so did Marcus too and so did Basilides Cerdo and the rest of that wicked brood The Anabaptists and Socinians of these times do deny it also although not on the same grounds as the former Hereticks by those it was denied because thought impossible in which they and the Gentiles did agree together by these because they do not think it consonant to the Word of God That flesh and blood should inherit the Kingdom of Heaven as if there were no difference between the substance of flesh and the infirmities and frailties which attend upon it between a natural body and a body glorified Of which more anon In the mean time to satisfie the doubts of those of what sort soever which charge this Article of our Faith with impossibilities we may demand of them these particulars besides what hath been said to the point already viz. Whether it be not equally as possible to Almighty
Cajetan was a publick Confession and in generals onely sed non confessio Sacramentalis Not such a private and particular one as is now required not such a Sacramental one as is now defended But we might well have saved this particular search it being ingenuously confessed by Michael de Palacios a Spanish Writer That notwithstanding all their pains to found it on some Text of Scripture they are so far from being agreed amongst themselves that it is much to be admired Quanta sit de hac re concertatio What contention there is raised about it and how badly they agree with one another And if they have no better ground for the main foundation how little hopes may we conceive of finding any good in their superstructures And yet upon no better grounds do they exact a most unreasonable particularity of all mens affairs to be delivered to them in confession requiring of all persons being of age a private and distinct confession of all and every known mortal sin open and secret of outward deed and inward consent together with all circumstances thereof though obscene and odrous not fit to be communicated to a modest ear and that too once a year at least if they do not oftner For this we need not go much further than the Council of Trent where we shall finde Oportere à poenitentibus omnia peccata mortalia quorum post diligentem sui discussionem conscientiam habent in confessione recenseri etiamsi occultissima sunt tantum adversus duo ultima Decalogi mandata remember that they divide the last Commandment into two commissa c Which how impossible it is to do should one go about it what an intanglement it may prove unto the conscience of a penitent sinner and what a temptation also to the Priest himself to be acquainted with particulars so unchast and lustful I leave to any sober Christian to determine of who shall finde more hereof in Alvares Pelagius de Planctu Ecclesiae L. 2. Art 2 3 27 73 83. and Agrippa de Vanitate Scientiarum cap. 64. Writers of their own than I think fitting at this time they should hear from me who do not love to rake in such filthy puddles So then the business of Confession doth stand thus between us That we conceive it to be free whereas those of Rome will have it obligatory we that it is Iuris positivi onely but they Iuris divini we that it is a matter of conveniency and they of absolute necessity And then for the performance of it they do exact a punctual enumeration of all sins both of commission and omission together with all the accidents and circumstances thereunto belonging which we conceive in all cases to be impossible in some not expedient and in no case at all required by the Word of God Now as we disagree with those of the Church of Rome about the nature and necessity of private confession so have we no less differences with the Grandees of the Puritan faction about the efficacy and power of Sacerdotal Absolution which they which speak most largely of it make declarative onely others not so much whereas the Church hath taught us that it is authoritative and judicial too Authoritative not by a proper natural and original power for so the absolving of a sinner appertains unto God alone but by a delegated and derived power communicated to the Priest in that clause of their Commission Whose sins soever ye remit they are remitted and whose sins soever ye retain they are retained Iohn 20.23 Which proves the Priest to have a power of remitting sins and that in as express and ample manner as he can receive it But though it be a delegated Ministerial power yet doth not the descent thereof from Almighty God prove it to be the less judicial Then Judges and other Ministers of Justice sitting on the Bench may be said to exercise a judicial power on the lives and fortunes of the Subjects because they do it by vertue of the Kings Commission not out of any Soveraign power which they can chalenge to themselves in their several circuits Now that the Priests or Ministers of the Church of England are vested with as much power in forgiving sins as Christ committed to his Church and the Church to them the formal words Whose sins soever ye remit they are remitted c. which are still used in Ordinations do expresly signifie Which though some of the Grandees of the Puritan faction have pleased to call Papisticum ritum an old Popish ceremony foolishly taken up by them continued with small judgment by our first Reformers minore adhuc in ecclesia nostra retentus and with far less retained by the present Church yet we shall rather play the fools with the Primitive Christians than learn wit of them And for the exercise of this power we have this form thereof laid down in the Publick Liturgy where on the hearing of the sick mans confession the Priest is to absolve him with these formal words viz. Our Lord Iesus Christ who hath left power unto his Church to absolve all sinners which truly repent and believe in him of his great mercy forgive thee thine offences And by his authority committed unto me I absolve thee from all thy sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen In which we finde that the Sacerdotal power of forgiving sins is a derived or delegated Ministerial power a power committed to his Ministers by our Lord and Saviour but that it is Iudicial also not Declarative onely It is not said That I do signifie or declare that thou art absolved which any man may do as well as the Priest himself but I do actually absolve thee of all thy sins which no mortal man can but he In this the Priest hath the preheminence of the greatest Potentate And in this sense it is that St. Chrysostome saith Deus ipse subjecit caput Imperatoris manui Sacerdotis i.e. That God himself hath put the head of the Prince under the hand of the Priest For as no man whatsoever although he use the same words which the Minister doth can consecrate the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ because he wants the power of Order which should inable him unto it so no man not in Priestly order can absolve from sin though he may comfort with good words an afflicted Conscience or though he use the same words which are pronounced by the Minister in absolution The reason is because he wants the power of order to which the promise is annexed by our Saviour Christ which makes the sentence of the Priest to be so judicial which when the penitent doth hear from the mouth of the Minister he need not doubt in foro conscientiae but that his sins be as verily forgiven on Earth as if he had heard Christ himself in foro