and Iustice was disesteemed therein Then in respect of the good of which man deprived himselfe by his sinne that was life eternall as the Father saith factus est dignus molo aterno qui in se perimit bonum quod poterat esse aeternum Thirdly in respect of the manly nature dispoyled of grace and glory which nature by the blessing which Adam had received was multipliable into infinite multitudes of men In all which respects that sinne after a sort may well be said infinite 2. But good is more powerfull and active than ill seeing ill neither is but in that which is good nor workes but in the power thereof Therfore if man by one ill deed were able to destroy himselfe much more by many good deeds shall he be able to make satisfaction Answer Ill is in every want or failing of that which is good but Good holds all perfections whether in being or in working Therefore man might easily corrupt himselfe but being corrupted hee cannot possibly repaire himselfe nor yet doe any thing that is good or acceptable Math. 7.18 12.33 3. But the satisfaction being now made are wee not restored unto as good an estate by the suffering of Christ as that which Adam lost so that if Adam for his obedience sake might have lived a naturall life eternally wee also for our workes sake may bee accounted worthy of everlasting blisse For if wee be restored by Christ and for his sake accepted our workes likewise are for his sake both accepted and rewarded according to their merit Answer I say that our estate is farre better than Adams in this that his hope of everlasting life being set in his owne obedience did instantly faile but ours standing in the obedience of Christ who is made to us righteousnesse sanctification redemption and life can never faile For therefore because that pretious treasure of eternall life was so carelesly kept by Adam God who loved the salvation of mankinde better then man himselfe would in no wise commit the keeping of that jewell to man any more Therefore though sinne have no power to condemne them that are in Christ yet is it still suffered to dwell in us that wee should not trust in our selves but in the living God For as the Father saith Multum nobis in hoc carue tribucremus nisi usque ad ejus depositionem sub veniâ viveremus Aug. de Civ lib. 10. cap. 22. And although Adam by the grace and favour of his Creator might have continued in the estate in which hee was created if hee had stood in his innocency yet could hee not even then have beene said to merit everlasting life For merit or hire comes ever for that which is above duty which cannot bee in the creature towards the Creator As to a hired servant the wages merit or hire comes for his worke because it was in his power whether hee would labour for that master or no being not bound unto him but for his hire but in a bondman the possession of his Lord all his service and labour is his Lords to require and imploy it as it pleaseth him Luke 17.8.9 and this is the condition of the whole creature to the Lord and Creator of all And if Adam in his innocency could not merit much lesse can sinnefull man merit any thing but affliction and death by his sinne and service to the devill to whom hee is no way bound but by his sinne And this difference the Apostle maketh Rom. 6.23 the wages of sinne is death but the free gift of God is eternall life 4. But are wee not commanded to worke out our saluation with feare and trembling Phil. 2.12 and is not the sentence of everlasting life pronounced for the workes of charity which were foreseene in us and for which the kingdome of heaven was prepared for us from the beginning of the world Math. 25. vers 34.35.36 Answer What merit can any man claime for that which another hath principally wrought in him And if God worketh in us to will and to doe Phil. 2.13 what is our worke but that wee should with joy runne after Him that drawes vs Cant. 1.4 Therefore although good workes are ordained of God that wee should walke in them and that wee are created thereunto Eph. 2.10 and that God who chose us in Christ to bee heires of glory ordained all the meanes thereto and workes in us to bee ready to every good worke and thereby makes our calling and election sure unto us yet is not that worke solely and intirely ours but chiefely of the grace and spirit of Christ that dwels in us and crownes His owne good workes in us with everlasting life 1 Cor. 15.10 So then our workes must vanish that every mouth may bee stopped and the whole world may bee guilty before God Rom. 3.19 So that every man notwithstanding his owne workes even the chiefest among the Saints may with Iob abhorre himselfe and repent in sackcloth and and ashes Iob. 42.6 5. The naturall desires common to all men cannot bee in vaine because they come not unto them out of any particular choyse or present necessity but by influence or direction of that common nature which is in all men which though it cannot effect it yet hath it shewed what is to bee wrought for the uttermost good of every particular by the Lord of Nature But every man by the inclination of his owne will doth desire the uttermost perfection and happpinesse of his owne being which hee acknowledges to bee in being united to that which is the greatest good and the enjoying thereof in eternall life Therefore every man by the guidance of nature it selfe doth returne unto God as the Author and Finisher of his happinesse Answer No agent can worke of it selfe above the proper strength and power of it selfe And eternall life is a thing beyond the limits of naturall knowledge and desire which mindes onely the well-being and continuance of the whole man according to the present estate of this naturall life alone But because Hee that wils not the death of a sinner Ezech. 33.11 would have all men to come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2.4 therefore are all men so farre instructed or at least if they doe not willfully winke may bee so farrē instructed either by the voyce of the creature or by certaine inbred notions or by tradition or by an influence of grace denyed to none that they may know the eternall power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 and the immortality of the soule in a better estate then this life can afford as hath beene said before in Pref. And this is that universall grace which wee may yeeld to bee vouchsafed to all not onely without the visible Church but much more within the Church where by the cleare light of the Holy Scripture all may and ought to know particularly whatsoever is meet for their soules health And this universall grace I say further wee ought to yeeld unto because
owne craftinesse for whereas the devill envying that happy estate wherin man was created sought his overthrow by making him subject to sinne and so to death He our Creator to shew to the principalities and powers the riches of his wisdome and goodnesse in man did not onely redeeme him from that thraldome of sinne and death but also exalted him unto an estate of glorie and happinesse farre above that in which he was created Thus out of the eater comes meâ—t and out of the strong comes sweetnes Iud. 14.14 Thus the head of Leviathan is broken in pieces and given to be meat to us in the wildernesse of this world Psal 74.15 Therefore seeing it was the good will and pleasure of Almighty God to mankinde to make him partaker of these unspeakable mercies which his goodnesse hath wrought unto us out of the ill of our sin and because he that wills the end wills also those meanes that leade unto the end we may with reverence to his wisdome and truth affirme that although God by his revealed will forbad the tree of knowledge unto Adam and so made his eating sin yet in his secret counsell he did foresee that sin in Adam not as an enforcing or a working cause but leaving him to himselfe But here a doubt must be answered first if we be indeed redeemed from the thraldome of sin why doth God suffer sin still to remaine in us yea so far forth as that we cannot cease to sin yea so farre forth as that it makes our best actions even our prayers abhominable while our tongue utters one thing and our heart wanders after another Answer It was possible and easie to God so to have renewed the heart of mâ—â— so as that he should not sin but yet God would let sin to dwell in us for divers advantages to us but especially for two first that at the sight of our sin we might cast down our selves before him and utterly renouncing our owne worthinesse we might seek that righteousnes which is of him and in him alone the second that by the perpetuall remembrance of our sin the punishment due unto us for the same we might be thankfull unto our most mercifull Redeemer by faith the anker of our souls holding out our hope that although we fal we shal not be cast away and hereupon depends our repentance our patience and our endeavour to the masterdome of our owne wickednes Thus as the wise Physician for long continuing and deepe rooted maladies gives strong purging medicines of Seamony or Colocynthis and after applies his cordialls so our most gracious Healer to let us know what we are of ourselves lest through pride the sinne of the rebellious Angels we should be lost for ever doth not only suffer us to taste the bitter fruits of our owne corruption but suffers sinne also as the flesh of the venomous tyre to be still in us that by it the vertues of the precious spices of his graces may be conveyed to our hearts to preserve us from eternall death that balefull infection of the devill unto everlasting life b Necessary truth in actuall being R. 3 Necessary truth is not here meant that truth which depends upon the necessary being of the thing in respect of the cause thereof but that necessity which bindes the understanding or words to be agreeable to the present being And thus this proposition Peter sits is as necessarily true while he doth fit as to say Peter is a man CHAP. VI. That God is Almightie MIght or power is of divers kindes as you may reade log appendix of Sect. 3. introduct I will not stand repeating nor in this question make any mention of that power which they call passive because it meanes a power onely to suffer in things that are weake and imperfect The might which I meane here is absolute perfect infinite which belongs to God and to him alone as it appeares by these reasons 1. What power soever it is which is equally powerfull over all being either in acte or in possibilitie of being must needs bee infinite or almightie but such is the power of God therefore God is Almightie It was manifest before Chap. 2. that God was everlasting and so not by any other but that all things either being or possible to be are from him above as it will further appeare Chap. 13. and upon this consequence it will further follow necessarily that God is Almighty a in respect of the creature 2. b If God bee not Almightie then either that which is or that which is not must bee able to resist him but neither that which is nor that which is not is able to withstand him therefore God is Almightie The proposition is plaine that hee may doe what he will doe who can finde no hinderance or let in his doing The assumption also is as true for the things that are are all from him as the fountaine of all being as it is confessed by the voice of heaven Reve. Cap. 4.11 Thou art worthie O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy wills sake they are and have beene created And that the things that are not should be able to withstand him is utterly impossible for so not being should be more powerfull than being and being more powerfull must of necessitie be and so should both be and not be which is an absolute contradiction and utterlie impossible Therefore the first that God is Almightie is true of necessitie 3. If God be not Almighty so that his power may be answerable to his other dignities in infinitie then either his power must bee accidentall to him or else his being must differ essentiallie from it selfe but both these things are impossible for in him is no accident nor shadow of change Ia 1.17 as it shall appeare more at large Chap. 9. And for the second consequence it is as plaine for that which is infinite and that which is finite must needs differ essentially so that if his goodnesse his eternitie wisdome c. being essentially himselfe as is shewed Chap. 8. be infinite and his power likewise essentiall to him and yet finite then his being must needs differ essentially from his being Therefore it is necessarie that God be Almighty 4. Nothing can either be or worke but by that power which it hath both to be that which it is and to doe that which it doth so that if the power of God were not infinite or almightie neither could his being be everlasting by his eternitie neither could his inward action in himselfe be infinite and eternall neither could his goodnesse his greatnesse his truth glory c. be that which they are neither by his wisdome could he know himselfe infinite and eternall nor yet able to doe any thing answerable to his goodnesse truth and glory Reade Psal 111. Neither could he delight himselfe and be so happy infinitely in his owne goodnesse greatnesse and glory and so
effect should not bee answerable to the cause The infinite essence hee supposes the Father the infinite power the Sonne and the infinite worker the Holy Ghost And by these three are three Trinities brought out of spirituall creatures or Angels as he by Psellus understands the Chaldean in wisdome whether well or ill it skils not much For we are taught Iob. 1.3 That By the word all things were made and without him was nothing made that was made But to his reason Can an infinite Being bring forth an effect without power and working thereto or can an infinite power bee but in an infinite being or can an infinite worke bee without an infinite power so that these three which hee makes divers Creators and that of severall Trinities can bee but one Creator as they are but one Trinity in unity of essence as hath afore beene declared at large And as concerning the conclusion it is yeelded that the number of individuals or particular beings is infinite to us utterly beyond our reckoning but yet to Him without whom a Sparrow lights not on the ground they are all numbred Nay I say further that through his blessing upon the creature to multiply according to kinde Gen. 1. the individuals are in nature potentially infinite but no way to Him by whose onely power nature doth worke For otherwise His wisdome and power could not bee coequall And thus have men wearyed themselves in vaine to finde out his wayes that are past finding out The first supply concerning Man CHAP. XIV That Man was created one alone male and female as the Scripture names them Adam and Eve CHAP. XV. That Man was created innocent and without sinne CHAP. XVI That Man continued not in that innocencie but that he sinned and thereby became subject to eternall death CHAP. XVII That by the sinne of our first parents the whole masse of mankinde was corrupted and made liable to eternall death both of body and soule CHAP. XVIII That there is a restoring of man to a better life and further hope than that from which our parents fell CHAP. XIX That this restoring could not be made by any meanes that was in man nor by any one that was man onely CHAP. XIIII That Man was created one alone male and female THese questions seeme necessarie for the knitting of that which followes to the conclusions that have beene made before And because they are taken as suppositions in the briefe of our Creed and seeme plaine enough of themselves they may be handled with the more shortnesse but yet may they not here bee let passe altogether untouched for although it be given that man is the creature of God yet if he made many men and many women though one or moe sinned yet the rest might continue in their innocencie and so the whole race of mankinde was not corrupted Or if hee made but one man yet if he made him such as men now are then could not his actions be accounted any way sinfull or if Adam by his sin lost not his estate of happinesse or his owne alone or if there were no hope of restoring then to beleeve any Saviour were altogether in vaine or if there were any other meanes of salvation by man or Angell than that which the Christian faith doth hold then were all that which followes utterlie needlesse therefore it must appeare that man was created first one male and female and no moe secondly upright and without any taint of originall or actuall sin onely such freewill he had as that he might sinne if he would or if hee would not hee might not haue sinned And first that hee created them one only male and for continuance of kinde his female it is plaine by this 1. The workes of God are so made in the perfection of number and measure as that it is not possible to finde any defect or excesse therein But if moe men than one had beene made if without the power of bringing forth their like there had beene defect in them and they needlesse and in vaine if with such power of multiplication as Adam had then had there beene excesse in the creature and God had needlesly brought out mankinde from many roots which might bee brought out from one alone but this was unnecessary in the creature therefore it could not bee fitting in the wisdome of the Creator And therefore he being but one he created man in his owne image one man male and female Gen. 1.27 2. The excellencie of Lordship or rule must be in one alone cannot possiblie consist in many so that if many men had bin created the Lordship of man over the inferiour creature had not beene perfect in one although there be now many millions of men yet the Lordship over the creature is to everie one equall with Adam or Noah inasmuch as everie man claimes as the perfection of his kinde so the dignities and prerogatives thereof from his first originall which if it had beene many could not have beene so excellent 3. Everie naturall motion or instinct of nature which is ordered according to one rule must needs have one authour and one beginning But all the ordinarie and naturall motions of every species are according unto one rule to joyne with their like to propagate their like to maintaine their life alike c. Therefore mankinde had but one author of all their kinde and so were not brought out of stones nor trees neither yet were they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or springing of themselves out of the earth as the fancies of the hâ—athen that knew not their originall leade them to beleeve 4. The worke of God must needs bee of the highest and greatest perfection that may bee But the beginning of a species from one roote is more noble excellent and perfect than from many because in that one both the individuall and the whole kinde also is conteined Therefore the first creature in mankinde was one alone 5. It was necessarie that the God of Unitie and peace should so create man as it might be most availeable for the maintenance of that love and peace which should afterward bee and flourish amongst men But when men know themselves to be the sonnes of one common father of them all they are more straitly tied to brotherlie love and the upholding of fellowship among themselves And this being the end the meanes must be availeable to the end Therefore the beginning of mankinde was onely from one man whereby it seemes that Adam had not his name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adamah which signifies earth but rather as a master observed of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Achad dam one blood as S. Paul urges it Act. 17.26 That God of one blood made all the nations of men that dwell upon the face of the earth CHAP. XV. That Man was created innocent and without Sinne. THis may appeare by the consideration of those excellencies which belong to the Creator For no cause can worke
it was created except some great contrarietie befall to the hinderance thereof But man was created to know and to love God and to see his wisdome in the creature and to honour him therfore and doing thus to be happie for ever thereby yet nothing of this is done accordingly by any among all the sons of Adam therefore some great hindrance and contrarietie is come between But nothing that good is could be an hindrance to this great good nor yet any thing which is without the man himselfe Therefore mans sinne alone which hath infected all hath beene the onely hinderance of all this good 4. The holy Scripture shewes the truth of this in Iob 14.4 Who can bring a cleane thing out of uncleannesse not one And Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne hath my mother conceived mee Rom. 5.12 By one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Ephes 2.3 Wee re all by nature the children of wrath And this is that taint of originall sinne which being bred in every mans bones will never out of the flesh And concerning actuall sinne you may reade those Scriptures which are cited by S. Paul Rom. 3. They are all gone out of the way they are altogether become filthie there is none that doeth good no not one c. from v. 9. to 18. CHAP. XVIII That there is a restoring of Man to a better life and further hope than that from which our parents fell BVt if the whole world be thus become guiltie before God is it for this end that the whole world may bee subjected to eternall death God forbid but as sin hath abounded unto condemnation so hath the grace and righteousnesse of God abounded much more unto everlasting life for as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation so by the righteousnesse of one the free pardon came unto all men for justification unto life See Rom. 5. Chap. Therefore lest man at the sight of his owne perfections should sinne through pride unrecoverably as the devils it was permitted that Adam should sinne as hee did that a way might bee made for the justice and mercie of God to bee manifest and that man at the sight of his sinne might be humbled before his Creator and so received to grace The whole world then being liable to the justice of God by that sinne of our first father as hath beene shewed now it remaines in this place to prove that there is a possibilitie to returne to God in whose favour and acceptance onely is life and happinesse And for the more cleere proofe hereof let us first lay this sure foundation that all the workes of God and all the possibilities in the creature are knowne to him from all eternitie Secondly that to doe well and right and to withstand sinne and the temptations of the devill requires a positive strength and grace in the heart of man which grace man cannot take unto himselfe because no creature can be partaker either of being or of strength or any good but onely so far forth as it is imparted thereunto and where the want of strength is the effect of that want on all occasions must needs appeare So that since Adams fall man being not onely deprived of that strength to resist sinne which Adam had but also infected with a naturall corruption and inclination to sin which they call concupiscence man hath no helpe in himselfe to helpe himselfe upon which grounds the reason will follow thus If there be not a possibility of the restoring of man into the favour and grace of God from which hee fell by his sin then could not the justice of God be without great iniquity and injustice Let him be mercifull that we speake according to the manner of men that is according to that reason and understanding which he hath given unto men for the manifestation of his glorie and grace For if God in the infinity of his wisdome foreseeing that man being created would sin and yet would create him and for his sin utterly cast off the whole race of mankinde to destruction neither could any place of mercie bee found with him for which the creature could give him glorie neither could that justice be but with great injustice inasmuch as they that never were should without any desert be created to eternall punishment and they that had done the least sinnes nay they that had done neither good nor ill as they that die in their infancie should bee shut out to eternall death aswell as they that all their life time had followed all manner of sinne with greedinesse So also all the commandements of God tending to the amendment of life and all his threatnings and promises should be in vaine So also all the endeavours of holy and devout men who through his grace strive to the masterdome of their owne wickednesse and all the constancie of them who have suffered for the profession of his truth and service should be unrewarded So vertue should have no advantage over vice in the difference of the reward But all these things are impossible therefore there is a restoring of man to that favour and grace of God from which he was separate by his sinne 2. If there were not a restoring of mankinde to that estate from which he is fal'n then the sin of man a finite creature should be more powerfull to the destruction of the worke of God who made man to everlasting life than the power wisdome of God should to the upholding of the creature in that estate wherein he created it So ill and sin things not being shold have preheminence for mischiefe above an infinite power and goodnesse for glorie and happinesse But this is impossible therefore as by sinne there was a generall wrack of mankinde so it is necessarie that there be a generall restoring powerfull and sufficient for the sinnes of the whole world avayleable and effectuall to all that beleeve it and shew the fruit of their faith by their strife against sinne and doing such good workes as God hath created that we should walke in them 3. Faith hope charity temperance and all other Christian and morall vertues are the worke of Gods Spirit in man who of himselfe is not able no not to thinke a good thought But it is impossible that the Spirit of God should worke in vaine or to no end in the heart of man to beleeve the forgivenesse of his sinnes and to hope for everlasting life c. or that God should not accept his owne worke in his creature which is ever for the good of the creature Therefore there is a restoring of man to those hopes of happinesse which he had lost 4. The continuance of the world and the creatures therein by a being of infinite power wisdome and goodnesse must bee to an end exceedingly good therefore there is a restoring of man
that the effect of that goodnesse may appeare in his everlasting life and happinesse for if the continuance of the world bee for the multiplication of mankinde onely for satisfaction of the divine justice upon mankinde for his sinne then should it bee necessarie that the world were everlasting that the everlasting justice might receive everlasting satisfaction but so the greater power of the Creator in the longer continuance of the world should bee for the greater affliction and hurt of the creature so the infinitie of his power should bee infinitely distant from his mercie and pitie the effect of his goodnesse toward his creature so he should have made the creature and the continuance thereof because he hated it not because hee loved it But all these things are impossible and against the dignities which wee have before proved to bee in God one infinite being Ergo. § 1. From hence also it will appeare that the restoring is to an estate of further happinesse than the continuance of that naturall life in which and unto which Adam was at first created For if the advantage in the recoverie were not greater than the losse was by the sinne then had the sinne beene permitted to no end then had the losse been sustained in vaine and all those afflictions which mankinde hath ever since endured should be without recompence in the reward But it is impossible that God should permit sinne in man and the punishment thereof afflictions and death onely to set man in the same state wherein he was before for that had been to no end at all it had beene in vaine to suffer his owne justice to bee violated in vaine to give his Sonne to die onely to restore man to that state which hee had lost wherein hee might have been kept and all these inconveniences saved Therefore the recovery is with a super excellencie of glorie and happinesse far above that which Adam lost 2. It is the glorie of the wisdome of God out of the greatest ill to bring the greatest good The greatest ill which the devill by sinne could bring upon man was the losse of his worldly life and happinesse and to make him liable to the wrath of God and so to eternall death therefore the infinite mercy and wisdome prepared so powerfull a remedie against this poyson of the old Serpent that the life and happinesse in this world was changed to that which is to be in eternitie in the heavens with an exceeding weight of glory which no words can utter neither can it come into the heart of man to conceive And this with that assurance of the favour and love of God in Christ from which neither height nor depth nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come shall ever bee able to separate us Rom. 8.38.39 CHAP. XIX That the restoring of Man to the favour of God could not be by any meanes that was in man nor by any one that was man alone WHat hast thou O man which thou hast not received and if thou hast received that which thou hast of grace alone whereas thou could'st claime nothing of duty what is that merit of thine either of condignity or of congruity for which thou canst challenge either reward or acceptance is there not a bond of dutie and thankfulnesse to him of whom thou did'st receive it And if man have received of God his whole being and whatsoever he hath of outward blessings or inward graces how can hee give any thing to God which is not his owne 1 Chron. 29.14.16 So that whatsoever a man can doe which may seeme pleasing to God yet when hee hath done all hee must acknowledge himselfe an unprofitable servant because hee hath done onely that which hee ought Luke 17.10 But being besides in danger of the judgement of God both for his originall and actuall sinne shall hee bring for his ransome ten thousand rivers of oyle or the fruit of his body for the sinne of his soule Mic. 6.7 Oh madnesse of merit and satisfaction where are those workes of supererogation that treasurie of the Church by the pedling and sale of which that purple whore hath lived in pleasure and glorified her selfe But see the reasons of the conclusion 1. Every offender against an infinite justice must in justice either make an infinite satisfaction or else indure an infinite punishment But no finite creature either man or Angell can make an infinite satisfaction so then there is no returne to the favour of God by the mediation either of man or Angell 2. Where an endlesse debt is still increased there no payment can bee lookt for But man by his originall sinne being infinitely indebted doth still increase the debt more and more by his actuall transgression Therefore from man no amends can bee lookt for 3. No creation can bee without an infinite power as it hath beene prooved therefore much lesse can the restoring of the creature being fallen from the estate of Grace For in the Creation there was nothing which hindered the worke of the Creator But in the estate of sinne there is an impediment first in the corruption which is in the understanding and frowardnesse of the will turned away from God Secondly in the concupiscence whereby man is inthralled to the service of sinne c. Thirdly the power of the devill where to a man is subjected by his sinne Fourthly the Iust sentence and wrath of God The soule that sinneth shall die the death O Man see what thou doest when thou doest sinne Can'st thou flee from thy selfe yet the devill will overtake thee Canst thou escape the devill yet the vengeance of God will surely lay hold on thee Therefore there is no Redemption of hope in him that is man alone 4 No man can pay for another that for which he is indebted himselfe But every man and every other Creature doth owe unto God whatsoever it is or whatsoever it can doe Therefore no man only man can supply toward God the want of another mans service much lesse make satisfaction for his sinne as it is said in the 49. Psal v. 7. None can by any meanes redeeme his brother nor giue to God a ransome for him And if the injury were infinite and the satisfaction impossible to be made by a finite creature to which of the Angels shall man turne himselfe And there shall hee finde a further inconvenience For seeing the offence was made by man It is necessary that Iustice seeke satisfaction where the offence was made As an unity in number once broken cannot bee made up by the same parts into which it was broken Objections 1. But you will say a finite Creature cannot doe an infinite deed and therefore cannot commit an infinite sinne thereby to deserve an infinite punishment Answer The sinne is not esteemed according to the littlenesse of the Sinner but the infinity of the sinne is first in regard of Him against whom the sin was that is God whose infinite glory
without it neither the pagans and infidels nor yet the false Christians can bee without excuse But that every one that knowes doth of himselfe according to this knowledge frame his will constantly and effectually to desire whatsoever belongs to eternall life Pelagius will never bee able to demonstrate For he that wils any thing constantly and effectually wils also those meanes constantly and effectually without which that thing cannot bee come unto And because without holinesse no man can see the Lord Heb. 12.14 in whose presence onely is the fullnesse of blessing and joy for evermore Psal 16.11 in the narrow path of which holinesse because the godlesse Pagan and loose living Christian cannot nor will not walke therefore they cannot bee said effectually either to will or to desire everlasting life But this is that speciall grace reserved for the vessels of mercy by which they are not inforced against their will but of naturall men naturally unwilling are made willing to follow Him that drawes them with the cordes of love to love that which is pleasing in his sight and so to will and desire constantly and effectually to follow that which is for their soules health So this desire being wrought in them by Him that is able to fulfill the desire of them that feare Him is a pledge unto them that their hope shall never bee ashamed And thus the weakenesse of the assumption and falshood of the conclusion doe plainely appeare 6. But hee is accounted a cruell creditor that will exact more then his debtor can pay and hee a cruell Lord that requires of his servant that which hee cannot performe Therefore the most mercifull God requires of man no other satisfaction then that which man is able to performe Answer It is just that God should require of man that he enabled him to performe For otherwise His justice should bee deficient or wanting towards Himselfe and his glory likewise unduely esteemed And the cruelty of a Creditor is to require more than a man is able to performe by himselfe or by his suretie Therefore our most mercifull Lord foreseeing the malice of the Devill and the sinne of man thereby to the glory of His infinite grace provided us a Saviour before we had sinned For whose abundant satisfactions sake wee have a doore of entrance as wide as the Valley of Achor set open unto us that by His merit alone wee may come boldly unto the throne of grace there to find helpe in the time of need Of which Mediator we are now to speake in the Articles following ARTICLE II. ⧠And in Iesus Christ His onely Sonne WEE have seene the wretched estate of man to which he is subjected by reason of his sinne whereby he is unavoydably lyable unto the wrath of God which he is utterly unable to indure and from which to escape there is no meanes in his owne power Now consider with thy selfe most wretched caitif that art afraid to die because thou hast no hope but in this life what it were for thee to stand iustly condemned to die and every minute to expect the execution of thy doome if any one could be content to die for thee that thou mightest inioy the usury of this aire but for the time of thy naturall life from which thou knowest thou must part at last But being subject to an infinite wrath to an endlesse punishment the endurance of which but for one houre hath more miserie then the suffering of a thousand untimely deathes what love canst thou owe to him what thankes canst thou give unto him that would free thee from the punishment and instead of that restore thee to an estate of life and ioy eternall And seeing it hath appeared that this cannot bee done by any one that is onely man wee are now in this second place to see what are the conditions of our Mediator who by Himselfe is able to make satisfaction for our sinne For seeing the just sentence on man was that for his owne sinne hee should die the death which because it was the word of an infinite speaker of an infinite truth it must of necessity bee meant according to the uttermost extension of the truth and so meane all death of body and soule temporall and eternall And because the Mediator for man could not endure a temporall or bodily death except hee were man therefore it shall first appeare That the Mediator for the sinne of man must bee man And because eternall death is such a thing as no man onely man can offer himselfe unto with hope or possibilitie by himselfe to overcome therefore it shall appeare in the second place That our most glorious Mediator must bee God who being of infinite life wisdome and power knew how to conquer eternall death that having in the infinite worthinesse of his owne person satisfied the infinite justice for the sinne of man Hee might give eternall life to all them that by true faith should lay hold on His merits and in thankefulnesse for that unspeakeable mercy live in obedience to his commandements And that it may appeare what the superexcellency of the knowledge of our most holy faith in the religion of Christ is and that for the worthinesse and glory thereof it farre surpasseth all knowledge of all things which men or angels can come unto it shall be made plaine in the third place how necessary and agreeing to the wisdome goodnesse and glory of God it was That God should be incarnate Great is the mystery of godlinesse into which the angels desire to looke And because our most glorious Light and guide hath in his Holy word made these things so manifest unto us let us with chearefulnesse and joy in the ready service of our best understanding follow him who in our flesh hath reconciled all things to himselfe and in our flesh hath led captivity captive and triumphed over principalities and all powers of the enemy that we being delivered might serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the daies of our life and be accepted of Him in life everlasting CHAP. XX. That the Mediatour for the sinne of Man must bee Man 1. FIat justitia totus mundus ruat But when man sinned it could not stand with the justice of God to punish any for that sinne but man alone And whatsoever is against the justice of God is also against his wisdome his godnesse and power for wee have alreadie proved that all these dignities are in him one most simple and absolute being Chap. 8. And whatsoever is against the power of God is utterly impossible to be therefore it must necessarily follow either that there is no reconciliation of man unto God contrarie to that which hath beene proved in the 18. Chap. or else that this reconciliation must be made by a Mediatour that is man Therefore the Father said fitly hereto Propterea nobis per Mediatorem praestita est gratia ut polluti carne peccati carnis peccati similitudine mundaremur
of which it is confessed that it is everywhere nor yet of His dead body of which it is said in the Article before that it was buryed but that the enquiry is heere what became of the soule of our Saviour after it was departed from His body Secondly That seeing the soule neither came to nothing nor was an infinite being to bee every where it must of necessitie be in some definite ubi some place where while it was it was not in another Thirdly Seeing the soule of Christ was a true humane soule as one of ours and that it became Him in all things to bee like His brethren except their sinne His soule also being separate from the body went unto that place where the soules of the faithfull were before His comming This I thinke none will denie the Doctors old and new come all hereto The Reverend P. Martyr in Symb. saith thus Descendit anima Christi ad inferos c. The soule of Christ descended into hell meanes no other thing but that it did undergoe the same estate which other soules being separate from the body had experience of So Musculus in Eph. 4.9 Des endit ad nos in hunc mundum c. He descended to us in this world unto the grave and unto hell He descended to them whom He came to redeeme and as farre as they either living or dying had descended so farre also did He Himselfe descend that He might lift them up from below unto those places above from which He had descended Irenaeus said as much long agoe Lib 5. Cap. ult The Lord kept the law of the dead that He might bee the first-begotten from the dead Hitherto it seemes all parties are agreed But the assumptions set them at oddes againe as farre as heaven and hell For the old Interpreters inferre that the faithfull before Christ were in Abrahams bosome or in hell taken in the second sence But the new Interpreters inferre thus But the faithfull which were before Christ were in Abrahams bosome that is ascended into heaven properly so called For so the word Paradise doth signifie by the expresse authority of the Scripture 2. Cor. 12. verse 2. and 4. where the third heaven by Saint Paul is called Paradise For the first heaven is this of the Ayre to the Moone The second heaven is that of the Planets and Starres and the third heaven is Paradise the place of the blessed soules And this is one of the Arguments of them that reject the Iudgement of the Fathers and the ancient Church and holde the tropicall interpretation of hell for hellish torments of the mind And because I am here fallen into these bryars I will first put fire to them and afterward goe forward to the conclusion Therefore I answere The first heaven is this of the soules of heaven Gen. 1.20 The second is that of the cloudes of heaven Revel 1.7 So the third heaven for Paradise is in the Moone But this conclusion you laugh at Therefore you see on how weake and ungrounded principles they dispute 2. Beside is there no difference between a thing really performed and a vision as that of Paul which is not by things actually being but represented onely for instruction to the Prophet that fees it 3. But to grant all that the third heaven is Paradise and that the third heaven must signifie that which is above all the starres is there no Paradise beside when every place of pleasure is a Paradise Therefore though Saint Paul were in the third heaven yet the faithfull soules might bee in anotheâ— Paradise before they came thither as Adam was 1. Objeâ—tion This is contrary to the first conclusion of Vossius That the faithfull before Christ were not in Paradise till Christ opened it by His comming thither with the thiefe Answere It crosses not the opinion of the Fathers For though they put all the soules of the Saints in hell whither they also sent the soule of Christ yet they put them there into a place of rest and refreshing into a higher place in death free from torments and the tyranny of the devill and that by the authority of that historicall parable in Luke 16. where Lazarus on the one side of the gulph was in Abrahams bosome comforted the rich man in flames on the other side tormented So that first place or Paradise was that state of quiet where in the faithfull soules rested from their labours of this life Iob 3. from verse 13. to 20. in Ioy and hope of Him that was to come But that Paradise which the Fathers meant was a more free state and the enjoying of a fuller happinesse by the presence of Christ the worke of their redemption being accomplished they having their Redeemer with them a sure pledge of their eâ—â—â—rance into heaven after their resurrection as He should foâ—thwith bee raised and ascend to heaven whither till that time they had no hope to come 2. Oâ—jection The same Faith hath the same fruits the same effects But the Fathers before Christ had the same Faith Therefore they went to Heaven as they that have beene since Christ. Answere The same faith hath the same fruits the same effects concerning the uttermost end of faith which is the salvation of the soule and the consummation of that blisse which is to be in eternall life but not concerning all the degrees and circumstances betweene For many Prophets and Kings desired to see the day of Christ yet saw it not but as they saluted the promisses afarre off by their Faith The bodies also of divers Saints were raised at the resurrection of Christ and appeared to such as had knowne them alive for proofe of all that benefit whereof all the faithfull shall bee partakers Which blessing neither Daniel Dan. 12.13 nor Paul are yet partakers of And this answere may serve for divers texts of Scripture which are unfitly brought to this purpose as that of Iohn 5.24 Heb. 13.14 and such others And therefore though it bee most certaine and true according to the Scriptures that the Gospel of Christ was an eternall Gospel and that His death was available to eternall life to all that beleeved in Him since the beginning of the world So that their soules after they were delivered from the burden of the flesh were in Ioy and felicitie yet is it as true which the trueth saith Iohn 14.2 In my Fathers house are many Mansions So that although the soules of the faithfull departed before Christ were in Paradise in Abrahams bosome in the Kingdome of God in Everlasting life yet were they not in heaven properly so called neither could they have the presence of their Redeemer when Hee was not yet incarnate by whom they might enioy the vision of God as now they doe Obiect 3 3. Objection By this answere you grant then that they suffered the penaltie of losse as they call it though not of sence of losse I say because they were not in heaven in full happinesse
condemne thee yet God is greater then thy conscience and knoweth all things 1 Iohn 3.20 Objection 1. It is not long agoe that certaine men from the mint of their owne braine sought to give out a coyne under their owne stampe That we are not justified by the active righteousnesse of Christ but by that which was passive onely and another like this That we are not bound to the obseruation of the Law delivered by Moses either Iudiciall Ceremoniall or Morall But because this coyne had not the publike stampe it was accounted false and therefore this last argument of yours which drawes so neere to their last position may seeme to be fallacious The Law defended not the innocent ergo it cannot condemne the guilty Who knowes not that the just Law was most unjustly wrested against our Saviour that Hee ought to die because He said Hee was the Sonne of God when as in the case of treason against Caesar upon His owne interpretation He was acquited by the Romane deputy Answere So He was pronounced innocent against all their other objections and yet His innocency saved Him not Yet His case was a reserved case in as much as He was no private man but even the Head of His Church who had set Himselfe to answere for all His members and therefore when the Law protected not Him who was innocent above all men and for all men it condemned it selfe as unable to give life and therefore the conclusion is good that it is not of any power to condemne any of them who were condemned in Him that was innocent But that I may answere more particularly I say that I am farre from these men in both their opinions For although the things which our Lord did so farre forth as wee can imitate them are examples for us yet not onely for example but also for our justification that the law of perfect righteousnesse being fulfilled for us wee might bee freed from the curse of the Law Moreover by that active righteousnesse which our Saviour performed He was able to save all that come unto God by Him whereas if it might be supposed that God and man in one person could sinne as the devill tempted Him then His suffering had beene onely sufficient for Himselfe whereas now His death was meritorious for all For as that supposed sinne had beene infinite both in respect of the person against whom and the person by whom it had beene done being an infinite Person so must it have had an infinite satisfaction So all that Christ had merited by His death had beene available onely for Himselfe but now being offered a Lambe without spot His sacrifice is sufficient for all that come unto God by Him Then for that other opinion that wee are not bound to the fulfilling of the Law it is most false For though the Iudiciall were peculiar to Israels common wealth and the ceremoniall Law served onely till the substance was exhibited yet the morall Law in regard of the eternall Iustice and equitie thereof as the law of nature may not be broken without sinne nay so much more straightly are wee bound to the performance thereof as the thoughts are more unruly than the actions otherwise what meant those interpretations of the Law Matth. 5. and elsewhere fetch 't from the innermost meaning of Iustice which binds the very thoughts It hath beene said to them of old c. But I say unto you Love your enemies and whosoever lusts hath committed adultery in his heart c. Is not our Lord a sufficient Law-giver for His Church Doe they take away sinne out of the world and so make void the death of Christ For where no Law is there is no sinne imputed Rom. 5.13 I confesse that the Law hath no power over them that are in Christ to eternall death because it was insufficient to protect His innocent life although the keeping of the Law if it were exact might claime to eternall life But the works of the Law and faith in Christ are by Saint Paul set in direct opposition in this argument of justification See Rom. 3. from verse 20. c. And Galatians Chapter 3. But yet though obedience cannot bring life eternall to the doer of the Law because the Law is perfect our obedience imperfect yet sinne brings deserved death upon the sinner whereby their vanitie appeares which hoâ—d the keeping of the law not necessary and likewise the trueth of the former conclusion that seeing the keeping of the law gave not life to our Lord that fulfilled it neither can the breach of the Law bring condemnation to them that are in Him to whom there is no condemnation Rom. 8.1 Object 2 Object 2. But seeing the merit of Christ is infinite and He being both God and mâ—n of infinite woâ—thinesse above the creature and for this purpose appearing that He might take away the sinnes of the world how comes it to passe that after the sacrifice for sin is offered yet both sinne and death the punishment thereof doe still remaine Answere It was an easie thing for God utterly to have abolished death after that by sinne it had entered into the world so that neither the body should have died the naturall death nor the soule the spirituall death of ignorance and pleasure in sinne nor both together the death eternall But yet God would let both sin and death remaine and that for foure reasons especially First that the justice of His most righteous sentence might stand In the day that thou eatest of that tree of the knowledge of good and ill thou shalt die the death 2. That the infinitie of His wisedome and goodnesse might appeare that as death by sinne had entered into the world so by death he might destroy sinne that whereas the devill which had the power of death sought to deprive man of life and glory He might take the weapon out of the hand of that Egyptian and as Benajah kill him with his owne speare and by death bring man to everlasting glory 3. That man might see the greatnesse of the benefit and willingly conforme himselfe to follow Christ through the paines of death and honour of the grave seeing God hath called and predestinated us to be like the image of His Son 4. The devills fell by pride and least man should grow proud therefore is sinne and death left with him to humble him thereby So that to the faithfull the condition of death onely is changed For whereas justice would that man should die because the sentence of death had proceeded against him And mercy would not the death of a sinner Wisedome decided it that death should bee made the way to everlasting life and so both Iustice and mercy might have what they desired Object 3 Objâ—ct 3. But how is sinne said to be forgiven when both sinne and the punishment doe still remaine Answere The meaning and purpose of this Article of our faith is that wee stedfastly beleeve the forgivenesse of our
whether they be elementall vegetable and sensitive and likewise of things that have imagination and reason See hereto Chap. 17. § 4. n. 5. or else because all bodily beings shall have their rest and perfection in him and with him or at least because he uses these things to such workes as are acceptable to God But if there be no resurrection then after the end of this world man in whom and with whom all these things are to receive their perfection not being at all all these things have no end of their being and so either not being at all or else being for no end their creation as concerning their uttermost and true end which is the eternall glory of God should bee in vaine and that expectation or groaning of the creature to bee delivered from the bondage of corruption of which Saint Paul speakes Rom. 8. should also be in vaine and the promise of making all things new Rev. 21.5 Es 65.17 2. Pet. 3.13 should also bee of none effect But all these things are impossible Ergo. It is necessary that there be a resurrection of the body and eternall life 12. Neither is the body nor yet the soule for it selfe but both the one and the other that both together may make one perfect man So the perfection and blessednesse of the whole man is more than that which can come onely to one part But if there bee not a resurrection of the body this greater blessednesse is utterly lost so that although the soule bee happie for ever yet the greater blessednesse of the soule and body together suffers eternall privation So the whole should be onely that one part may bee happie so the hope even of the faithfull should bee in vaine and their eternall happinesse onely in imperfection and so the punishment of the wicked But these things stand neither with the justice of God nor the trueth of His promises Therefore the body shall rise againe 13. And because this is our last hope and uttermost comfort in all our calamities and a speciall bridle to restraine from sinne it is fit that upon all occasions you should exercise your selfe to make this conclusion on whatsoever you thinke or whatsoever you heare out of the holy Scriptures For every promise and every threatning therein brings you to this that a reckoning must be given for all that which you have done in the body For if the body with the sences the servants of the soule either for sinne or righteousnesse should not live againe then the divine justice in reward and punishment should be defective but this is impossible The texts that are plaine you will understand by your selfe as that of Moses in Psal 90.3 Thou turnest man to destruction and sayest Returneye children of men Some are a little further off which yet you may easily bring hither as Esay 38.18 19. The grave cannot praise thee They that goe downe into the pit cannot hope for thy trueth The living the living hee shall Praise thee as I doe this day Therefore the dead shall rise againe For seeing man was made to glorifie God in his body and in his soule and that his end cannot bee frustrate man must live againe that his mercy and justice may be praised both by the good and the bad Iannes and Iambres withstood Moses 2. Tim. 3.8 Therfore Moses Iannes and Iambres must come to judgement For it is a just thing with God to reward you and to punish them that trouble you 2. Thes 1.6.7 And if for your further satisfaction you will reade that which the Fathers have written you may take that which goes under the name of Iustine the Martyr in his questions of the Greekes the oration of Athenagoras concerning the resurrection of the dead Irenaus lib. 5. cap. 4. c. his arguments for the most part taken from Athenagoras Theophilus lib. 1. ad Autolycum Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 2. cap. 10. Reade also that excellent booke of Tertullian of this argument where you may see what his judgement is concerning the qualities of the bodies being raised and some objections to the contrary answered This Article the Iewes both Cabalists and Talmudists hold so firmely against that heresie of the Sadduces that they say That he can have no part in the world to come which denies the resurrection Lib. Sanhedrin Cap. Halec Neither is there any man that lives and sees the continuall course of nature in the digestion of the food that can deny that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the body of which Pythagoras and after him Plato speakes in Phaed. and most of all Saint Paul 1 Cor. 15.39 § 3. Yet so fearefull is the judgement which follows after the resurrection unto the Atheist that he searches all corners of cavills against it you shall take some of them with their answeres as I find them in Tertullian and Thomas Aquinas contr gent. lib. 4. cap. 80 and 81. Object 1 Object 1. And first it is said 1 Cor. 15.50 That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdome of God Answer Till by grace it is made spirituall So not the substance of the flesh is there understood but the present estate thereof with the lusts and wicked desires which if a man doe mortifie by the Spirit he shall live Rom. 8.13 So in Iohn 6.63 The flesh profiteth nothing understand the fleshly-minded man which of himselfe knoweth not the things of God and those things which belong to sanctification and eternall life But concerning the being or substance of the flesh or body of man seeing it was tempered by Gods owne hand fashioned according to His jmage made the seat of the soule so excellent a being by which and with which the soule workes whatsoever it doth seeing in the holy Baptisme the flesh is wash't that the soule may be cleane seeing in the holy Supper the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ is received by the mouth that the soule may be strengthened in God seeing our bodies are the members of Christ the temples of the Holy-Ghost and He dwells in them seeing our bodies are not our owne but Gods 1 Cor. 6. seeing they are the instruments of holinesse in all the workes of mercy in prayers in wholesome counsell almes deeds in indurance of sorrowes in fasting in imprisonment in martyrdome in death it is impossible that God should leave forlorne the workemanship of His owne hands the closet of His owne breath the masterpiece of His cunning the heire of His riches and the Priest of His religion and service to dwell in eternall death that He should not heale the wounds and restore those dead to life which have beene wounded and slaine for His sake And though the flesh in it selfe be weake and through sinne utterly lost yet seeing our Lord came to seeke and to save that which was lost and that He Himselfe hath borne our sinnes it is impossible that either the merit of Christ for us or the mercy and goodnesse of
God should be in vaine Therefore the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together Esay 40.5 and from one Sabboth to another shall all flesh come and shall worship before me saith the Lord Esay 66.23 And I will powre out of my Spirit upon all flesh Ioel. 2.28 And seeing the flesh hath these holy promises therefore the flesh shall rise againe that as both the flesh and the soule have sorrowed so they may both reioyce together Object 2 Object 2. But the Prophets speake of the resurrection darkely and in figurative speeches onely Answer Not onely but oftentimes so as they cannot be otherwayes meant And though they use figurative speeches yet no figure is taken but from somewhat that is properly and truely such Moreover the words are often such as admit no other meaning as in Iohn 5.28 29. The houre is comming in which all that are in the graves shall come foorth they that have done good to the resurrection of life and they that have done ill unto the resurrection of condemnation Object 3 Obiect 3. If the same body shall rise againe of the same shape and lineaments some shall be whole men some maimed some halting blind c. Answer The qualities of the bodies shall be changed the substance shall not be lost For as it is against the justice of God that one substance should doe that which is pleasing to Him and another be rewarded therefore So if all teares shall be wiped away then also all cause of teares all hurts wants and deformity both of body and soule So that as the same body shall be returned to the same soule so shall it returne intire and whole Object But if the use of the members cease why are the members needfull Ans Though the naturall body shall be made spirituall and thereby be delivered from the necessities of those things to the use of which wee are now tyed as of foode clothes c. and so the members freed from their offices yet are they not therefore unnecessary For the tribunall of Christ requires a perfect man that he may receive in his body according to that which he hath done in his body Moreover for the perfection of beauty and glory the body must be intire the integrity of which stands not in the offices of the members but in their substance Neither yet shall all the offices of every member cease for the instruments of the voyce shall still serve for praise to God as this Father thinketh The objections which Thomas Aquinas brings from naturall doubts are of no force against the reasons which we have brought from the light of grace and knowledge of the Scriptures For it is yeelded that the resurrection of the body is beyond all the power of naturall causes to effect but that it is onely of the will and power of God as to make man at the first so to restore him againe out of his former principles into which he was resolved But that you may see how weake naturall reason is compared with the trueth of God and on what wretched hopes the Atheist depends which trusts that his sinnes shall never be brought to judgement I will propose the reasons and answeres as they stand Object 4 Object 4. That which is corrupted cannot be made the same againe as a naturall habit of the body or mind being deprived cannot be restored Answer The impossibilities of nature cannot limit that power which created nature especially in the resurrection of the body wherein the Author of nature hath professed that He can and hath promised that He will raise it up againe as you read before Object 5 Object 5. But the essentiall principles being lost it is impossible that the same thing in number should be restored Answer The essentiall principles in man are soule and body which being restored each to other in the perfection of them both nothing which is concomitant whether it be property or necessary accident can be wanting and that both these remaine in the state of being and consequently in the possibility of being brought together againe you may see Chap. 17. § 4. N. 5. Object 6 Object 6. Corruption is a change from being unto not being Therefore it is impossible that the being of man being corrupted the same being in number should be restored Answer This is in effect one with the former And it is true that the totall is destroyed in man by the separation of the parts But neither of the parts doe come to nothing but are in the hand of that power to bee conjoyned againe by which they were conjoyned at first Object 7 Object 7. If whatsoever hath beene essentiall to the body of man must in the resurrection be restored unto him then this bodily proportion shall be very uncomely in as much as the haire the nailes and whatsoever else is wasted away by the force of naturall heat were once as essentially of the body as that was which he carryed with him to the grave See the first supply to Logicke question 66. Answer As it was said before that whatsoever was wanting in the body should be made up So understand on the contrary that superfluities and deformities shall be taken away and that every one shall rise againe in that perfection which is peculiar to man-kind Object 8 Object 8. That which is common to all of any kind seemes naturall to the species But there is not any common virtue of any naturall agent to worke this Therefore it seemes that all men shall not rise againe Answer The resurrection of the dead is not by any naturall cause but it depends onely on the power of God to whose justice every man must give an account of his owne workes Object 9 Object 9. Death is the effect of sinne from both which wee are fâ—eed onely by the death of Christ Therefore it seemes that all shall not rise againe but they onely that are partakers of the merit of His death Answer It is true that such onely shall rise to eternall life the rest for justice unto judgement And because death is the wracke of nature in all men and the worke of the devill and that our Lord came to repaire nature and utterly to destroy the workes of the devill Therefore that it may appeare that Hee hath perfectly finished that for which He came all men must rise againe Object 10 Object 10. The last objection seemes a mighty one above the rest That if all men must rise againe perfect what shall become of the Canibals who have eaten one another nay if any of these Canibals eate onely mans flesh and beget children seeing their seed as their wisedome affirmes is onely the superfluity of the nourishment before it be conuerted into the substance of the fathers body here is the knot of Gordius who hath most right to this seed whether the sonne whose body was made of it or the father or he from whose body it was devoured by
had brought in death it was a mercy that all those enemies of life which accompanied death should shew themselues that man miâ—ht daiâ—y be put in mind of his mortalitie and returne unto H m whom he had offended Now if you shall aske from whence this change of estates from immortality to mortality did succeed in man I thinke even from hence that the pure soule the image of God dwelling in the body which was framed of the bodily creature which was yet pure and not subiected to the curse had power to sustaine the body in that perfect estate wherein it was created and sâ— should have preserved it for ever if it had held that dignitie which it had and hearkened onely to the ordinance of God and had reigned over the bodily affections and desires as it ought and had power to doe But when the soule would forsake God the guide thereof and that dignitie which it had naturally over the body and follow the lusts and appetites thereof and for that treason against God lost the power and strength which it had to support the body and moreover must seeke sustenance for the body out of the creature now accursed and deprived of her first strength it was impossible but that according to the curse corruption diseases and death should follow thereupon Yet seeing the merit of Chri t is so ful of satisfactioÌ„ to the justice of God and He so powerfull to restore all the decay of nature and to destroy all the wrack and mischiefe which the devill hath brought thereinto wee may firmely beleeve as we professe in this Article that wee shall at last be brought to the eâ—â—oying of everlasting life better than that to which wee were at first created 1. For although by the craft of the devill sinne entered into the world and death by sinne passed over all man-kind yet seeing man was made immortall and that neither the end which God purposed nor yet the infinite merit of the death of Christ can bee in vaine it is impossible but that man-kind at last should be brought to eternall life 2. The infinite goodnesse of God is the reason and the cause that he is good to all and that His mercy is over all His workes Psal 145.9 Therefore there is an eternall life reserved for man the most excellent of the visible creature and the will of man above all other things desires an eternall life in glory and happinesse according to His promises But if no such eternall life shall bee then the action of God toward His creature shall be in litlenesse and defect neither shall he fulfill the desire of them that feare Him So also the will of man should more desire the accomplishment of the divine goodnes upon the creature than the will of God should desire the accomplishment of it selfe But these things are impossible therefore there shall bee an eternall life in glory and happinesse 3. Virtue and the ready service of man unto God is that thing wherewith God in man is most delighted and which He hath commanded as it is said Be ye holy for I am holy Lev. 11.44 and the desire of this holinesse is found in them especially that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse and hate their sinnes whereby they displease Him But this seruice of man to God hath not hitherto beene duely performed by any living among the sonnes of men neither can be performed both in body and soule by the dead Therefore it shall be performed in the life that is to come wherein both Gods will and the desires of His shall bee fulfilled See Matth. 5.6 4. If there shal be an eternal life for man then man shall receive of the divine goodnesse and power a power whereby he may both bee and doe those things whereto the divine goodnesse and wisedome hath appointed him But if there be no life eternall then the end of mans creation should be onely to privation and not being But it were better never to have beene than after all the miseries of this life in the end to returne to an everlasting not being For so the effect that is man-kind should no way be answerable to the cause nor yet be any proofe or manifestation oâ— that goodnesse infinity eternitie and power by which it was made But this is impossible and against the conditions both of the prime cause and the infinitie of the dignities thereof Object But you will say that this reason doth no mâ—re prove that there is an eternall life for man than for beasts and other of the creatures which also ought to continue for the proofe of that wisedome and almightynesse of their cause Answere There is a difference betweene the end and those things which are for the end Man is the end of all the visible creature and therefore it followes that all those things are to bee in man as in the end so far forth as they can be worke or be glorified in Him And from hence also it followeth that man must bee for ever lest all these things which were for him should returne to nothing with him and the image of that infinite goodnesse and wisedome by which they were made should come to nothing eternally Therefore though they shall be in man as the idéa of them all yet not in their severall or distinct beings beside man 5. No naturall desire of the creature which is implanted in every individuall of every kind can bee in vaine because it is implanted therein by a superiour power which cannot bee frustrate But it is implanted in all men naturally both to desire and to hope for eternall life Therefore there shal be an eternall life For if after the resurrection man should not live for ever then there should be in God a will to raise him to life contrary to his will that hee should live for ever So His being should not be simple and one but this is impossible as it was proved Chap. 9. § 6. 6. The more powerfull that any cause is the more manifestly doth the likenesse thereof appeare in the effect And sith God is the first and chiefe cause of all and that the likenesse of man His worke shall be greater in his perpetuall welâ—-being than in not being at all therefore there shall bee an eternall life wherein the greatest likenesse of the effect to the cause shall be perfected that man may live in eternall Righteousnesse Wisedome and Glory Otherwise the infinite justice might seeme defective in reward and punishment if both good and bad should perish alike Moreover the word whereby the punishment was inflicted was neither so generall nor so without exception but that there was grace reserved And now lest he take of the tree of life and live for ever in his sin therefore the Lord God sent him forth of the garden of Eden the type of eternall happinesse till he had tasted of death the punishment of his sinne then should hee live for ever in joy 7. And these
not and seeing that which any thing hath of it selfe is first therein and more proper thereto than that which it hath of another therefore the world of it selfe having not being it could not possible bee eternall but onely in his eternall purpose which had appointed it unto this being The World therefore in God the principle is not begun but eternall and one but whatsoever is severed from this Principle can neither bee one nor yet eternall but comes into the reckoning of othernesse and change and so of necessitie must bee subject to time wherein alone all change is wrought § 2. 1. But here it will be asked whether God who before the creation of the world rested eternallie in his owne glorie and happinesse suffered not some alteration in this that he wrought without himselfe that which hee had not wrought before and how hee can be said both to worke and to rest Gen. 2.2 and yet to bee without all shadow of change Iam. 1.17 2. Then how He infinite in goodnesse and truth and ever one in himselfe subjected the creature to wretchednesse continuall corruption and change 3. Thirdly seeing that to an infinite and eternall power all things are alwayes possible why the world was not brought forth many ages heretofore that seeing it must be subject to vanity it might before this have beene freed from corruption and brought to that libertie whereto it doth yearne Rom. 8.22 1. To the first I answer that although the creature doth of necessitie supposea Creator without which it could not be yet on Gods part there was no necessitie to enforce him to create but he created onely according to the pleasure of his owne will as it is confessed Revel 4.11 For nothing was able to impose necessitie but onelie that which was superiour in dignitie and power which the superexcellencie of the Divine being suffers not neither can the freedome of an infinite will such as the will of God is bee guided either by chance by destinie or by necessitie But because hee is infinite in goodnesse he envied not to any thing the being thereof but out of not being brought it into being by his Word our Lord Iesus Christ Athanasius de Incarnat Verbi But in this creation he suffered no alteration who had eternally wil'd the creature to be in the time appointed and in the time appointed brought it out only by the motion of his will for his will his wisdome his power being infinite and one being no other motion labour or alteration needed but onely to will that the creature should then bee created when hee had from all eternitie willed that it should bee created So then it was in him both to create that it might appeare that hee had no necessitie of the creature who was absolutely perfect without it and yet at his pleasure to create lest that which was not might seeme to be exempted from his power and againe that the creature might be blessed in his goodnesse and yet he himselfe without all shadow of change As the minde of a man which hath plotted a convenient house and given or described the model to the builder suffers no alteration by the house being builded Therefore after the commandement of water the first matier of all things to bee the labour of the Creator mentioned in the sixe dayes was onely the appointment of secondarie causes to worke in their times to those ends which hee had determined for the bringing forth of their severall effects for as the first agent moves all secondarie agents so it is necessarie that all their ends bee ordered to the ends of their first mover So then the sixe Evenings of the being of things first potentially in their immediate or next causes and in their fieri or way to perfection and the Mornings of their actuall and perfect being are the times * See Esay 66.8 ages or dayes wherein they were brought forth by their naturall causes all moving in the power of the first cause unto their perfection appointed by his eternall decree And this ordering of causes and giving strength thereto was his first worke as his continuall blessing and upholding the creature by his word is his continuall worke wherein hee takes delight Heb. 1.3 Psal 104.31 But his rest in the seventh day was his ceasing to bring forth new creatures which day is therefore said not to have any evening because his rest delight or glorie is eternall and is therefore commanded to bee sanctified by us with a Memento because it is a pledge unto us that after the sixe ages of this worlds travell and wearinesse in vaine we shall at last be made partakers of his rest Compare herewith Gen. 1. 2. to ver 4. Esay 46.10 and 2. Pet. 3.8 But this is beside my purpose and therefore I leave it 2. To the second question of that ill which is in the creature though I have answered sufficiently note a on Chap. 6. yet I say further that contraries are best knowne one by another â—ight by darknesse health by sicknesse And therefore that we may not onelie desire but also better know and enjoy our future happinesse it is fit that wee should taste the momentary wretchednesse and miseries of this life yea drinke at last the gar-ans of death it selfe that wee may truly enjoy the happinesse of everlasting life O death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath rest with his possessions But how acceptable is thy doome to him that is vexed in all things Eccles. 41.1 And questionlesse if the elect Angels never had any experience of sorrow neither did at any time sinne for he found no stedfastnesse in his servants and laid folly vpon his Angels Iob. 4.18 And in his beloved Sonne alone is hee well pleased Matth. 3.17 Then doe they wonderfully by our afflictions enjoy their owne happinesse while they dayly behold our manifold miseries and yet know us to be heires of equall glorie Luke 20.36 for therfore are the sons of David dayly scourged with the rods of men corrected every morning and die at last that they may be like unto their Lord be made conformable unto his death for if the Prince of our salvation was consecrated in afflictions how should we hope for any portion in his glorie if we should not with joy be partakers of his sufferings For therefore by his owne example did he teach us obedience because in obedience onely we must walke the way to everlasting life A second reason is that wee may be humbled before him when we consider whereto we are come of our selves that is into miserie but not out and consequently that wee may bee thankefull for that abundant grace by which wee are delivered when our sufferings shall bee recompensed with an exceeding weight of glorie 3. The third doubt concerning the time of the worlds creation hath heretofore so troubled some mens braines that they thought there had beene infinite worlds yet so that after
more easie it was to bee kept so much the sorer punishment did Adam deserve for the breach thereof And thus did that murtherer of mankinde by the sinne of our first Parents set open a doore for the Iustice of God to breake out upon them being now liable to eternall punishment yet did they not hereby bring on their owne punishment alone inasmuch as all their children are made lyable with them to the same condemnation § 2. It may seeme a needlesse question to aske how long Adam stood in his innocency but because opinions have beene about the time of his fall wherein they have differed from the first day of his Creation to three yeers and an halfe betweene which others have thought a weeke some tenne dayes or seventeene at most others halfe a yeare Lidg de Emend temp Omitting conjectures it will not be unfit to examine it by reason and Scripture which hath not left us without a guide and instruction in any doubt that may be moved therein The Hebrewes compare Adam to an oxe that had horns and no hoofs by which they meant he had no strength at all to walk in the commandements of God but assoone as he was created he pushed rebelliously against his ordinance The ordinances of God over and aboue the preheminences which He gave him in his creation were three Marriage for the due propagation of mans naturall life Gen. 2.24 the law of the tree of knowledge the figure of the life of grace ch 2.17 and the Sabbath the assurance of the life of glory For it were a witlesse thing to think that God sanctified that day for his owne use but for man to meditate in the workes of God and for remembrance of his hopes to come Adams transgression was against the second but it will appeare by the circumstances of the other two when that transgression was committed Adam was created a perfect man in the prime and chiefe of his strength and accordingly received that blessing to bring forth fruit and multiply Now if Adam according to that blessing had in his innocency endeavoured the propagation of mankind it cannot be supposed that God who had immediately before given him that blessing to multiply would immediately have taken it away againe And that act of Adam not being in vaine that first sonne of Adam must have bin holy and without the taint of originall sinne although the parents had sinned afterward before it was borne For that staine of originall sinne comes from the conception Psal 51.5 not by the birth But no such holy seed of Adam is mentioned nor none such could bee For the Lord looked downe from heaven upon the sonnes of Adam and they were altogether become filthy Psal 14.3 Now if Adam were created such as hee was aske any lusty young man how many nights hee would allow to his beloved and most beautifull Bride in her virginity and give so many to Adam before hee sinned So then it may seeme that wee may take that Storie of the Scripture concerning Adam thus Adam being made in the morning that God might give him experience of the excellencie of that estate wherein he was created brought the Beastes and Birds before him and gave him the Lordship over them all which that hee might exercise as he ought hee gave him perfect understanding of their nature and power of words whereby to expresse their nature and to command them For as Adam named every thing so was the name thereof But that man might know that hee was for a more noble end than to live among beasts Hee tooke him and put him in the Garden of delight furnished with fruits for every season and gave him power to eate of all excepting the forbidden tree At noone that heavie sleepe fell on him in which the woman was made out of his side Hee awaking the marriage was solemnized and the woman by her husband diligently warned to forbeare to eate or to touch the forbidden fruit But while she wandred from her Husband to chuse fruit to her liking for it is manifest that her Husband was not with her when shee was deceived 1 Tim. 2.14 shee was encountred by the devill possessing the Serpent and drawn into sinne and this about the ninth hower or three of the clocke in the afternoone as all the sacrifices of the Law and that sacrifice for sinne whereby the workes of the devill were destroyed doe sufficiently witnes Matth. 27.46 50. Thus man being in honor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bal yalin could not continue a night but by his sinne became subiect to death as the beasts that perish Psal 49.12 The heresie of Pelagius was like a Serpent with many heads of which this was one that Adam was created mortall and though hee had not sinned yet should he have died not for the merit or punishment of his sinne but for the condition or state of his creation for being made of the elements which in everie elementall body may be separated and in their simple being are changed one into another it cannot be thought said hee that Adams state could be more continuall than that from whence hee had his beginning Besides having in his innocencie need of meate to restore the decay of his body his body cannot be supposed immortall but the answer is easie For that immortality depended on the soule which should not have parted from the body but should have ever been able to uphold the body without corruption sicknes or death And although any particular change had beene in the body yet should it not have beene in the whole no more than that corruption or change which is in the simple elements therefore Adam in his innocencie was immortall absolutely inasmuch as his immortall soule should never have forsaken his body but he was mortall onely on condition if he did sinne So mortalitie was the punishment of his sinne but that which is put upon a man as a punishment can no way belong unto him in the state of his innocencie But it is plaine that death was inflicted on him for his sinne for why should it be said to him In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death Gen. 2.17 if by the necessitie of his creation hee should have dyed though he had not eaten CHAP. XVII That by the sinne of Adam the whole race of mankinde is corrupted and made liable to everlasting death both of bodie and soule ANother error of Pelagius was that Adam by his sin did hurt himselfe alone but that his posteritie were no way tainted thereby with any originall sinne nor brought in danger of eternall death which as it is contrary to the autority of the holy Scripture so do they thereby put an absolute necessitie on the justice of God to admit those infants that never commited any actuall sin into eternall happines whereby as the mercie of God so also the death of Christ as far as he should be a Saviour to them is utterly in
vaine for what need they mercie or Mediatour who for their owne worthinesse must enter into everlasting life yet this poyson the Socinians of late have lick't up as a restorative which heresie with other of theirs you may reade in Wentsel a Budowees pag. 232. 233. But as Adam had received originall righteousnesse so by his sinne did he lose what he had received and that not for himselfe alone but also for his posteritie for hee being that common person in whom the whole race of mankinde was whatsoever gifts or graces God gave unto him hee gave them as a king to him and his for ever if hee as a faithfull liege-man should performe those services that were belonging to that state wherein he was infeoffed but if hâ—e performed not that service whereto hee was bound then must he also forfeit that estate for him and his for ever And because contraries are knowne each by other as a crooked line by a straight it may easilie appeare what that originall sinne is whereto all the sonnes of Adam were made lyable by his offence for if Adam were created in originall righteousnesse so that hee had power both to know and to doe that which was pleasing to God and a freedome of his will to continue or not to continue in that state and without any of those conditions he could not be perfect then must it needs follow that by that sin of his both he and his posterity are deprived both of that knowledge of the will of God of the knowedge of the creature also and of all abilitie to doe or will any thing as of our selves that maybe pleasing in his sight for as that originall righteousnesse had with it not onely an innocencie harmelesnesse or freedome from sinne but likewise a positive strength to doe that which was good so likewise that originall sinne brought with it a corruption of the understanding a frowardnesse of the will a heavinesse or unablenesse to all good and more than that a concupiscence or ill desire leading the minde captive unto sinne for contrarie causes must have contrarie effects so as God had created that first righteousnesse in the heart of man so when man did willingly forsake his service and of himselfe betooke himselfe to the service of his enemie the devill for to whomsoever a man doth yeeld himselfe to obey his servant he is to whom hee doth obey the devill not onely willingly entertained this new come guest whose service he so much longed for but also gave him his livery and infected his heart with contrarie conditions that he might never after be fit for the entertainment of his former Lord. For of contraries about the same subject one must of necessitie be therein as light or darkenesse in the ayer health or sicknesse in the bodie sight or blindnesse in the eye so that in stead of the former vertues wherby the Spirit of grace did guide mans heart to God he is now not only utterly disabled to doe that whereto his conscience tels him he is bound but also become a thrall of Satan to be guided and governed according to his will And this wretched and sinfull estate with the guiltinesse or obligation unto the punishment thereof which is the death both of bodie and soule is that originall sinne wherein every one of Adams children is conceived and borne and for which he is subject unto death for so was the sentence that in what day hee sinned he should die the death And though Adam instantly did not finde himselfe to die yet by the â—ust sentence of the Law and justice of God did he finde himselfe spiritually dead that is destitute of the grace of God and that strength which he had to doe his will and therefore subject to this necessitie that he must die at last and so in an estate contrarie to that in which he was created neither ought it to seeme strange or unjust that God should punish this sinne of Adam in his posteritie also for as it was personall in respect of himselfe to make himselfe liable to the wrath of God so his naturall gifts being lost and corrupted the contrarie qualities brought in in stead thereof became a naturall contagion to all his posteritie There is heere some little question whether this ignorance frowardnesse heavinesse and concupiscence before spoken of be the effects of originall sinne the wounds of nature as the schooles call them or the sinne it selfe But as their contraries were in originall justice as the parts or as the poperties or as the effects thereof so must these be in originall sinne to mee they seeme to bee that spirituall death that was threatned to Adam and so the present punishment of that sinne and in them that are not renewed to the life of grace the assurance of that further punishment that shall come upon the soule hereafter Let us not stay in needlesse questions but looke to the proofes of our conclusion for by the knowledge of originall righteousnesse it will appeare what these things are 1. Because nothing can bring forth naturally any other thing than such as it selfe is If Adam were in himselfe corrupted as hath beene shewed Chap. 16. hee could not beget any other children but such as were corrupted And forasmuch as all men in justice are accounted as one man in respect of the common nature whereof they are all partakers it is just with God to punish all men alike for their common corruption from which no man can say his heart is cleane for doth any man forbeare to kill an adder though he never yet stung any man or beast I thinke not but because the whole nature of adders is venimous therefore will he kill him 2. It cannot stand with the justice of God to punish any one with death who is not lyable to that punishment for some offence Now the sinne of those infants who from their birth are carried to their grave not being any actuall sinne to which any election or consent of the minde could come it is plaine that they are punished for their originall sin And concerning them that have lived to take an account of their owne wayes there needs no other proofe than the testimony of every mans conscience whether they finde not the law of sinne in themselves warring against themselves and leading them captive unto sinne contrarie to the law of their own minds This is that burthen under which the Saints doe groan so as that they hate themselves therfore and desire to be delivered from this bodie of death Rom. 7.18 c. And why of death because the wages of sinne wrought in the body is death Rom. 6.23 yet not of the body onely but of the soule also both in regard of this inbred contagion that bitter root and of that consent which it gives to sinne that I say nothing of them who through custome follow sinne with greedinesse 3. Every creature naturally continues in that estate and followes those things whereto
27.5 and Acts 1.18 and 20. Secondly from the chiefe accessaries in the murder prophesied concerning Herod and Pontius Pilate Psal 2.2 fulfilled Luke 23.12 Acts 1.26 27. And concerning the Priests and Scribes it was prophesied Gen. 49.6 fulfilled Matth. 26.3 Mar. 15.11 Luke 22.2 Thirdly from his friends forsaking Him foretold Psal 38.11 Zach. 13.7 compared with Matth. 26.56 27.55 what can the Infidell Iew or Turke now say for their unbeleefe when by all these arguments and all things else whatsoever were prophesied of Him our Lord bath beene approved to bee that Saviour that was to come into the world yea so approved by the rule of the Law Deut. 18 22. and their owne expositors Moimony in Iesude hatorah cap. 10. that even because they beleeve not therefore is our Lord Iesus that true Prophet that was to come Because hee foretold both their unbeleefe and the punishment thereof Therefore beside other circumstances and proofes in this abundance not necessary to bee remembred take for another argument the unbeleefe of the Iewes and the destruction of their citty and scattering of that nation as the punishment of that unbeleefe Their hardnes of heart and incredulity was prophesied Ps 118.22 Es 6.9.10 c. 8.14.15 c. 52.1.2.3 The scattering of the whole nation is prophesied Lev. 26. vers 27. to 40. Deut. 28.64 Hos 3.4 9.17 The destruction of the cittie and Temple was foretold Dan. 9.26 and by our Lord himselfe Luk. 19.43.44 ch 21.20 with the continuance of that desolation Luk. 21.24 And of this their unbeleefe and scattering of the Nation and desolation of Ierusalem the Iewes themselves and all the world with them are witnesses unto this day If you desire further conferring of the Texts of the old Testament with the new you may reade Tertul. lib. 3. et 4. adversus Marcionem 11. To the death and sufferings of our Lord whereby wee are redeemed unto God the Father Rev. 5.9 wee may also adde the death and sufferings of his Saints as it is written Psal 44. vers 11. to 23. compared with Rom. 8.36 For even from Abel to Isaacke and so forward they that have beene borne after the flesh have persecuted them that have beene borne according to the Spirit Gal. 4.29 And although these persecutions have beene more common and grievous at some time than other as it may appeare by the bookes of the Maccabees and the ten persecutions of the primitive Church foretold Reu. 2.10 yet that rule holds and still shall till that King doe come that shall reigne in Iustice that all that will live godly in Christ must suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3.12 For whether it bee that God by afflictions and persecutions doth try the constancie and patience of his servants and exercise their faith in his promises or whether by trouble and persecution hee will teach them not to looke for their portion in this life or to make them more conformable to the death of his Sonne that they may also bee partakers of his resurrection or that the reward of their afflictions may bee with an exceeding waight of glory or that in the life to come they may by comparison inioy the fullnesse of their happinesse in more thankefullnesse and the perfection of love to the author thereof or that the devil may in Iustice punish such as forsake his obedience for by the taint of originall sinne wee all became his vassalls and God is not uniust no not to the devill himselfe and therefore suffers him to afflict them whom he himselfe will comfort Ioh 1. Reu. 2.10 or whether the devil to keepe his owne vassals in firme obedience doth more eagerly persecute the truth this is a sure conclusion that from Abel to this day the truth of the Religion of Christ and the obedient and faithfull professours thereof have ever beene persecuted whereas all Idolatry and superstition of how different kinds soever hath beene and is freely exercised From whence the reason will follow thus If the Religion of Christ and the faith in him have onely beene persecuted by the devill and his Instruments even from the beginning of the world untill now then the faith in Christ is onely the true faith and Hee the onely Saviour of the world But the first is true by the testimony of the holy Scripture and all those histories both ecclesiasticall and prophane that write any thing concerning this matter and the practice of the Turkes at this day doth approve it Therefore the Faith in Christ is onely the true faith and He the onely Saviour of the world 12. To this argument of the sufferings for the faith of Christ you may take another from the heresies that have beene thereabout For as a malitious enemy besieging a Castle impregnable poisons the fountaine of which the defenders must needs drinke so the faith of Christ being that onely fountaine of life by which we are sustained in our spirituall warfare hath by the malice of the devill beene troubled g with all kindes of heresies which the devill could possibly forge by the wits of his Instruments whereas in all the false worships that have beene in the world no questions nor dissentions have beene but every man wandred as hee was led in the darkenesse of his foolish heart And yet in all these heresies through the gratious direction of the Spirit of Christ and the light of his word the true faith hath prevailed according to his promise Math. 16.18 That all the devils that passe in and out at the gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it From whence you may reason thus That faith which onely hath beene attempted by all manner of heresies to bee corrupted thereby and yet hath stood uncorrupted and unreproveable in the True Faith But the Christian Faith onely is such Therefore the Christian Faith onely is the true Faith and consequently our Lord Iesus is the Saviour of the world seeing in Him onely wee looke for redemption 13. And this is that pole of the Loadstone whereto we may bee directed by every point within the compasse of the holy Scripture And these pointers that follow are sufficient to shew it Act. 2.36 Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Iesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ Act. 4. v. 10.11.12 There is no salvation in any other for there is no name under heaven given among men whereby wee must be saved save onely the name of Iesus Christ of Nazareth whom God hath raised from the dead Act. 16.31 Beleeve on the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy whole house Act. 17.3 Paul opened and proved that Christ must needes have suffered and risen againe from the dead and this Iesus whom I preach unto you is the Christ Act. 18.28 He mightily convinced the Iewes and that publikely shewing by the Scriptures that Iesus was the Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is
doe necessarily follow the nature and being of any thing is to destroy the thing it selfe so that to deny either the divine or humane will of Christ were to make him an unsufficient mediator and is directly contrary to that scripture which is Luke 22.42 Father not my will but thine be done 4. From whence Iordanus Brunus a Neapolitan in my time in Oxford would inforce a more wicked conclusion That Christ was a sinner because His will was not in every respect answerable to the will of God And because that which comes into the wicked imagination of one may proove a stumbling blocke to another I will by the way remove this out of the way Therfore I answer That because man knowes not nor may presume to know what the secret will of God is hee may in the freedome of his owne Will will desire pray for and indeavor any thing which is not contrarie to the revealed will of God and that without sinne especially in such things as stand with the naturall desire of all the creature in the preservation of it selfe in the present being which it hath As a sicke man without sinne may use diet medicine and prayer for recovery although God in His secret will have determined he shall dye Davids purpose to build the Temple though against the purpose of God was so well accepted of God as that he thereupon received the promise of a perpetuall succession even till Christ the eternall king to come of his seed 2 Sam. 7.11 to 16. Nay when Hezekiah had heard the sentence of death from God Himselfe by the voice of his Prophet Esay 38. was his prayer and his teares accounted sinnefull which God did so far accept as that he confirmed his petition by a miracle And although our Saviour knew himselfe to have come into the world that He should dye for the sinnes of the world yet might he without sinne pray unto His Father to save Him from that houre John 17.17 especially divers figures affording that hope was not Isaak in the very stroake of death rescued by the voice from heaven when the Ram was offered up in his stead Gen. 22. was not the scape goate Leu. 16.21.22 on which all the iniquities and sinnes of the sons of Israel were put sent away alive into the wildernesse But wherein was this repugnancy of his will to the will of God Not my will but thine be done He denyed his owne will he laid downe not onely his life but even the desire of life that he might performe the will of his Father so that the true conclusions which arise from hence or the like places are these first seing all men naturally desire to live and would not bee unclothed that is would not die 2 Cor. 5.4 but rather that our mortality might be swallowed up of life as it shall be with them who are found alive at the comming of the Lord 1 Cor. 15.51 and 1 Thes 4.15 16 17. Christ our Saviour was truly man both in the nature and all the naturall properties of a man contrarie to the heresie of Eutyches and the Monothelites of which you may reade further if you will in Thom. Aquinas contra Gent. lib 4. Cap. 36. Secondly and because every pure and meerely naturall propertie is concreated with the thing whose property it is and that the desire of life is naturally in every thing which hath life and that without sinne lest â—e that put this desire in the creature should be supposed a cause of sinne it was â—o sinne iâ— our Saviour to desire life upon that condition contrary to the folly and falshood of Brunus Thirdly seeing that God the Father so loved the world as that he refused to accept the prayer of his owne beloved Sonne when hee besought him with strong crying and teares for life but would give him to that most bitter death for us what confidence and assurance of life may wee have when the price of our redemption is paid and hee our Redeemer restored unto life for if while we were enemies we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Sonne how much more being reconciled shall we bee saved by his life Rom. 5.10 ARTICLE III. ⧠VVhich was conceived by the Holy-Ghost CHAP. XXV ALthough it were said to Abraham That in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed so that the Humanity of Christ was in Abraham and the fathers originally and so descended unto Him yet you may not thinke that any determinate * You may see the contrary opinion in Galatin lib. 7. cap. 3. matter descended from Abraham or the rest of which the Manhood of Christ was to be made peculiarly no more then the manhood of all others that descended from them And as no more so no lesse was He in the loynes of Abraham then the other Israelites But yet with this difference That whereas all other men being borne according to the law of concupiscence are subject to originall sinne from both the parents a Hee being not so borne was not subject thereto And because He was not borne according to the flesh but according to the promise according to the Law of the eternall life that is of the eternall Father onely on the one side without a mother and so of His mother onely on the other side without a father Therefore was He as not subject to sinne so not tithed in Abraham when he gave tithes of all unto Melchizedek Genes 14.20 as Levi was Hebr. 7.9 10. for tithes are an acknowledgment of sinne in him that is tithed and a confession that he needs a mediator unto God But Christ being a Priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek did therefore in Melchizedek receive tithes of Abraham and by Melchizedek blessed him with whom He had before-hand established His promise Gen. 12.2 3. Now when the fulnesse of time came that this promise of God should bee fulfilled the blessed Virgin Mary being sanctified by the Holy-Ghost unto holinesse of life and puritie of affections was so highly favoured and accepted of God as that in her tender yeeres for they write that shee was not above fourteene yeeres at the message of the Angel shee was vouchsafed worthy to bee the mother of the Saviour of the World Her heart being therefore purified by the Holy-Ghost to beleeve the promise of God made to her by the Angel and by him to bee perswaded of the possibilitie thereof Hee wrought in her also a free consent thereto a full submission to the will of God and a desire of the performance of the promise Reade Luke 1. from 28. to 39. Thus according to the nature of the Holy Spirit she first conceived her sonne in her Spirit or understanding and holy desires then by the working of the Holy Spirit that seed which is the originall of man-kinde was sanctified separate and sequestred into the place of naturall generation and the Eternall Son invested therein that according to the time
above every Name that every tongue should confesse that Christ is Iehova 3. And seeing He suffered under the power of the Romanes it was necessary that He should die by that manner of death which was most usuall with the Romanes which for their seruants and provincialls was the Crosse And although it seemed unto Pilate himselfe an unworthy death for Him Shall I crucifie your King Yet nothing could content His enemies but Crucifie Him Crucifie Him And because our Lord had no such priuiledge to plead for Himselfe that He was a free man of Rome as Saint Paul did Act. 16.37 22.25 29. 25.11 and so lost his head by the sword Therefore He must needs endure that bitter and accursed death of the Crosse 4. The tree through the craft of the devill was unto man-kind a cause of sinne Therefore lest the tree which was created good might become a curse to him for whom it was created and thereby the end of the creation might be perverted it seemed fit to the Wisedome of God that as the tree had beene an instrument in the worke of mans condemnation it should also bee an instrument in the worke of his redemption that man by his wound might also bee healed And therefore that our ransome should bee payed on the Crosse 5. Man by his sinne had made himselfe subject to the curse of the Law Therefore that the promise to Abraham That in his seed all the Nations of the earth should bee blessed Gen. 12.3 might come vpon them it was necessary that the curse should fall vpon that promised seed in whom they were to bee blessed as Saint Paul doth argue Gal. 3.13 and 14. 6. This crucifying of our Lord was prefigured diverslie in the Law as by the Serpent in the Wildernesse if you compare Numb 21.8 with Iohn 3.14 Moses also spreading out his hands in the forme of the Crosse overcame Amalec by his prayer Exod. 17.11 But aboue all other figures that glorious Type of Christ Samson who should begin to save Israel Iud 14.5 most liuely figured our Saviour on the Crosse when he laid his hands upon the Pillars and slew more at his death than he had done in all his life Iud. 16.30 So our Lord the Authour and Finisher of our Salvation though by His Preaching and His miracles He had shaken the Kingdome of the Devill yet by His death upon the Crosse He did triumph over all the power of hell Col. 2.15 David Psal 22.16 prophesies plainely of the wounds wherewith He was pierced in His hands and His feet when He was nailed to the Crosse as the Prophet Zechary Chap. 12.10 of that wound which through His side they made in His heart I the Lord will powre vpon the Inhabitants of Ierusalem the Spirit of Grace and supplicatior and they shall looke upon mee whom they have pierced And thus according to the Prophesies that were before was our Saviour crucified as you reade in the Gospel 3. Dead VVEe see IESVS made a little lower then the Angels for the suffering of death that He by the Grace of God should taste of death for every man Heb. 2.9 All the reasons for His crucifying confirme thus much And for this cause was Hee conceived and borne that He might redeeme His people from their sinnes The arguments also of the 19. Chapter of the 21.22 and 23. come all to this centre that Christ our Lord and onely Redeemer must die for our sinne 1. For seeing man by his sinne had made himselfe subject unto death according to the just sentence Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die it was necessary that He that had made Himselfe our surety Heb. 7.22 and taken our sinne upon him Esay 52. should die for our sinne 2. It was necessary that the highest degree of obedience should bee in him in whom was also the perfection of Sonne-ship But all the perfection of Son-ship was in Christ both that which is Eternall and that which is in time as hath appeared Therefore also the perfection of obedience But there can be no degree of obedience beyond this that a sonne should die at the will of his father Therefore it was necessary that our Lord should die For God so loved the world that He gave his onely begotten Sonne to die that the world by him might bee saved But because it was impossible that He in his Eternall being should be subject to death therfore was it necessary that He should bee incarnate that Hâ—e should bee conceived of the Holy-Ghost and be borne of a Virgin as it hath beene prooved 3. If Isaac the shadow were content to die at the will of His Father how much more ought Christ the substance to fulfill the will of His Father 4. The manifestation of the infinite dignities of God the Father is the proper and peculiar office of the Son See Iohn 17.6 and 26. And how could either the infinite Iustice or Mercy or Love of God the Father toward His creature or His honour in the creature bee better manifested than in the death of that Son For although it were farre from Injustice to punish the innocent for the wicked when He had set Himselfe to answere for the sinnes of the world yet was it the uttermost the most severe and eminent Iustice that possibly could bee to lay upon Him in whom there was no sinne neither was there any guile found in His mouth the burden of vs all to breake him for our sinnes to multiplie His sorrowes and at once to deprive Him of all the comforts of God and life it selfe for our offences Neither could the Mercy or love of God toward His creature be greater than this that when wee were enemies yet spared He not His owne Sonne to worke our reconciliation Neither can the honour of God be more magnified by the creature than for that mercy and love which he hath shewed toward the creature in the Eternall Glory and happinesse which He hath reserved for it through the satisfaction of his Son And because these things could not possibly be brought to passe otherwayes than by the death of the Sonne of God therefore was it necessary that He should die 5. Of contrary effects the immediate causes must needs bee contrary The greatest delight and joy which the naturall man hath is to follow his sinfull lusts Therefore the recovery or restoring of man from his sinfull state cannot bee but by the suffering of the greatest sorrow that is of death 6. The obedience and sufferings of Him who was to make satisfaction for the disobedience and rebellion of all man-kind could not possibly be either exceeded or equalled But if our Lord had not died a most bitter and cruell death in those torments which He endured both in his soule and body then had His sufferings beene equalled if not exceeded by many of the holy Martyrs who for their love and faith in God endured most bitter and exquisite torments Heb.
11.35 c. and that with joy unspeakable and glorious Therefore it was necessary that our Saviour should die a most cruell death and bitter both in the sufferings of His soule and body 7. The greatest exaltation or glory that could come unto the creature was in this that it should become one Person with the Creator which we have proved before to have beene done in the incarnation For the greatest glory and grace done to the creature the greatest love and humilitie is due to the Creator But our Lord who was so exalted had not beene humbled to the lowest degree of humilitie if He had not died a most shamefull death Therefore it was expedient that He should so die 8. Full and perfect obedience is due from man-kind unto the Creator and especially from that Man of men their Prince and Captaine who ought to be an example unto them of all those vertues whereby they ought to glorifie His Father Therefore that faithfull men might willingly die for the love and service of God it was necessary that our Lord should give the example See 1. Peter 2.21 4. and Buried 1. IT is said that death is the uttermost or last of evills And that wee might by all arguments bee assured of His death by whose suffering of death wee are ransomed from the power of death it was necessary that after His death our Lord should bee buried Seeing that by His buriall we are assured not only that He was truely dead but also that during the time of His buriall He was held under the power of death 2. The greatest triumph cannot bee ascribed but to the greatest victory manifest and knowne The greatest victory is over the greatest enemy Death and him that had the power of death the Devill And that Christ might be acknowledged to have risen againe and so to have triumphed over death it was necessary that after His death He should be buried Seeing many persons in Apoplexies Plagues Singer in his drunkennesse so after hanging drowning falls and other both inward sicknesses and outward violences have been supposed to have beene dead which yet have returned to life againe But after buriall for so long time no man ever returned to life but by a power that was divine Therefore that our Lord might truely be acknowledged to have risen from the dead and so to have triumphed over Death it was necessary first that Hee should be buried 3. That blessed Spirit which knew from the beginning what should come to passe at the last who fore-saw the malice of the Priests and Scribes and knew their hardnesse of heart to beleeve all that was spoken by the Prophets that the resurrection of Christ might be most manifest before-hand decreed and spake Esay 53.9 That Hee should make His grave with the rich in His death Therefore was He not onely buried in fine linnen and perfumes of Ioseph our Apostle and Nicodemus but also by the plot of the High-Priests was He made sure in His grave the great stone which shut it up being firmely fastened in the Rocke See Lamentations 3. verse 9.53 into which the Grave was hewed with c cramps of Iron sodered into Both and surely guarded with a strong watch that both His Death His Buriall and His Resurrection might bee witnessed even by His very enemies Matth. 28.11 Notes a 1. HEe was pleased to be borne man The errours of Simon Valentin and Apelles which you had before Note a on the 26. Chapter though directly they oppose the truth of the former article yet have I refer'd the refutation of them to this place because they also take away the merit of Christs passion from us wherein alone our hope consists But seeing that Simon in his Heresie sided with the Iewes against whom I haue disputed in the 24. Chapter and besides them had not many followers though after him it were recalled from hell by one Proclus an obscure fellow Aug. haeres cap. 60. Seeing no reasons are or can be brought either by Simon or by the Iewes to prooue the assertion the onely authority of S. Iohn is able utterly to strangle this whelpe See then Chap. 1.4 The Word was made flesh And 1. Ep. Chap. 1. That which was from the beginning which we have heard and seene and looked on and our hands have handled c. And againe Chap. 4. Every spirit that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God 2. The doctrine of Valentin is refuted at large by Irenaeus lib. 3. cap. 11. 32. And that by the manifest authority of S. Paul Gal. 4.4 where it is said That Christ was made of a woman So also by Tertullian in his Booke De carne Christi The Evangelists Matthew and Luke describe His humane generation Besides His manly Passions approove Him to have had the true body of a man as to be Hungry Thirsty Weary to Sweat to Weepe c. Moreover if He had not suffered in the true and very Body of man His suffering for us had been of none effect for the ransome of our bodies Their Argumeâ—ts you may see more at large in the Bookes cited But Epiphanius Haer. 1. layes not this Heresie to the charge of Valentin aâ— the Authors forenamed And S. Aug. haer cap. 12. but rather puts it to Marcion Haer. 42. who taught that the Incarnation oâ— Christ was not in deed but onely in shew whom he refutes only by those Scriptures which Marcion allowed of as the Gospel of S. Luke which Marcion received except that which concernes the Genealogie of Christ and certaine Epistles of Saint Paul For all the Olde Testament and the rest of the New he rejected But in these Scriptures Christ calleth Himselfe the Sonne of man Hee was thronged by the multitude He lift up His eyes He prayed on His knees His feet were anointed He slept on the sea He is made of the seed of David aâ—cording to the flesh Rom. 1.3 So that if David had a true manly body then also the body of Christ was a true manly body He gave up the ghost His lifelesse body was taken from the Crosse wrapped in Linnen and Buried After His Resurrection also He said Handle me and see mee for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have Luke 24.39 And these Texts out of those Scriptures only are sufficient to reproove the falshood of these Hereticks And for full satisfaction heerein you may take the interpretation of Tho. Aqu. cont gent. l. 4. c. 30. to those Texts of Scripture whenâ—e Valentin might seeme to have taken oâ—casion of his Heresie First it is said Iohn 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but Hee that came downe from heaven the Sonne of man which is in heaven A swer This comming downe from heaven cannot bee meant of His body or of His soule because of that which followes The Sonne of man which is in heaven for it is proper onely to the Godhe d to fill both heaven
there was no cause why it might not be wholly Paradise The description of the foure rivers of Paradise Genes 2. doe not obscurely shew it howsoever Beroaldus would bring them all within the compasse of * See Gen 2.13 14. Dan. 10.4 Canaan other by as strange Geography to the springs and falls of Tigris and Euphrates But I hold That that Paradise of Eden wherein Adam was put after his creation was not in the Moone nor in the Aire as some have thought but some speciall place of the earth of plenty and pleasure above the rest as we see there are great differences unto this day And though many places are growne barren and fruitlesse for want of husbandry and especially to proove the just indignation of God against sinne and to manifest the trueth of that word Cursed is the earth for thy sake Yet to the soule being separate and so without the helpe of the sences and imagination by the light which God hath given to it able by it selfe to see what the possibilities of the whole creature are every place is a Paradise while it considers the infinite goodnesse and power of God in the creature as well in that which is deprived of the effects thereof as in that wherein His goodnesse is still effectuall For as there be three estates of mans being This of the Warriour in this life That after death of the Conquerour And the third after the resurrection of the Triumpher So likewise are there three meanes and degrees of His knowledge One in this life wherein wee know nothing but by our sences from whence the imagination or fantasie that Hevah the mother of all living carries unto reason her Adam all the species or formes of things which shee gathers from the sences For nothing lives in the understanding but by the power of the fantasie which because it is false fickle and will of it selfe without reason be working upon every object as the appetite is mooved thereby therefore the reason following the fantasie is deceived and not constant and so it comes to passe that wee know few things according to the trueth which is in them But in that second estate of man when the body returnes to the earth and his sences and consequently his fantasie doth utterly perish Psalm 146.4 Then the soule looking on the creature with its owne eyes sees the wonderfull blessing and goodnesse whereof man had beene made partaker in the right use of the creature if he had not lost the knowledge thereof by his sinne and returnes to the Author thereof that praise that is due to Him therefore and acknowledges that state wherein hee lives out of the proper habitation to bee the reward of sinne yet because it doth evermore enjoy the comforts of God in a certaine knowledge and some present feeling of those joyes whereof it shall be fully partaker hereafter in the perfection of the whole man and sees that this separation is but a preparation for a further perfection in that immortall being which is to come it hath thereby as it were a seisure and delivery of those heavenly joyes which it had here onely in assurance of hope though till the third state it hath not the full possession And although the soule of the wicked man views indeed the creature and knowes now the losse of that blessing which it might have had in the right use thereof yet because it hath no hope in the life to come all that knowledge which it hath is but to see further the wretchednesse of it selfe and for a foretaste of that bitter cup of wrath which it must drinke even to the dregs And this foretaste is able to make all the creature hell unto the miserable soule as the joyes and assurance of heaven make all places Paradise to the faithfull For the devill was not therefore happy because hee was in heaven Iob 1.6 and 1 Kings 22.22 nor therefore miserable because hee was thrust out Reuel 12.9 for not the place but the holy Spirit of comfort onely which never leaves the faithfull soule Iohn 14.16 gives heauenly happinesse as that soule which is destitute thereof hath hell in it selfe and must needs be in hell wheresoever it is Now as it is most certaine that there is such a meane state betweene this of mortality and that of glory so is it most reasonable to thinke that this is the imployment of the soule at least for a time before it bee raised up with the body in glory For seeing man was therefore set in the creature and therefore indued with a reasonable soule that he might in the creature behold the Wisedome and goodnesse of God and to His praise bee happy in the right use thereof It was necessary that He should know the creature and the possibilities thereof which knowledge having by his sinne debarred himselfe of he could not use the creature aright and so became mortall Yet seeing it is impossible that the sinne of man should frustrate the end of God but that He should be glorified by man whom He hath purposed so exceedingly to glorifie therefore in that second estate wherein the soule is better fitted to know as the Angels by intuition or view of the creature onely shall that be effected Moreover seeing our Lord ascended not to heaven before His soule was joyned againe to the body and that it may not reasonably bee thought that the seruant in his greatest basenesse and lowest estate should have preeminence before his Lord nor yet that the soule that most active part of man should be idle what can the soule and understanding bee busied about but onely in the enquirie of that trueth and wisedome which God hath manifested in the creature But whether this inquest shall be immediately after the soules departure from the body or at the time of restitution of which Saint Peter speakes Act. 3.20 I cannot define But although for the trueth and quietnesse sake with them that would instantly be in heaven I denied not an immediate passage into heaven for the faithfull since Christ yet seeing most of the sonnes of Adam must come into this middle state I see not why any man should withdraw himselfe from that taske whereby he ought to give honour unto his Creator Obiect 1 Objection 1. But by this you put a possibilitie of those illusisions of the devill appearing as the ghosts of the dead and justifie that poeticall fiction of Hesiod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 1. that they of the golden-age became all Angels and in ayrie bodies lived every where on the earth seeing all the good and ill deedes of men I answere All things are not therefore false because A Poet affirms them but that which he speakes out of the light of nature is certainely true and this what waight soever it hath swayes on my side But for the upholding of those old-wives fables of the walking of the spirits of the dead there is no feare For being dead they must keep
the law of the dead and not live to us that are dead to them for when they are gone from hence they are no more seene Psal 39.13 Thus much it was necessary to speake concerning the meanes of the soules knowledge while it is in the state of separation from the body The third manner and degree of the soules knowledge by comprehension in the morning vision is when the whole man glorified shall see the true being of all things in Him that is the cause of all For then shall it know as it is knowne as you may see 1. Cor. 13.12 But this kind of knowledge belongs nothing to the question that is in hand 4. The other kind of descent which is in state or manner of being is when any thing is changed from any estate either proper thereto or else appropriate to an estate or condition that is or seemes to be lower or worse Thus our Lord was said to descend or come downe from heaven when He clouded His Deitie in our humanitie as I have shewed heretofore Thus also He and all man-kind may be said to descend to be abased or brought low when the soule is parted from the body For seeing both the parts are for the perfection of the whole the whole must needs be more excellent than either of the parts so that the whole being dissolved both the parts doe suffer hurt or losse thereby especially the soule which sees the losse and findes it selfe in a state of being beside the end of the creation of it selfe which was to give life unto the body and this is the cause why the soule would not bee unclothed but rather that this mortalitie might bee swallowed up of life And this is the lowest state of humiliation whereto the soule of our Lord could come naturally and by this state some will interpret the descent into hell as I shewed in the beginning Nu. 2. But if this humiliation must meane also the separation of the soule from the body while the body was laid in the dust it reaches no further than to his death For a man is not said to bee dead till his soule be departed from his body But if this state of humiliation be taken in that sence as some doe very fitly interpret it by that phrase used often in the Scripture of a mans being gathered unto his people or cōming unto that congregation of the saints which had died in the faith of Him that was to come then taking also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or hell according to the interpretation of the word Vnseen it will easily be admitted of all that when our Saviour was dead His body was buryed and his soule went unto the assembly of them that were unseene And because this is true safe and unquestionable it may on all parts be agreed unto as I said before and yet the word of descending or going downe reserved to the right meaning by the abatement or losse of that estate which the soule had with the body in the being of the whole and perfect man So also the question about the place of hell and Paradise which hath moved most doubt herein by this interpretation is avoyded But because all this will reach no further than to be perfectly dead and because the Latine interpretation Descendit ad inferos rendered by our Church Hee went downe into hell suffers us not to stay here and because the most voices amongst the Fathers have swayed the meaning to a locall descent and that as it seemes in the third sence spoken of before and most of all because the holy Scripture binds us thereto let us follow our best and surest guides and confesse with the Prophets and Apostles that the soule of our Lord after His death on the Crosse went downe into hell or the place of the dead and there continued three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth as it was prophesied in the signe of Ionas the Prophet Matth. 12.40 And let us beleeve that the flesh of Christ did therefore rest in hope because His soule was not left in hell nor His body was suffered to see corruption Psal 16.9 10. Actes 2.31 Obiect 1 Objection 1. They object that the soule may signifie the whole man as in Gen. 46.27 All the soules of the house of Iacob were 70. But how doth that helpe to prove that this Article must bee interpreted onely of the torments of Christs soule while Hee was yet alive For it is manifest that Saint Peter bringing that text to prove His resurrection speakes not of Christs soule while it was yet in his body when He was not subject to a state of resurrection but of His soule after His death But if they will hope by that text of Gen. or the like to interpret it as Al. Hume loc cit Thou shalt not leave mee in the grave let them answere mee what they meane by this word Mee whether the body or the soule or both together If they say the soule it was not in the graue they will bee ashamed to say both together for so they should make Him not yet to be dead as the word Mee doth truely signifie the whole Person yet alive jf they say the body let them see what an unfit tautologie it will make with that which followeth Nor suffer thy Holy one that is the body of Thy Holy one to see corruption But in this place the soule and the body are made direct disparates so hell and the place of corruption so that we may argue the body was in the place of corruption Ergo not in hell the soule was in hell Ergo not in the grave or place of corruption Obiect 2 Object 2. The purpose of Saint Peter was to prove the resurrection of Christ and that belonged to the body which had died not to the soule which died not Answere If this be given what will you conclude thereon But I say the resurrection is of the whole man returned againe to life after the parting of the soule and the body So it is neither of the body onely nor of the soule onely but of the whole man which Saint Peter prooves heere to have beene done in Christ because His soule was not left in hell where it was but was againe joyned to the body to cause it to live that it might not see corruption And because all the glorious doings and sufferings of our Saviour were for our uttermost benefit and comfort therefore is this going downe of His into hell also to give us assurance of our full and perfect deliverance from all the powers of death and hell and restoring of all His beleevers unto an immortall life and glory And because the doctrine of our Church into which I was baptized bindes me to beleeve that our Lord Iesus after His death went downe into hell locally and that by the authorities of the Scripture and because I have before shewed that the soule of Christ did not ascend to heaven before
adulterate interpretation of His sufferings is excluded 3. And seeing our Lord Christ is appointed of God to bee the Iudge of the world and that as He is the Sonne of man it was necessary that our Lord should goe downe to hell both in regard of the justice and of the mercy which ought to appeare in His judgement of His justice that the enemies of mankind the devills may not torment them according to their cruelty and hatred of man but onely in justice afflict them according to the sentence passed on them according to the measure of their sinne and not beyond as it is said Luk. 12.47 and 48. The servant which knew his masters will and prepared not himselfe shall be beaten with many stripes but hee that knew it not shall be beaten with fewer 4. And because our Lord Christ was by the Father appointed to be the Saviour of mankind it was necessary that His compassion toward mankind should by all meanes be inflamed and therefore that His soule should goe downe to hell that as by the bodily feeling of our miseries in this life He was made a mercifull and faithfull high-Priest for us Heb. 2.7 so by the actuall and present sight of those unsufferable torments He might have the uttermost mercy and compassion which can stand with justice on those whom Hee should judge 5. It is necessary for our Redeemer to passe thorow fire and water that is to have experience of all tentations and all manner of afflictions of death and hell that for us He might overcome them all But He that was the paterne of all Heroicall and excellent vertues that knew Himselfe to have come into the world that He should die that shamefull death of the Crosse Iohn 3.14 and 12.33 was not so affrighted at the bodily death but His strong crying and teares were That the pit of hell should not swallow Him up nor that deepe should shut her mouth upon Him Psalm 69.15 And Hee was heard in that which He feared by Him that was able to save Him from death Heb. 5.7 But He was not delivered from the bodily death Therefore His prayer was That He might be delivered from the power of hell Psal 22.20 21. For hereupon depended the life of the whole world not onely that He might suffer but much more on this That He might overcome death and him that had the power of death And for this great deliverance would Hee magnifie the Name of God with a song and set foorth His praise among His brethren And because the benefit of this redounds to us let us also offer the sacrifice of praise the fruit of our lips confessing His Name Sect. 9 Sect. 9. Now having thus declared the meaning of this Article It remaines that I shew for what reasons I hold this interpretation of this Article rather to bee followed then that of them who say That it signifieth onely those hellish torments which Christ endured in His soule while He was yet alive which although it be the drift of the whole Chapter before as you may see particularly in § 3. Yet to make up the garland take these flowers which have not yet beene bound up with the rest And first I put this as granted That as the Articles themselves so their interpretation must bee such as must stand in the greatest evidence and declaration of the trueth in greatest opposition to falshood and heresie and for the highest hope and comfort of the faithfull 1. Now if you follow the interpretation of the Fathers that the soule of Christ after death ascended locally or really to hell or the place of them that had died in the hope of the deliverer that was to come then it followes necessarily that the soule of Christ had a being separate and apart from the body and that it was therefore an immortall soule that died not with the body being able to subsist of it selfe without the body Whereby the heresie of the Sadduces which deny the being of spirits and soules separate and consequently the immortality of the soule and thereupon the resurrection also Mark 12.18 Act. 23.7 is plainely refuted And so that lie of the Thnatopsychitae which thought that the soule of man came to nought as the soules of the beasts and no lesse that opinion of Apollinarius That Christ tooke of His mother a vegetable but not a reasonable soule all which you see make the death of Christ and our faith in Him of none effect But if that interpretation be onely true That Christ being yet alive suffered hellish torments in His soule are any of these falshoods refuted thereby doth it from thence follow against the Sadduces ergo the soule of Christ is immortall he will deny the consequence he will yeeld it might suffer in His body but that it died with His body or against the Apollinarists therefore Christ had a perfect humane soule hee will deny it For although he yeeld that the soule of Christ suffered such torments yet he will say That it was onely by a vegetable or animall soule which suffered by compassion with the body 2. But because the heresie of Arius did trouble the Church more then any ancient heresie beside Let us see what force our battery hath against his fortifications The soule of Christ went downe to hell locally to the soules of other men therefore Christ had a soule like other men They will answere here That His created Deity which they falsly imagined went downe to the places under the earth For so they explaine it out of Iob 38.17 as you may see Answer to the Ies Chal pag. 282. But that answere will not serue For though it were a created Deity yet being a Deity it must have those conditions of omnipotencie in the creature of ubiquitie wisedome c. without which it could not be a Deitie So then that created Deitie of Christ must bee in hell before the death of Christ as well as after and those hellish torments of the new interpreters which say nothing of the state of Christs humane soule after His death availe nothing to the contrary of this heresie 3. Neither doth this new interpretation onely dismount our artillery against those ancient heresies but also dismantles our fort of that refuge and succour which the distressed soule may have in the agonies of death For bee it put that our Saviour tooke our sinnes upon Him and felt in Himselfe the fierce wrath of God against Him so as if He had committed the sinnes of all men I finde therefore that God doth not deale with me according to my sinnes nor reward me according to mine iniquities And bee it that being dead His body was buryed in the grave I will therefore say unto my grave O sweete bed of rest that wast so perfumed with the odours of His most pretious Merits But when I see my soule all over leprous with originall sinne and spotted like a Panther with actuall transgressions now going to a place
that it doth not know and of which I have no assurance that He hath beene there to destroy the power thereof then death which was hoped to bee the rest from the sorrowes and troubles of this life becomes the beginning of feare and doubt For though I know my debt was payed upon His Crosse yet the Prisoner is not set at libertie till satisfaction be acknowledged and the discharge entered in the Booke But being fully perswaded that my Redeemer hath broken those brazen gates and hewed the barres of Iron asunder and hath there set up the Trophie of His conquest on high then the life cheerefulnesse and vigor of faith is strong because I know that as hell had no power to hold Him so hath it no power of any of His because His promise is that the gates of Hell shall not prevaile against his Church and that the Prince of this World hath nothing in Him Iohn 14.30 He speaketh not of His naturall but of His mysticall body so that every member thereof may say with David Psal 13.8 Though I make my bed in hell Thou art there there shall the wings of thy protection cover mee and I shall be safe under thy feathers For as thou hast died for me so hast thou gone downe to hell for me to spoile the powers therof that Thy Euridice may follow thee from thence without any feare of turning back againe 4. Moreover if it were necessary in the Articles of our Faith to bind us to beleeve that His body was buryed is it not much more necessary to know what became of His soule especially seeing the redemption of our soules and the freedome of them from hell doth much more concerne us and hath much more comfort therein then to be assured that our bodies shall rest in hope Skin for Skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life and ten bodyes would he forsake that his soule might bee partaker of eternall life But when the summe of our faith helpes us to give no reckoning what became of the soule of our Saviour more than this that it was afflicted with hellish torments while He was alive wee cannot say of our owne soules whether they die or sleepe as some have dreamed till the resurrection Therefore having confessed Him to bee dead that is His soule to have departed from His body His body to have beene laid in the grave let us also beleeve as we confesse that His soule went down into hel which none but an Infidell will deny 5. For the greatest benefit and deliverance the greatest glory and thankes are due to God which the creature is able to give But the greatnesse of the deliverance is not knowne to man but by the danger which hee hath escaped Therefore that man may bee truely humbled and truely thankfull to God therefore it is necessary that hee doe know what that vengeance and wrath of God against sin is and what that punishment which is due thereunto which he cannot doe but by the true sight and knowledge of that punishment which cannot be possibly in this life wherein we know nothing but by the sence Therefore as it is necessary that man doe know in the state after this life what the torments and paines of hell are by the true sight and perfect knowledge thereof that is in his spirit and understanding which with the acknowledgment of hell as his due is that actuall descent unto hell whereto every man is bound so for the assurance of our hope is it alwayes necessary to know that our ransome from thence was wrought and manifested by the most certain proofe and declaration that might be which could not bee by any messenger or tidings but by the presence alone of Him that wrought it For as it had bin of no availe for our Lord to have gone to hell before the satisfaction for sinne was made so being made and manifested unto the powers of hell it was not possible but that it should bee available for all them for whom it was made And thus was that fulfilled which in Hosea 13.14 O death I will be thy plagues O sheol hell I will be thy destruction repentance is hid from mine eyes 6. As it is impossible that the end of all the sufferings of our Lord should not follow when all those things were performed which were for the effecting of the end which was the delivery of the beleevers from the power of death so was it impossible that the end should follow till all things were performed that were for the end For so some of the meanes had bin ordained in vaine But that is impossible for His worke is before Him so that He leaveth nothing without the perfect accomplishment Therefore it was necessary that as our Lord had redeemed us by His death so He should also goe downe to hell for the delivery of His captives * Not that they were there bu◠that hell was their due as it was spoken of Cyrus the type concerning the temporall captivitie but the highest trueth was verefied in our Lord concerning the eternall delivery He shall let goe my captiues not for price nor reward Esay 45.13 and as it followes more cleerely in the 14. verse compared with histories and most plainely by verse 15. Thou art God that hidest thy selfe c. 7. It was proved before § 5. and 6. That the soules of the faithfull before Christ had not ascended into heaven From whence it followes that they were in some other definite place which by the common consent of men heathen and Christians and the Holy Scripture it selfe is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hell as it was shewed before § 1. nu 2. to which place the soules of all men could not come but by the decree of God upon all mankind Now if the soule of our Saviour had not gone downe to them then had He not beene made like to His brethren in all things except their sinne◠Then had He not bin subject to the decree of God upon all mankind Then had not His love to man-kind bin perfected that having payd their ransome would not see them set at libertie without which the merit of His satisfaction had bin in vaine But all these things are impossible And therefore our Redeemer did really and actually goe downe to hell or the place of the beleevers being dead that Hee might free them from the power of death as by the vertue of the eternall offering of Himselfe He had preserved them from the hell of the damned Thus according to the meaning of the Church of England as far as I understand it have I faithfully declared and proved the meaning of this Article That our Lord after his death as concerning His soule went downe into hell and that not onely because I was baptized into this faith as this Church doth hold and professe it But also because I know that this Church holy and beloved of her Lord is faithfull unto Him and
to Him alone For though she hold other Churches her sisters called faithfull and beloved and esteemes of their true Pastors and Doctors as beautifull and shining lights yet followes shee nothing of any mans because it is his whether Luther or Calvin or any other but Christ her Lord alone doth she follow according to his owne rule My sheepe heare my voice a stranger will they not follow for they know not the voice of strangers But therfore as I said before so doe I still professe that if this Church upon any light from God shall hereafter declare the meaning of this Article otherwayes than I have done I forsake my selfe to follow her so far as she shall follow Christ And if any faithfull man be otherwise minded concerning the meaning of this Article then I have shewed yet doe not I therefore hold him of another Church or faith so long as he doth hold fast the foundation one God and one Mediator betweene God and man the man Iesus Christ For the Kingdome of God is not in the excellency of knowledge much lesse in wilfulnesse of opinion in matier of doubt but in joy and peace and comfort of the Holy-Ghost while a man doth those things which he knowes in himselfe he is bound to performe ARTICLE V. ⧠The third day Hee rose againe from the dead CHAP. XXIX THe sufferings of Christ were fulfilled as wee have seene now it followes that wee see the glories that should follow after of which the first is His triumph over death by His resurrection from the dead set against that in the Article before Hee was dead and buried And although by His death He is said to have triumphed over the principalities and powers of death and hell in His Crosse Col. 2.15 that is by the power and vertue of His merit as a champion by His valour and courage in the field overcame His enemie yet the actuall manifestation of His triumph was not solemnized till by His resurrection the power and glory of His victory did appeare But it may here be asked How Christ our Lord is said to have risen againe seeing Saint Paul saith Rom. 6.4 That Hee was raysed againe by the glory of the Father To which the answere is easily returned that Christ our Lord by His owne active power as He was God raised Himselfe from the dead and as man by a passive or received power was raised againe as He said of Himselfe Iohn 10.18 I have power to lay downe my life of my selfe and I have power to take it up againe This commandement have I received from my Father For for this end was it necessary that our Mediatour should be both God and man in one Person that that which was not fit nor possible for the God-head might bee endured in the humanity as those things which concerned His death and suâ—fering and that which was impossible to His pure humanâ—â—â— might yet therein be perfected by His divinitie as Saint Paul saith Rom. 1.3.4 that He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to bee the Sonne of God by His resurrection from the dead But there is a great difference betweene the state or manner of His being before His death and after His resurrection For although the unitie of the humanitâ—e with the God-â—ead were alwayeâ— before in and after His death the same yet was not that unitie alwayes manifested in the same glory and excellency For in the first state while He bare our infirmities His body was subiect to hunger cold wearinesse death and other accidents of a naturall body His soule also though according to the principall or first acts endued with the excellencie of reason and knowledge yet according to the second acts or practise not knowing the grave of Lazarus the day of Iudgement c. In the second state also His body was deprived of sence and life His soule of the proper habitation But in His resurrection His body was raysed immortall spirituall 1. Cor. 15.44.45 glorious and as in all the perfection of grace and compassion on us so with the fulnesse of Wisedome and Knowledge to see our miseries and to make intercession for us according to the will of God Rom. 8.26 27. Now concerning the trueth of this Article that our Lord Iesus rose againe from the dead though it be most powerfully witnessed by God Himselfe by Angels and men as you may read yet because the authoritie of the Scriptures wherin those things are recorded is set at nought by Iewes Turkes Infidels Hereticks and such God lesse people let not us endeavour to leade them like sheepe that follow their shepherd but drive them like asses with the cudgell of reason And as Saint Peter Actes 2.24 takes his first argument from the impossibility of not performing those things which are contained in the Scripture so our arguments shall be from the impossibilities in reason 1. It hath been prooved before that man was created innocent Chapter 15. That by his sinne he became subiect to death Chapter 16. That there is a restoring to a better estate Chapter 18. And that the restorer of mankind must be both God and man Chapter 20. and 21. Then that this restorer was Iesus our Lord the Sonne of the Virgin Mary Chapter 24. who by His sufferings and death made satisfaction for the sinnes of the world Whence I argue thus For the greatest good that can be done for mankind the greatest ill may not be rewarded for that were unjust with God The greatest good that could come to mankind was the ransoming of man from eternall death both of the body and soule The greatest ill and basenesse is to be left continually in the state of death wherein if Christ had still continued then had He suffered the greatest ill for the greatest good which could bee performed But this was impossible Therefore our Lord did rise againe from the dead 2. If Christ who sinned not should have borne the punishment of sinne that is to be subject to the power of death yea when the satisfaction was fully ended then should His obedience to God the Father have beene not onely without reward but also for the satisfaction of the justice God had He suffered from God I speake after the manner of men extreame injustice who had neither sinne of His owne for which He should suffer and had fully satisfied for their sinnes whose surety He was But this was utterly impossible For he that fulfilleth the Law shall live therein Levit. 18.5 ergo It was necessary that Christ having fulfilled the Law Iohn 19.30 Luk. 24.44 should rise againe 3. If Christ after His suffering and death had not risen againe then had He not prooved Himselfe to be the Saviour of the world seeing none would have beleeved Him to be able to give life unto others that was not able to quicken Himselfe So His suffering had beene in vaine and His satisfaction if not beleeved should have beene to
no purpose So His greatest and best worke had effected no good to us but a perpetuall ill unto Himselfe But all these things were impossible Therefore Christ our Lord did rise againe 4. It is impossible but that where the greatest union is there should be the greatest love and consent The greatest union that may be is in our Mediator seeing the humane nature is sustained in the Person of the Deity But the soule of Christ being separate did naturally desire to bee united to the body for otherwayes should it not have desired the perfection of it selfe that is to give life and sence and to be one with that body which was peculiar to it selfe as the desire of all humane soules is and therefore depart so unwillingly from the body But if this were the naturall desire of the soule no way sinfull the Deity infinite in power and in regard of the unity consenting thereto it must follow of necessity that our Lord was raised againe from the dead 5. Contrary causes must have contrary effects The devill by the sinne which he wrought in Adam had caused death to prevaile over life in all mankind Therefore Christ who came to destroy the workes of the deuill must cause life to prevaile over death But this could not be done in the members before it was perfected in the head Therefore Christ being dead must of necessity bee the first fruits of them that are raised from the dead And if it were necessary that Christ should first rise Ergo it was impossible that He should not rise See Log. chap. 26.11.1 6. If Christ our Lord had not beene raised from death a then had it beene impossible that any of His beleevers should bee raised againe by the power and merit of His resurrection 1. And so the naturall desire of the soule to dwell with the body should be created in vaine 2. So the debt being paid the prisoner should ever be detained 3. So the afflictions of the Saints which they have suffered in body should be in vaine as cold hunger nakednesse reproach and shame imprisonment stripes yea and death it selfe willingly sustained for the love of God should be without reward But it were against the justice of God to cause the body and soule to suffer together and not to glorifie them both together 4. So also the death of Christ should not be meritorious and effectuall for the procuring of all that good which might and ought to come thereby both to Himselfe and all His beleevers For although the soules of the faithfull for the merit and full satisfactions sake of His death being separate might enjoy an eternall though not a full happinesse without the body yet the body should be left eternally to the power of death and so the workes of the devill should not be destroyed by Christ 5. So also the body should be created in vaine if to sorrow onely without the hope of happinesse 6. So God should lose His right in His creature if Hee were not Lord both of the living and of the dead both of the soule and of the body 7. So the one sinne and disobedience of Adam should be more powerfull to condemne mankind then the everlasting and most perfect obedience of the Sonne of God should be to save it But all these things are impossible And therefore Saint Paul saith Rom. 4.25 That Christ was delivered to death for our sinne and raised againe for our Iustification For if Christ be not raised againe then are we yet in our sinnes 1. Cor. 15.17 not that any addition was made by His resurrection to that satisfaction which He made by His death but because the resurrection of Christ is a sure and manifest proofe of His conquest over sinne death hell and all the power of the devill and that His suffering and death was a full and sufficient sacrifice whereby the wrath of God against sinne was fully satisfied so that we are now justified in His sight whereas if in the conflict of our Redeemer with death and hell He had been overcome then could we have had no faith nor hope that our sinne by His death had beene done away But now knowing that He hath overcome death and is returned to life againe in all the troubles and sorrowes of this life and in the agonies of death wee may be secure as the feet or toes that are lowest under the water may hope at last to come to land because they know that their head being above the water the body cannot be drowned 7. Now concerning that impossibility of Saint Peter it stands thus It is impossible that the Scripture being the declaration of Gods trueth made by Himselfe 2. Pet. 1.21 2. Tim. 3.16 should faile But it hath beene declared by the Scripture that Christ should be raised againe from the dead Therefore it was impossible that He should still be held under the power of death The text cited by Saint Peter is found Psal 16.10 to which you may adde the types of the old Testament whereby the death and resurrection of our Lord was signified as that of Noah Gen. 9. ver 20. c. When our Saviour being as it were drunken with the love of His Church and desire of mans salvation tooke our state upon Him and for us became subject to the death of the Crosse when being seene by the Iewes those Chumits in the nakednesse or infirmity of our estate He was set at nought by them that thought that their Messiah could not die Iohn 14.34 But when Noah our Rest and Comforter awaked out of His grave He brought on them that destruction which was foretold as the punishment of their hardnesse of heart and unbeliefe See Psalm 41.10 Dan. 9.26 So the Ram taken by his hornes in the bush Gen. 22. was the type of His death and Isaac taken alive from the Altar the figure of His resurrection Ioseph also taken out of the dungeon to be ruler over all the land of Egypt To the same purpose was the law of the two goates Levit. 6. the one slaine for a sinne offering the other sent alive into a land of separation to make an atonement for all iniquity transgressions and sinne of the people So by the two Sparrowes Levit. 14. He that was like to the solitary sparrow on the house top Psalm 102.7 shed His blood for the cleansing of our leprosie yet by the other that was sent alive into the open ayre His resurrection was figured Sampson the Nazarite asleepe in Gaza signified our Lord in the sleepe of death for the love of His Church yet waking and having opened the gates of death He carryed them away and ascended in triumph to the top of the mount Iudg. 16.3 And because the strong gates of death are carryed away we are assured that all they that sleepe in the dust of death shall rise to give an account of their workes Beside these types you have also the prophecies of the old Testament as Psalm
68.20 That to Him belonged the issues of death both to passe out of death Himselfe and also to bring out His from thence Esay also Chap. 53. after He had declared His sufferings and death proves His resurrection by His dividing the spoile with the strong Our Lord also foretold His resurrection Himselfe in Mat. 12.49 and Luk. 18.33 and the b infidelity of Thomas made it certaine unto all Vpon all which texts we may firmely conclude with Saint Peter that it was impossible that our Lord should be held in the bands of death 8. And why the third day was appointed for His resurrection a reason or two are rendered Hee rose not before that none might doubt but that He was certainely dead See the 27. chap. for His death and buriall Neither was it fit to deferre the resurrection longer lest the faith and hope of His Disciples should faile Who trusted that it was Hee that should have redeemed Israel Luke 24.21 9. As Christ was man that He might suffer death Chapter 20. so was He also God the Lord and giver of life Chapter 21. But it was unreasonable that He which is one Person with the Author of life should be subject to death longer then that it might appeare that He was certainely dead and that by His owne life and power He had overcome death Therefore our Lord rose againe the third day from the dead 10. Although by the unseparable union of the humanity with the Person of the Deity the body of our Lord might have beene preserved uncorrupted for if the devills have power to preserue mans bodie uncorrupted for nine dayes Hom Iliad Ω or for a longer time as it appeares in the bodies of the Witches that die not by the justice of the Law much more might the body of the Lord have been preserued Yet because in Him and by His death the whole state of nature was to be restored the soule of Christ returned againe to the body before corruption in the course of nature could seaze on it 11. The signe of Ionas did prophesie as much Matth. 12.40 and Hosea in plaine and direct words Chap. 6.2 After two dayes He will revive us and in the third day He will raise up and we shall live in His sight For in as much as Christ our Lord doth now appeare in the presence of God for us we also are said to have risen with Him Colos 3.1 The word of Christ Himselfe is plaine to this purpose that He would rise againe Matth. 17.23 and 20.19 and Ioh. 2.19 and that even in the understanding of His aduersaries Matth. 27.63 And that it was the same Saviour that had suffered for us who rose againe from the dead the circumstances of the place doe make it evident For therefore was He buryed in a new tombe hewen out of a rocke wherein never any one had been laid because the hard-hearted and brazen-faced Iewes might have no pretext to say That any other had risen in His stead Notes a THen had it beene impossible that any of His beleevers c. Concerning the resurrection of the dead fitter place to speake will bee in the Article following Chapter 38. Here it shall bee sufficient to remember that the beleevers onely are raised up by the vertue and merit of Christs resurrection as it is said Iohn 11.25 but that the rest that shall be raised up in the last day shall rise by the power of the Father that according to the rule of Iustice and that sentence upon Adam and all his seed In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death they may re eive according as their workes shall bee b The infidelitie of Thomas made it certaine unto all God that brings light out of darknesse used the unbeliefe of Thomas for a most evident proofe of the resurrection of Christ so that although he would not beleeve the testimonies of so many witnesses as had seene him alive yet his owne tryalls according to his owne manner of proofe by his finger put into the print of the nayles and his hand thrust in his side might make him to beleeve yet was nothing of all this of any availe to them that aâ—e without For as Epiphanius nor obscurely signifies Haer. 28. and Aug. De Haer. cap. 8. directly affirmes Cerinthus that Hereticke and hiâ— followers tâ—ught that Christ was onely man and consequently that He was not yet risen from the dead But both the proposition Matth. 13.55 and the conclusion Matth. 28. fâ—om verse 11. to 16. were made by the blind-hearted Iewes before our Lords ascension and still is it their errour unto this day But if no man could doe those miracles that He did ex ept God were with Him Iohn 3.2 If God alone doth know the heart If God alone can forgive sinnes Mark 2.7 8. then their seared consciences were bound by their owne words to acknowledge that He was God Yet because they ever resisted the Holy-Ghost Actes 7.51 that their conclusion might stand that He was not risen from the dead therefore with large money hyred they the Souldiers that had watched knowne well to bee takers that they should say that His Disciples had stollen Him away whiâ—e they slept But this foule lie stinks to him that hath but halfe a nose 1. For if they slept indeed how could they say His Disciples stole Him rather then that Hee rose agaiâ—e of Himselfe 2. Besides when the Disciples themselves did not beleeve nor when they heard it understood that it was poss ble that He should rise againe Mark 9.10 and 31. Luk. 18.34 no nor yet after it was come to passe could they beleeve them that had seene Him Mark 16.11 and 13. to what end should they be the auctors of such a device 3. Moreover all other circumstances are against it For if they had stollen Him away wherefore should they offer themselves the second time to a needlesse danger as you reade Iohn 20.4 c. 4. Wherefore left they the fine linnen wherein He was wrapped which either respect to the corpes or covetousnesse or haste or feare of the souldiers or all together would not have given them time to plucke off when all places were full of feare the earth it selfe trembling and quaking Matth. 28.2 5. Beside all this the Priests having such power of themselves such favour from Pilate why did they not call the Apostles in question for the fact That the whole trueth if it were as they said might have appeared and wouâ—d easily by their wit and greatnesse have beene fish't out of silly fishers if they should have gone about to conceale it But male verum examinat omnis Corruptus Iudex And because they knew well enoâ—gh that by their further questioning the trueth of God and their lie would bee manifest to all therefore neither then nor at any time afterward durst they endeavour to disproove this trueth to which God Himselfe with so great power of miraâ—les and wonders and gifts
of the Holy-Ghost give witnesse which Christ who five times in that one day and at sundry times afterwards shewing Himselfe alive did coâ—firme which the glorious Angels and the holy Women did assure to which the Apostles who did see and handâ—e Him 1. Iohn 1. that it was Hee Himselfe and not a Spirit which hath neither flesh nor bones with great power gave testimony wâ—ich His very enemies the Souldiers while they were yet unbribed did confesse Yea all the circumstances of the action it selfe reproove the blindnesse and infidelitie of the Iewes O ye fooles and blind how long will yoâ— not understand You see not your signes and wonders any more there is not one Prophet more the sigâ—es of your Messiah are fulfilled in Iesus the Sonne of the Virgin Mary that greâ—t Prophet that was raysed unto you as Moses of your brethren is there not oâ—e maâ— among you that understands any more Doe you not heare the words of your Prophet Hosea 1.7 I will save them saith GOD by IEHOVA their God aâ—d will not save them by bow nor by sword nor by battell by horses nor by horse-men as you sâ—ill dreame But which is the greater deliverance that from hell and the power of sinne and eternall death or from any temporary and worâ—dly thraldome If the greatest deliveranâ—e bee performed why doate you on the lesse Which cannot bee till you forsake your infidelitie and returne Returne therefore unto Iesus your God from whom you are fallen by your unbeliefe Take with you words and turne to the Lord your God and say unto Him Take away our iniquity and receive us graciously so will wee render the calues of our lips But you will say why did not Christ shew Himselfe alive to all the Iewes at on e that they might all beleeve I answere that the life to which our Lord redeemed us is a spirituall life unto which we must walke by faith and not by sight And if it bee not sufficient proofe of His resurrection that He beside other times shewed Himselfe alive to five hundred at once 1. Cor. 15.6 neither would it have beene sufficient to them that seeing would not see and hearing would not heare who said that His great workes were done by the power of the devill though Hee had conversed among five hundred thousand of them every day ARTICLE VI. ⧠He ascended into heaven c. CHAP. XXX § 1. THough the Iustification of the Articles of our Creed bee my onely worke Yet heere I heare two questions demanded of mee The first who those were which are said Matth. 27.52 and 53. to have risen at the resurrection of Christ and to have shewed themselues to many in Ierusalem The second where our Lord was in that time of 40. dayes betweene His resurrection and ascension seeing it is manifest that He conversed not wholely with His Disciples but shewed Himselfe unto them at severall times and that especially on the first dayes of the weeke as on that day He had risen from the dead To these I answere where I have the authority of the Scripture boldly where I have not I leave you at your libertie to thinke with mee First therefore in the number of them that rose immediately after the resurrection of our Lord I put those high Saints which are reckoned in the Genealogie of our Lord from Adam unto Ioseph His nursing Father except Henoch and with them many of the Saints who had slept in the faith of Christ to come in the memory and knowledge of such as were yet alive in Ierusalem as Zechary and Elizabeth Simeon Hanna and many others who by speciall grace were raysed againe shewed themselues alive unto such as were appointed thereto and to them bare witnesse not onely of the resurrection of Christ but by experience in themselues did also testifie that the power and vertue of His Resurrection was of force and availe for the raising up of all them that should beleeue in Him And of these especially you must understand that speech of our Lord which is Iohn 5. Chapter from verse 19. to 30. where He saith that the houre was comming and was even then at hand when the dead should heare the voice of the Sonne of God and should live As you may remember how it was said Note a on the last Chapter that the faithfull are raised by the venue of Christs resurrection but they that shall be raised up to judgement at the last day are raised up by the power of the Father Of these faithfull that had dyed was that word of our Saviour spoken as it is manifest by the text And this is that captivitie or number of Captives which till then had beene held under the bands of death but by the victory of Christs resurrection were freed from death and ascended with Him on high when Hee gave gifts unto men Eph. 4.8 And although some will needes interpret that resurrection only of a new life by repentance from dead workes yet the arguments in that place will not so hold All that are in the graves shall heare the voyce of the Father and shall come foorth some to life some to damnation ver 28.29 Therfore some shall heare the voice of the Sonne and live verse 25. For the Father quickneth the dead so the Sonne verse 21. And whatsoever the Father doth the same things doth the Sonne likewise But to raise the dead and to give Repentance are not the same things So then that which is heere spoken by our Lord is no other thing than that which was prophesied by Hosea 6.2 The third day He will raise us up and wee shall live in His sight and was here fulfilled by the testimony of the Evangelist And if the first fruits be holy then also the whole lumpe Rom. 11.16 So that we which have the same faith shall at last receive the end of our hopes and have our parts in that holy resurrection whereof whosoever is partaker on Him the second death can have no power For as that prophesie of Ioel 2.18 was fulfilled in part after the ascension of our Saviour It shall be in the latter dayes that I will powre out of my Spirit upon all flesh c. Act. 2.17 and for a proofe or assurance of that which shall be fulfilled not in 120. Persons but in all flesh when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea Es 11.9 Hab. 2.14 So likewise was that resurrection a pledge and assurance of that holy resurrection of the dead in Christ which shall rise first 1 Cor. 15.23 1 Thes 4.16 but the rest of the dead shall not rise till the time be fulfilled that they shall be judged according to those things that are written in the bookes Revel 20.4.5.12 Whereas of these it is said Iohn 5.24 That they shall not come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into iudgement much lesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into condemnation but are passed from
death unto life For he that judgeth himselfe and condemneth himselfe and brings no other plea unto Christ but that for mercy may be sure to find mercy in the time of need See 1 Cor. 11.31 Heb. 4.16 Now for the second question although it seeme more curious then profitable to aske where our Saviour was after the time of His resurrection during His absence from His Disciples yet I will answere what I thinke and leave you upon better consideration to give a better answere First therefore it is manifest by the Scripture that our Lord shewed Himselfe Eleven times after His resurrection if oftner yet is it not manifest by the text Of this number five manifestations of Himselfe were on the day of His resurrection 1. To Mary Magdalen alone Mar. 16.9 2. To her againe and the other Mary Mat. 28.9 3. To Simon Peter Luke 24.34 1. Cor. 15.5 4. To Cleopas and his friend Luke 24.15.35 5. To all the Apostles except Thomas Iohn 20.24 to which if you put that time when He ascended on the 40. day from mount Olivet the five appearances remaining for I speake not of those extraordinary manifestations of Himselfe after His ascension to Steven Actes 7.56 and to Paul Actes 9.17 and 1. Cor. 15.8 will bee most likely to have beene on those five Sundayes as wee call them which were betweene as it may well be gathered from Iohn 20.26 because the Lord would fully finish the ceremoniall use of the Iewish Sabbath and sanctifie the day of His resurrection for the remembrance of those benefits which wee receive thereby This use the Primitive Church made of it Iust. Mart. Apol. ad Anton. and further against our Traskits because they would prevent their errours who under the profession of Christianity did still retaine their Iudaisme whose folly to avoid in stead of the Iewish Sabbath they celebrated the day of Christs resurrection Ign ep ad Mag These times of shewing himselfe were 1. To the Disciples and Thomas with them Iohn 20.26 2. At the Sea of Tiberias Iohn 21.1.3 3. On a mountaine of Galilee appointed to them Mat. 28.16 4. To above 500. brethren at once 1 Cor. 15.6 5. To Iames. ver 7. And for the times of His absence from them because it is said in the text to the Ephesians cited above That He did therefore descend into the lower parts of the earth and ascend farre above all heavens that He might fill or fulfill all things which were written of Him not onely those which were necessary for our saluation as His Suffering Resurrection Ascension c. but also whatsoever belonged unto man to doe in that state betweene His resurrection and ascension as you may in part understand by that which hath been said Chapter 28. N. I thinke that in those 33. dayes He in His manly being did view this earth and the fulnesse thereof and especially visit and blesse those places where He did purpose that His Church and trueth should most of all flourish and continue Sect. 2 Sect. 2. Thus much for the questions by the way Now turne to that which is the maine To every degree of the abasement of our Redeemer there is a degree of exaltation and glory opposed So this of the Ascension of our Lord into Heaven is set against that of His descent into hell and that by the authority of Saint Paul He that descended is even the same that ascended And although it may very well be thought that after His Passion finished on the Crosse by His death His going to hell was the beginning of His victory to take to Himselfe that power whereby He as the Sonne of man is to reigne over all the powers of death and hell Yet because His body during those three dayes is by most supposed to have been held under the power of death and that all the parts of His victory are to belong unto Him as Hee is Lord both of the quicke and dead that is in His intire humanity soule and body together therefore that descent is rather held by many as the lowest estate of His humiliation as you might read a little before Chap. 28. § 2. N. 3. But that our Lord after that He had by many and infallible signes and arguments by the space of fourty dayes given abundant proofe of His resurrection did ascend into heaven these reasons doe make it manifest 1. Vnto every body is a place due according to the qualities and properties of that body as in all natures here below it appeares that the place is both conseruative and also generative of those things which are peculiar thereto as the lower parts of the earth of the mineralls the surface of the vegetables the water of fishes c. And againe it is manifest that all things under the Moone are subject to corruption and change no beauty strength or excellency is such as is not fading no pleasure such but that in the very using it growes loathsome no bravery so costly but in three dayes wearing it waxes stale so that by the voice and consent of all men the Angels and blessed soules and all such beings as are free from corruption and in the state of glory are sent into heaven But it is manifest that our Lord by His resurrection and conquest of death purchased first to Himselfe and then to us a state of glory and immortality Romanes 6.9 Ephes 2.6 Therefore also that Hee ascended into heaven 2. The blessednesse of the creature is onely in this That it may behold the glory of God in whom alone is the excellency of all perfection And this glory is seene onely in the face of Iesus Christ the Mediator as was shewed Chapter 24. § 10. N. 5. unto which blessednesse onely the pure and blessed inhabitants of heaven as the holy Angels and soules of men are dignified And from hence it must follow that our Lord is ascended into heaven the place of Angels and happy soules For no man dwelling in his ruinous house of clay is able to behold that glory Exod. 30.20 3. Hell is the place of torments the earth of troubles changes and calamities therefore heaven is the place of happinesse or else no happinesse at all is to be found But that is impossible For so all things should be created to wretchednesse and misery onely which cannot stand with the loue of God to His creature and His infinite goodnesse And if any such place of happinesse be and He our Saviour not brought thereto then the greatest obedience performed to the Father for the manifestation of His glory should be without reward But this were unjust with God and therefore impossible And therefore it was necessary that our Lord after His resurrection should ascend into heaven 4. By the consent of Christians taught of God and of Heathens taught by nature heaven is the place of the greatest glory and happines as hell of sorrow and wretchednes For although the Heathen allotted a degree of eternall blisse to the
sentence pronounced Come yee blessed receive the Kingdome prepared for you for I was hungry and ye gave Mee meat c. and on the other side Depart ye cursed for I was hungry and ye gave Me no meat c. Mat. 25.35 to 46. Ans It cannot bedenied but that the sentence of condemnation upon the reprobate is according to their workes as the deseruing causes thereof For not to beleeve in Christ is that great sin which is the cause of condemnation Ioh. 3.18 and 16.9 Neither is a dead faith ought worth but that faith onely is accepted which worketh by love Galat. 5.6 without which it is impossible to please God Hebr. 11.6 And if all things that are not of faith be sinne Rom. 14.23 Then the wicked works of Infidels and Hypocrites and much more their violent and wilfull rebellions must needs be concurrent causes of their condemnation But the faithfull are therefore called to possesse the kingdome 1. Because they are blessed of the Father 2. Because they are predestinate thereto and the kingdome prepared for them from the beginning of the world So their workes come not as causes of their happinesse but onely as the fruits of their faith But because workes onely and not faith in the heart are manifest to the world therefore is the comparison made onely of the workes both of the godly and of the wicked that the justice of God may be manifested in rewarding the workes that are manifest to man But you will say if men for their ill deeds doe merit hell why should they not by their good workes merit heaven See the answere Chap. 19. Object 2. and 3. 3. A third question may arise concerning that which is said Luke 21.32 This generation shall not passe till all be fulfilled why then was not the judgement long agoe Answer The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a generation in the narrow signification doth signifie that multitude of men which are alive at once and withall that time in which it is supposed they shall all be dead which in common reckoning is 100. yeeres And in this sence the saying of our Lord must be referred only to that which He had spoken concerning the overthrow of Ierusalem which followed about fourty yeeres after and the signes which should goe before that As the preaching of the Gospel in all the world See Col. 1.6 False Christs See Note g on Chapter 24. Warres Pestilence c. But because our Lord after the answeres to the three questions made by the disciples Matth. 24.3 1 Of the destruction of Ierusalem 2. Of the signe of His comming 3. Of the end of the world addes these same words This generation shall not passe c. vers 34. a generation cannot bee so narrowly taken in this place but rather it must signifie as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Saeculum and so taking the infancy of the world in the time of nature for one generation that middle age under the Law for another and then this old age of the word under the Gospel there is no other generation or change of state in the Church to be looked for but in this very generation all things shall be fulfilled And therefore Saint Iohn saith 1 Epist 2.18 This is the last time And although Saint Peter say 1 Epist 4.7 That the end of all things is at hand and that therefore we should be sober and watch unto prayer because we know not when our Lord shall call us to a particular account of our stewardship when all things of this world are ended with us Yet Saint Paul 2 Thess 2. directly affirmeth in his time that that great day of God should not come till the Apostasie was revealed which could not be till he that withheld that is the Imperiall power that then ruled was taken out of the way 4. But seeing that day of God is so terrible to the wicked as that they put it farre from them and againe so much desired of the godly as that they cry Come Lord Iesus Come it may seeme not altogether unfit to see some reasons of their different desires Concerning the wicked it is manifest that they being condemned already in their owne consciences have great cause to wish that there were no day of judgement no judge no tormentors But the faithfull in Christ who have the testimony of God in their hearts that their sinnes are covered have great reason to desire that day First and above all that the glory of God His mercy and justice may be manifest Secondly that the merit of Christs sufferings may appeare to the glory of His grace in them that they may have the actuall possession of that happinesse which they have here onely in the assurance of hope And no lesse doe they desire that comming that the body of sinne may be truely abolished For which desires sake even death it selfe is here in life oftentimes desired and when it comes is most willingly embraced because that thereby they are justified from their sin Rom. 6.7 And among other causes for which they pray that the Kingdome of God may come this is one that although euen because they refraine from ill therefore doe they make themselues as a prey Esay 59.15 yet in that day the trueth of their innocency shall be knowne And although here the more innocent and harmelesse a man is the more is hee subject to injuries slanders and surmises and that because men have forsaken the feare of the Almightie and having forgotten that he that taketh up not onely hee that raiseth a slander which every base varlet may doe but hee that beleeveth it and and much more he that furthereth it hath no part in that Kingdome Psal 15.3 Yet they use their tongues as if they were their owne and remember not that they must give an account of every idle much more of every lying and hurtfull word And heere there be some which doubt not to say that the godly may desire the comming of that day that they may see the reward of the wicked perhaps upon that text where it is said The Righteous shall be glad when he seeth the vengâ—ance Psal 58.10 But I suppose it necessary to answere with this difference That so farre foorth as a wicked man or men are declared the enemies of God of Christ of His Church a Christian may say Doe not I hate them ô Lord that hate thee yea I hate them with perfect hatred as if they were mine enemies Psal 139. ver 21.22 the hatred must be of their sinnes not of their persons but concerning those offences that are towards a mans owne selfe let the same mind be in us which was in Christ Iesus who suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow His steps who being reviled reviled not againe who being mocked and wounded yet made intercession for the transgressors Therefore though thine enemies despight thee dayly without a cause though he that eates thy bread lift up
fully proved unto you that this race and state of man-kind and the world with him must come to an end take with you a reason or two and thinke on them 1. It hath already beene shewed Chap. 13. that no kind of infinitie either of continuance of power of number c. can belong unto the world or to the creatures therein contained from whence the present doubt is easily assoyled 2. Also it hath beene proved before Chap. 15. that man was created innocent and our miserable experience shewes that wee are now subject to sinne and the punishment thereof death It hath likewise appeared that there is a restoring of man-kind to a better life than that in which man was created which cannot be but in the perfection of the whole man both in body and soule as it will appeare further in the 38. Chapter But it is impossible that a finite matier should be sufficient for infinite bodies yet if the race and generation of man-kind should have no end then their bodies must needs be infinite which because it is impossible therefore the generation of mankind must have an end 3. The generation of man-kind is either by chance and fortune and so it cannot be continuall either before or after or else it is naturall and so it must needs bee for some end For every motion hath an end when it is come to that period or bound wherein it doth rest otherwise nature should worke in vaine which cannot stand with that wisedome which gave power unto nature and prescribed unto it how it should worke and proposed to what end But if the generation of man-kind be infinite then it is impossible that ever it should come unto that uttermost end for which it was ordained For although these and the millions of men that have beene and are shall arive unto that end for which they were created yet they that are to come in infinitie cannot all be brought to that end which is finite and determined Therefore the generation of man-kind must needs be finite 4. If there shall not be an end of the generation of men then there can be no differences among them as to bee vertuous and vitious wise and fooles good and bad c. But this is most false and contrary to experience yet the former consequence is necessary For it being put as the reasons before partly shew and partly suppose that every man shall have his owne body and his owne soule yet if the matier whereof their bodies shall be made bee finite it will be impossible that infinite bodies be made thereof If it be infinite yet an infinite number of bodies will bee answerable thereto So that if the number of Wise-men be infinite there will be no matier for the bodies of fooles if that number of fooles bee infinite there will be no matier for the bodies of the wise if both be infinite yet one infinitie of matier cannot be sufficient for two infinities of bodies if both bee finite then have wee that wee sought for and the generation of men must of necessity have an end 5. Nothing that is infinite can consist of parts that are finite for these being termes contradictory and most opposed cannot be the originall one of another But every particular man in this supposed infinitie of the generation of men is finite in his being in his continuance and in every other circumstance of his being So this infinitie in every of the parts thereof must be finite and measurable to a time that is finite and so must have an end or if to avoid this end wee must suppose that the time must be infinite yet so an infinite measure must be necessary to measure those parts that are finite But this is impossible and therefore the generation of men must needs be finite And if the generation of man-kind must have an end then also all this creature which was made for his sake for after him the continuance thereof should be to no use but neither the worke of God nor of Nature His servant can be in vaine Therefore the generation of man-kind is finite Sect. 5 § 5. But you will say if every man immediately after death receive the sentence of joy or punishment everlasting what needs any such generall Iudgement as wee understand in the Creed Answere 1. If the body being the instrument of all the workes of the soule should not partake with the soule in the reward to those workes then the justice of God should not bee perfect Therefore for the manifestation of the justice of God it is necessary first that there be a resurrection of the body then that there be a judgement that as men have done either good or bad in their bodies so in their bodies they may receive their reward And this answere shall be the first argument against those mockers that say where is the promise of His comming 2. If all men must rise againe with their bodies that they may receive according to that which they have done in their bodies then it is necessary that there bee an examination of those workes which they have done And this examination of every mans works with the execution of that sentence that followes thereon is that which wee call the generall Iudgement But the first is necessary as it will appeare in that Article of the Resurrection Therefore also that there bee a judgement of the quicke and the dead 3. Neither can there be any severing of the godly from the wicked nor discerning or comparing of their different workes nor any assignement of a reward answerable thereto but by a judgement wherein all are assembled But all these things are necessary to be First that the sheepe may find themselues freed from the violence and injury of the goats who in all the time of this world have push't them on the sides have eaten up their pasture and troden the residue under their feete Ezech. 34.18 c. Compare herewith 2. Pet. 2.8.9 Secondly that the commandements of God first written in the heart of every man then expressed in the tables of stone and at last most lively interpreted by Christ Himselfe Matth. 5. may be found to bee most just when the doers of the Law are rewarded and the breakers punished Neither is it sufficient that every mans deeds be discussed in the particular judgement at his death for so neither their deeds nor rewards nor the causes of them should be knowne unto all Therefore it is necessary that there be a generall judgement 4. If there be not a generall judgement wherein the deeds of all men shall be tryed and rewarded then the hope of all vertuous men should be vtterly void and their obedience to the Commandements of Meeknesse and Patience without reward See Matth. 5.43 and Luk. 6.27 28 c. So also the promises of Christ should faile of their trueth and performance See Matth. 5.10 but these things are impossible So also vertue should have no aduantage above
onely in Him through the mercy of God who gratuitò of his owne free will doth wash sanctifie and seale us by the Holy Spirit of promise who is to us the pledge of our eternall inhoritance this is the effect of the Canon Object 3. But how is this Church Catholike or Vniversall if any man be shut out of it Or how is it said by S. Paul 1. Tim. 2.4 That God would have all men to bee saved if there be few that shall enter in at the straight gate Answere The common answere to that text of Timothy is that it is spoken not de singulis generum but de generibus singulorum that is that some of every Nation and degree amongst men shall bee saved not every man of every degree But I suppose that it is rather spoken in respect of the ordinary means which in the Church is the Word read and preached and the Sacraments by which all men are called to repentance and faith in Christ which if they refuse their condemnation is just Also out of the visible Church nature calls in a softer voyce upon all nations and people of the world and upon every one in particular to feare God and to give Him glory which made the heaven and the earth and all therein And moreover the light of every mans conscience accusing or excusing him for those things which he doth contrary or according thereto is the witnesse of God in every mans heart to excuse or condemne him And in respect of these meanes God may be said to will that all men should be saved in that he doth offer his mercy to all and call upon them to turne unto Him that they might be saved if they want not grace to accept it Object 4. The want of that is not imputed to any man which is onely in the power of another to give and seeing that without repentance faith hope and perseverance in vertue no man can attaine to happinesse which vertues of repentance c. are onely in God to give as the Prophet saith Lam. 3.21 Turne Thou us unto thee ô Lord and so shall wee bee turned it may seeme that the want of these things ought not to be imputed to any man Answere If any man refuse a good thing when it is offered the want of that shall be imputed to himselfe as to the wicked that saith to God Depart from us for wee desire not the knowledge of thy wayes Iob 21.14 and these are they whom God is said to harden because they have hardened their owne hearts through the custome of sinne that they cannot repent Therefore though the predestinate that the mercy of God may appeare are conuerted by the inward and effectuall calling their hearts being renewed by repentance to follow him that calleth yet that the order of Iustice may be observed they that forsake their owne mercy are still left to the punishment of their sinne both originall and actuall because they neglect the outward calling and wilfully shut their eyes against the light of their naturall knowledge and conscience See Rom. 9.21 c. And according to this sence is it that in Scripture the hardning of man in sinne and the preseruing man from sinne seemes to be attributed to God both wayes as where he is said to harden Pharaohs heart and to Abimelech a Gen. 20.6 I have kept thee from sinning against me Sect. 2 § 2. And thus it being manifest what this holy Church is and of what persons it doth consist it followes first to proove that there is such a Catholike Church as wee say wee doe beleeve to bee then to see the differences which are betweene this Catholike Church and other particular Churches and Congregations 1 If there were not a number of holy people which God hath chosen unto eternall life then the end of Christs sufferings for us were all in vaine and the whole race of mankind should have beene created onely to destruction So the mercy of God toward His creature that had sinned should be without effect Neither should His glory be magnified in saving that which was lost So the devill the enemy of mankind might magnifie himselfe against God in that he had destroyed His creature irrecoverably But all these things are impossible Therefore there is a holy Church chosen of God unto eternall life And if this holy Church in the parts or members thereof had not continued in all ages since God made His promise of a Savior to Adam then faith had fail'd from among men and the promises of God being either not beleeved or forgotten the sons of God begotten by the immortall seed had failed So the throne of Christ when there was no faithfull heart wherein He reigned should not have beene established for ever contrary to the promise Psalm 89. ver 4 29 36. and Luke 1. ver 33. So the seed of the enemy onely had flourished in the earth contrary to the disposition of that wise husbandman Matth 13.30 Let both grow together untill the haruest But these things are impossible Therefore the holy Church is also Catholike or continuing from the beginning to the end of the world For your better understanding you may take these arguments apart 2. If the goodnesse of God being essentially one with His infinity were not diffusive or spreading it selfe upon the creature for the succour and aid thereof in the greatest misery then should it be exceeded by the malice and wickednes of the devill which though it be the greatest that may be yet must it needs be finite as having the originall from a finite creature But it is impossible that God should be exceeded by the malice of the devill therefore there is a restoring of man to that blessednesse and glory from which he fell by his siâ—ne as you have seene it prooved before in the 18. Chapter and from all the reasons there brought to that conclusion you may bring reasons for the proofe of this Article 3. If man were created according to the will of God innocent and without sinne then that present estate of sinne and death the punishment thereof wherein he now is must needs have beene brought upon him since his creation contrary to the revealed will of God wherein though for the declaration of the justice of God against sinne some be suffered to continue yet because sinne is contrary to the will of God and death contrary to the end of His creation of mankind it is necessary that there be a redemption or freeing of some appointed thereunto from the thraldome both of sin and death But it hath beene prooved Chap. 15. that man was created innocent Therfore there is a Church or a number knowne unto God of them that are so redeemed 4. There is a God who hath made His promises of everlasting life There is faith hope and repentance and other vertues both Christian and morall whereby the promises of God are apprehended and obedience performed to His Commandements Therefore there is
as it was said to the soules oâ— the Saints That they should rest for a little season untill their fellow Martyrs time were fulfilled Revel 6.11 So that although for the perfect happinesse of both the soule is to be joyned to the body yet that joyning followes not for the desires sake of the soule but for His willâ— sake who hath promised such happinesse unto both soule and body Thus you see that the glorious hopes which the holy Christian faith brings with it are above all the reasons and possibilities of nature Therefore let us not seeke naturall proofes for the resurrection but from the light of grace and the vertues of the divine dignities which the holy Scriptures have made us to know let us see what arguments we can finde of more strength and solidity And because the reasons that are to bee brought for proofe of this Article will fol ow easily enough if it be made manifest that the will and decree of God upon all man-kind is that there shall be a resurrection both of the just and unjust Act. 24.17 I will first bring the holy Oracles thereto then the reasons that accord with them and lastly answere such objections as Atheists are wont to bring to the contrary That which is in Gen. 3.15 The seed of the woman shall breake the head of the serpent in Iohn â— 8 is interpreted shall destroy the workes of the devill that is sinne and the punishment thereof death which cannot be except the dead be raised againe Iob 19.25 I know that my Redeemer liveth and that Hee shall â—tand at the later day upon the earth and though after my sâ—inne wormes dâ—stroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my selfe and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reines â—e consumed within me Which text though it be as plaine and dirâ—ct for the resurrection as any other in the Scripture yet Iohn Mercerus rejects that sence because the Hebrew Commentators doe not so expound it Esay 26.19 21. Thy dead men shall live together with My dead body shall they rise awake and â—ing â—e that dwell in the dust for the earth shall cast out her dead For b hold the Lord commeth out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity the earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more hide her slaine Reade to this purpose Ezech. 37. all And if you say that the calling of the Israelites is there prophesied in that Metaphor yet remember that no Metaphor is taken from things that are not Dan. 12.2 Of them that sleepe in the dust many shall awake to everlasting life some to shame and everlasting contempt Hosea 13.14 I will ransome them frâ—m the power of the grave I will redeeme them from death ô death I will bee thy plagues ô grave I will be thy destruction repentance is hid from mine eyes Iohn 5.28 29. The houre is comming in which all that are in the graves shall heare His voyce and shall come forth they that have done good to the resurrection of life and they that have done ill to the resurrection of damnation 2 Cor. 5.10 Wee must all appeare before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that which He hath done whether it be good or ill So by these texts among many other it being manifest that God hath decreed a resurrection for the bodies of men both good and bad it being also manifest that nothing is impossible unto Him but that He doth whatsoever it pleaseth Him in the heaven and earth in the seas and all deepe places Psal 135.6 it must follow of necessity that there shall be a resurrection which that ye may the better apprehend we will adde some reasons that accord hereto 1. And first of all that argument which our Lord Iesus brings to this purpose Matth. 22.32 I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob but God is not the God of the dead but of the living Therefore Abraham Isaac and Iacob though they be now dead yet must they rise againe for all men live to Him that is are in His power to be brought againe unto life when Hee will To know the strength of this argument you must looke to that which is Gen. 17. I will establish My Covenant with thee and with thy sâ—ed for an everlasting Covenant But no covenant can bee everlasting if either of the parties die Therefore Abraham and his seed that is the faithfull cannot perish but evermore live unto God as it is said in Luk. 20.38 For to this end Christ both died and revived and rose againe that Hee might bee Lord both of the dead and living the dead He saith that they may live againe For if our Lord Iesus died to purchase eternall life for us it is impossible that we should not live eternally 2. The arguments of Saint Paul in 1. Cor. 15. fall as thicke as haile and that first argument in the first place stands thus 1. It is a Gospel which he received and preached unto them according to the Scriptures And seeing the doctrine of God for His owne authoritie being the God of Trueth is to be received for our reverence only which we owe to him we ought to beleeve it Hitherunto tend those words v. 3. and 4. For I delivered unto you that which I received that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that He was buryed and that He rose againe the third day according to the Scriptures 2. And from this ground of faith he doth conclude vers 12. that there is a resurrection to wit for them that die in the faith of Christ For Christ died not for Himselfe but for our sinnes and rose againe for our justification Rom. 4.25 3. Since by man came death by man also came the resurrection of the dead vers 21 22. For the well-being of the body cannot bee but by the head 4. vers 25. Hee must reigne untill He have put all His enemies under His feete Psal 110.1 Therefore death also shall be subdued Ergo. The bodies of men kept under His power shall rise againe 5. If the bodies of men rise not againe these absurdities and inconueniences must follow That they that are dead in Christ are perished and while they lived here were of all men most miserable Our preaching and your faith is vaine We are false witnesses of God ye are yet in your sin They that are baptized over the dead are baptized in vaine we are need lesly in danger every houre for the preaching and beleefe of this doctrine My contention at Ephesus hereabout was to no purpose The Epicure that lives to eate and drinke is the only happy man But these things are impossible and amongst Christians accounted incredible Therefore there is a resurrection His doctrine in other Epistles is to the same
the father But this Philosophy of the superfluity of the seed hath been hist out in the 17. Chapter The maine doubt is answered by Saint Paul 1 Cor. 15.44 Thy body is sowen a naturall body but it is raised a spirituall body So then though Beares or dogs or Canibals or wormes devoure the flesh yet seeing onely flesh is nourished thereby a materiall body with a materiall a naturall body with a naturall the spirituall body is free from any naturall change For even now the soule dwells not in the body but by those meane spirits which are raised from the bodily parts as I shewed before Therefore though this materiall individuall body shall be raised up yet because it is raised up a in spiritual estate it will be free from naturall corruption because it is fitted to be an eternall habitation for the soule being wholly spirituall and then there will be no want of any member or part when the soule shall be able to fit it selfe of a clothing for all uses out of a spirituall body neither shall it need to seeke any supply out of a forreigne body For as in justice the same soule must returne to the same body that both may suffer or be glorified together So shall both be perfected together according to the perfection of every individuall in their proper parts And though they be scattered in ashes or dust as farre as from East to West yet shall every atome be gathered into that body in which it first received the impression of an humane soule to become a part of a reasonable man The Poet gives you an example of a Gardiner wehling his seeds being mingled together Namque ut quondam olitor qui forte minuta sub uno Diversi generis confusa videbat aceruo Semina mox secum dum singula seligit hoc est Ozymon hoc apium lapathum istud oxalis illud Daucus andrachne ammi apiastrum urtica melanthum Sic tua sed melior sapientia novit acuto Permistos hominum cineres discernere visu I will give you an experiment for your easier understanding Take a knife a punch or other toole of steele well hardned and touch't with a load-stone mingle a quantity of the fylings of iron or steele with so much common dust as that the fylings appeare not yet with the knife or punch made cleane you may separate the fylings according to the first quantity out of the dust And if this be possible to metall by reason of the common spirit how much more to the soule when it is commanded to gather together that dust which once it had enlived by it selfe § 4. Among the heresies against the doctrine of our holy religion that which denies the resurrection was one of the first For beside the Sadduces which denied it as you read Mat. 22. and thought that the soule died with the body all the sects of the Samaritanes except perhaps the Dositheans held that errour with them And although it bee not knowne to mee which of them fell first into the ditch yet seeing both sorts held the bookes and authority of Moses and none of the Prophets beside authenticall and that the Sadduces interpreted Moses according to the letter of the Law and thought that the blessings and cursings therein contained did belong onely to this present life which was the originall of this errour with mee they shall be accounted the blind guides of the blind Among the Christians some twenty sects of Hereticks have beene which denied this Article some upon one ground some upon another The first fountaine of this poysoned doctrine among the Chri tians was Simon the Samaritane whose Scholars held it successively unto Marcus about a 100. yeeres after Simon This Marcus also upheld the same heresie but after him it was by turnes ca l'd up from hell againe Carâ—ocrates out of Platoes Scho e brought in the change of soules from body to body but much worse than hee For Plato thought that the soules of men were sent into the bodies of beasts or of crazed and old men for the punishment of their formâ—r sinnes but Carpocrates taught that they were brought thither for the fulfilling of those lusts which they had not done in their former bodies For being here subiect to the power of the enemie man said hee cannot escape the wrath of these adversaries but by the filthinesse of life and doing such things as please them And therefore the soules that live heere most vertuously and tempeâ—ately are oftenest sent into other bodies Though this doctrine of the devills Chaplaine upheld the immortality of the soâ—le yet no resurrection of the body Valentine and after him the Manichees taught that the soules of men onely were redeemed by Christ but not their bodies and therefore they should rise no more Neither yet should all soules bee saved For there bee said hee three sorts of men spirituall animall and carnall Spirituall which by nature have a most excellent faith and these shall be saved without good workes as Seth Animal which have but a little faith but may bee saved by a supply of their workes as Abel But the carnall as Cain can by no meanes bee saved Marcion concerning the resurrection of the body sided with Valentine And so did Apelles For said hee Christ Himselfe went to Heaven without any body For that body which Hee had taken from Heaven and the elements at the resurrection Hee delivered againe to their proper principles from whence He tooke it The Seleucians also that affirme that Christ left His body in the Sunne as you read before are bound to denie to us any ascent into the heavens above for it cannot be better with us the members than it is with our Head Origens errour against the resurrection is at large refuted by Epiphanius Haer. 64. and if you minde the objections and answeres before you have the sum of that which Origen brought against it and the other answered Hierax denied a resurrection of the body but is disproved by the arguments heere brought as all the other Hereticks which are here mentioned A resurrection of the soule he yeelded unto except of the Infants which died before they had knowledge because none is crowned except he that strives lawfully as you read before in the 28. Chapter where his reason is answered out of Epiphanius Haer. 67. And although you see such monsters of opinions as I have said and if you have leisure may read the refutation in particular in the Authour aforesaid Yet if you take good heed to that which hath beene spoken for and against the trueth you may confesse that the trueth is great and shall prevaile CHAP. XXXIX ⧠And life everlasting § 1. WHile there was no sinne in the world it stood not with the justice of God that any punishment for sinne should bee inflicted therefore death and all diseases as his fore-runners with hunger thirst and all the enemies of life were far from man But after that sinne
reasons for the assurance of everlasting life you may adde to them that are in the Chapter before And above all reason the holy promises of God which cannot faile as Iohn 3.16 God so loved the world that He gave His onely begotten Sonne that whosoâ—ver beleeveth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life Titus 3.7 Wee are made heires according to the hope of everlasting life Matth. 19.29 â—v ry one that hath forsaken houses c. or lands for 〈◊〉 shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life Pâ—al 37.18 The Lord knoweth the dayes of the upright that their inâ—â—râ—tanâ—e shall be for ever Psalm 23. I shall dwell in the house of the Lâ—â—d for ever And that the ioyes of heaven are eternall it may appeare by the torments of the wicked that are in hell of both which see Matth. 25. from vers 31. to 46. And therefore the Apostle concludes Rom. 8.18 That the afflictions which are of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall bee revealâ—d For those things which God hath prepared for them that love Him are such as neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard neither have thâ—â— entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 And concerning the assurance of this joy let the same mind be in us which was in Saint Paul Rom. 8.38 39. I am perswaded that neither death â—or life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. For it is just with God to give unto His Sonne having fully satisfied His justice for the sinne of man to give to His Sonne I say according to the merit of His desert that glory and honour and immortall joy which is due to Him therefore which joy for the infinite merit of His Person being both God and man must likewise be infinite And because Himselfe is God blessed for evermore and hath eternall glory and happinesse and a Name which is above every name that is named in this world or in the world to come therefore hath Hee not any need of this purchased glory which is due for His sufferings but that glory is reserved for them that are called of His grace to be partakers thereof And because a finite creature cannot be capable of infinite glory at once intenâ—ivè that is according to the infinite measure thereof therefore is it bestowed extensivè that is in the externity or continuance thereof wherein man is carryed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 Neither is it for any man to thinke that this glory which Christ hath purchased by His obedience should be setled on that humane nature which He assumed in the Incarnation For that hereditary or native glory which He had as being one with the Father was abundantly sufficient to glorifie that tabernacle wheresoever He was pleased to dwell as He saith Ioh. 17.5 And now ô Father glorifie thou Me with thine owne selfe with that glory which I had with thee before this world was So it appearing both by reason and authority of the holy Scripture that this happinesse which we doe beleeve in eternall life is to be eternall as the life is that first doubt which was first * In the 〈…〉 Chapterâ— proposed in the entrance is fully satisfied The other two questions concerning the soule you shall heare by and by § 2. The heresies that have been concerning this Article though they be divers yet two especially are needfull to be examined One of the Chiliasts which thought that after the resurrection the kingdome of Christ was to flourish 1000. yeeres in this world taking that Scripture which is in Revel 20. for proofe thereof The other is that which they lay to St. Origen That all the reasonable creature even the most wicked among men yea the very devills themselves after their sins by loâ—g torments have been purged out shall be restored to joy and happines in the kingdome of heaven and againe after a long time shall fall to their former sins againe and so returne to their ancient punishment and this say they shall be the revolution of all the reasonable creature both good and bad for ever 1. But this is contrary to the trueth of the holy Scripture For no creature either man or Angel can approach to God or come to heavenly happines but onely such as God doth love and whom He loves He loves unto the end Iohn 13.1 because in Him is neither variablenesse nor shadow of change Iam. 1.17 2. Moreover as none can be partaker of heavenly joyes but such as are interested therein by Christ seeing no man commeth to the Father but by Him Ioh. 14.6 if there should be any falling from joy it would seeme to argue an insufficiency of the merit of Christ which cannot stand with the infinity thereof 3. Besides if God willed this eternall revolution of the creature from extreame joy to paine and from paine to joy then were we not taken into the state of sonnes and heirs of glory yea coheirs with Iesus Christ Ro. 8.17 but to the state of bond men which should have so much happines as we were able to purchase by our indurance of afflictions and torments 4. So the justice of God should not be infinite if it might be satisfied by a finite creature 5. And if any satisfaction to God could have bin made beside that which was by the death of Christ then that of Christ had beene needlesse and in vaine But all these things are impossibilities Therefore there is no such revolution from one state to another as this opinion fained to Origen after his death when hee could not answer for himselfe would bring in But though Origen were a Saint yet was he a man and so might have his errours CHAP. XL. Amen ⧠The third supply Concerning the questions incident 1. Whether the soule of man be immortall § 1. 2. Whether there be one common soule of all men § 2. 3. That the holy Religion of the Christians is onely true and none other beside it § 3. 4. How faith is said to justifie § 4. Whether the soule of man be immortall § 1. IT is not the doubt that any Christian can make whether the soule of man be immortall or no. For when God hath come downe from heaven and hath taken upon Himselfe the being of man when He hath beene borne and died to make satisfaction for the sinne of man can any one that beleeves this make a doubt whether hee have an immortall soule or whether immortall life doe belong to him both in soule and body Therefore is not this question proposed for the Christians sake but by way of defiance against the Atheist and such godlesse people as say in their hearts There is no God no soule no life