no vnderstanding but may bee compared to the beasts that perish And Church-men once got free from the pressure of Heathenish bondage exceeded all measure in aemulations factions and vanities Libertie brake out into luxurie Superseminations and Superstructions ouer-grew and obscured the good seed and building Which Addition and Multiplication not onely of points of Doctrine but superstitious and ridiculous ceremonies partly borrowed from the Iewes and partly from the Heathen beganne to worke a Substraction of other Churches of Rome and continueth especially the Division which now all Christendome groanes vnder To let passe other matters and on with the point we haue in hand The reverent and ancient manner of dedicating Churches to God may appeare by the acts of Constantine in consecrating the Church at Ierusalem registred as you shall finde by Eusebius De vita constantin l. 4. Nicephor l. 8. c. 26. Precibus concionibus decorârunt with Prayers and Sermons they adorned their first assembling in it which was accompanied with almes to the poore and great gifts to the Church and Bishops befitting the estate of the Founder Zonaras in Constantin And haue wee any other in the South Church but Conventus laudes gratias assemblings praises thanksgiuing to God to make vp their consecration Per conventus laudes gratias Deo canentes Athanas Apolog. 2. No more then this in his 2d Apologie Athanasius affirmes Bishop Alexander to haue vsed Home to this comes the Church of Helvetia in their latter confession chap. 22. By reason say they of the word of God and holy Exercises therein celebrated places dedicated to God and his worship are not prophane Which Suarez the Iesuit grants to be sufficient in his third Tome vpon Aquinas disp 61. sect 2. Possit interdum Oratorium per simplicem voluntatem Ecclesiam per simplicem benedictionem sometime an Oratory by the simple intention of the will and a Church by a plaine benediction may bee destined to the Ministery of sacred things But plaine benedictions expressing good intentions come short of the ayme that pompous Rome after leuelled at When the people of Israel were well vnder God's immediate patronage and were told by Samuel of the inconveniences that might follow by alteration Nay say they but we will haue a King over vs that we may be like all the Nations 1. Sam. 8.19 All was naught except they were equall or passed the Heathen in outward pompe and curiositie And was not this the very itch of Rome which raised the scabbes that to this day cannot bee cured A Church or Chappell could not bee built but a crosse or more must bee set vp before hand to designe the place where it should be founded Vid. Durand Rational Divin l. 1. c. 6. Sleidan Com. l. 21. As soone as it is vp twelue crosses must be painted about the walls with twelue burning tapers over-against each of them Then Holy water must be had to wash it and oyle to anoint it Hospin de Tēplis l. 4. that of no ordinary composition The Crosses indeed saith Bellarmine should be painted at the very act of consecration De cultu sanct l. 3. c. 5. but commonly it is done before propter commoditatem nimis enim diù expectaretur si in ipsa consecratione pingerentur It were a great inconvenience to stay so long at the act of consecration till the Painter had finished them all Then comes the Bishop and three vagaries hee must fetch about the place with his company and after hallowing the wals without with some water mixt with salt sprinkled with Hyssop and murmuring some few prayers at the doore being shut Three times he thumps at it and cryes Tollite portas c. Lift vp your heads O yee gates and bee lift vp yee everlasting doores and the King of glory shall come in Then the Deacon who for that purpose is shut within to act his part must take his kue and say Who is the King of glory To whom the Bishop replies no more at first and second course but It is the Lord strong and mighty even the Lord mighty in battle But all this making no way in the third returne he takes vpon and tells him stoutly it is Dominus virtutum the Lord of Hosts he is the King of glory Presently therevpon ope flies the doore and in goes the Bishop with two or three assistants and after a few prayers said at the Altar and exorcising of some salt and water ashes and wine drawing the Greeke and Latine Alphabets crosse-wise wise on the ashes sprinkled on the floore by the Deacons with the end of his Crosiar-staffe at length it comes to their turne who stay all this while at the doore without to bring in the Reliques of some one Saint or other which they haue ready vpon a Beere and then to perfect the Pageant De consecrat distinct 1. C. Omnes Basilicae a Masse must be said For without such Reliques and Masse the Consecration according to the Canonists were altogether ineffectuall 9. Wherefore about a nine or tenne yeares since when a Church was consecrated at Gorslebium in Count Mans-fields Countrey by a Lutheran-Superintendent because all these ceremonies were not then vsed exception was taken by a Papist who said he was then present that it was rather a meere prophanation then consecration Which moued Iohn Aeschardus the man that did it to write against Bellarmine de Templis which our Hospinian had done before more fully both discouer so farre their Heathenish imitation and apish tricks in this behalfe that in hast they will not bee answered I haue purposely omitted many things as the laying of the first stone which of necessity must be square and crossed by the Bishop and sprinkled with holy water the adoe they keepe about Altars Images and Vestments the Baptizing of Bels and the like all which you haue fairely expressed in distinct pictures and red letters in the Pontificall of Clement the 8. anno 1595. Where hee that cannot read may see how it is done Now if any bee further inquisitiue to knowe the meaning of all these Hieroglyphicks De Cultu Sanct. l. 3. c. 5. Bellarmine himselfe will informe him That the 12 Crosses and Tapers before them signifie the 12 Apostles that carried this Banner of Christ through all the world and by their Preaching enlightned it Oyle is added for excellency Holy water frankincense and wax-candles for clarity and neatnesse Ad Munditiem claritatem The Greeke and Latine Alphabet in the pauement shew that in those tongues the Gospell was most generally preached when these ceremonies were first instituted Et quia in Templo non solùm docentur homines sed mouentur inflammantur ad virtutem vitae novitatem idcircò saith hee fit illa mixtio aquae cineris salis vini Let them take the inference for good that see a reason for it Ideò pulsatur Ostium
other of the like nature which our Adversaries so stifly stand vpon referred to the dignity of the worker imports a meritorious cause But in regard of the worke it selfe or of the humane Nature apart a consequent to that which went before and a passage to the reward which followes vpon it So much the word merit commonly among the Ancients signified and therefore is fitly expounded by compararare acquirere obtinere adipisci to get to receaue to obtaine to take possession In which sense the most Advised Divines ever vnderstood their Predecessors But this contents not our moderne Merit-mongers Merit is the Popes Mint and therefore must be alway kept going The merit of Christs humanity and the merit of blessed Angels between the instant of their creation and possession of eternall happinesse must be so strictly vrged to make way for Monkish merit and fill their own Church Treasure with workes of superrarogation Otherwise the doctrine of Iustification by faith alone would quickly make them all turne mendicants The more it stands vs vpon Beloued to weigh their peeces before we take them for pay and not to be too liberall in granting them such premisses whereby they shall be animated to venture vpon worse conclusions In a contrary strayne how dangerously doth Socinus take vantage by affirming that Christ so meriting for himselfe serued his own turne only and not ours in that behalfe and therefore his doings and sufferings were only exemplary for our imitation not satisfactory for our redemption Which cuts off all the assurance comfort of our salvation Such dangerous heresies may arise from the misconstruing of one particle as combustions from the neglect of the smallest spark The Master of the sentences shall shut vp this point as being sounder in it then most of his Schollers If Christs virtues and Actions saith he were enough to cleare himselfe from blame wherefore should he suffer and dye His answere is prote non prose for thee not for himselfe But how for mee Vt ipsius passio tibi esset forma causa forma virtutis humilitatis causa gloriae libertatis That his passion might be to thee a patterne and cause a pattern of virtue and humility a cause of glory eternall freedome And here wee may not let slippe that vse which a reuerend Father of our Church hath wittily obserued vpon the like connection Here saith he on earth there is an exaltauit oftentimes a lifting vp of the head to preferment without a propter quod so Sobna and Haman and Sanballat with others of the like merit are sometimes exalted but no man can guesse or imagine why or wherefore But with God it is alwaies otherwise Proptereà must goe before exaltavit the race before the meed the therefore before the lifting vp of the head labouring in the vineyard before the distribution of the penny faithfulnesse in a little before the rule over much The Corne must first dye before it blossome out the blade or eare and wee dye before wee rise and drinke our part of the brooke before the head be lifted vp Which falleth on the manner of our Saviours exaltation and the matter I intend to conclude with 9. Shall he lift vp the head The lifting vp of the head most commonly signifieth in scripture the Advancement from an inferiour condition to a better So Evilmerodach lifted vp the head of Iehoiakim his Captiue to a freer estate 2. Kings and the last Thou art my worship and the lifter vp of my head Psalm 3. In the 52. of Isaiah wee haue three words in the same verse which note in this kinde the three degrees of comparison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold my servant shall deale prudently he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high v. 13. Which the ancient Rabbins with the Chalday Paraphrase expound expresly of the Messias Howsoeuer the latter contradict it for as in his humiliation all were amazed at his visage mangled and marred more then any mans so in his exaltation they admire the vnexpected change and Kings shut their mouthes at the hearing and seeing of those things they thought incredible as it followeth there immediatly to the'nd of the Chapter All this is here comprized Hee not another saith S. Ierome but the person that was abased in the Incarnation and Passion Shall by his owne power not vpon a vantage occasionally taken but by an absolute decree set downe from eternity Life vp the head to spoyle principalities by his triumphing over the powers of darknesse to trample the world vnder his feet by his glorious Ascention Rule in the midst of his enemies by the Iron rod of his wrath conquer the Nations to be converted by the two edged sword of his word and rescue and redeeme his owne elect by his euerlasting Priesthood Lift vp your heads therefore O yee Gates and bee yee lifted vp yee everlasting doores that the King of glory may come in Who is the King of glory Hee that was a man of sorrowes brought as a Lambe to the slaughter Isai 53. and buried in the graue with the wicked But after he had made his soule an offering for sinne and quitted himselfe from the brooke of all those miseries then the pleasure of the Lord prospered in his hand to divide the spoyle among the mighty Then brake he the arrowes of the bowe the sword the shield and the battle became of more honour then the hills of the robbers and shewed himselfe triumphantly to be the King of glory 10. And now Beloued is it not meet that the members by drinking and swimming with all resolution and perseverance should prepare to lift vp their heads also by following this their head But alas how should Cain lift vp the head who hath slayne his brother Abel or Achab that hath made away poore Naboth to possesse his vineyard Or Iudas that hath betrayed his Master Or Simon Magus that is in the gall of bitternesse or Ananias Saphira who goe about to cosen the holy spirit of God With what face can that head bee lifted vp which is drowsie with drunkennesse or distracted with idle or pernitious plots or whirled about with vaine glory or poring still on muck through covetousnesse or looking askew through envie and implacable malice Awake thou therefore that sleepest and lift vp thy head and he that beholdeth thy tossings will ever keepe it aboue water neuer feare of drowning as long as he directeth and such a Pilot hath thee in his charge If thou sinking cry out with Peter his hand will bee quickly stretcht out to saue thee and set thee at last in the surest landing Regino reports in the first of his Chronicles pag. 19. that Guntranne a German King sleeping on a time by a brooke there came a little thing out of his mouth which sought a passage ouer but dared not to venture Wherevpon his
over come for this is the price that our Saviour here proposeth to them that persevere to retaine their first loue O Lord thou art acquainted with our backslidings and seest the rubbes that are cast athwart vs Draw vs therefore wee beseech thee that we may follow thee turne our brawny hearts and wee shall bee converted that acknowledging our many imperfections and the necessity of reproouing them wee may shake off all worldly incumbrances to recouer imbrace our first loue through thee the best-beloved our only Saviour and Redeemer to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all honour and glory both now and for evermore Amen A CHRISTIANS FREE-WILL OFFERING AS IT WAS DELIVERED IN A SERMON ON Christmasse day at Christ-Church in Oxford By IOHN PRIDEAVX Doctor of Divinity Regius Professor and Rector of Exeter Colledge OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. A CHRISTIANS FREE-WILL OFFERING AS IT WAS DELIVERED IN A SERMON ON Christmasse day at Christ-Church in Oxford PSALME 110.3 In the day of thy Power shall the people offer thee free-will Offerings with an holy worship the dew of thy birth is of the wombe of the Morning THis Psalme is an evident prophecy of our Saviour Christ our Sauiour himselfe so interpreting it Mat. 22. Marke 12. and Luke 20. Some Iewes would make it to bee Eliezers gratulation for his master Abrahams victory against the fiue Kings Gen. 14. Others Davids thankesgiuing for his escaping Saul setling in the kingdome But the wiser Rabbins referre it no otherwise then we doe to the Messias alone as Lyra on this Psalme noteth and that Calvin ever went about to wrest or apply it to David is a malicious slander of Hunnius and Gesner as Pareus sheweth at large in his second booke Calvini orthodoxi cap. 41. Now this Prophecy fore-describeth first the calling of the Messias to the office of the Mediatorship both Kingly and Priestly in the foure first verses and secondly the administration of his Kingly Office in the three following verses to the end of the Psalme His calling to this Kingly office is solemnized first by a Commission Secondly by a promise The Commission graceth him first with Title my Lord secondly with Peace Sit thou on my right hand The Promise assureth Him first of the crushing and trampling of his enemies vnder foot in the residue of the first verse Then of the generall spreading of the Gospell from whence and among whom verse 2. Lastly of the condition of the beleeuers who should be willing in their offrings holy in their worship innumerable for their multitude verse 3. The Priestly Office succeedeth confirmed first by an oath The Lord hath sworne and farther illustrated by the type of Melchisedech verse 4. on which the Author to the. Hebrewes at large commenteth chap. 7. To this the administration of his Kingly office is annexed and farther amplified first by the successefull onset The Lord shall wound Kings iudge the Heathen fill places with dead bodies smite in sunder the heads of divers Countries verse 5.6 Then by his triumphant victory in lifting vp the Head to raigne after he had passed the brooke of all tribulations and crosses with resolute expedition according to his Fathers appointment verse the last Thus we haue the generall view of the whole Psalme which according to Cassiodore is the absolute summe and comprisall of the Messias doings suffrings manifested at large in the Old New Testament Totum hic summatim dicitur quicquid in vtroque Testamento continetur so that this third verse falleth out to be a particular touch of the Beleeuers application the former exhibiting the Kings Due this the Subiects Duty In which may it please you to obserue the circumstances 1. Of the time In the day of thy Power 2. of the Persons amplified by their 1. Devotion The people shall offer thee free-will offerings with an holy Worship 2. Hidden increase and innumerable multitude The dew of thy Birth is of the Wombe of the Morning The first may bee referred to the solemnity of this Time the second may minde vs of our duties in celebrating this Times solemnity The third may rest as a comfort to the afflicted Church whose lot though it sometimes fall as a Lilly among Thornes Esay 1.8 or as a Lodge in a Garden of Cucumbers or as a besieged City Yet it will prooue at length to bee a goodly heritage through the good will of him that dwelt in the Bush Deut. 23.16 who shall water her Furrowes with the dew of heauen lead her forth by the rivers of comfort The points therefore I am to stand vpon may be reduced to these three heads 1. The Incarnation of Christ. 2. The duty of Christians 3. The hidden and fruitfull propagation of the Church of Christ Which may bee connected thus for our better memory and more ready practice The Sonne of God as vpon this day of his Power manifested himselfe in our flesh for our Redemption therefore let vs offer vnto him freewill-offerings with an holy worship that so amongst vs the multitude of the faithfull may increase as the numberlesse droppes of dew from the mornings wombe Of which high mysteries if my discourse come short as needs it must of your expectation I trust my knowne distractions in another kinde and small time allotted for a businesse of this consequence may be in stead of an apologie That which shall be now defectiue in mee may be made vp hereafter when God shall giue leaue by * him whose turne in a cafe of necessity I now supply Dr Godwin the Reverend Deane of Christ-Church For the present I shall bee forced from my wonted method of Doctrines and Vses to propose what I haue to say by way of explication and application which experience will reach a man to bee the readiest course though both in effect come to one First then of the Incarnation of Christ manifested to the world especially vpon this day and here foretold in generall in these words of my Text In the day of thy power 2. The exception that may here hee taken to the reading which is according to the most common Translation of our Church Bookes will prooue vpon scanning to bee nothing materiall The originall indeed hath it in this order as our last Translation sets it Thy people shall bee willing in the day of thy Power But no man I trust wil be so Criticall to put any great difference betwixt In the day of thy power shall thy people offer thee free will offrings and The people shall bee willing in the day of thy Power In the day of thy strength saith the vulgar of thy force and valour In die virtutis fortitudinis exercitus say Tremellius and Iunius Of the Assemblies say they of Geneva of the Armies saith Munster at such times as thou shalt bring thy bands and joyne battell as Vatablus Castalio and the Chaldy Paraphrase haue it All which the
that offences come for our Saviour hath spoken it but woe be vnto the man by whom the offence commeth Let every one therefore of vs bee religious and carefull to amend one that by this amendment of the particulars the whole may be right Psal 15. Lord who shall dwell in thy tabernacle and who shall rest vpon thy holy hill Not those that will set vp Prelates to depose Princes or those that maintaine a faction to plucke downe Prelates but he that leadeth an vncorrupt life and doth the thing that is right and speaketh the truth from his heart He that vseth no deceipt in his tongue or doth no evill to his neighbour and hath no slaundered his neighbour much lesse spoken evill of the rulers of his people And now B. if our equalls and inferiours are not to be ill spoken of what apologies can these silly dreamers pretend they are the words of Saint Iude that despise dominions V. 8. and speake evill of Dignities If Michael the Archangell durst not bring against the Divell himselfe in a disputation a railing accusation darest thou as it were in cold blood to vpbraid Rulers not Rulers only of others Baruch 1.11 but Rulers of thy people Last of all if Nebuchodonozor must be prayed for and Balshasar his sonne who as we all know heavily oppressed the people of God 1. Tim. 3.1 what supplications and prayers intercessions and giuing of thankes that I may end with our Apostles exhortation as I began with his precept are to be rendred to God from vs of this Land that our most gratious Ruler of his people his Royall Queene their hopefull Progeny and all that be in authority vnder him may liue a quiet and peaceable life in all Godlinesse and Honesty to the punishment of wickednesse and vice and to the maintenance of Gods true religion and vertue as long as the Sunne and Moone in dureth This grant O King of Kings for thy Sonne Christ Iesus sake to whom with thee and the holy Ghost bee all honour and glory world without end Amen THE DRAVGHT OF THE BROOKE A SERMON PREACHED AT THE COVRT BY IOHN PRIDEAVX Rector of Exceter Colledge His MAIESTIE'S Professor in Divinity in the Vniversity of OXFORD OXFORD Imprinted by LEONARD LICHFIELD Anno Salutis 1636. PSALME 110.7 Hee shall drinke of the brooke in the way therefore shall he lift vp the Head THe author of this Psalme is David as the title sheweth but the subiect Christ as appeareth by the application in the new Testament where eight times at least we finde it repeated 1. To proue our Saviour more then a man and greater then David Matth. 22. Mar. 12. and Luk. 20.2 To confirme the excellency of his nature and place to surmount the Angells and his Priesthood Aarons Heb. 1.7.8 cap. 3. To iustify his resurrection and ascention Act. 2.4 And last of all to assure vs of his absolute conquest and everlasting dominion 1. Cor. 15. Vpon these grounds the Auncients by Cassiodorus collection terme it the summe of our faith the looking-glasse of heauenly secrets the treasure of holy writ verbis brevis sensu infinitus saith Augustine short in words but in sense infinite Theodoret notes how it is connected with the Psalme going before which is not vsual There saith he we haue his crosse and sufferings here his conquest and trophyes For first he cometh forth as the heire apparent of the Almighty the brightnesse of his glory and the expresse Image of his person graced with title 1. My Lord 2. Place Sit thou on my right hand 3. Power vntill I make thyne enemies thy foot-stoole v. first The second vers limiteth out the beginning of his kingdome Sion The extent the midst of his enemies Amongst whom his Propheticall office shall worke such an alteration that as the drops of dew are numberlesse which pearle from the wombe of the teeming morning So his volunteers shall be that at the striking vp of the Gospells alarum shall repaire to the ensignes of his holy worship vers 3. Those his Priestly office warrantable for calling firme for continuance free from succession shall expiate refine and offer vp as acceptable sacrifices to God the Father v. 4. Their opposites whether Kings or heads of Nations shall feele the waight of his strokes and dynt of his sword to their vtter overthrow and confusion v. 5.6 And yet notwithstanding all this this Prophet this Priest this King he to whom so vnspeakable honour assigned so many trophies fore-prophecied so may triumphes decreed must be content to travell before he sit at ease suffer before hee enioy obey before hee rule stoop and bend bow to drinke of the troubled brooke of this worlds calamities before he lift vp his head to take possession of the crowne of glory 2 He shall drinke of the brooke in the way therefore shall he lift vp the head When the two disciples vpon the way to Emmaus intimated to our Saviour then to them vnknowne that the condemnation and crucifying of Iesus of Nazareth which they had seene him vndergoe with much disgrace and perplexity had beaten them from the conceit that he should be the Messias whom they expected should be an other-gates man they receiue this sharpe reply to settle their wauering rouse vp their dulnesse Luk. 24. O fooles and slow of heart to beleeue all that the Prophets haue spoken ought not Christ to suffer those things and so enter into his glory That he ought so long before our Prophet could here haue informed them sufficiently Herod may bee troubled at his birth as ominous to his vsurped title His disciples dreame of a temporall Monarchy and Zebedee's wife for her children plot for preferment in it but the decree proclamation went ever that this Kingdome should not be of this world This King must here find rebellion this Prophet and Priest opposition this Conquerour after much travell and sweat incounters and hazards attaine the crown of victory No other way to this victory but by a brooke no passage at this brooke without drinking Be the water never so turbulēt muddy no turning aside to search for better for better in so durty away there may not be expected And this was to be foretold saith Remigius ne subitò veniens horreretur sed creditum expectaretur Least comming on a sudden it should affright and not be expected as a thing formerly beleeued The words then you see Beloued containe as it were the Iornall or gestes of our Lord and Saviour in his progresse through this vale of misery where We meete with his 1 Humiliation he shall drinke of the brooke in the way 2 Exaltation Therefore shall he lift vp the head The first is in his temporall passage vpon the way the second at his perpetuall residence at his standing house That head which in the second place shall be lifted vp to raigne in the first with all submission must be bowed downe to drinke This was began in
sheepe and cattle on this side the River but are loath to venture before our brethren to conduct them ouer to the land of Promise Wee thinke by our Policy to escape better then our forefathers and make bridges or hyre vs boats or skiffes or wherries though thousands before our eyes that haue ventured in them haue miscarried But thou that resoluest to tread in thy Masters steps howsoeuer the way be crossed thou that art content and confident to venture by his example fare as he fared drinke as he began the health endure as he prescribeth as farre as by his grace and ready assistance thou shalt bee put to and enabled Take this comfort by the way which S. Hierome affordeth on this passage concerning this way It is but a brooke that crosseth thee not a spring of water for perpetuity it is collected by a sudden storme without any other head and therefore cannot be of any long continuance it alwaies rowleth and roareth along the valley and in reason cannot harme thee as soone as thou hast recouered any footing on the higher ground Let not then a momentary distast for the present divert thee from the pursuit of an everlasting content Thy Pilot hath swamme before thee thou must keepe stroke to follow Hee standeth to lift vp thy head neuer to bee indangered againe on the farther shore Which is the hauen and heaven in the second place wee haue struggled all this while to attaine vnto 7. Therefore shall he lift vp the head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heavinesse may endure for a night but ioy commeth in the morning and to him that overcommeth saith hee Psal 30. that walketh among the Candlesticks will I giue to sit with me in my Throne Revel 3.21 even as I also overcame and am set with my Father in his throne All Antiquity generally paralleleth this place with that of the second to the Philippians He humbled himselfe and became obedient vnto death even the death of the Crosse wherefore God also hath highly exalted him This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Chrysostome the fruit and gaine of humility and a strict conversation Wee haue here then Beloued not only Christ's Exaltation in generall which was first manifested in the Resurrection but also the cause of it in the word Therefore and Manner expressed in the lifting vp the head The originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore rendred in Greeke by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and amongst all the Latines by proptereà is a note either of necessary connection or causality and therefore justly casteth vs vpon the consideration of that controverted difficulty Whether the glory or lifting vp of the head here attained by our Saviour vpon his precedent sufferings or drinking of the brooke were conferred on him only as a right belonging to the person or as wages by way of merit proportionable to the sufferings of the humane nature The Schoolemen make a great pudder herein on the third of the Sentences and 18th distinction As also on the third part of Aquinas the 9. quest 4. Art whose exorbitances because Calvin hath somwhat freely displaied in the seuenteenth of the second of his Institutions Bellarmine takes their part and flyes vpon him in his 5. booke and 9. Chapter de Christo Mediatore And Gretser his second him againe to fetch off the Cardinall from the judicious replies of Daneus and Iunius Valentia also and Suarez come in with their supplies in their Comments vpon their Master Aquinas but with much confusion and perplexed prolixities and obscurity The truth is the difference vpon the maine seemes not to be of that consequence to keepe men at ods who otherwise are willing to agree as Iunius and the most of our side ingeniously acknowledge In regard whereof Zanchius herein takes liberty to vary from our common tenent and being thereof admonished to defend it in the preface afterward prefixed to his confession of faith and in a private Epistle to William Stuckius of Zurick wherein he affirmes that Christ not only merited for vs but also for himselfe as the Schoolemen would inferre out of the Fathers For the taking vp of this difference not to trouble you with more then may concerne the point or beseeme this place It is first agreed on on all hands that in the question of Christs merit the Divine nature being priviledged from the least touch of disparagement the taske will wholy lye on the shoulders of the man-hood Now that this in the second place should be of that worth to merit the hypostaticall vnion or the graces following therefrom none of the Adversaries for ought I finde euer affirmed or whatsoeuer he did or suffered in the humane nature became not meritorious for vs through the infinite dignity of that vnion none of our men on the other side ever denyed Palud in 3. sent d. 18. The Ieswits therefore wrong Calvin when they misconstrue that he spake aright yet themselues cleere not the point like Schoolemen as in their voluminous disputes they vndertake 8. That Christ merited for vs by satisfying at full his Fathers iustice how earnestly doth Calvin maintaine in the 17. Chap. of the 2d of his Institutions aboue cited He termes them perperam arguti perverse and wayward wranglers that in this case make scruple to admit of the word merit But that the Manhood should be assumed and imployed to merit that for it selfe which was due as a consequent to the personall vnion this he reiects as a subtility which the scripture no where countenanceth Vega saith the same by Zuarez own confession Hugo de S. Victore was maine in the point long before Scotus with Biell and their followers who vrge so precisely Gods acceptance and the duty of the vndertcker to make satisfaction meritorious that Zuarez perceaues intimates it may marre their mart of merits if it be not seene too the better and by him and his fellowes fitted to their present negotiations Hale's accelaratiue and interpretatiue will as little steed them who exact the hyre they wrought for as merited due-debt and will be loath to stand to Gods curtesie either for acceptance or dispatch For in strict termes Beloued how can any Creature merit of his Creator seeing the vtmost of endeavours comes vnder the title of duty For to a merit we all knowe there belong these foure conditions 1. That the worke bee entirely the vndertakers 2. That it be altogether free not of due-debt 3. That it be a benefit or kindnesse to him of whom the Worker contends to meritt 4. And last of all that it be proportionable to the reward in cōmutatiue Iustice. In all which the humane nature in the abstract wil fall short of infinite reward And therefore our men rightly ascribe all the merit to the person consisting of both natures where the humane is advanced to that pitch of dignity by vnion with the God-head which makes the merit infinite This Propterea therefore in this place and