speechlesse we die that are of the earth but he which came from heauen breathed out his soule with a loud voice We must say it was a shew of his diuine power to lay downe his soule when he would and to take it againe Yea the Centurio hearing him say to hiâ—… Father Into thine hands I commend my spirit statim sponte spiritum dimisisse and straightway of his own accord to send forth his spirit mooued with the GREATNES of this WOONDER said Truly this was the Sonne of God Chrysostome vpon these words of Matthew Iesus crying with a loud voice gaue vp the ghost sayth Idcirco magna voce clamauit vt ostendat haec sua potestate fieri Therefore Christ cried with a loud voice that he might shew this to be done by his owne power Marke sayth Pilate maruâ—…lled if he were alreadie dead And the Centurion also THERâ—…FORE CHIEFLY beleeued because he saw Christ die of his owne accord and power Victor of Antioch vpon the like words of Marke sayth By so doing the Lord Iesus doth plainly declare that he had his whole life and death in his owne free power Wherefore Marke writeth that Pilate not without admiration asked if Christ were yet dead addidit item ea potissimum de causa Centurionem credidisse he added likewise that the Centurion chiefly for that reason beleeued because he saw Christ giue vp the ghost with a loud crie and signification of great power Leo noting that Christ died not for lacke of helpe but of determinatâ—… purpose sayth Quae illic vitae intercessio sentienda est vbi anima potestate est emissa potestate reuocata What intreatie for life shall we thinke there was where the soule was both sent out with power and recalled with power Fulgentius Cum ergo homo Christus tantam accepâ—…rit potestatem vt cum vellet animam poneret cum vellet denuò resumeret quantam potuit habere Christi diuinitas potestatem Ideo autem ille homo potestatem animae habuit quia cum diuina potestas in vnitatem personae suscepit Where then the man Christ receiued so much power that he might lay downe his soule when he would and take it againe when he would how great power might the Godhead of Christ haue and therefore the manhood of Christ had power to lay downe his soule because the diuine power admitted him into the vinitie of person Sedulius Animam protinus suam sancto de corpore volens ipse deposâ—…it Christ himselfe forthwith vpon his prayer willingly layd off his sacred soule from his bodie Nonnius in his Paraphrase vpon S. Iohns Gospell expresseth the saying of Christ None taketh my soule from me in these words No birth-law taketh my soule from me no incroching time that tameth all things nor Necessitie which is vnchangeable counsell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but ruler of my selfe I of mine owne accord yeeld vp my willing soule Beda vpon that place of Matthew And Iesus crying with a loud voice sent out or gaue vp his spirit writeth thus Quod autem dicit emisit spiritum ostendit diuinae potestatis esse emittere spiritum vt ipse quoque dixerat nemo potest tollere animam in that the Euangelist saith Christ sent out his soule or spirit he sheweth it is a point of Diuine power to send out the soule as Christ himselfe sayd None can take my soule from me Nullus enim habet potestatem emittendi spiritum nisi qui animarum conditor est For none hath power to send out the soule but he that is Creator of soules Which Bede buildeth vpon the words of S. Matthew who saith that Christ crying with a loud voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dismissed or sent his soule from him Theophylact Iesus crieth with a loud voice that we should know it was true which he sayd I haue power to lay downe my soule for not constrained but of his own accord he dismissed his soule And the Centurion seeing that he breathed out his soule so like a Commander of death WONDERED and confessed him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he died not like other men but as the Master of death Lyra vpon these words of Matthew Iesus againe crying with a loude voice sent forth his soule Whereby it appeareth that voice was not naturall but MIRACVLOVS because a man afflicted with great and long torment and through such affliction neere to death could not so cry by any strength of nature The latter writers concurre with the older in this obseruation Erasmus in his Paraphrase vpon Saint Luke Iesus when with a mighty cry he had said Father into thy hands I commend my spirit breathed out his soule to make it manifest to all that he did not faint as others doe the strengh of the body by little and little decaying but straightway vpon a strong cry and words distinctly pronounced laid downe his life as of his owne accord And the Centurion who stood ouerright as a Minister and witnesse of his death and had seene many dye with punishment when he saw Iesus besides the manner of other men after a strong cry presently to breath out his soule said truely this man was the Sonne of God Musculus That Christ sent foorth hiâ—… soule with aloude voice is a proofe of greater power then may be found in a man dying Whereby he shewed that he layed of his soule of his owne accord answerable to that I haue power to lay downe my soule and to take it againe To which end Iohn saith that bowing his head he gaue vp the Ghost Others first dye and then their heads fall but he first layeth downe his head and then of his owne accord deliuereth his soule vp to his Father Gualter But let vs see the manner of Christs death who as Iohn writeth with bowing downe his head yelded his Spirit Luke saith he cryed with a loude voice Father into thy hands I commend my Spirite Concurrunt hâ—…c non obscura Diuinitatis argumenta Here find we manifest arguments of his Diuinitie which the Centurion and others obserued as some of the Euangelists witnesse First this cry and distinct pronouncing of his last words sheweth a power and vertue MORE THEN HVMANE For we know that men dying so faint that the most of them cannot speake be it neuer so softly Againe he dyeth when he will himselfe yea and layeth of his soule with authoritie to shew himselfe Lord of life and death which is an euident proofe of his Diuine power It is profitable for vs diligently to marke the Diuine power of Christ which shewed it selfe so plainly in his death Marlorat vpon the words of Mathew and Iesus crying againe with a loud voyce sent foorth his spirit saith Declarat hic Christus maiestatem suam Christ declareth here his Maiestie that he layeth downe his soule not when men constraine him but when he himselfe will
being yet coherent Euen as Hippocrates sayd before him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the lower iaw is broken if it be not cleane forced a sunder but that the bone is in some part coherent By which it is euident that as well ioynts as bones may be BROKEN and that either in part or in whole Klan then whence klômenon is deriued importeth not necessarily the breaking of bones in mans body as by your new Diuinitie you haue lately deuised to make way for your hell paines in the soule of Christ but it signifieth generally to breake as our English word doth and frango with the Latines likewise whether it be by bowing or straining that which is straight by losing that which is fast by bruizing that which is sound or by cutting and seuering in part or in whole that which is coherent And so much our English word BROKEN expresseth We say the necke or backe is broken when neither bone nor skinne is broken but the fastning of the ioynts is losed Likewise the head the face the shinnes are broken when the skin or flesh of these parts is by some violence razed or torne Yea the veynes are broken with a rupture and children are broken out when their flesh doth exulcerate And since the diuiding of that which was coherent which the Phisitians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the solution of vnitie or continuitie whether it be strayning cutting razing tearing or bruizing the bones or flesh of mans body in part or in whole is contained in the English word breaking and in the Greeke word Klômenon the Apostle spake properly enough when he said that Christs body was broken for so much as all the ioynts of it were losed in sunder the vaines and sinewes tornc with piercing and grating of Iron spikes the flesh and the skinne cut and rent with thornes whips and speare and bruized with staues though the bones were not broken which is your ignorant exception against the Apostles words But MEDVCCA in the Prophet is broken in peeces properly or crushed and broken to powder as these Scriptures doe vse the word likewise and all Lexicons doe confirme Your resolutions are so rash that no man will trust your report for the proper signification of words DACHA indeede is properly to bruize whether it be with hand or foote but not to peeces nor to powder without some other word added to expresse so much For your Lexicons to which you so confidently appeale consult that of Pagnine perused and augmented by Mercere Ceuattere and Bertrame and Printed at Lyons in Fraunce Anno 1575. or Forsters Printed at Basile Anno 1564. and see whether they do not plainly reproue your folly Forstere expresseth the theme whence MEDVCCA commeth by oppressione seu depressione contusus est to be bruized by oppression or depression neither doth he so much as mention the signification of frangere to breake in all the examples of that theme Pagnine declareth the force of that theme by conterere frangere contundere to beate breake or bruize but Mercere addeth as Forstere did oppressione vel depressione by oppressing and depressing And against your beating to powder Pagnine taketh speciall exception out of the Rabbins in the very same place of Numbers whence you would inferre it For vpon the words Numbers 11. verse 8. the people gathered Manna and BEATE IT in morters and made cakes of it He saith differt a SHACHAK secundum Hebreorum Doctores quod SHACHAK est minutatim contundere terere The word here vsed differreth from SHACHAK according to the opinion of the Hebrew Doctors because SHACHAK signifieth to beat a thing small or to powder which cosequently this doth not And though they had dissembled so much yet the Scripture it selfe doth conuince that your obseruation out of that place as out of all the rest which you quote for that word is starke false For Manna by the description of Moses was a small round thing small as the hore frost on the earth and fell in the night with the dew and melted away when the heate of the sonne came Now Manna being so moist that it would melt with the heate of the Sunne was not beaten in morters to bring it to powder as you boldly suppose since it would rather cleaue together then come to powder but by bruizing it betweene two stones which was their kind of Mill in the Wildernes or in a morter with some water they did worke it to batter or dough thereof to make wafers or cakes But were it so that Manna would come to powder which yet the text doth not infeâ—…re will you conclude because beating in a morter bringeth dry things to powder that therefore beating doth generally and necessarily signifie beating to powder And as that place is mistaken by you which only seemed to make for you so not one of the rest which you quote in your maâ—…gin doth conuince either beating to powder or breaking in peeces properly to which you so violently wrest the words of â—…say For where the Prophet saith the Nettes of Egypt shall be torne that is farre from beating to powder except you haue lately deuised the powder of Nettes to make a plaister of And if we should say they were torne to pieces what necessitie is there that either this tearing should be properly breaking which you admit not but in things that be stiffe and hard as bones and such like or that those pieces should be diuided from the whole and not rather be ruptures in the whole as we see in torne nettes which are not alwaies rent cleane a sunder The next and last place which you quote for the proper vse of this word it as wide from your purpose as West from East None wounded sayth Moses with any contusion â—…r abscission of his secret parts shall enter into the congregation of the Lord. Can thosâ—… parts of man be properly broken in pieces or beaten to powder They may be bruized or wounded as other fleshy parts may be but breaking to pieces properly or beating to powder were very strange in that case That bruizing was vsed as well as cutting to make men Eunuches appeareth by Paulus Aegineta where he sayth Huâ—…us reâ—… modus duplex est vnus collisione alter excisione absoluitur The way to do this is double one by bruising the other by cutting And since Moses compriseth both these wayes in his words it is euident that DACCA is a bruize and consequently the word may be properly applied to Christes bodie which was sorely bruized as well with the beating of sâ—…aues and whips as with piercing and grating of iron spikes These are the grounds on which you gather the Prophet could not by that word meane the wounding and bruizing of Christes bodie but because powder and pieces as you dreame are properly comprised in that theme therefore it must be referred to the soule of Christ. As if pieces and powder came
neerer in soules to the right signification of bruizing than the mangling tearing and contusing of Christs body which he suffered from the violent rage of the Iewes Your other word of the very same nature keepe to your selfe When your proofs faile you in this you may not be suffered to roue at your pleasure and to reach after other words out of your own vnlearned skill to vouch they are of the very same nature Wherefore there is no cause why the coherence of Esaies wordes should be cut in sunder by your vnhandsome deuice of the peeces and powder of soules but as the first words in that sentence he was wounded for our transgressions and the last with his stripes we are healed are plainly referred to the punishments of Christes bodie so the middest he was bruized for our iniquities should haue the same relation and intention especially the Prophet foretelling the people what they should see in their Messias and how they should misiudge of him We sayth Esay did iudge him as plagued and smittâ—…n of God but he was wounded for our transgressions and bruized for our iniquities and with his stripes are we healed Neither is it any strange thing in the Scriptures to ioyne this very word which you talke so much of with wounding as with a word of the same nature and force For besides that Moses sayth None wounded with any bruizing or â—…utting of his secret parts shall enter into the Lords congregation Dauid saith to God Thou hast bruized Rahab as one that is wounded Where wounding bruizing are more properly lincked together as words of like force and effect than your breaking of soules into pieces or beating them to powder The verie same word is also vsed in the Scriptures to note the bruizing of mans bodie by sicknesse or of his estate by wrong and oppression Dauid in a grieuous sicknesse complaining that he felt nothing sound in his flesh nor any rest in his bones addeth I am weakned and bruized very much Bruize not the poore in the gate sayth Salomon that is oppresse not the poore in iudgement The children of the foolish shall be bruized that is oppressed in the gate and none shall deliuer them And when it is applied to the soule it may note that to be either wounded with sorrow oppressed with wrong or humbled with obedience but as for powder and pieces from which you would pull a iust proportion which nothing can answere but the paines of hell it is a sicke conceit of your owne braine it hath no deriuation either from the Prophets or Apostles words You did not meane that the soule might be properly broken in pieces but that thus it is neerer and better applied to the soule than to the bodie which was only pierced and boared thorow Then was your former opposition out of the Scripture very licentious and your conclusion as friuolous In that a bone of Christes was not broken you inferred that Esaies words He was broken for our sinnes could not be properly meant of Christes bodie flesh and bones as if there were no breaking of ioynts veines sinewes flesh or skinne but only of bones And yet as if the soule of Christ which is by nature altogether indiuisible might properly be broken in pieces you conclude the breaking of the bread can not properly belong to the bodie of Christ BVT TO THE SOVLE Had you denied the breaking of the bread properly to belong to either your words must haue beene It can belong properly neither to the bodie nor to the soule but you denie the one and auouch the other It can not belong properly to the body but to the soule Whether those words of yours doe not expresly import that the breaking of bread doth properly belong to the soule of Christ as to the trueth wherein they must be verified I leaue it to the iudgement of the discreet Reader Howbeit you denie not but broken applied to the soule of Christ is figuratiue And so you grant there was no cause you should take such exceptions as you did to the Apostles wordes This is my bodie which is broken for you For since it can not be verified of the soule but figuratiuely as you now confesse it may so be most iustly verified of Christes bodie without any sense of hell paines suffered in the soule of Christ. And if the consent of the English Latine and Greeke tongues may be trusted for the vse of a word breaking may properly be affirmed of Christes bodie which can not be of his soule for so much as his ioynts veines sinewes flesh and skinne were broken and torne in sunder though his bones were not And but that your fashion is to follow no man farder than your fansie leadeth you you might haue seene with what reuerence and conscience Master Beza that otherwise vpholdeth the sufferings of Christes soule referreth this word KLOMENON to the tearings and torments of Christes bodie being hereto led by the Apostles assertion By the word broken in Pauls wordes is designed the kindâ—… of Christes death because besides that the Lords bodie was torne bruized and euen broken with most bitter torments though his legges were not broken as the theeues were Christ breathing out his soule with a most violent death was as it were rent in two parts according to his humane Nature This word then hath a MARVELLOVS EXPRESSE SIGNIFICATION that the figure should fullie agree with the thing it selfe to wit that the breaking of the bread should represent to our minds the verie death of Christ. Peter Martyr hauing made your obiection that a bone of Christ was not broken resolueth But heereof I will not greatly contend for somuch as this breaking is by many Fathers referred to the body of Christ. With whom the wordes following doe make broken for you which indeed leadeth me to consent vnto them and to acknowledge a double breaking one in the bread another in the bodie of Christ. Bullinger sayth The bread is properlie sayd to be broken the bodie of man to be slaine howbeit in the Hebrue tongue to breake is to waste to kill and destroy And so the visible bread which in our sight is broken with our hands doth certeinly set before our eyes that bodie of Christ which was broken or done to death by vs or for vs. So Haymo q Christ himselfe brake the bread which he deliuered to his Disciples to shew that the breaking and suffering of his bodie came not but of his owne accord Which wordes he tooke out of Beda vpon the Gospels of Marke and Luke Before whom Prosper When the host is broken and the bloud is powred out into the mouthes of the faithfull what other thing is designed than the doing to death of the Lords bodie on the crosse and the shedding of the bloud out of his side And likewise Austen The table of thy spouse sayth he to the Church hath bread
content the Reader nor conclude the gaine-sayer I must haue leaue in larger maner as occasion serueth both to repell the Defenders bold presumptions and to confirme those things which I take to be safer Resolutions in Christian Religion The principall things which you would haue noted Sir Discourser are either defectiue in their diuisions or coincident in their partes or repugnant to your purpose All suffering of paines in man you say is from God either properly from his Iustice or from his holy loue either from himselfe alone or also from his instruments and inferiour meanes and that for sinne either inherent or imputed either as Correction or as punishment either immediatly or mediatly as anon we shall further see Not one of these foure partitions which you make the fortresse of your cause is sound and sufficient and the fift is the selfe-same with the second it onely varieth in words In these two diuisions all suffering of paines in man is from Gods Iustice or from his holy loue either as correction or as punishment you roue obscurely but absurdly at the ground the measure the purpose of all paines and punishments as they come from God on all men be they wicked or godly Christ himselfe not excepted either in this world or the next For the GROVND of them you say they proceed from Gods iustice properly or from his holy loue The MEASVRE and PVRPOSE of them you confound in saying either as correction or as punishment which you should distinguish From Gods iustice properly on men infected with sinne commeth nothing but punishment that is their due which the iust Iudge awardeth them From Gods loue of it selfe commeth nothing but grace and blisse for which cause he is the fountaine of Grace and father of Mercy to such as he loueth In the reprobate God hateth their sinnes and so their persons being the committers or inheriters of sinne still abiding In the elect Gods holinesse disliketh their sinnes as much as the others but their persons he loueth and fauoureth for Christ his sonne in whom they are chosen And though the full and due punishment of their sinne which is spirituall and eternall death be translated from them and abolished in Christ yet when men redeemed and freed from the heauie burden of their sinnes doe not earnestly repent them or eftsoones frequent them God for the conseruation of his holinesle and demonstration of his righteous iudgement to all the world doth sooner and sharper visit and punish with the corporall and temporall scourges of this life his owne children neglecting or resuming their sinnes than his enemies whom with longer patience he suffereth to heape vp wrath against the day of wrath A iudgement mercilesse therfore as S. Iames calleth it is and shall be to the wicked whereas in the godly mercy reioyceth against iudgement but not without iustice For iudgement which in God can neuer be without iustice since he is the righteous Iudge of the world must begin at the house of God and when we are iudged we are chastened with a mercifull iudgement that we should not be condemned with the world And though in the afflictions of the godly there be many things added of fauour as the measure which is tolerable not ouerwhelming their patience the purpose which is holy to recall them from the delight and custome of sinne and to perfit the graces of God in them the comfort which is great that God loueth their persons when he pursueth their sinnes the promise which is sure that if they suffer with Christ they shall reigne with Christ and such like yet the smart of Gods rod and sharpnesse of his whip wherewith he awaketh the negligent and tameth the vnruly proceed from his iust iudgement and commend his holinesse which hateth all sinne in whomsoeuer and declare his iustice to the whole world that he wincketh not either at the waiwardnesse or at the carelesnesse of his owne children The places in Scripture witnessing thus much are infinite and easie for euery childe to obserue and therefore one shall suffice for all To his Church God sayth by the mouth of Ieremie Though I vtterly destroy all the Nations where I haue scattred thee yet will I not vtterly destroy thee but I will correct thee by iudgement and not vtterly cut thee off I haue stricken thee with the wound of an enemie and with a cruell chastisement for the multitude of thine iniquities thy sinnes were increased Thy sorrow is incurable for the number of thine offences ‖ because ‖ thy sinnes were increased I haue done these things vnto thee ‖ But ‖ I will restore health to thee and heale thee of thy wounds The godly in this world doe suffer paines for their sinnes but these whatsoeuer they be yea though death it selfe are improperly called punishments they are chasticements of sinne This new Grammer doth best become your newe doctrine All paines for sinnes whatsoeuer suffered by any of the elect in this life are chasticements but in no wise you may indure to haue them called punishments except very improperly What is a chasticement properly but a punishment moderated with loue and mercy And since you be so precise that no paine suffered by any of Gods children may properly be called a punishment whence I pray you is the word punishment deriued not from the Latine word punire to punish and punio from Poena which our English tongue resembling the Latine calleth paine so that paine and punishment are wordes of one deriuation and so properly of one signification and by force of the wordes properly all paine for sinne is punishment for sinne And therefore in all mens iudgements sauing yours chasticement is a punishment tempered with fauor and not a paine excluding all punishment as you make it in your dissolute diuision Read either the text or notes of the Geneuian Translation of the Bible which you would seeme so much to follow or whose translation you will and see whether they doe not contradict your childish conceite that the Chasticement of Gods children is no punishment Moses was punished for their sakes and againe God doth not punish with the hart the Wiseman speaking vnto God with how great circumspection saith he wilt thou punish thine owne children And vpon those words of Ieremie O Lord correct me but with iudgement not in thine anger they of Geneua note He onely prayeth that God would PVNISH THEM with mercie which Esay calleth in measure ca. 27. for here by iudgement is ment not onely the PVNISHMENT but also the MERCIFVLL MODERATION of the same So that Chastisement noteth the measure of the punishment which God fauourably inflicteth on his children not according to their sinnes nor exceding their strength He hath not dealt with us saith Dauid after our sinnes nor rewarded vs according to our iniquities There hath no tentation taken you saith Paul but such as belongeth to men and God is faithfull
had God chiefly respected the execution of his iustice against sinne his owne sonne was most vnfit to be subiected to that vengeance which was prepared for deuils but God in the recompense which he required for sinne chose rather to haue his holinesse contented and his glory aduanced than to haue his iustice inflicted to the vttermost And therefore he selected the person of his owne sonne that might fully satisfie his holinesse and maruellously exalt his glorie but on whom of all others his iustice could take least holde not that his iustice should be neglected but that a moderate punishment in his person for the worthinesse thereof would weigh more euen in the balance of Gods exact iustice than the depth of Gods wrath executed on all the transgressours The chastisement of our peace layd vpon him will proue the same For where the wages of sinne is death and death due to sinne is threefold spirituall corporall and eternall as I haue formerly shewed such was the person of our Sauiour that two parts of death due to sinne could by no rule of Gods iustice fasten on Christes humane nature The gifts of Gods spirit and grace could not be quenched nor diminished in him he was full of grace and trueth he had not the spirit by measure as we haue but of his fulnesse we all haue receiued It is my father saith he that honoureth me whom ye say to be your God yet haue ye not knowen him but I know him and if I should say I know him not I should be a liar like vnto you but I know him and keepe his word and do alwayes the things that please him The cleerenesse of trueth knowing Gods will and fulnesse of grace keeping his word beeing continually present with the humane soule of Christ most apparently the death of the soule which excludeth all inward sense and motion of Gods spirit could haue no place in him by reason the death of the soule is the want of all grace and height of all sinne from which he was free much lesse could any part of Christs manhood by Gods iustice be condemned to euerlasting death or to hell fire since there could nothing befall the humanitie of Christ which was vnfit for his Diuinitie they both being inseparably ioyned together or repugnant to that loue which God so often professed and proclamed from heauen or iniurious to the innocencie and obedience which God so highly accepted and rewarded or preiudiciall to mans saluation which God so long before purposed and promised No weight of sinne no heat of wrath no rigour of iustice could preuaile against the least of these to cast Christ out of heauen and combine him with diuels in the second death which is the lake burning with fire and brimstone There is onely left the third kinde of death which is corporall to which Christ yeelded himselfe willingly for the conseruation of Gods iustice who inflicted that paine on all men as the generall punishment of sinne for the demonstration of his power who by death ouercame death together with the cause and consequents thereof and for the consolation of the godly that they should not faint vnder the crosse nor feare what sinne and Satan could do against them It was loue then in God towards vs to giue his sonne for vs So God loued the world that he gaue his only begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue life euerlasting but farre greater loue to his sonne than to vs though the burden of our sinnes which we could not beare were layd vpon him For since God hath adopted vs through Christ Iesus vnto himselfe and made vs accepted in his beloued of force he must be much better beloued for whose sake we all are beloued And if to make the world by his sonne were an excellent demonstration of Gods euerlasting and exceeding loue towards his sonne to send him into the world that the world through him might be saued doth as farre in honour and loue exceed the former as our Redemption by which heauen is inherited doth passe our creation whereby the earth was first inhabited Neither was it possible that God should remit the rigor of iustice against sinne for the loue of any but onely of his owne sonne whom because he loued as deerely as himselfe and had made heire of all things worthily and rightly did the wrath of God against man asswage and yeeld to the loue of God towards his owne sonne against whom no punishment could proceed but such as was fatherly and serued rather to witnesse obedience than to execute vengeance For though you Sir Discourser in the height of your vnlearned skill resolue that Christ could suffer no chastisement but all his sufferings were the true and proper punishment or iust vengeance of God for sinne yet the Prophet Esay telleth vs the chastisment of our peace was vpon him and the word Musar which the Prophet there vseth deriued from Iasar is the proper word that in the Scripture signifieth the correction of a father towards his sonne and of God likewise towards his Church Chastise thy sonne saith Salomon while there is hope As a father chasteneth his sonne ‖ so ‖ the Lord chasteneth thee sayth Moses to Israel My Sonne refuse not the chastening of the Lord. Blessed is the man whom thou Lord doest chasten The like may be seene by those that will looke Deutr. 21. vers 18. Ierem. 2. vers 30. Ierem. 31. vers 18. Psal. 118. vers 18. The Apostle concurreth with the Prophet Esay touching Christes sufferings and sayth Though he were the sonne yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered He learned obedience which is the subiection of a sonne to his fathers chastisement he tasted not vengeance which is the indignation of an enemie requiting Yea the very death which Christ suffered in the body of his flesh was so farre from being an effect of Gods proper wrath that it was an increase of Gods loue towards him and as well the price of our Redemption as the cause of all his honor following Therefore the Father loueth me sayth our Sauiour because I lay downe my soule or life to take it againe And so much the Prophet foretolde Therefore will I giue him sayth God a part in many things and he shall diuide the spoile of or with the mightie because he poured out his soule or life vnto death Which the Apostle sheweth to be thus verified in Christ. He humbled himselfe being obedient vnto the death euen the death of the Crosse. Wherefore God also highly exalted him and gaue him a name aboue euery name that in the name of Iesu euery knee should bow of things celestiall terrestrial and infernall euery tongue confesse that Iesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the father All power honour and iudgement in heauen earth and hell are therefore deliuered
raging lustes and vntamed affections as he did in Cain Saul Achitophel Iudas and dayly doth in all the wicked In the outward punishments of this life where God turneth the furie and violence of his creatures to reuenge sinne and the seruice of men Angels and deuils to pursue the wicked to their destruction and to chastise his owne to their conuersion the hand of God doth euery where appeare by the Scriptures but that is nothing to your immediate suffering of the soule For first in them God vseth his creatures as his agents and instruments and where his immediate hand may happily be conceaued to worke without meanes there he punisheth the soule by the bodie which by your owne position is not the proper and immediate suffering of the soule In the feare shame and griefe which the soule here conceaueth vpon the denouncing conuicting or beholding of her owne vncleannesse and the terrible iudgements of God against sinne the power trueth and iustice of God are euident but not that immediate hand of God which you imagine For in this case God punisheth the soule by her selfe that is by her intellectiue or sensitiue faculties letting her plainely perceiue what ioy is lost and what vengeance is prouided for all the workers of wickednesse The losse of which blisse and terrour of which vengeance apprehended by outward sense or inward intelligence cannot but mightily grieue and afflict the soule And the greater the losse that is irreuocable as also the soarer the mischiefe that is ineuitable the deeper is the wound that either of them make in the heart of man But this feare and griefe whiles here men liue proceede from the cogitation and perswasion of the minde and conscience and not from the immediate hand of God And in the world to come the horrour of hell and rage of fire which God hath ordained to punish the soule shall inflict an intollerable torment not rising from the minds and wils of the wicked as in this world it doth but impressed by an externall and violent agent which is the meanes that God hath prepared to execute vengeance on men and deuils How beit in none of all these appeareth that immediate suffering of the soule from the hand of God alone which you so much talke of and to which you would so faine subiect the soule of Christ to make him suffer the substance of that which the damned according to your dreame doe feele in hell For in your conceit of the soules immediate suffering from the hand of God the soule must onely be a patient and no agent and God must inflict the paine on the soule with his owne hand and not by any meanes without or within the soule onely the soule must feele and discerne the present and inherent paine by her passiue power and facultie by which she is capable of all paine whence soeuer or howsoeuer it commeth This kind of suffering you euery where affirme you no where prooue and that which is most absurd you presume against the cleare words of the holy Ghost continually naming the fire of hell and threatning the wicked with it to allegorize the Scriptures at your pleasure and in stead of fire which God hath ordained and armed as a most dreadfull meanes to take vengeance of sinne you suppose a certaine paine which God with his immediate hand will inflict on the soules of the damned and that you make the substance of hell paines and fasten it to the soule of Christ for the time before he could worke our redemption or suffer the punishment of our sinnes But sir Discourser this is rather dreaming then debating of matters of faith to allegorize whatsoeuer standeth in your way and in stead thereof to imagine what you please without either proofe or pretence out of the word of God as if your mouth were the rule of Religion or the trueth of God would vanish by your fantasticall figures and shadowes Wherefore leaue your deuising and auouching what best liketh your vnquiet humour in so weightie matters of mans Redemption and tye your tongue if not your heart to the wordes of the holy Ghost that at least you may beare the shew if not the sense of a Christian man For I vtterly denie that God is either the immediate tormentour of soules in hell which is your idle and absurd imagination or that with his immediate hand God did torment the soule of his Sonne at any time here on earth as the soules of the damned are tormented in hell which is your witlesse and wicked assertion For proofe you produce the words of â—…say affirming of Christ that the Lord layed vpon him the punishment of vs all but in this as your maner is you hit neither the words nor the meaning of the Prophet The word is HAAVAH to be crooked or to go aâ—…rie and so by translation signifieth the crookednesse oâ—… wickednesse of mans life which the Prophet testifieth was layd vpon Christ in saying the Lord layd vpon him the iniquitie of vs all But grant it may sometimes by the ioyning of other words import anie punishment allotted to wickednesse doth the Prophet say that God layed all the punishment due to sinne vpon Christ or that God layed it vpon the soule of Christ both which you inferre out of the Prophets words though neither be there expressed or thence to be concluded S. Peter will tell you on what part of Christ God layd our sinnes euen on his bodie Himselfe bare our sinnes saith Peter in his bodie on the tree Now where Christ did beare them there God did lay them Christ bare them in his bodie as Peter affirmeth God therefore layd our sinnes on his bodie that by suffering death on the Crosse which was the wages of sinne Christ might make the purgation of our sinnes in his owne person Againe the sense which you would sowe to the Prophets words that God layd vpon him all our punishment that is as you would haue it all the punishment which we should haue suffered is false and wicked For so Christ must haue suffered reiection desperation and eternall damnation which the damned doe suffer and we should haue suffered had we not beene redeemed If you meane no more than the Scripture intendeth that what Christ suffered for vs in the bodie of his flesh on the Crosse was the full redemption and satisfaction for all our sinnes then are you wide from concluding out of these words that Christ suffered the paines of hell or the full vengeance due to our sinne by the immediate hand of God which is the chiefe point that you aime at This is all the proofe you offer out of the Scriptures for the immediate suffering of the soule of Christ from the hand of God and what sturdie stuffe this is the rudest reader that lighteth on your pamphlet of Defence will soone conceiue If you keepe this course in the rest of your positions the world will soone be wearie of your new-found fansies if
you be not of your manifest follies But Christ suffered you say the substance of hell-paines though not the circumstances of place and time which the damned do suffer for they are not of the nature and essence of hell To make God the tormentor of Christs soule heere on earth with his immediate hand and so of all the damned soules in hell you brought vs the words of the Prophet Esay the Lord â—…ayd vpon him the iniquitie of vs all for this seraphicall sequestration of the substance from the circumstances of hell which mysterie of iniquitie you begin now to broach what Prophet or Apostle can you produce Dare you Sir Discourser out of the hazard of your owne head pull in pieces Gods setled reuealed and eternall iudgement against sinne and with the worme of your owne wit wrest in sunder the substance of hell from the circumstance thereof What will you not aduenture in earth that attempt this in hell or what shall be free from your forge that offer to make vs a new essence and nature of hell and heauen If you can deâ—…se or intend to mingle your toyes with Gods truth and with sillie sleights of Sophistrie which you thinke Philosophie subâ—…ert maine points of Diuinitie your leasure is great but your labour is leaud In the secrets of the next world none of the godlie euer presumed to debate or determine any thing speciallie touching hell or heauen without the manifest precedence or sequence of holie Scripture You had need therefore Sir Deuiser to be well aduised it is no small presumption and intrusion against Gods wisedome power and counsell to eleuate and frustrate the paines which he hath appointed for the wicked in hell and to coâ—…e fresh and new in stead thereof which God hath not ordained I professe to all the world I dare not depart from so often and earnest words of Christ himselfe nor allegorize the sentence of the Iudge which shall be pronounced on the reprobate both men and angels and executed in the sight of all the elect not by any figures and metaphors but by the terror of the things themselâ—…es matching the trueth of the words which Christ shall vtter And he 〈◊〉 I assure thee Christian Reader I â—…warue not either from the continuall tenor of the Scriptures nor from the full consent of Christs church howsoeuer this Deuiser flatte himselfe in his new inuention But let vs trace him in his owne path and controll him with the leâ—…ell of Gods trueth What can be more substantiall to any iudgement or punishment than the sentence of the Iudge and specially of such a Iudge as with his will word and power decreeth pronounceth and setlâ—…th all things in heauen earth and hell If then this Iudge in his sentence of condemnation appoint the PLACE and TIME to be parts of the punishmenâ—…s inflicted on the damned tell vs I pray you why some parts of the sentence be moâ—…e essentiall to the punishment than others or why all being parts alike they should not all be equally of the substance of the iudgement Depart from me ye cursed unto euerlasting fire prepared FOR THE DIVELL AND HIS ANGELS is the sentence to be pronounced on all the wicked that shall be damned Of the continuance there can be no question but here it is expresly mentioned that it shal be EVERLASTING For the place it is as plaine by the witnesse of the Scripture which maketh no fire euerlasting but onely hell-fire Our Sauiour twice in one chapter ioyneth the one as an exposition to the other and thrice almost with one breath affirmeth euerlasting fire to be the fire of hell It is better to enter into life mâ—…imed than hauing two hands or two feet to be cast INTO HELI INTO THE FIRE THAT NEVER SHALL BE QVENCHED VVHERE their worme neuer dieth AND THE FIRE NEVER GOETH OVT No fire is euerlasting but onely hell-fire Christ therefore in his sentence including the one implieth the other as part of his iudgement against the reprobate and maketh both time and place essentiall parts in the punishment of the damned And when he sayth DEPART from me ye cursed forsomuch as there shal be then no places left but heauen for the blessed and hell for the cursed he doth not exclude them from the one but by appointing them to the other Besides that fire which is prepared for the diuell and his angels is no where but in hell and therefore adiudging them to that fire he doth euidentlie adiudge them to hell fire Since then no man is or shall be damned but only to hell and that for euer the place and continuance are expresse and so essentiall parts of the iudgement and consequently of the punishment that is and shall be inflicted on all the damned For the iudgement which then shall be openly pronounced is immutablie decreed and alreadie reuealed by the Iudge himselfe and therefore vnchangeable to all that aâ—…e or shal be damned and executed on that part of the wicked which is extant I meane their soules assoone as they depart this life though their bodies be yet in the dust as afterward shal be shewed Most vainly then and falsely doe you slide betweene the substance and circumstance of hell-paines since the name of hell-paines doth necessarilie and naturallie import the place of torment where those paines are which is hell and out of which place they are not els might they be called aswell aëriall or terrestâ—…iall paines as hell paines if they were found aswell in the aire or on the earth as in hell But the Scripture hath resolued vs there is a â—… place of torment after this life which is called hell and the torments there so farre exceed all the paines of this life not only for perpetuitie but also for intolerable acerbitie and grauitie that they are iustly called hell-paines as proper to the place where diuels and damned persons shal be punished with euerlasting fire And where you would seeme out of the dregs of Philosophie to borrow the difference of the substance and circumstance of hell-paines you vnderstand not what you say For euen by the rules of Philosophie there are no circumstances in things perpetuall and immutable Circumstances must often varie els are they no circumstances if they be eternall and necessarie consequents Since then time and place do not alter in anie of the damned for all that are damned are cast into hell for euer though all suffer not like paines if there be any circumstances in hell they are rather in the degrees and differences of paine which you make the substance of hell than in the place or perpetuitie of the torment which neuer varie in any of the damned And since you will needs be medling with Philosophie I pray you Sir Discourser if Christ suffered the substance of damnation as you auouch doth not your doctrine plainlie conclude the Sauiour of the world to be damned for which shall truely attribute the name of anie thing
of it The end and vse of parables which are allegoricall similitudes ouâ—… Sauiour confessed when his disciples asked him Why speakest thou to them in parables Who answered because it is giuen to you to know the secrets of the kingdome of heauen but to them it is not giuen To them that are without all things are done in parables that seeing they may see and not discerne and hearing they may heare and not vnderstand Then serue parables and allegories which are both one to hide the meaning of the speaker and to darken the vnderstanding of the hearer But the Iudgement of Christ hath cleane contrarie purposes and must haue plaine and proper speech that the whole world may heare it with their eares vnderstand it with their hearts and see it executed with their eyes For how should allegories or metaphores be executed by Gods Angels who shall be the ministers in that iudgement or how shall all the elect concurre with Christ in iudgement if he vse metaphores and allegories knowen onely to himselfe It is euident therefore the generall and finall sentence by which the wicked shall be adiudged to euerlasting fire must haue in it no figures nor allegories but onely plaine and proper speech which must be heard and vnderstood of all good and bad and be presently put in execution by the ministers that attend that Iudgement A third is that where parables by reason of their darknesse must be expounded before they can be conceiued when Christ doth declare the meaning of them his exposition of necessitie must be in plaine and proper words lest a darke and doubtfull exposition breed a further confusion in the mindes of the hearers than the parable it selfe The parable of the good seed sowed by the owner of the ground and of tares sowed by the enemie as also of the haruest and reapers when the Disciples of Christ prayed him to declare vnto them he expounded it in these words The sower of the good seed is the sonne of man the field is the world the good seed are the children of the kingdome the tares are the children of the wicked the enemie that soweth them is the diuell the haruest is the end of the world and the Reapers be the Angels As then the tares are gathered and burned in the fire so shall it be in the end of the world The Sonne of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his kingdome all offences and the workers of iniquitie and shall cast them into a furnace of fire there shal be wailing and gnashing of teeth And vpon occasion of the parable of the draw-net cast into the sea and gathering all kinds of men and after seuering the good from the bad our Sauiour repeating the same exposition in the same words So shall it be in the end of the world the angels shall go forth and seuer the bad from among the iust and shall cast them into a fornace of fire sayd to his Disciples Vnderstand ye all these things and they sayd to him Yea Lord. The parable they vnderstood not but this they vnderstood The fire therefore into which the wicked shall be cast is no parabolicall but a plaine and proper speech Againe Christ expoundeth the parable by it it is therefore no allegorie but a true and proper speech by which Christ opened the obscuritie of the parable and his Disciples presently conceiued his meaning by the proprietie and perspicuitie of his words Then that the Angels of God in the end of the world shall seuer the wicked and cast them into a furnace of fire is an euident plaine and proper speech easie to be vnderstood of euerie Christian by the verie hearing of the words vttered without recourse to you Sir Deuiser to helpe allegorize them or to bring in stead of them the immediat soules suffering which you still auouch but neuer take the paines to proue or vse the meanes to vnfold Fourthly your new conceit hath no coherence with the sense or words of the Holy ghost but either he must correct his speech wheresoeuer he mentioneth the fire of hell or you must recall your fansie who suppose an inward paine in the soule from the immediat hand of God to be hell fire For if that which you call hell fire be only within the soules of the wicked how can they DEPART GO or BE CAST INTO HELL FIRE which by your imagination is cast into them not they into it And therefore when our Sauiour so often affirmeth that the wicked shall be cast into hell fire and iudicially willeth them to depart from him into euerlasting fire you must set him to schoole and teach him to speake righter and according to your opinion to say that hell fire shal be cast into them But if these be fooleries most vnfit for any Christian man to controll the sonne of God in his speech and to condemne him of open and childish ignorance as not knowing the difference betwixt an externall and internall fire then learne to reuerence the veritie and grauitie of the word of God and to confesse that he which seeth and setleth all things in heauen earth and hell cannot so forget himselfe as to mistake the one for the other For if the fire be a violent externall and locall agent into which the wicked shal be cast then are the words of our Sauiour and of the Prophets and Apostles most proper and pertinent to the matter but if that fire which shall torment the damned be nothing but an internall paine rising within the soule by the immediat hand of God then are all the speeches of the Holy ghost expressing their punishment wide from the sense and dissonant from the truth of that which you suppose they would deliuer Dauid describing the vengeance that God at the last will execute on the wicked sayth Vpon the wicked God will raine snares fire and brimstone This raining vpon them sheweth that the meanes and matter of their torment shall be without them and not an anguish onely rising within them as you imagine of hell fire The diuell that deceiued them was cast sayth S. Iohn into a lake of fire and brimstone and whosoeuer was not found written in the booke of life was cast into the lake of fire The Holy ghost by your direction must haue sayd the lake of fire was cast into the diuell and into euery one that was not found written in the booke of life It is better sayth our Sauiour to enter into life maimed than hauing two hands to goe into hell into the fire that neuer shall be quenched Our Sauiour by your doctrine is not well aduised so to speake when he should haue sayd It is better to enter into life maymed than hell fire to goe into you And when Christ foretelleth that the Angels shall seuer the badde and cast them into a furnace of fire he committeth two great ouersights by your new Diuinity the first
person onely but also in his members Then first you be slipt from your former resolutio deliuered in your Treatise which is no strange thing in your writings There your words were I take it to be cleare the Apostle HERE SPEAKETH NOT of the personall sufferings of Christ but of the godly You there denie that Paul speaketh of Christs personall sufferings but of the godly Here you affirme hee speaketh of both and least you should seeme to diuide them you adde Paul doth here ioyntly together vnderstand by Christs crosse the afflictions of the whole mysticall bodie both head and members A large and long Crosse of Christ that conteineth not onely his owne death and passion and whatsoeuer persecution he suffered in his life time but ioyntly together all the asflictions of the godly from the beginning of the world to the end I will not aske you where you find or how you proue Christs crosse to be so vsed in the Scriptures you that take vpon you to frame new Redemptions new hels and new heauens to your fansie will not sticke to frame a new Crosse of Christ without any Scripture howbeit know this all wise will beware of such expositions as haue neither example nor ground in the word of God For though our Sauiour sometimes said If any will come after me let him denie himselfe and take vp his Crosse and follow me yet he neuer said let him take vp my Crosse and follow mee and Paul who often vseth the word Crosse without addition many times the Crosse of Christ neuer taketh it in all his Epistles for the afflictions of the godly but onely for the spitefull and shamefull death which Christ in his owne person suffered on the Crosse. So that howsoeuer euery Christian may be said to take or beare his Crosse the Scriptures no where apply the Crosse of Christ but only to the force and fruit of Christes death suffered on the Crosse for vs and our saluation which is the sense that I affirme Saint Paul here intended But the markes afflictions and DYING OF THE LORD IESVS are vsed in this and other places of the Scripture to signifie the afflictions of the godly Those places haue speciall wordes adioyned which can not bee referred to the person of Christ but must of force belong to the speaker or sufferer As I beare IN MY BODY the markes of the Lord Iesus saith Paul and againe I fulfill the rest of the afflictions of Christ IN MY FLESH And so we beare about IN OUR BODIE the dying of the Lord Iesus Where these words in my bodie and in my flesh are proper to the speaker and no way deriueable to the person of Christ. Wherefore the markes afflictions and dying of the Lord must either import a resemblance to the personall sufferings of Christ or demonstrate the cause for which the Apostle suffered which was for Christs sake and in this is no difficultie to suffer affliction in like manner as Christ did or to suffer it for Christs cause But the Crosse of Christ whereof the Apostle speaketh in my Text was that at which the Iewes were so greatly offended for which the true preachers were so sharpely persecuted to which the false teachers ioyned circumcision for the better attayning of saluation in which the godly most reioyced and by which the faithfull were crucified to the world and the world to them and all these are proper to the personall death and crosse of Christ as he was the Sauiour of the world and not common to the afflictions of the Saints It was a question of doctrine not of manners for which the Apostle so much striued and the highest point of mans redemption not of mans perfection in which he so much gloried For touching other mens miseries how should Paul reioyce in them or how should he by them be crucified to the world and the world to him He had good cause to reioyce in the death of Christ though it were neuer so much maligned and pursued by the Iewes because it was the wisedome and power of God to saue all that beleeued and in his owne troubles for Christes quarrell hee might reioyce as hauing thereby fellowship with Christs afflictions and made conformable to his death but to reioyce at other mens troubles that hath no warrant in the word of God Reioyce saith Paul with them that reioyce and weepe with them that weepe Wee may take comfort and giue God thankes that the faithfull haue grace to endure persecution with patience and courage but that affliction befalleth them we may not be glad For that is to reioyce at other mens harmes which is repugnant to the rule of charitie Neither could Paul be crucified to the world by other mens troubles long before dead or then vnborne examples might encourage the weake but Paul was strong and proposed himselfe as a paterne of patience suffering persecution And therefore this haling into the Crosse of Christ the afflictions of all the godly that euer were or shall be as if the Apostle so highly reioyced in them and were crucified to the world by them is wholy against the haire and hath neither dependence nor coherence with the Apostles words Besides you doe not or will not vnderstand the maine point here in question betwixt the Apostle and those false teachers of the Iewes whom he reprooueth and refuteth in this Epistle You say indeede It is manifest the Apostle here Gala. 6. v. 12. reprooueth the false teachers for mingling the pure doctrine because they were loth to taste persecution but you neither tell vs what the Gospell was which they thus mingled with circumcision nor why they feared persecution nor from whom which things if you would haue specified as the Scriptures deliuer them you should soone haue perceiued how properly the Apostle addeth for the Crosse of Christ and how rightly I referred these words to the force and fruite of Christs death which is the summe and substance of the Gospell What the Gospel was which Paul preached appeareth plainly by his owne words We preach saith he Christ crucified vnto the Iewes a scandall or offence and vnto the Grecians foolishnesse but vnto them which are called both of the Iewes and Greekes Christ the power of God and wisedome of God to saue all that beleeue For Christ is made of God to vs righteousnesse redemption and sanctification to the end That he which reioyceth might reioyce in the Lord. In so much that I esteemed not to know any thing among you sayth Paul saue Iesus Christ and him crucified So that Christ crucified the Crosse of Christ the preaching of the Crosse and the Gospell of Iesu Christ are phrases of like force vsed by Paul for one and the selfe same word of trueth which is the doctrine of our saluation by the death and blood of Christ. Christ sent me saith he to preach THE GOSPEL not with wisedome of words least
like persons and cause were vndertaken by the Apostle You only are found Sir Discourser that to shew neither learning nor reading but a presumptious ouerweening of your owne witte will needs make the Reader beleeue I vnderstand not the Text. But let vs heare your pure conceit how currantly it carrieth with it the words and circumstances of the Text. They vrge you to be circumcised onely least they should suffer persecution for the crosse of Christ saith Paul of those false teachers which peruerted the truth of the Gospell among the Galathians by teaching circumcision and the righteousnesse of the Law to be necessarie to saluation How expound you these words of the Apostle he may say you be vnderstood to say that he would not suffer persecution for commending the afflictions and shame of good Christians for Christs sake You should say THEY would not suffer persecution vnlesse you put Paul into the number of false teachers but that might be the scape of your Printer Come to your owne ouersights First then Christs personall sufferings are here quite excluded for Christ I trust shall haue an other title with you then the name of a good Christian among the many and so the crosse of Christ in this place by your exposition doth both exclude and include the proper sufferings of Christ. For afore you said here Paul doth ioyntly together vnderstand by Christs crosse the afflictions of the whole mysticall body of Christ both head and members Secondly where euer read you in the Scriptures that the Iewes raized persecutions against any for commending the afflictions of the godly If it be a truth name vs the place and the persons if it be a dreame of yours keepe it to your selfe the Scriptures can expound themselues without your â—…ansies That the Iewes had a furious disdaine and hatred against the person of Christ and specially against the shame and reproch of his crosse and for his sake against all that preached or beleeued him to be the Messias so long before promised and his death to be the Redemption of tâ—…e world the Euangelistes and Apostles euery where in their writings giue full testimony Paul himselfe first persecuting the Christians vnto death and afterward as sharply pursued by the Iewes for the very same cause best knew what offence the Iewes tooke at the infamous death of Christ on the crosse and how egerly they were bent against all that durst professe the name of Christ and therefore could speake in this case out of his owne experience that not the commending of the afflictions of the godly but the preaching of Christs death on the crosse to be the saluation of the world was the point that so much irritated the Iewes to lay violent hands on the Christians Thirdly did circumcision hinder the commending of the afflictions of the godly the Apostles and first spreaders of the Gospell as also Paul himselfe were circumcised and yet the chiefest fauourers and encouragers of the afflicted Christians so that circumcision was no impediment to like and allow the afl ictions of the godly But as Paul saw himselfe to be most odious to the Iewes because they held opinion of him that he taught all men euery where against the people the Law and the Temple and indeed he boldly professed that in Christ Iesus neither circumcision auayled any thing nor vncircumcision and that they were no longer vnder the Law since Christ had redeemed both Iew and Gentile from the curse and bondage of the Law so he could not but discerne the drift of those false teachers who to flatter the Iewes and to claw fauour with the enimies of Christs crosse taught circumcision and the righteousnesse of the law to be necessary vnto saluation as if the death of Christ without them could profit vs nothing You doe therefore not expound but peruert the words of Paul which I tooke for my text when as he reprouing those false teachers whom he before confuted for adding circumcision and the iustification of the law to the death of Christ thereby to mitigate the malice of the Iewes conceaued against the crosse of Christ you turne the Apostles words from doctrine to manners from preaching to not commending from the death of Christ to the afflictions of Christians and so of the highest point of our Redemption and Saluation by the crosse of Christ you haue found out a cold kind of scant allowing the troubles of the Saints But the Fathers which I brought ouerthrow not your sense they rather iustifie it Whether Augustine Chrysostome Ierome and Bede whom I cited for the sense of this place do take the word Crosse in this very sentence for the personall suffeâ—…ings of Christ on the crosse which was my assertion I referre it to the censure of the Reader vpon the sight of their sayings which he may finde in the conclusion of my Sermons I must confesse mine eyes be not matches if they speake not directly to that purpose Howbeit you haue a speciall gift to make a short returne of all the Fathers with a nihil dicit when they speake against you Indeed you are out of your element when you talke of Fathers for you neither like their credits nor allow their iudgements as in processe we shall more fully shew For the present to satisfie those that be soberly minded and to let all men see to your shame that I tooke my text right though you fondly seeke by your silly conceits to impeach it marke I pray thee Christian Reader whether both elder and later Diuines doe not concurre with me in that sense of Christes crosse which I auouched to be in Pauls words Christ was crucified vnder Pontius Pilate This sayth Augustine we beleeue and we so beleeue it that we reioyce in it Be it farre from me sayth Paul to reioyce but in the crosse of Christ. Happily some man sayth Athanasius beholding the Lord and Sauiour to be condemned of Pilate and crucified of the Iewes will cast downe his head for shame But if we learne the cause why the Lord suffered wee shall cease to blush and rather reioyce as Paul did in the Lords crosse Ignatius in his Epistle to those at Tarsus where Paul was borne sayth mindfull of Paul Holde it for most certaine that the Lord Iesus was truely crucified for Paul sayth Be it farre from me to reioyce but in the crosse of our Lord Iesus and truly suffered and died Cyril Be it farre from me to reioyce but in the crosse of the Lord Iesus Paul sayth he reioyceth in the death of Christ he knew Christ therefore to be God and to haue suffered for vs in the flesh Theodoret thus expresseth Pauls meaning Ego autem propter solam salutarem crucem me iacto mihi placeo I onely boast my selfe on that crosse of Christ which bringeth saluation and therewith I content my selfe Theophylact vpon the same words of Paul Illi inquit circumcisionem hanc
gloriae ducunt à me vero procul sit caeterarum rerum iactantia Licet in vna Christi cruce morte admodum gloriars They sayth Paul count circumcision a glorie farre be it from me to boast in other things It is lawfull for me thorowly to reioyce only in the crosse and dâ—…ath of Christ Iesus Some will aske How or why doest thou reioyce in the Lords crosse For that he was crucified for my sake which aâ—… no bodie and loued me so deerely that he offered himselfe to death for me Oecumenius What is this reioycing in Christs crosse which Paul speaketh of That for vs who were vnworthy Christ would be crucified for that is the cause we haue to glorie Haymo vpon the same place in the person of Paul sayth I will not reioyce in the riches and dignities of this world but in the crosse of Christ that is I will reioyce in his passion which was celebrated on the crosse whence is my redemption and saluation Moe I might easily bring but these for antiquitie may suffice The grauest and exactest of the new writers agree with the Fathers Bullinger Whereas Paul might haue vsed a simple kinde of affirmation ONLY THE DEATH OF CHRIST is sufficient for me to saluation he chose rather to expresse it by the way of detestation and to say Farre be it from me to reioyce but in the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ. Where againe the second time by the crosse he meaneth the death sacrifice and expiation of the Lord Christ and the whole worke of our redemption Gualter in his 59. homilie vpon that Epistle sayth Now Paul opposeth himselfe to those false teachers declaring how he himselfe is affected and vpon that occasion repeateth the Summe of his doctrine touching the redemption and saluation of mankind in these words Be it farre from me to reioyce but in the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ. He might haue sayd simply I reioyce only in Christ crucified in whose crosse I know there is reposed for me life and saluation But he vseth such a kind of speech as teacheth vs their insolencie was an abominable and capitall offence Caluin a man for his great paines in the Church of God worthy of great praise where he steppeth not too much aside from the ancient Fathers expounding these words of Paul sayth To reioyce in Christs crosse is as much as in Christ crucified but that it expresseth more for it signifieth that death of Christs which was full of reproch and shame and was accursed of God That death then which men abhorre and whereof they are ashamed in that death Paul sayth he reioyceth because he hath perfect blessednesse therein Piscator in his Scholies vpon Pauls Epistle to the Galathians noting what crosse of Christ it was for which the false teachers would not suffer persecution sayth Ob crucem Christs id est ob doctrinam Euangelij de salute part a per solam Christi crucem they would not suffer persecution for the crosse of Christ that is for the doctrine of the Gospell teaching saluation to be purchased by the crosse of Christ only There is not a new writer of any iudgement or diligence which ioyneth not with these and howsoeuer some of them withall auouch that Paul meant to shew by this opposing himselfe to these false teachers that hee shunned not persecution for the crosse of Christ as they did but reioyced in the doctrine of the crosse by which the elect are saued what affliction soeuer befell him therefore yet they deriue that part of Pauls meaning not from the confused signification of Christs crosse as you doe but either from the EFFICACIE thereof by which Paul was crucified to the world and the world to him in neglecting the flattery and enduring the fury of such as opposed themselues against Christ or from the CONFORMITIE to it that as he desired to reigne so he was willing to suffer with Christ and therefore reioyced as well in the fellowship as in the force and effects of Christes sufferings on the crosse or lastly from the CONTRARIETIE to the false teachers that though they adulterated the true doctrine of Christes crosse because they would decline persecution it was Paulâ—… ioy to teach sincerely the power of Christ crucified whosoeuer pursued him for so doing This sinceritie and duetie of the Apostle I am farre from denying but the crosse of Christ I constantly referre to the doctrine of mans redemption and saluation by the crosse of Christ that is by his personall sufferings on the crosse as all those old and new writers do and not to the troubles and afflictions of the godly to which if this Discourser dare ascribe the meane or merit of mans redemption or saluation he falleth from puritie to poperie and from the Christian faith to open heresie Thou seest then gentle Reader how sure ground and iust reason I had to propose that sense of my text which I did as also how vntruely vnwisely and headily this fellow ranne first to the challenging of my text and still vpholdeth his humour with his priuate dreame of Christs crosse conteining ioyntly together all the afflictions of Christ and his members from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof and maketh the false teachers as fearing persecution for the commending of his conceit to ioyne circumcision to the doctrine of the Gospell and so by altering and interlacing Pauls words after his owne fansie hee hath hatched at last an exposition without head or heele which no man vnderstandeth besides himselfe and the Diuines of all ages both new and olde do contradict But I committed another great ouersight in handling my text which was to take occasion from the text to speake of any thing for you count them the faithfullest and wisest handlers of Scripture which conclude euen from their text firmly and first of all what soeuer they afterwards teach thereupon Indeed I thinke your maner be to conclude all that you afterward say euen from your text without the helpe of any other places of Scripture You be so fast in your conceits and so loose in your conclusions that you can inferre any thing of euery thing Euery word you speake you tie to your text as firmly as flax to fire but if you would take the paines once to proue that you say and not only to say that which you should prooue you would finde great difference betwixt the firmnesse of a fansie in which you be so resolute and of an argument which for ought I yet see in your writings you scant make not vnderstand And where you quarrell with such handling of texts as is vsuall in these dayes but no good nor commendable vse your reading must be greater and iudgement better before you take vpon you to controle the Preachers of England for mishandling their texts Many hundreds there are of whom you may learne both how to diuide and how to pursue your theme your skill is not such
Whereupon Pilat maruailed that Christ was so soone dead And the Lord himselfe said None taketh my soule from me but I lay it downe of my selfe I haue power to lay it downe and power to take it againe To which it pertaineth that is written he bowing downe his head gaue vp his spirit for other men first dye and then their heads hang but Christ first laid downe his head and then voluntarily rendered his soule to his Father Many moe might be brought of all ages and places confessing the same but if these suffice not what may be enough I doe not know To decline the Scriptures and Fathers that make against him the Discourser hath deuised two shifts very like the rest of of his tenents that is void of all truth and iudgement I deny not saith he but Christ might shew some strange vnusuall thing apparantly to the beholders in vttering his last voice which might very much mooue the beholders and hâ—…arers Adde hereunto that experience sheweth as Phisitians say how some diseases in the body bring death presently after most strong and violent crying Namely in some excessiue torments as of the stone Things reported and expressed in the Scriptures touching the strange and wonderfull manner of Christs death you deny and dreame of things there no way mentioned to coulour your matter and cosin your Reader That Christ did render his soule into his Fathers hands when as yet neither speech sense memory nor motion began to faile is diligently obserued by the Euangelists and was greatly marueyled at by the Centurion which saw the manner of his death As also that he breathed out his soule of his owne accord when he had spoken those words without any former or other degrees or pangs of death appearing in him is likewise witnessed by the Scriptures and constantly auouched by all the Fathers Saint Luke saith and speaking these words he breat hed out his soule Saint Mathew and crying with a loud voice he dismissed his spirit Saint Marke and sending a strong voice from him he blew out his Soule This did he of his owne accord and power None taking his soule from him as in death they doe ours but declaring himselfe by laying of his soule when he would and as he would to be Lord and master of life and death This is fit for all Christians to confesse least they dishonor the death of Christ by depriuing his person of that power and glory which he openly shewed in the eyes eares of all his persecutors This you shift of and instced thereof imagine some strange and VNVSVALI accident in the manner of Christs death which neither the Scriptures report nor you can expresse wherein you shew your selfe forward to inuent what is not written and backward to beleeue what is written which is the trade of such men as meane to make a shipwracke of their faith That a man may dye crying as Christ did you haue found at length if not from Diuines at least from Phisitians for I perccaue you haue sought all sorts of helps both farre and neere to vphold your fansies Pâ—…rchaunce Phisitians may tell you when a painefull disease possesseth the parts which are no fountaines of life or sense a man may cry till sense and strength begin to faile and so hasten his death by the violent spending of his spirits but that a man may by any course of nature retaine perfect memorie sense motion and speach to the very act of breathing out his soule I assure my selfe no wise Phisitian will affirme And if any more humorous then learned will wade so farre without his Art he must vnderstand that his word may not ouersway the Rules of Diuinitie and Principles of nature For what are the powers and faculties whereby the soule is conioyned with the body but life sense and motion so long then as they last the soule by nature neither doth nor can forsake the body But when sense and motion first outward and then inward are oppressed and ouerwhelmed then life also perisheth and the soule may no longer abide in her body the vnion by which she was fastened vnto it being wholy dissolued Wherefore death which is the priuation of life by Gods ordinance for the punishment of sinne by degrees surpriseth and in the end quencheth all sense and motion and so forceth the soule to forsake her seate which by Gods appointment is violently parted from hir body whether she will or no but neuer till the effects oflife which are sense and motion be first decayed and abolished A sowne is the suddainest ouerwhelming of the powers of life which any natural experience doth teach vs and yet therewith though outward sense and motion doe faile at an instant and the inward be very weake and almost insensible the soule doth not presently depart but stayeth a time till all sense and motion without and within except the partie be recouered be vtterly extinguished Wherefore in all men by necessitie of nature the powers and parts of life decav in some sooner in some later before they die and therefore in Christ on the Crosse it was MIRACVLOVS and aboue nature that hauing full perfect outward and inward sense speech and motion he did in a moment when he would and as he would render his soule into the hands of his Father without any farder decayes or other degrees of death precedent then the very act of breathing out his soule which left his body presently and perfectly dead Thou hast gentle Reader the causes and prooses that mooued me to obserue the manâ—…r of Christes death to bee different from ours which whether they be consonant to the Scriptures and rightly conceiued by those learned and ancient Fathers which I haue named vnto thee I leaue to thy discrecte iudgement assuring thee there is nothing to hinder the maine consent of so many old and new writers in a matter of so great consequence but onely the headdinesse of this discourser who vpon a bare pretence of one peece of Scripture not well vnderstood and worse applied thinketh he may worke wonders and conclude all these graue and sound Expositours to be so ignorant of the sense of that place and so vnable to reach to the depth of those words Christ was LIKE VS IN ALL things that with one accord they would affirme a sine fable a Paradoxe in Nature and contrarie to Scripture Howbeit it is no newes with this man to defend that Christ was distempered ouerwhelmed and all confounded both in all the powers of his soule and senses of his body He boldly auoucheth it was so with Christ before his death in the Garden and on the Crosse and therefore hee presumeth it might much more befall him at his death But let him keepe these secrets to himselfe I doubt not Christian Reader but thou wilt be well aduised before thou put the Sauiour of the world and the Sonne of God out of his wits or senses to make way for
you once denie it For where you affirme that certaine Sacrifices of the Iewes set foorth those sufferings of Christs soule which you meane and I vtterly denied that any sacrifices of the Iewes did shew the suffering of hell paines in Christs soule or any other kind of death besides the death of the body only you take not the paines to make any proofe of that you aâ—…rme but stand in your state and say you deny my assumption As if the negatiue being mine and the affirmatiue yours you were not by all rules of Râ—…ason to prooue your aâ—…atiue and it sufficed me to stand on the negatiue till you made iust proofe of the contrary Here you will say you doe bring proofe for your assertion Here indeed you spend three leaues in talking of it as your manner is howbeit your word is here as throughout your writings the best warrant you offer vs for this cause But let vs heare your examples and proofes First that sacrifice consisting of two goats a slaine and a scape-goat You obiect heere against first that I abuse the Text. That were a great fault but let vs view the Text. Against your instance of the Scape-goat figuring as you would haue it the suffeâ—…ings of Christs soule I made three exceptions First that the Scripture did not call the Scape-goat a Sacrifice for sinne Secondly that no proofe was or could be made that the Scapegoat signified the soule of Christ Thirdly that if both those were granted which were no way proued the Scape-goat suffering nothing but being let loose into the wildernesse did rather inferre that Christes soule was freed from all such sufferings as you would force vpon it To the last which is the chiefest you take the paines to say little and so giue the Reader to vnderstand that your bolde assertion is the best foundation of your proofe for if you can not shew as you neither doe nor can that the Scape-goat by the Scriptures suffered any thing how will you bring it about that the Scape-goat figured the sufferings of Christes soule shall no suffering be a figure of suffering such may your figures be but the wisdome of God maketh figures for similitude and resemblance to the trueth and not for contrarietie to it as you do The chiefest point then you cleane slide from and take holde on some words in Moses text about which you thinke you may wrangle with some more likelihood The verie expresse wâ—…rds of the text you say are these Aaron shall take of the people two goats for a sinne offering And verie good reason must I bring to frustrate so plâ—… a speech I am farre from bringing any thing to frustrate the Scriptures but if the Scripture expresse it selfe I preferre that before your misapplying the words to your will Aaron shal take of the congregation of the children of Israel two goats for sinne So stand the words if you will needs appeale precisely to the text Here is a taking of two goats and an intent for sinne declared in generall but the particular maner of vsing and ordering either of them according to Gods appointment followeth in distinct and direct wâ—…ds Aaron shall take the two goats and make them stand before the Lord at the doore of the Tabernacle And Aaron shall giue lots vpon both goats one lot for the Lord and another for the Scape-goat And Aaron shall make the goat on which the lâ—… fell for the Lord to draw neere and shall make him reddie or sacrifice him for sinne For here is AASA'HV added which in the Scriptures vsually signifieth to make readie a Sacrifice And he shall kill the goat that is for sinne for the people and bring his bloud within the vaiâ—…e In as plaine words as the former be or any can be that goat on which the lot fell for the Lord must be made readie that is sacrificed for sinne of which he spake at first and that which was the peoples sinne-offering must be slaine and his blood brought within the vaile But neither of these agree to the Scape-goat therefore the Scape-goat was not the sinne offering for the people which the Scripture in that place mentioneth These words you say proue not that the Scape-goat was no sinne-offering at all These particular circumstances doe plainly proue which of the two goats was made the peoples sinne-offering and so conuince that you inlargc the words of Moses without any iust ground to serue your owne conceit Two sinne-offerings were not taken from the people but two goats were taken for sinne and one of them sacrificed for the people as was after prescribed and performed and Aaron commanded for him and his house to offer a bullocke for his sinne-offering So that where the Scripture mentioneth no moe sinne-offerings for the people but one neither vseth the word AASA but to one of them that one was prepared and slaine by Gods commandement as a sinne-offering for the people where the Scape-goat was preserued aliue and sent away into the wildernesse to shew the force of the former sacrifice by carying with it the sinnes of the people I take a sacrifice and offering in the largest sense as signifying any consecrated thing giuen to God to appease him for sinne And such vnbloudie sinne-offerings very manie we shall finde in Moses Law Wherefore the Scape-goat may be a sinne-offering though it were not slaine or bloudie That the word Sacrifice may be diuersly taken and applied to things vnbloudie and ghostly I haue no doubt but that one and the same word in one and the same place should import both a bloudie and vnbloudie sacrifice for sinne is a shift of yours without all sense it hath no shew in the sacred Scriptures Againe the sacrifices for sinne were they bloudie or vnbloudie which are mentioned in Moses law and namely in all those places which you quote in your margin they were all without exception OFFERED to God by FIRE the things liuing suffered first death by effusion of bloud the things without life as flowre oyle wine and such like were cast into the fire where the bloudie sacrifices were burned and so without bloud or fire no sacrifice for sinne is appointed in Moses law Since then the Scape-goat was neither slaine nor touched with fire but sent forth aliue into the wildernesse what do those examples of things vnbloudie yet offered by fire helpe you to proue that the Scape-goat liuing was such a sinne offering as many are found in Moses law Can there be any thing in the world more full and strong to prooue that the Scape-goat also was a true sinne-offering or rather a true part of this whole and entire sinne-offering consisting and being compleat in both these goats the slaine and the Scape-goat For as the slaine so the Scape-goat we see was CONSECRATED to the Lord and here OFFERED to make reconciliation by him and separated from men and barâ—… vpon him all the sinnes of the
people You be come now from a sinne-offering to a part of a sinne offering and that you proue because the Scape-goat was CONSECRATED and OFFERED to make reconciliation by him All these words are your owne adding to the text and if you keepe that course you may proue what you list if not by the Scriptures at least by your commentaries vpon the Scriptures The words of Moses in that verse which you quote are those And the goat on which the lot fell to be the Scape goaâ—… shal be brought aliue before the Lord LECAPPER to pray ouer him oâ—… to carie away sinne by him and to send him for the Scape-goat into the desert You aske whose translation this is Theâ—…s that had better skill in the Hebrue tongue than you or I. The ancient translation of the Latine Church hath vt fundaâ—… preces super â—…um to make prayers ouer him which Isychius Nicolaus de Lyra and Arias Montanus â—…o follow Pagninâ—… sayth ad emundandum per illum to clense or cary away sinne by him which Vatablus in his notes varieth by adrogandum to pray ouer him That the Scape-goat was consecrated or offered there are no such wordes in Moses text except you meane that the bringing of the goat before God was the offering of it and the praying ouer it was the consecrating of it but these be sillie coniectures to proue the consecration and oblation of a Sacrifice The Scape-goat therefore was not the halfe sinne-offering of the people as you pretend it was a sensible figure of the acceptance of the former Sacrifice whose bloud was carried within the vaile and made a full propitiation for all their sinnes as much as those Sacrifices could effect And in token thereof the Priest was willed before their faces by imposing his hands and confessing their iniquities to let them see that the Lord remoued all their sinnes out of his sight as that goat was caried away from the sight of men into the wildernesse So that the Scape-goat was nothing giuen to God for sinne as you would haue it but shewed rather a reiection and detestation of sinne by his departure into the desert and was no sanctified and accepted sacrifice for sinne as the other was whoâ—…e bloud did make the purgation of their sinnes and reconcile them to God by his figuring and their beleeuing in the true and eternall sacrifice for sinne Was not the Scape-goat then a figure of Christ as well as the slaine goat Though certaine Fathers doe sometimes resemble the Scape-goat to the wicked and reprobate which is not so wide a wandering from the trueth as your wresting it to signifie the sufferings of Christes soule yet neither did I nor doe I gainsay but the Scape-goat might in some sort be a figure of Christ notwithstanding all things in it can not be proportioned to Christ for so no figure can match him yet that doth not proue it to be sacrifice for sinne much lesse to foreshew the sufferings of Christes soule There were many figures of Christ yea of Christes death as the Brasen Serpent the Rocke in the desert Sampson Ionas and many such which were no sacirfices and so might the Scape-goat prefigure either the cause or shame of his death or both as the slaine goat did the maner and power of his death and yet be no sinne-offering Iustine Martyr sayth The two goats designed the two commings of Christ the first when the Elders of the people and Priests laying their hands on him and putting him to death SENT HIM AVVAY AS THE SCAPEGOAT The second when they shall acknowledge him whom they dishonoured to be the sacrifice for all repentant sinners Teâ—…ullian is of the same minde One of the goats arayed in redde scarlet aecurfed and spet on beaten and punched by the people was cast out of the city into a place of perdition thus marked with manifest signes of the Lords passion The other offered for sinne and giuen for food to the Priests of the Temple secundae repraesentationis argumenta sign bat sealed the effects of his second appearing Theodoret referreth the two goats to the two natures of Christ the â—…laine goat to represent the passible nature of his flesh the Scape-goat to shew the impassible nature of his Diuinitie Isychius doth the like Caluine a man of sharpe iudgement and in some sense a mainteiner of the sufferings of Christes soule yet doth not applie the Scape-goat as you doe but either to witnesse the resurrection of Christ as the slaine goat did dcclare his death or to shew that Christ was a man deuoted to beare the shame and punishment of sinne for others There is heere set downe sayth he a doubble way of cleansing sinne For of the two goats one was offered for a sacrifice after the maner of the Law the other was sent forth aliue to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a thing deuoted to destruction for others or an of-scouring of the people The truth of either of these figures was exhibited in Christ because he was the lambe of God whose slaying abolished the sinnes of the world and that he might be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one deuoted or appointed to beare the plague for others all beautie was quenched in him and he reiected of men There may be brought a more curious speculation that the sending away of the Scape-goat was a figure of Christes resurrection but I embrace that which is more simple and certaine that the goat sent away aliue and free was VICE PIACVLI as a thing deuoted to beare the brunt for others that by his departure and leading away the people might be assured their sinnes did vanish and were caried farre out of sight So that though the Priest brought one goat aliue for a reconciliation yet God was not pacified without bloud quia vis expiationis a sacrificio alterius Hirci pendebat because the force of cleansing sinne depended on the sacrifice of the other slaine goat Thus haue we manie significations of the Scape-goat referred euen to Christ by old and new writers and euen by some whom you would seeme most to follow and yet none of them applieth it to the sufferings of Christes soule So that your assertion in that behalfe is but your meere imagination farther from the words of Moses than their coniectures which you count widest off But you will proue it by maine might that shall remoue mountaines before it It must needs be then that the Scape-goate signified Christ yea doubtlesse Christ man For the godhead could be no sinne-offering neither did it make reconciliation for sinne neither did the Deitie beare our sinnes vpon him properly all which the Scape-goate did If it were Christ man it could not be his body for his body was slaine bloudily the Scape-goate was not slaine It must then be of necessitie I thinke the humane MORTALL Soule which the Scape-goate signified I know not
trample vpon the credits of such men with a proud presumption of the text before you did better examine it Is it so repugnant to the Scriptures as you pretend to say the wicked are a Redemption or propitiation for the godly which in Moses the Scape-goate is said to be for the people Salomon saith COPHER LAZADDIC RASHAA a Redemption for the iust shall the wicked be and the transgressour for the righteous Where not onely the same sense but the same word is found which Moses vseth when he saith the Scape-goate shall be presented aliue before the Lord LECAPPEâ—… AALAV to make Redemption or reconciliation by him So God by Esay said I gaue Egypt CAPHRECA to be thy Redemption that is to be plagued for thee that thou mightest scape And so God often layeth the burden on the wicked that should fall on the righteous and excuseth the one by the punishment of the other as he did typically on the Scape-goate truely on Christ for all the sinnes of the people Wherefore it was no such ouersight in Cyrill Ambroses and Bâ—…de to resemble the Scape-goate to the wicked when they are punished to spaâ—… the godly as you would make it their coniectures are farre more considerate then yours the Sauiour of the world was counted among the wicked and vsed in shew as the wicked are when he bare our sinnes in his body and tooke our burden on him That which Mâ—…nster reporteth out of all the Rabines and especially out of Rabi Salom Kimchi and Aben Ezra that the Scape-goate was sent to a strong hill in the desert and there torne in peeces before he could touch the middle of the hill I leaue to each mans liking because the Scripture noteth no such thing Howbeit Tertullian saith extra ciuitatem abijciebatur in perditionem the Scape-goate was cast out of the Citie into perdition And Iustine Martyr in his Dialogue with Triphon the Iew saith the Priests and Elders sent Christ away as the Scape-goate laying their hands on him and doing him to death The very like are your three reasons brought to shew that the Holocaust can not signifie the sufferings of whole Christ and therefore not of his soule any way Whether the Holocaust were a figure of Christes sacrifice or did represent the ioynt sufferings of the whole manhood of Christ neither of these is in question betwixt vs. You tooke vpon you to shew that the Iewes by their sacrifices were directed to beleeue the suffering of that which you call hell paines in the soule of Christ when he offered himselfe for our sinnes That was the point which I denied The shedding of Christes bloud vnto death the Apostle in the ninth and tenth Chapters to the Hebrewes doeth plainely deduce from those bloudie sacrifices of the Iewes other sufferings of Christ from their sacrifices he doth not deriue The Holocaust you replied was euery whit chopt in peeces and altogether put into the fire and burnt I answered this was done after the death of the sacrifice whose dead body was wholly consumed to ashes with one and the selfe same sire and therefore this could not be referred to the proper sufferings of Christs soule which could not suffer any thing after the death of the body much lesse be wholly consumed with any sufferings common to the body since the body of Christ it selfe neither was nor could be consumed with any corruption or affliction Besides that you your self in the leafe before made a plaine resolution that those Sacrifices of beasts could not prefigure the immortall and reasonable soule of Christ. How then could the dead bodies of those beasts cut in peeces and quite consumed with fire represent the inward and proper sufferings of the soule Is there any Similitude concurring in all points and circumstances with the thing signified If it did it were the trueth it selfe and not a figure thereof And therefore all your illations that the Scape-goate which in some things disagreed from the Deitie and body of Christ could signifie neither were vaine and idle It sufficeth in figures warranted by the word of God that one principall action or circumstance bee common to both in how many things so euer they bee otherwise different But where is your warrant in the Scriptures that the burning of sacrifices when they were dead signified the sufferings of Christes soule Shew that and then wee will soone dispence with the rest of your rules and my reasons also Figures expressed in the word of God had no doubt their similitude to the trueth though we perhaps see it not and if any one point of resemblance be ratified by Gods authoritie that may and must content vs. But will you of your owne head make figures to fit your fansies and then claime the same prerogatiue which God himselfe hath What if many figures in the Law had as great disparagement as you call it To the things signified as the burning of the Holocaust to the sufferings of Christes soule Is that a president for you to deuise and establish what figures please you and thence to raise platformes for strange and newe doctrine The bodies of beastes first slâ—…ine were after caried out of the host Now these signified Christs going out of Ierusalem to be slaine but being yet aliue The burning of the beasts after they were dead was a sacrifice of a sweete sauour vnto God which in trueth is Christs very death and nothing done by him afterward whereby Gods anger is fully pacified toward vs. In figuratiue and bloudie sacrifices could you distinguish the suffering which was proper to the liuing creature that was offered from the offering which was peculiar to the Priest and from the accepting which belonged onely vnto God you would not thus iumble them together both in the figures signifying and in the thing signified That the bloud of the carnall sacrifices slaine vnder the Lawe did foreshew the bloudshedding and death of Christ Iesus for the sinnes of the world the Apostle to the Hebrewes is very plaine not onely calling him amongst other things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The shadow of good things to come and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a similitude for the time present but also making diuers comparisons betwixt them and the bloud of Christ and proouing by the first testament that the second must be ratified with bloud and death By which as by figures were sufficiently testified the ioynt sufferings of the whole manhood of Christ euen vnto death For the powers of â—…ife and sense in those creatures that had their bloud shed vntodeath naturally feeling and shewing in their kinde the paines and terrour of death were fiâ—…test to witnesse to all the beholders that the violent and bloudie death of the Messias which hee would vndertake for the ransome of their sinnes should bee grieuous and painefull euen to his soule And that being made so manifest to all mens eyes by the death
it is which the Scripture so calleth were not coherent with that incorruption which they shall haue there The one is not the other but the one is so consequent to the other that without holines in earth no man shall euer enioy happinesse in heauen And to both doth the imitation of Christ and signification of fire in the holocaust direct vs. Comming to the next reason you reprooued me for saying Sacraments are earthly Elements they can not set out the spirituall and â—…uisible effects in Christ. There was iust cause I should tell you that this your asseâ—…tion did mainly crosse the very nature and definition of a Sacrament For Sacraments are visible signes of inuisible graces that is of the spirituall effects of Christs power and grace abiding in him and yet working in vs. Wherein did I wrong you you ment they vsually represent not spirituall and inâ—…sible effects or acts in Christ him selfe but onely the externall and visible parts of his passion The two Sacraments of the new Testament Baptisme and the Lords Supper doe they represent onely the externall and visible parts of Christs passion Doth Baptisme shew no more in Christ but that actuall and substantiall water ranne out of his side after he was dead Is this the whole signification and repâ—…esentation that baptisme offereth vnto vs Surely you must leaue Catechising and learne to be catechised if this be all your skill in Sacraments The bread and wine on the Lords table besides the reference which they haue to the body of Christ broken and his blood shed doe they not plainly shew the flesh of Christ is meate and his blood drinke nourishing our soules to euerlasting life as the elements support and maintaine the life of the body Water in Baptisme doth it not declare the power of Christs death washing our soules and of his spirit renuing our minds These you say are spirituall effects wrought in vs not in Christ. Power to clense quicken nourish and strengthen to eternall life is that Christs or ours We indeede are the persons that are clensed quickened nourished and strengthened but the force and grace working these things in vs is Christs and not ours We receiue it as flowing from the fountaine but it naturally springeth in him and from thence is deriued to vs. The Sacraments then teach vs that the fulnesse of power and grace dwelleth in Christ really and truely which he is content shall worke in vs but neuer leaue him The water washing the bread nourishing the wine comforting note no power in vs to do any of these things it is euident impietie so to thinke or say onely they assure vs that as Christ the true owner of all these things by his obedience vnto death was made the onely disposer of them so he will performe the couenant with vs which the Sacraments doe seale vnto vs and that is the couenant of mercie and grace in this life and of glorie in the next which the Sacraments could not seale except they did signifie those gifts and effects to be actiuely and originally in the giuer as they are passiuely in the Receiuers VSVALLY Sacraments doe not represent spirituall effects or actes in Christ. When text and trueth faile you your fashion is to flie to phrases and so still to say somewhat though it want both learning and vnderstanding For example Sacraments you say doe not VSVALLY represent spirituall effects or acts in Christ. Did you speake of nature which often faileth or of men who change their minds vsuall and vnusuall might serue for some purpose but what is this to Sacraments they constantly and continually keepe the same order in their significations and representations so that vsuall and vnusuall in them are all one The nature of the Element is still the same the action prescribed may not be varied the promise annexed neuer faileth on Gods part So that what any Sacrament once resembleth or signifieth it alwayes expresseth and obserueth the same Will you diuert your wordes to diuers Sacraments and make that vsuall to one which is vnusuall to another This which you vsually exclude from Sacraments is common to both the Sacraments of the New Testament of which we reason and being common to them both as I haue shewed to signifie spirituall effects or acts in Christ himselfe with what trueth say you now THEY do it not vsually speaking of both whereas both do it apparently and perpetually It is your selfe indeede that denieth the very definition of a Sacrament for your maine assertion is that neither the Iewish sacrifices nor Christian Sacraments doe signifie any more then the bodily and bloâ—…dy death of Christ which I hope was a visible and no â—…uisible thing Your Reader will shortly take you so often tardie with foule-lies that hee will skant beleeue you when you speake a trueth Is it any position of mine that the Iewish sacrifices and Christian Sacraments doe not signifie any more then the bodily and bloudie death of Christ Indeede I afâ—…irmed they signified none other death of Christ but only that which was bodily and bloudie which I gâ—…ant was visible but as for other effects of Christs power grace by which we are grafted into Christ and quickâ—…ed and nourished vnto life euerlasting Ireferred them to the Sacraments of the new Testament as vnto Seales confirming the couenant of mercie grace and glorie made to vs by the death of Christ in the same words that I now speake it And so conclude of them as I doe now These propose vnto vs no inuisible paines of hell but the body of Christ wounded and his bloud shed for the remitting of our sinnes and vniting vs vnto Christ. Therefore your turning no inuisible paines of hell which are my words into no more then a bodily death which are yours and vnder pretence of those words excluding from the Sacraments all other significations and representations of Christs inuisible power and grace proposed by them sheweth your accustomed vain of misconstering and altering my words when you cannot otherwise impugne them You make me to crosse the institution of the Lords table because I said the Ceremonie of breaking the bread cannot properly belong to Christs body But euen here doe I not expressely say that it sheweth forth how Christs body was broken for vs Where by Christs institution the bread was BROKEN to note vnto vs the breaking of his body for our sinnes and Paul expresseth that similitude of the bread broken to Christes body in saying The bread which wee breake is it not the communion of the body of Christ and to verifie that resemblance reporteth the words of Christs institution in effect to be these This is my body which is broken for you you to make a siely shew that the Sacraments declare Christs suffering of Hell paines auouch that the. breaking of the bread cannot properly belong to the body but to the soule and to the body by Sympathie
sheepeheard and lay downe my soule for my sheepe that is by my death men are deliuered from eternall death I aske now the Christian Reader whether he thinke it a shift of mine when Christ gaue his soule for vs or our soules for me to say that he gaue it by the losse of his life in such sort as the Euangelists describe or whether the Scriptures and Fathers together with the later writers doe not consent with me in the same exposition of Christs words This conclusion then that Christ gaue his soule for our soules doth not inferre that he had distinct times places or manners of suffering or dying for our soules and then for our bodies that is erroneous iniurious to the death of Christ and openly disclaimed euen by the Discourser himselfe but that in suffering death on the crosse by which his soule was separated from his body after long and sharpe torments first endured in his body his soule was the chiefe or rather the onely patient that discerned and sustained the bitternesse of the paines and perceiued the cause for which and the counsell of God from whence all that affliction was ordained and decreed For as we sinned in body and soule but chiefly in soule so Christs death for our Redemption must grieue both body and soule but chiefly the soule which was ioyned with the body in suffering death that both soule and body might be redeemed and the paine thereof proportioned to the soule as the pleasure of sinne chiefly delighted the soule More then this no Father euer ment and this is no way denied by me You would faine wring in a conceite of your owne into their words which is mainly directly against their words and resolutions in all other places and therefore which of vs two deserueth best the name of a shifter let the Reader iudge The Fathers striue to expresse an exact proportion so farre as was possible betweene Christ and vs first in the parts that suffered in Christ and are saued in vs Next in that which Christ suffered for vs and which we are saued from thereby They iustly conclude that no parts of our nature are saued in vs but such as Christ assumed into the vnitie of his person and therefore in Christs sufferings there must be body and soule before they could be humane sufferings or auailable for vs. As by man came death so by man came the resurrection of the dead But that they doe or would affirme that we are saued from no more then Christ suffered for vs or that we are wholy freed from all those kinds of paines which he suffered for our sakes this is a false and fantasticall proportion of your owne inuenting it is no part of their meaning Sundry things should we haue suffered for sinne as the death of the soule and the death of the damned besides reiection from all grace and blisse confusion malediction and many other terrors and torments of conscience which by no meanes these Fathers apply to Christ but in euident and vehement words auouch the contrarie Christ likewise suffered wrong reproch shame paine and death of the body from which we are not freed yea rather we must haue fellowship with his afflictions and be conformed vnto his death before we shall be partakers of the comforts that are in him or of his resurrection So that your running to proportions of your owne compounding when you should bring sound probations for that you defend is mad Musicke though best becomming the discords of your doctrine As we are saued not in our bodies onely nor onely in the externall sensitiue part of our soules wherein standeth that suffering with and by our bodies but we are saued redeemed and sanctified in our whole spirit and vnderstanding also euen so by their verdict Christ suffered for vs not the bodily and outward sufferings by Sympathie onely but he suffered for vs euen in his minde also Now this is directly against your present assertion A man can not readily tell whether your assertion in this place be more false absurd or idle The Scripture teacheth vs that a man hath but two substances of which he consisteth a mortall and visible which is his bodie an immortall and inuisible which is his soule Our Sauiour who best knew what man had saith as much Feare not them which kill the bodie but can not kill the soule feare him rather that can destroy soule and bodie in hell The names of these parts are sometimes varied and sometimes diuided into sundrie powers and faculties but the partes themselues cannot be increased Salomon speaking of mans death sayth Dust goeth to the earth as it was meaning the bodie and the Spirit returneth to God that gaue it meaning the Soule Of a Virgin Paul sayth she careth for the things of the Lord that she may be holy both in bodie and spirit that is in bodie and soule And writing to the Thessalonians the same Apostle saith that their whole Spirit and Soule and Bodie may be kept blamelesse vnto the comming of the Lord Iesus Christ. Of this place diuerse haue diuersly thought Chrysostome Theodoret Ambrose Ierome Oecumenius and Theophylact commenting on these words take the spirit for the grace of Gods spirit wherewith our mindes are lightned and renewed and indeede sometimes Paul vseth the word spirit for the gifts of the spirit as where he saith Quench not the spirit and calleth them our spirits as the Spirits of the Prophets are subiect to the Prophets Howbeit Athanasius Tertullian Epiphanius Gregorie Nyssene Augustine Bede and others take here the spirit for the vnderstanding and minde of man as also Caluine Zanchius and Beza doe who referre the soule here spoken of to the will and affections of man not that any of them maketh two soules in man which were most absurd but that by those names they note two different faculties or functions in one and the same substance of mans soule Come now to your words and see how handsomely you proportion them either to your Authors or to the trueth or to your purpose Not one of the Fathers which you cite nameth the minde of Christ but onely his soule and his bodie saue Nazianzene who speaketh not of Christs suffering in the minde but of his sanctifying the same by assuming it in his incarnation Let himselfe explane his owne wordes in the very same place Our mind some say is condemned And what our flesh is not that also condemned then either cast away mans flesh from Christ for sinne or admit mans mind that it may be saued For if Christ take the worse part of man to sanctific it by his incarnation shall he not take the better part that it may be sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his assuming of mans nature I speake not this as if it might not safely be granted that Christs soule suffered as well by
Christi potest ostendi commortua When Christ died in the flesh neither can the godhead nor the soule of Christ be shewed to haue bene also dead And of hell paines he saith Dignum fuit vt animam dolor non contigisset inferni quam seruitus nequiuit tenere peccati It was a meete and right thing that the paines of hell should not touch that soule whom the seruitude of sinne could not fasten on Yet Cyrill in the place aboue cited SEEMETH to acknowledge A KIND OF DEATH EVEN OF THE SOVLE from which Christ reuiued againe But of that in due place hereafter Is the death of Christs soule so slender a matter that you may collect it by a seeming and a kind of death without any mention or occasion of any such thing comprised in Cyrils words The Reader may there obserue what your maine intent is and whereon you fasten your eyes all this while euen on the death of Christs soule to be requisite for our Redemption though you finde no such thing in Scripture or Father but miserably and childishly slide it in at last with a seeming Now if there be no such thing in Cyrils words nor any such seeming how wel deserue you to be hissed out with hands if not to be hurled out by the heeles for a seeming sleeper if not for a waking dreamer what are those words of Cyrill that seeme to acknowledge the death of Christs soule Christ bestowed his flesh as a ransome for our flesh and made his soule likewise the price of redemption for our soules although he liued againe being by nature life it selfe It is lawfull for you to further euery place you bring with a mayned and forced translation Cyrils true words stand thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Without constraint of any Christ of himselfe laide downe his owne soule for vs that he might be Lord of dead and quicke yeelding his flesh in recompence as a gift fully worth it for the flesh of all and making his soule or life a ransome for the soule or life of all though he reuiued againe being life by nature in that he was God The words which you would cite are heere no perfect sentence as hauing no principall verbe in them and therefore must be ioyned with the former and depend vpon the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ layd downe his soule which gouerneth the whole as appeareth also by the two participles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yeelding in recompence and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making which must be directed by the same nominatiue case that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is and likewise by the opposition of the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reuiued Of what death Cyrill here speaketh is more then manifest by the words of our Sauiour here vsed and deriued from the Gospell where he said None taketh my soule from me or constraineth me to die I lay it downe of my selfe and likewise the Sonne of man came to giue his soule or life a ransome for many What kind of death those words of Christ imported I made it appeare but a little before by the full consent of Scriptures and interpreters old and new and of Cyrill himselfe who all with one accord referre both those sayings to the death of Christs bodie and the losse of his life on the Crosse when his soule departed from him Set that downe in Cyrils first words for the death which Christ died by the constant assertion of Scriptures Fathers New writers and of Cyrill himselfe and then the words which you alleage shew plainely the force of his corporall death to be auaileable for the bodies and soules of all men in that his flesh yeelded to death was a recompence or exchange for all mens flesh and his soule laide downe without constraint of any was the ransome of all mens soules and he notwithstanding rose againe the third day to life by his owne power as being God and life it selfe against whom death could preuaile no farder nor longer then hee him selfe would Where are the words that acknowledge the death of Christs Soule or that so much as seeme to acknowledge a kind of death in the soule of Christ Here are the cleane contrarie For if the death of Christs bodie by which he laid aside his soule for vs be sufficient to redeeme the bodies and soules of all men then superfluous and needlesse euen by these words was the death of Christs soule the whole being fully perfourmed without it But he gaue his flesh to be a ransome for our flesh and his soule for our soules you say and yet liued againe Cyrill doth not say by seuerall deaths but by one and the same death which was the laying down of his soule or life for vs as Christ himselfe in the Gospel said he would If those wordes inferre the death of Christes soule why bring you not the words of Christ himselfe saying The Sonne of man came to giue his soule a ransome for many You saw the Scriptures themselues and the whole Church of Christ first and last I meane all old and new writers translators and expositors would condemne your folly therin in most exact words taking soule there for life which must needes import the death of Christs bodie And therefore you thought it more safetie to catch at the same words in some Father for whose meaning there could not be brought so many and so sound deponents But all in vaine For if Christ had no meaning in those wordes to point out the death of his owne soule then Cyrill alleaging and obseruing the words of Christ can haue no such purpose as to crosse the Scriptures himselfe and all the Fathers of Christs Church in a matter so dangerous and desperate as the death of Christs soule amounteth vnto In the meane while his words conclude no such thing neither in saying nor in seeming and so your embracing them to that end argueth your good will to seeke but your euill lucke to finde any such thing as the death of Christs soule in all the Fathers Cyrill doth not say Christ rose againe which properly belongeth to the body but he reuiued or liued againe which seemeth to be spoken of the Soule Then Saint Paul maketh more for you then Cyrill doth for he affirmeth both os Christ to this end saith he Christ died and rose againe and reuiued that he might be Lord of dead and liuing And indeed resurrection properly noteth from whence Christ arose to wit from the graue Reuiuing expresseth the blessed and glorious life which he enioyed after he was risen from the dead Christ himselfe saith of his they shall come forth of their graues vnto the resurrection of life to separate them from the wicked who shall come likewise forth vnto the resurrection but of iudgement and condemnation Notwithstanding in Christ there is either no difference betwixt them the one euer implying the other or if we make any Christs reuiuing alwaies presupposeth
his Resurrection as antecedent since he possessed not that immortall and heauenly life which now he hath but vpon his arising from the dead And so the Apostle placeth them Christ died and rose againe and reuiued into such power and glory that he was made Lord ouer dead and quicke And Cyrill who often times vseth this word he reuiued of Christ meaneth the third day after Christs death when the Scriptures affirme he rose from the graue So Cyrill and the Synode of Alexandria that ioyned with him in writing vnto Nestorius say of Christ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he reuiued the third day hauing spoyled hell and so in his second confession of the true faith to the religious Queenes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ spoyling death reuiued the third day And in his Epistle to those of Egypt Christ is said in the Scriptures first to haue died as a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and after that to haue returned to life by that which he was by Nature If then he died not in the flesh according to the Scriptures he was not quickned by the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he reuiued not againe So that Cyrill hath not any seeming words for the death of Christs Soule but saith as Christ said in effect before that the Sonne of man gaue his soule or life to be a ransome for the life of all and not for the Soule of all which in the singular number is neither good English nor good Diuinitie though to smooth it you put the plurall and say for our soules which is not in Cyrill The words of Ambrose will prooue that Christ offered his Soule for vs hoc in se obtulit Christus quod induit Christ offered in Sacrifice all that which he assumed Besides that you falsifie Ambrose by adding ALL to his words which haue no such thing in them you â—…est Ambroses words against Ambroses meaning For though it may well be graunted that Christ offered body and soule as a Sacrifice of holinesse and obedience vnto God and that Christs Soule likewise was laid downe vnto the death of his body to feele the smart thereof and to be seuered by the force thereof in which respect Esay saith that Christ powred forth his Soule vnto death Yet Ambrose speaking of Christs sacrifice for the sinnes of the people meaneth as the rest of the Fathers doe that part of the Sacrifice which was slaine which was by his and their confession Christs body and not Christs Soule Heare Ambrose him selfe In quo nisi in corpore expiauit populi peceata In quo passus est nisi in corpore Wherein did Christ sacrifice for the sinnes of the people but in his body wherein did he suffer death but in his body And so Theodoret Christ was called a Priest in his humane nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and offered none other Sacrifice but his owne body Athanasius nameth what Christ put on and what he offered The word of God that made all things was afterward made an hie Priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Putting on a body that was borne and made which he might offer for vs. Nazianzene saith to Christ. Thou art a sheepe because thouwast a Sacrifice thou art an hie Priest because thou offeredst thy body Augustine also Sacerdos propter victimam quam pro nobis offerret a nobis acceptam Christ 〈◊〉 a Priest for the Sacrifice he tooke of vs that he might offer it for vs. What that Sacrifice was he sheweth saying Assumpsit a nobis quod offerret Domino ipsas diximus sanctas primitias carnis ex vtero virginis Christ tooke of vs that he might offer to the Lord we meane the holy first fruits of his flesh taken from the wombe of the Virgine Theophylact A Priest may by no meanes be without a Sacrifice It was then necessarie that Christ should haue somewhat to offer Quod autem offerretur praeter eius corpus nil quidpiam erat necessariò ergo mortuus est Now there was vtterly nothing that he might offer besides his body it was needfull then he should die This that Christ tooke a body to offer is most agreeable to Ambroses mind as well in the booke which you cite as in other parts of his writings Ex segenerauit Maria Marie conceiued of her selfe to wit of her owne body that what was conceiued of her might be the true nature of a body And alleadging Saint Pauls words that Christ was made of the seede of Dauid according to the flesh Rom. 1. and made of a woman Galat. 4. He concludeth Ergo ex nobis accepit quod proprium offerret pro nobis vt nos redimeret ex nostro Then Christ tooke of vs that which hee might offer as his owne for vs to the ende he might redeeme vs by that which was ours And declaring what he meant euen by the words which you bring Christ offered that in himselfe which hee put on Ambrose addeth Non igitur diuinitatem induit sed carnem assumpsit vt spolium carnis exueret Christ put not on the nature of his Diuinitie but he tooke flesh that he might put off the spoyle of his flesh when he should die Now if the flesh of Christ were subiect to all iniuries how say you that Christs flesh is of the same substance with his Godhead What else doe you in so saying but compare Adams slime and our earth to the Diuine substance Here Ambrose plainely confesseth what hee meant Christ tooke vnto him and offered for vs euen Adams slime and our earth whereof his body was made Which elsewhere hee precisely auoucheth saying Corpus suscepit nostrae mortalitatis vt pro nobis haberet quid offerret Christ assumed our mortall body that he might haue what to offer for vs. And least you should after your trifling maner aske whether we exclude an humane soule from the body which Christ tooke of the substance of his mother and which hee offered for vs to death on the Crosse I answere with Ambrose Cum susceperit carnem hominis consequens est vt perfectionem incarnationis plenitudinemque susceperit Nihil enim in Christo imperfectum Where as Christ tooke vnto him the flesh of a man it is consequent that hee tooke vnto him the perfection and fulnesse of incarnation for there is nothing imperfect in Christ. And what neede was there hee should take flesh without a Soule when as an insensible flesh and an vnreasonable soule was neither subiect to sinne nor capable of reward An humane soule was a necessarie sequell to Christs body which he tooke of the seede of Dauid and substance of his mother as it is to all ours before we can be men but the soule is not comprised in the name of the body much lesse doeth it receiue the same conditions and properties which the body doth Though then I make no doubt but Christ at his birth and
shall neuer inferre by phrases of your owne making which only serue to hide your owne meaning that Christ suffered the paines of hell As for Gods wrath against sinne it hath many degrees and parts by the verdict of holy Scripture though you will not heare thereof For as Gods blessings benefits when he first made man were of his heauenly goodnes richly prouided for man and plentifully powred on the body and soule of man as well for the leading of this life in plenty safety and delight as for the surer attaining of euerlasting ioy and blisse in an other place so when man by sinne fell from God by iustice God depriued him and his of all those earthly and bodily fauours and comforts no lesse then of the spirituall and inward gifts and graces of the mind by that meanes making way to his euerlasting and dreadfull Iudgements against sinne Now if these externall things bestowed on man in his first creation were iustly called and must be confessed in their kind to be the blessings and fauours of God afforded to all mankind when he made man and the whole world for his vse then out of question the taking them away from man and subiecting him by iustice to the contrary for sinne committed may as truly be named and must be beleeued to be the signes and effects of Gods displeasure against sinne which the Scripture nameth wrath And so God calleth either of them when he promiseth the one to the obseruers of his Law and threatneth the other to the breakers thereof who vseth not to promise or threaten words but deeds Neither hath it any reason because the reiecting of man from the greater and higher blessings of inward grace and eternall blisse was farre the sorer and sharper punishment of mans sinne that therefore the withdrawing of these should be no degree nor effect of Gods wrath against sinne no more then the losse of a legge or an arme should be counted no mayme because a man hath an head and an hart which are more principall parts of his body Wherefore though in comparison they may be iustly diminished and abased farre beneath the worthinesse of the rest of Gods blessings which are reserued for his Children in an other life yet can they not be denyed to be Gods blessings euen in this life and if to giue them to man when he was first made were the fauour and bountie of God towards man which no Christian may deny to take them from man for sinne must truely argue Gods displeasure against sinne not in improper speech as you gloze but in a lesse degree then those which bring with them perpetuall subuersion of Body and Soule And when the Scriptures meane to expresse the spirituall and eternall wrath of God they doe it not by proprietie of words as you pretend but by different circumstances either of the TIME after this life when no wrath is executed but that which is euerlasting as Christ deliuereth vs from the wrath to come and thou heapest vp wrath against the day of wrath which is the day of iudgement or of the PERSONS who are wicked and the vessels of wrath prepared to destruction and for whom is reserued the mist of darknesse for euer as for such things commeth the wrath of God on the Children of vnbeliefe or of the CONTINVANCE which neuer ceaseth as the wrath of God abideth on him that beleeueth not or of the HIGTH thereof when it is full as the wrath of God is come vpon them to the vttermost or of the CONTRARY when it is eternall life as God hath not appointed vs vnto wrath but to obtaine Saluation by Iesus Christ or of the CONSEQVENTS which are suddaine destruction and such like as kisse the Sonne least he be angry and ye perish in the way when his wrath shall suddenly burne blessed are they that trust in him By these and such like particulars we may perceiue when the Scriptures speake of the one wrath and when of the other but otherwise the wordes are common to both as also the cause which is sinne O Lord saith Moses why doth thy wrath waxe hote against thy people turne from thy fierce wrath and desist from this euill towards thy People And againe I fell downe saith he fortie daies and fortie nights before the Lord because of all your sinnes which yee had sinned doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord and prouoking him For I was afraid of the wrath and indignation wherewith the Lord was kindled against you to destroy you and the Lord heard me at that time also Exceeding many are the places which teach vs that our iniquities auert the outward blessing of this life and that our sinnes hinder good things from vs Though God after that comfort his people when their warrefare is accomplished and they haue receaued sufficient Correction at the hands of God for all their sinnes Surely these warnings of the holy Ghost are not empty words or improper speeches but effectuall and faithfull instructions for the Church of God to learne them that God doth visite their sinnes when they forget to repent and obey though he spare them in comparison of that wrath which is effunded on the wicked And therefore the name of wrath is rightly and truely applyed in the Scriptures euen to those afflictions wherewith God scourgeth his owne Children for their negligence and impenitence though God haue an other and greater which is eternall wrath laid vp in store for the Reprobate who die without Repentance and Remission of their sinnes Howsoeuer the strife for words standeth wherein I confesse I may not be brought to disalow the tongue and pen of the holy Ghost it is most certaine that the Gospel reporteth of Christs sufferings nothing but what was common to him with his members euen in this life where he suffered The Apostles plainely prooue as much to wit that we haue fellowship and communion with Christs afflictions and are conformed to his death Now there is no communion but where the same things are common to both though the degrees may differ And you your selfe when it maketh for you can vrge that the Apostle speaking of Christs sufferings saith He was tempted in all things like to vs yet without sinne So that in my iudgement it is a most cleere case as well by the witnesse of Scripture as by your owne confession that all Christes sufferings were LIKE yea the SAME that ours are as being common to both and consequently if you any way vnderstand what belongeth to trueth or reason the sufferings of the godly must either bee wrath as well as Christes or if their bee not his were not since they were the same And so the godly must either in all their afflictions small and great suffer as Christ did the proper wrath of God and true paines of hell which you make equiualent or if the godly doe not so
with both parts as well with bodie as with soule and so Christ if your proportion were any thing needfull which I wholly reiect as needlesse in the Sonne of God by this reason of yours needed no proper sufferings of the soule without and besides the bodie Paul vnderstoode Rom. 7. vers 7. when hee became a Christian that the desiring of euill is sinne before the outward act bee consummate You alleage Saint Paul as you doe the rest for matters that he neuer meant Paul speaketh not there of the actuall desire of euill when the will hath thereto consented such as was in Adam when hee resolued to eate the forbidden fruite but of the naturall inclination and first motions to sinne which are in vs after Adams disobedience but were not in him before his fall For that precept thou shalt not lust conuinceth and condemneth our nature to be corrupt and sinfull to which originall concupiscence the roote and spring of all sinne in vs cleaueth so fast that euen in our cradles this corruption excludeth vs from the kingdome of God if we be not regenerate in Christ by water and the holy Ghost In Adam besore sinne there was no such thing his nature was vpright and sincere as it was first created and voide of all concupiscence intended by this precept as the best learned of our time teach till by his transgression sinne entred and infected both body and soule Neither doe you conceiue right of Paul as he was a Pharisee when you suppose he tooke the outward fact of sinne onely to bee sinne Neuer read he thinke you when he was a Pharisee the words of Esay Aram hath taken wicked counsell against thee but it shall not stand Nor of Salomon The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord and the euill thought of a foole is sinne Could hee not tell what to iudge of Hamans thoughts against the Iewes or of Achitophels purpose against Dauid or of Balams counsell against the Israelites The very heathen Philosophers placed vertues and vices in the minds of men and the prophane Poets would haue mens enterprises measured by the intent not by the euent The Pharisees were neuer so blinde as to thinke all counsels thoughts desires and lusts to bee lawfull against the manifest and expresse words of the law and Prophets but they blindly mistooke the law of God as forbidding externall facts onely which are hurtfull to others vpon paine of malediction and damnation They rather stood vpon the Popish opinion of veniall and mortall sinnes and did not thinke that veniall sinnes did exclude them from the righteousnesse of the Law nor from the kingdome of heauen Of that opinion was Paul when he was a Pharisee but vpon his conuersion and better instruction by the spirit of Christ hee vnderstoode that not onely euill desires and thoughts were forbidden by the seueral precepts of Gods law as deadly sinnes which the Pharisees would not admit to vphold their owne righteousnesse but that euen the secret tentation to sinne and the inward propension and corruption of our hearts are interdicted and condemned by this precept thou shalt not lust as sinne sufficient to exclude vs from the kingdome of God Your doctrine is very strange where you teach that the soule properly committeth no sin but by with the body that is the soule in it selfe by it selfe alone sinneth not You say all prouocations and pleasures of sin the soule taketh from her body all acts of sin she committeth by her body which speeches are exceeding vntrue and hurtfull To him that either fully can not or rightly will not vnderstand what is said all things seeme strange otherwise set aside your olde ordinarie phrases of proper and meere without which you can say nothing and the matter which you so much maruaileat is very plaine as well by the rules of Scripture as proofes of nature Is it so strange a doctrine with you that the whole man and not this or that part of man is by the word of God charged with the committing of euery sinne and guiltie thereof in such sort that the whole person is defiled therewith and shal be condemned therefore Depart from me Lord saith Peter to Christ for I am a sinfull man Blessed is the man saith Dauid to whom the Lord imputeth no sinne O God be mercifull vnto me a sinner saith the Publicane Tribulation and anguish vpon the soule of euery man that worketh euill saith the Apostle By which as by infinite other places of Scripture wee are taught that the whole person which is man himselfe is the sinner by which part so euer he sinneth Euery one that committeth sinne is the seruant of sinne saith our Sauiour Can the soule be in bondage for sinne and the body bee free Cursed is the man saith Moses that keepeth not all the words of the law to doe them Can the soule bee accursed for sinning and the body be blessed as not sinning The wages of sinne is death saith the Apostle Shall death preuaile against the Soule for sin and the Body escape death as voyd of sinne Surely no. Sinne defileth the whole Man by what part soeuer it is committed yea the very thoughts of the hart coinquinate the whole man When the Pharisees held opinion that meate eaten with vnwashen hands defiled the Body our Sauiour reprooueth that error in them and teacheth his Disciples that nothing without a man can defile him when it entreth into him but the things which come foorth of him are they that defile the Man For from within out of the hart of Man come foorth euill thoughts couetousnesse wantonnesse a wicked eye pride foolishness All these euils come from within and defile a Man Where we see that enuie which Christ noteth by a wicked eye and pride and such like inward sinnes yea and euill thoughts defile the Man that is as well the Body which the Pharisees tooke to be defiled with vncleane hands as the Soule The Apostle stretcheth the infection of sinne farder euen to the meates them selues that are eaten of the wicked All things saith he speaking of meates which the Iewes counted vncleane are cleane to the cleane but to the vncleane and vnbeleeuers nothing is cleane but euen their minde and conscience is vncleane So that the vncleannesse of the inward Man defileth the outward Man and all things which the outward Man vseth This is so true that not onely the guiltinesse and filthinesse of sinne is in this life communicated from the Soule to the Body but both shal be therefore condemned in the righteous iudgement of God to euerlasting fire We must all appeare before the tribunal of Christ euery man to receiue the things done by his Body Where all sorts of sinnes in thought word or deede are by the Apostle called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as others read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things done
it For to the impenitent no sinnes are pardoned Except yee repent saith our Sauior ye shall all perish likewise As sinne is accursed so all punishment of sinne saith Austen is accursed meaning till it be released and no longer a punishment of sinne Which he auoucheth not of the wicked onely whose punishment is perpetuall and therefore truely and properly a curse but of all the godly when they suffer for their sinnes We saith Austen came to death by sinne Christ by righteousnesse and therefore where our death is the punishment of sinne his death is the sacrifice for sinne And that the death of our bodies is hatefull to God euen as our sinne is he resolueth in these words Nisi Deus odisset peccatum mortem nostram non ad eam suscipiendam atque delendam filium suum mitteret Except God had hated sinne and also death in vs he would neuer haue sent his Sonne tâ—… vndertake and destroy our death For so much the more willingly God giueth vs immortalitie of our bodies which shal be reuealed with Christes comming how much the more mercifully he hateth our death which hung on the crosse when Christ died Here you may learne that the bodies of Martyrs are so acceptable to God that he hateth death which detaineth them in dust and that the loue which he beareth to the one is the cause why he will destroy the other as an enimie to them â—…hom he loueth and therefore iustly hated of him but in the meane time how false is this reason which you so much stand on God in his secret and euerlasting counsell loueth the soules and bodies of his Saints as being the members of Christ and temples of his holie spirite therefore he hateth neither sinne in their soules nor death in their bodies Nay rather the more he loueth the one the more he hateth the other and sent his Sonne to destroy both sinne and death in his elect as the Enimies that hinder and defer the true blisse promised to his seruants You say we must call things by those names which God first allotted them That I deny if God since euidently hath altered them My rule had more reason in it then you doe comprehend For if it be written of Adam in his innocencie that God brought all liuing creatures vnto man to see how hee could call them and how soeuer the man named the liuing creature so was the nâ—…me thereof how much more shall it be verified of Gods wisdome With whom is no change that he knew all his workes from the beginning of the world and therefore the word of the Lord abideth for euer that he may be iustified in whatsoeuer he saith but God you say hath made the alteration himselfe or else your conceite deceiueth you For God hath not reuoked the generall iudgement which he gaue vpon all men for sinne Dust thou art and to dust thou shalâ—… returne but he hath performed his promise made before he inflicted this punishment that the Seed of the woman should bruize the Serpents head And therefore there is no change made by God as you imagine but he qualified his sentence at the first pronouncing of it on all his elect euen as it standeth to this day And were there that addition since made by God which you vntruely dreame of Yet Saint Austen telleth you that altereth not the name of punishment first imposed on all but sheweth Gods goodnesse towards his owne Whatsoeuer it is in those that die which with bitter paine taketh away sense by religious and faithfull enduring it it increaseth the merâ—…te of patience Non aufert vocabulum poenae it taketh not away the name of punishment His firme resolution is Wherefore as touching the death of the body that is the separation of the soule from the bodie when such as die suffer it Nulli bona est it is good to no man And noting the vse that God maketh thereof in crowning his Saints with as ample words as you haue any he resolutely concludeth Mors ergo non ideo bonum videri debet quia in tantam vtilitatem non vi sua sed diuina opitulatione conuersa est Death theâ—… OVGHT NOT TO BE THOVGHT GOOD because by Gods mercie and not by any force of his own it is turned to so great vtilitie And this assertion you and your adherents must yeeld vnto least you rather conuince your selues then that woorthy pillour of Christes church to be in an errour For the ground that he standeth on is sure God turneth euill to a good vse and will you therefore denie euill to be euill because God vseth it well to how many good and blessed purposes doth God vse the diuell and shall the diuell by your doctrine now cease to be a diuell what excellent effectes doth God worke by the sinnes of the faithfull shall we therefore not call them nor account them sinnes you be cleane out of your byas good Sir when you come in with your changes made by God to alter the names or natures of things that be euill Afflictions and death which originally and Naturally were punishments for sinne and so are still in the wicked the same to the godly are since changed and now not punishments nor curses To wise men there is enough said to bablers who will still talke they know not what nothing is enough The Scriptures and Fathers may not be set aside to giue way to your follies Daniell confessing the sinnes of himselfe and of his people Israel plainly saith Therefore the Curse is powred vpon vs written in the Law of Moses the seruant of God because we haue sinned against him Baruc made the same confession during the Captiuitie Saint Iohn in his Reuelation of the Citie of God now brought to the presence of the Lambe saith There shall be no more Curse meaning amongst the faithfull as there was before For the wicked then shall be most deepely accursed Saint Austen learnedly and largely writing of the miseries of mans life saith Quot quantis poenis agitetur genus humanum quae non ad malitiam nequitiamque iniquorum sed ad conditionem pertinent miseriamque communem quis vllo sermone digerit quis vlla cogitatione comprehendit With how many and how great punishments mankinde is persued which pertaine not to the malice and leudnesse of the wicked but to the common condition and calamitie of man what tongue câ—…n expresse what heart can comprehend And repeating many particulars which there may be seene he concludeth Satis apparet humanum genus ad luendas miseriarum poenas esse damnatum It appeareth sufficiently that mankâ—…de is condemned to endure the punishments of miseries And lest you should flie to your shift of improper speeches as your maner is S. Austen exquisitly discusseth and resolueth this question that these miseries and afflictions come from the iust iudgement of God
and to taste of death that he might in the end abolish them both For as Christ would be Circumcised and Baptised though there was nothing in him needfull to be pared or washed away but rather that fulfilling all righteousnesse he might commend both the one and the other with his person and presence so would he obserue the ceremonies of the Law not tied like a Seruant vnto them but content to vse them as Lord ouer them till he saw his time which he did not sticke to professe of himselfe when occasion was offered The Sonne of man saith he of himselfe is Lord euen of the Sabboth And so likewise I say vnto you that here is one greater then the temple By which words of his it is euident that he was not bound to the Law who called himselfe as he was the Sonne of Man Lord of the Sabboth and so of all the Law but as he laide downe his life when the Law could not take it from him and was obedient vnto death though death were in his power so would he subiect himselfe to the carnall commandements of the Law though he were free from them as being the truth and end of the Law For the Law was our Schole-master to Christ to whom when we were come by faith which made vs the Sonnes of God we were no longer vnder a Schoole-master How much lesse then could Christ himselfe who freed all that beleeued in him from obseruing the Law be bound or of necessitie subiect to the Law which neede not lead him to himselfe nor could not force him that was personally the Sonne of God to be a seruant vnder the types and figures of the Law farder then his owne wil induced him I made a reason that Suerties bound to the law to pay other mens debts might not looke to haue all referred to their liking and power as Christ had to his but to answer the penalties of the law to which they were obliged â—…es forsooth such a Suertie as he was might worthely be a gratious Mediator he was no ordinarie Sucrtie You labour to binde Christ to the thraldome of condemnation by the similitude of humane lawes which subiect the Suertie to the â—…arre condition that they doe the debtour and now when you see that resemblance to faile you exempt him from the seruitude of Suerties because he was no ordinarie Suertie Doe you now finde there is great difference betwixt a Suertie and a Redeemer and howsoeuer the speech may be true that Christ was a kinde of Suertie for vs yet may we not make him a seruant obliged to vs or with vs but a willing and free Redeemer For after our transgression committed and iudgement giuen vpon Adam and all his posteritie by Gods owne mouth a Suertie commeth to late a Redeemer is not too late before execution and therefore the Scriptures doe euerie where giue vs a Redeen er to note that we were condemned and reserued vnder feare and danger of euerlasting punishment till the Redeemer interposed himselfe and offered such ransome and restitution as should more content and satisfie the holinesse and iustice of God then out condemnation could doe The person that vndertooke our redemption was not Christes humane nature which as then was not but the Sonne of God in his owne person assumed on him to make ful satisfaction for our disobedience not by suffering euerlasting death which was due to vs but by giuing a better and more pretious recompence then we were woorth And this he would doe by submitting himselfe to obey and serue in our nature and in our steed and so offer the most acceptable Sacrifice of humilitie and obedience vnto death that Gods holinesse might be honored which we dâ—…spised and his iustice satisfied which we prouoked Let all men therefore aduise themselues how they binde the person of the Sonne of God to their obligation or condemnation it was he and none other that vndertooke for vs and by whose fauour power dignitie sanctitie and humilitie ioyned in one person with our weake and fraile nature the worke of our redemption was performed You say he could not be bound to the Law because he was aboue the Law He was aboue the Law in his Godhead but in his manhood he became for vs vnder the Law If you speake of Christes manhood apart from his Godhead you vtterly ouerthrow all our saluation For set aside the personall vnion of man with God in Christ Iesus and his humane nature could do vs no good Since therefore his Godhead was from euerlasting and a perfect and distinct person in the Tâ—…initie before his manhood was created which had neuer any existence by it selfe but in coniunction with his Deitie from the first instant of his conception when we speake of the person of Christ we must speake either of his Godhead which was before his incarnation or ioyntly of both after his assumption of man into God Then either we had no Surctie for our redemption the foure thousand yeeres that Christes flâ—…sh was vnmade of his mother or els the Sonne of God in his owne person was our Suretie So that our Suretie for foure thousand yeeres could not be bound to the Law by your confession and when the same Sonne of God tooke vnto him our humane nature into the vnity of his perfon HE that is the Person could be no more bound to the Law then he was before For the Godhead was of more power to free the manhood of Christ in that Person from the Law then our flesh in Christ was to subiect the Godhead vnder the Law Wherefore the person remained free and vnbound yet would he submit himselfe to obserue the signes and sacraments of the Law as he did humble himselfe to the death of the Crosse to neither of which the person was bound by any legall seruitude but only by voluntarie submission that his obedience being no way tied might be the more precious in Gods sight For as the Lord of glorie was crucified and we are reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne so God sent his Sonne mâ—…de of a woman and made vnder the Law to redeeme vs and giue vs the adâ—…ption of children but as he was made flesh by no compulsion nor obligation no more was he subiâ—…ct to the Law by any other meanes then by his owne loue and liking for vs. Neither doth the Scripture binde the manhood of Christ vnto the Law For the Law was not giuen to the righteous sayth the Apostle Which if it were possible to be true in any it was most true in the manhood of Christ who had neither in birth life nor death any taint of sinne If ye be led by the spirit sayth Paul ye are not vnder the Law for against such there is no law Whether you thinke the manhood of Christ was endued and guided with the spirit I referre it to your owne conscience If it were then
and was infinitely more grecuous and dolefull as touching the present sense then otherwise the meere outward stripes and wounds of men were or could be Sir you haue cast out your nets all night and caught iust nothing We know the diuell can not touch any haire of our heads till he receaue power from God so to doe This our discerning and acknowledging the hand of God in setting the wicked on worke as you call it in giuing them leaue to sift his Saints as I say and to exercise his graces in them doth breede no such feare nor torment of conscience as you talke of in Christ so long as we are perswaded that God loueth vs and doth all things for the best and that the sharpest triall in this life is the speediest way to his kingdome If we that be sinfull and fraile subiected indeede to the iust remorse of our consciences can yet apprehend and discerne the rage of Satan and of the wicked armed with power from aboue to make triall of our Faith and Patience and not be dismayed nor tormented in mind in any such sort as you speake of what shall we thinke the Soule of Christ full of grace and of the holy Ghost inseparably ioyned with his Godhead in one and the same person could conceaue of these his sufferings or Satans incensing the Iewes against him but as the truth was that he well liked and God approoued and annointed him to be the Sauiour of the world and the destroyer of Satans kingdome for this obedience and patience which he should shew in admitting the Iewes to execute Satans furious rage against his Body You would haue Christ to conceaue that he was sinfull defiled hatefull and accursed of God and in that respect God was become an Enemie to him and had forsaken him but these mysteries of iniquitie and Infidelitie were farre from that holy vndefiled and acceptable Sacrifice which the vnspotted I amb of God did offer for the sinnes of the world But why shrinke you and shift you thus from pillar to post and make sometimes the immediate hand of God to be cause of Christs suffering in Soule sometimes the working or conflicting of Satan with him and sometimes Christs owne apprehension that the Iewes and the diuell were set on worke by the secret wrath of God and all this while you doe not once endeuour you say to expresse the manner of it where in deede you doe nothing but waue to fro not knowing where to stand or what to hold but only to requoile to your accustomed couerts of Gods proper wrath and indignation against sinne from which you thinke you may frame what fansies you will q Defenc. pag. 81. li. 33. In your Booke you speake directly against the maine ground of it affirming that God himselfe did nothing to Christ that is he did not PROPERLY punish him Indeede I doe defend that God with his immediate hand or power did not torment the Soule of Christ otherwise that God gaue power to the Prince of darkenesse to come against him and r Matth. 27. deliuered him into the hands of sinners to doe vnto him s Acts. 4. whatsoeuer the counsell of God had determined before to be done that I euery where confesse and anouch Himselfe saith his t Iohn 18. Father gaue him the Cup which he did drinke to shew as well the Fatherly moderation as the righteous permission of his sufferings more then which no Scripture doth enforce though it call that Gods hand or deede which God by his loue did approoue and ordaine and by his wisdome and power direct and order for the performance of our Saluation u Defenc. pag. 82. 〈◊〉 2. The very truth and Gods nord it selfe is flat contrarie to you Your fansies perhaps be very strong against me but as for the Scriptures you vse to crake a great deale more of them then you haue cause He that can tell the meaning of Iobs words when he said x Iob. 〈◊〉 the Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken though the Sabeans and Chaldeans tooke his Oxen and Camels from him and y Iob. 19. the hand of God hath touched me when yet Satan z Iob 2 smote him with sore Boyles from the sole of his foote vnto his Crowne shall soone disperse the mists that you would make out of the word of God 〈◊〉 is written God made him sinne for vs Yea he made his Soule sinne Which is nothing Defenc. pag. 82. 〈◊〉 else but the Lord laid vpon him the iniquitie of vs all You shew your skill and vnderstanding in the Scriptures To prooue that God with his immediate hand did afflict and torment the Soule of Christ you note that God did appoint him to be the Sacrifice for sinne and that Christ accordingly did offer vp his Soule or life to be disposed at Gods pleasure What is ment by sinne in those words of the Apostle God made him sinns for vs I haue largely shewed before whence you may conclude that God did appoint and approoue Christ to be the Lamb that should take away the sinnes of the world because he was vndefiled and accepted of God as a most sufficient exchange or recompence for the sinnes of men but torment from the immediate hand of God these words doe not touch and therefore you might haue as well saued your Paper as lost your paines The next words that Christ made his owne Soule or life an offering for sinne to what purpose you bring it I can not ghesse except it be to let your Reader see that you doe not vnderstand whereabout you goe For how doth Christs giuing of his life for many proue that his Soule was afflicted by the very hand of God Had Gods immediate hand tormented his Soule when he commended his Spirit into his Fathers hands by your Doctrine he commended it not to rest but to Torment This is nothing else you say but the Lord laid vpon him the iniquitie of vt all Then none of these three Texts come any thing neere your intention that God with his owne hand laid the punishment of our sinnes on Christ since the last word by which you expound the rest inferreth no more but that God caused or made our sinnes to come against him In which words as in all the rest implying any such thing the Prophet meaneth God was the Supreme Cause and Author of all Christs sufferings which I no way deny but not the immediate executioner with his owne hand as you haue lately deuised and now would prooue if you could tell how This Phrase in the Scriptures that God DID these or these things concludeth not that he did them with his immediate hand but that he was the Decreer director and disposer of those things by his iust Iudgement to punish sinne or by his wisdome to make triall of his Saints God vsing for his Ministers and executioners Men or Angels good or bad as seemed best to his heauenly
will and Counsell b Amos 3. Is there any euill in the Citie and the Lord hath not done it saith Amos. Where he doth not ascribe all euill of punishment to the immediate hand of God but to the Soueraigne Iudgement and power of God appointing and ordering what shall be done c Esa. 45. I am the Lord there is none other making Peace and creating euill In both God had and hath his Instruments though in both his will and power did and doth preuaile When Dauid had sinned by killing Vriah and taking his wife God thus threatned him by Nathan the prophet d 2. Sam. 12. I will raise vp euill against thee out of thine owne bouse and will take thymiues before thine cies and giue them to thy neighbour and he shall lie with thy wiues in the sight of this Sunne For thou didst it secretly but I will doe this thing before all Israell and the Sunne Shall we attribute Absolons vnnaturall rebellion against his father and his most shameles incest to Gods immediate hand and so make God the onely author of so horrible sinne which is the heigth of all wickednesse Or did God by his iust iudgement giue libertie to Satan to lead Absolon that ambitious murderer of his eldest brother by the wicked counsell of Achitophell to this impudent villanie So when Iob sayth The Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken it did he meane that God tooke it with his immediate hand or that God by his righteous iudgement did enlarge the diuell and those wicked robbers to make triall of him by the losse of his goods and children e Iob. 2. Stretch out thine hand and touch his bones and his flesh said Satan to God when he desired leaue to strike Iobs body Whereupon Saint Austen sayth f August ad Simplicianum li. 2. Epist. 1. Manum Domini appellabat permissam à Domino manum suam id est ipsam potestatem quam volebat accipere The hand of the Lord Satan calleth his owne hand permitted by God that is the power and leaue which he would receaue God himselfe thus speaketh of the Assyrians that oppressed his people g Esa. 10. O Ashur the rod of my wrath the staffe in their hands is mine indignation God then vseth the wicked both men and Angels to execute his iudgements and exercise his seruants though they haue no such knowledge or purpose and their rage and deeds he calleth his anger and acts because he giueth them power and leaue without which they could not stirre to hurt any of his creatures much lesse any of his seruants Which Christ signified to Pilate when he said h Iohn 19. Thou couldest haue no power at all against me except it were giuen thee from aboue i Defenc. pag. 82. li. 7. The Prophet sayth the Lord delighted to bruize him and afflicted him or slew him In points of faith vndoubted men may dally with diuersitie of significations and doe no hurt but if you will erect new religions and then iustifie your inuentions with What the Prophets fore tol â—…e of Christs sufferings that the 〈◊〉 firme was verified new translations to your liking you bring vs now not the word of God but the humour of your owne head If I may be allowed the like libertie I can soone coole the fire of your words by the same rules that you kindle them For the words may signifie The Lord would humble him and made him expectant or patient The proper significations of the words you will say must be preferred But none of them can be verified of Christs sufferings at the least if we beleeue your Lexicon For dacha with you is to bruise or beate to powder and châ—…l properly noteth the labour of Women in child-birth as chalah doth to be painefully sicke which things agree not properly to the Passion of Christ. Since then we must be forced to the consequent or adherent significations of the words mine haue as good right to be receaued as yours How beit to direct the Reader the safest way in this case Neither you nor I must intrude our deuices vpon the words of God but what the Euangelists describe in Christs sufferings that without Question the Prophets foresaw and foretold in their Predictions The words then of the Prophets must not inferre any new fansies of yours nowhere confirmed in the Euangelists but what the Gospell witnesseth Christ did suffer that Esay foresaid Christ should susfer The immediate hand of God tormenting the Soule of his Sonne is no where testified in the Gospell It was therefore no where foreshewed in the Prophets But the true accustomed translation may stand for good the Lord would bruise him or humble him and made him weake And where you catch hold of the word khaphets as if it were Gods owne action because he tooke pleasure and delight therein besides that the word signifieth to be willing and content as well as to desire and delight that part of your exposition refuteth the rest For God taketh no pleasure in punishing as the Prophet confesseth of him k Lament 3. vers 33. He doth not punish with the hart and as hee witnesseth of him selfe i Azech 1â—… vers 32. I take no pleasure in the death of him that dieth Where you must either translate the wordes that God tooke pleasure to humble and weaken his Sonne to trie his obedience and patience or else that for our sakes rather then we should perish God was content or would bruize him with stripes and wounds due to vs and made him taste of our Infirmities yet neither way conuinceth that God did this with his owne hand For m Psal. 116. The death of his Saints is pretious which is as much as pleasant in his sight and then most pretious when with Faith and Patience they despise for Gods cause all that their pursuers can doe vnto them n Defenc. pa. 82. li. 8. The Apostles doe acknowledge that both the counsell and hand of God was in Christs punishment The place which you bring Acts 4. verse 28 doth cleerely confute your erroneous conceit and answer all that hitherto you haue cited to the contrarie o Acts. 4. Against thine holy Sonne Iesus both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel gathered themselues together to doc what soeuer thy hand and counsell had determined before to be done Let the simplest that is heere iudge whether the Apostles in this their praier acknowledge any thing done to Christ in his sufferings by Gods owne hand without all meanes as you imagine or whether they doe not expressely auouch that both rulers and people of Iewes and Gentils were Gods meanes to doe that which his hand and counsell had before determined to be done So that Christ was not left to the will and power of his enemies to doc with him what they would but to doe that vnto him which Gods wisdome determined and hand
guided to be done Heere apparantly is the hand of God named and confessed but mediate that is ordering and disposing the Iewes rage and violence according to Gods foresetled counsell Wherein the goodnesse of your iudgement and cause appeareth that when you should prooue any thing you produce places that euidently impugne your purpose With like discretion you cite that which followeth For what if God condemned that is abolished sinne in the flesh of which words I haue spoken enough before doth that imply that God punished Christes Soule or bodie with his immediate hand Small store of proofes you haue for your vpstart doctrine of God tormenting Christes soule with his immediate hand when you turne aside to texts that no way mention any such matter and prate in your pride that the word of God is flat contrarie to me p Defenc. pa. 82. li. 12. Gods owne hand then did smite Christ and inflicted on him whatsoeuer he suffered as the condemnation of sinne Well leapt From Gods hand vsing the Iewes and Gentils as his meanes to doe to Christ whatsoeuer his counsell had determined you step to Gods owne hand excluding all meanes directly against the profession of the Apostles and the whole Church with them and against the tenor of the new Testament which sharpely rebuketh the rage and wickednesse of the Iewes that put Christ to death Were you not caried with the spirit of slumber and giddinesse could you thus loosely conclude so weightie causes not onely without but against the Scriptures q Ibid. li. 16. The punishment ordained for sinne by the iustice of God and inflicted by the hand of God whatsoeuer meane it pleaseth him to vse is called the wrath of God as you acknowledge My words make as much for you as the Apostles did euen now when they expresly contradicted you but such as your cause is such is your conscience you duck and diue you care not where nor whether so you may haue a generall Phrase to beare you aboue water when you are out of breath You set your selfe to prooue that God with his immediate hand afflicted the Soule of Christ and when your proofes faile you you catch vp my words auouching r Conclus pa. 245. li. 31. the punishment ordained for sinne by Gods Iustice or inflicted on vs by Gods hand WHATSOEVER MEANE HE VSâ—… is called the wrath of God Would you hence inferre that because God vseth meanes therefore he vseth no meanes but inflicteth all punishment of sinne with his immediate hand Or because all punishments great and small on vs or on whomsoeuer come from the Souera gne power hand of God therefore God vseth no meanes Or what other absurd conceite would you collect out of my words I speake not here of the Reprobate I speake of all mankinde though you leaue out my words inflicted ON VS of purpose to serue your owne sense Neither do I say it is Gods eternall or spirituall wrath but all afflictions imposed on vs for sinne by what means soeuer are in the Scriptures called the wrath of God as I haue else where shewed albeit they tend not to damnation nor destruction What is this to Gods immediate hand punishing the Soule of Christ Or which way recall you this to the Conquest that Christ had ouer Satan and all his power wherewith you began s Defenc. pag. 82. li â—…8 Then how may we thinke Gods infinite iustice and power punished Christ You must goe by thoughts indeed and neither by warrant nor word of holy Scripture How Christ bare our sinnes in his body on the tree and gaue the same to be t Matth. 26. broken for vs and t 1. Pet. 2. his bloud to be shedde for many for the remission of sinnes we shall need no thoughts nor concerts of yours the description of his sufferings is so particularly and precisely set downe in the Scriptures that no man doubteth thereof besides you that respect moreyour secret sansies then the publike histories of the Euangelists x Defenc. pag. 82. li. 21. In his spirit certainâ—…â—…e suffered spirituall and incomprehensible punishments being no sinnes such as mens soules are subiect vnto as from God Though by no learning you can truely deriue any such thing from the Scriptures touching the tormenting of Christs soule by the immediate hand of God yet your conceit is so strong that you CERTAINLY auouch any thing For in these few words you presume more then you will prooue whiles you liue to make God with his immediate hand to afflict the soule of Christ with the same paines that the damned are tormented and other reason for it you haue none but because all power in heauen earth and hell is from God and called the hand of God By which the Scriptures doe not imply the immediate hand of God but his power working by meanes appointed and established by him In the Scriptures God is euery where proclaimed to be THE LORD OF HOSTES and therefore as there is no power in Angels Diuels Men or other creatures that cometh not from him so they are not idle armies nor lookers on but are indued with power from God as well to protect as to punish where when how and whom they shal be appointed Which the wisdome and power of God hath ordained and setled not to shorten his arme nor to weaken his strength as needing assistants but by constituting Seruants and Ministers vnder him to let men and Angels good and badde continually behold how mightie and wise righteous and glorious he is that wanteth no meanes to execute his will and yet directeth all things by his wisdome Is not God able to preferre and keepe his Saints by his word or his will without aide of others who doubteth it And yet y Psal. 91. He giueth his Angels charge ouer thee to keepe thee in all thy waies And z Psal. 34. the Angell of the Lord pitcheth round about them that feare him and deliuereth them Is he not able also to punish with his own hand to reuenge his enemies without helpe of his creatures Who denieth it that knoweth what belongeth to a God And yet Dauid praied thus against his enimies a Psal. 35. Let them be as chaffe besore thâ—…â—…nd the Angel of the Lord scatter them Let their way be darke slippery the angel of the Lord persecute them And the Psalmist describing the plagues powred out on b Psal. 78. Egypt saith God rest vpon thâ—… the fiercenesse of his anger indignation wrath vexation 〈◊〉 the senâ—…ing in of euill angels amongst them God then in this life vseth men angels to perâ—…orme his iudgements chiefly the diuel is vsed againstsinners as we may see by the Apostles â—…peech and course who deliuered hainous offenders vnto Satan as vnto the publike tormentor appointed by God to execute vengeance wherein though he were to haue power leaue from God yet execution was allotted to him The auncient
the worst the damned feele Haue the true paines of hell no more in them but a feare thereof Is it possible for men in this mortall flesh and life to endure the true paines of hell and of the damned If you so thinke you new stampe vs a strange but an easie hell in respect of those terrible iudgements which God hath ordeined for the wicked in the world to come Will you flie to your metaphors and say that hell paines are taken for great and exceeding Then play you with figures and phrases as your fashion is and come nothing neere to the substance of the cause So that the one is a sensible vntrueth the other is a shifting trifle brought in to lengthen the tale when matter faileth And when all is sayd so much is sound as I forwarned at first that x Conclus pa. 286. li. 29. fearing doubting or distrusting lest God will for our manifolde sinnes cast vs from his presence and condemne vs to hell commeth in vs from the guiltinesse of conscience and weaknesse of faith and hope which in Christ neither had nor could haue any place My next proposition which you left vntouched is that y Defenc. pag. 85. li. 28. Christ our Redeemer suffered for vs as deeply yea deeper then any of vs here do suffer or can suffer This proposition no way helpeth your intent and besides wanteth both parts and proofs for if the whole were granted as you offer it you can neuer thence conclude that Christ suffered the true paines of the damned till first you shew that all the faithfull in this life do likewise suffer the true paines of the damned which were a monstrous miscreance meet for your new made hell Such desperate and reprobate assertions as haue no touch of proofe nor taste of trueth you place in the foreward of your fanseries But Christ you say suffered as deepely as euer any of vs heere doth or can suffer Then did Christ by your doctrine not only doubt and distrust but euen despaire his owne saluation for so haue many done that after were recouered and restored by grace and so you wrappe the Sonne of God not onely within the guilt but within the verie sincke of our sinnes inherent now not in the temptation but in the perswasion of the heart for therewith haue many of the Elect beene grieuously afflicted for the time This it is for a man of your vnderstanding to wade in waters aboue your heigth and to finde no bottome till you come to the depth of all impietie which you do not intend but can not auoid by the consequence of your positions Two lines and lesse in my Conclusion euen where you complaine for want of answer would haue eased you of all these frantike imaginations had you but soberly considered them or aduisedly sought to disproue them Christes z Conclus pa. 286. li. 10. faith I sayd admitted no doubting his loue excluded all fearing his hope reiected all despairing Which of these doe you or dare you denie Whether doubting be infidelitie S. Iames sayth a Iames 1. Let a man aske in faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing doubting or staggering sor let not such a man thinke that he shall receiue any thing from the Lord. That condition our Sauiour addeth vnto saith b Matth. 21. If you shall haue faith and not doubt for doubting as Paul writeth proceedeth from infidelity Abraham c Rom. 4. doubted not of the promise of God through vnbeliefe but was strengthened in faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being fully assured that he which had promised was able to performe it Therefore Christ sayd to Peter d Matth. 14. O thou of little faith why didst thou doubt and to all the rest e Matth. 8. Why are you fearefull ô you of little faith So that faith is a full and constant perswasion of Gods promises without all feare or doubt that we may be deceiued or defrauded Then must there in Christ be either no doubting or small faith And if vnbeliefe in vs be sinne what was it in Christ after so many and so cleere euidences of Gods owne voice and oath vnto him f Psal. 89. I haue sworne to Dauid my seruant Thy seed will I stablish for euer And againe I haue sworne once by mine holinesse I will not faile Dauid his seed shall endure for euer And likewise g Psal. 110. The Lord sware and will not repent Thou art a Priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech After these oathes promises and speeches of God from heauen to the manhood of Christ all doubting and distrusting is most hainous and horrible sinne which if any man attribute to Christ he is worse then a Iew or a Turke For they know him not we doe know him to be the Sonne of God and Trueth it selfe Set this downe for an infallible rule in Christian religion as indeed it is the foundation of all our saith for if Christ might be a liar and a sinner we are but deceiued in trusting to him and none of these inward torments or deepe sufferings which you desperately dreame of can be fastâ—…ed on Christ. So long as Christes heart and spirit stood fixed and immoued in the graces and promises of God no such strange doubt or feare temptation or torment as you talke of could afflict him No force of Satan no sting of sinne no storme of wrath could confound him or amaze him In vs these things are possible because the corruption of flesh and want of grace often pinch vs with remorse of conscience and remembrance of sinne committed but in Christ there could be no such thing And all your drifts to make him like vs in our sinfull affections and conflicts with confusion and desperation as they haue no ground in the Scriptures so are they weake and wicked in that you measure the fulnesse of Christes graces and his freedome from all sinne by the faithlesse and fearefull assaults that sinne and Satan make on the corrupt and irregenerate parts and powers of our soules Wherefore as I first resolued so I now reiterate by reason of your importunitie that h 1 Iohn 4. perfect loue in Christ did cast out feare and i Rom. 5. reioycing vnder hope made him with patience to expect the performance of Gods promises and with all obedience to endure whatsoeuer the counsell of God had soredetermined to be done vnto which must be farre from Christ Is Infidelitie and distrust no sinne with you that you make it common to Christ with vs or are doubting and fearing no parts of infidelity or what feare or doubt of his saluation could incomprehensibly torment the soule of Christ except his heart did first encline from faith to feare and so apprehend the griefe of Gods fauour lost or in imminent danger to be lost You haue giuen vs three variations of this incomprehensible and infinite paine and griefe which should torment the soule of Christ and yet you
of his bloudie sweate or of that part of his piaier Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me Is that a reason this was not respected by Christ at that time because he had The different affections in Christes agony had different causes diuers other assaults and seas of sorow touching himselfe and others as well as touching the Iewes what hobling is this to aske one entire cause for so many different affections and actions as Christ shewed in his agonie where the Scriptures note not only feare and sorow on euery side but extreame humilitie and ardent zeale with such feruencie of spirit in praier that the sweat brake from him like droppes of bloud who that sought trueth or reade but the words of the Euangelists would thus cauill with matters of such moment Christ was in these passions and praiers by the space of an houre for so himselfe said to Peter f Matth. 26. What could ye not watch with me one houre and he praied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more intentiuely or more feruently after he was strengthned by an Angell then before Shall we thinke he said nothing all that while in his praiers but only these words O my father if it be possible let this cupe passe from me This he repeated thrise as the Scripture obserueth but his praiers were longer and extended to other things except we thinke Christ was an houre repeating three lines Besides the Scriptures note a change in his praiers For after the Angel from heauen appeared to him and strengthened him f Luc. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then entering into an agonie he praied more earnestly than before so that his sweat trickled downe to the ground like droppes of bloud You say there must be one entire cause of all these passions So you say but which way doe you or can you goe about to prooue it saue by the liquor of your owne lips which is weaker then water to glew these things together g Defenc. pag. 95 li. 21. The worke of Christ at this time wrought by him is by a proper and peculiar name iustly called his passion not his compassion Which I would haue you to note A man may soon note the worthinesse of your arguments that when neither by truth nor reason you can preuaile you fall to collude with the names of passion and compassion As if Christes passion did not sometimes import the whole historie of his death and sufferings wherein are confessions reprehensions predictions praiers and promises of Christ as well as paines endured And did it note noe more but paines are not the passions and affections of feare and sorow as painfull many times to the soule as the stripes and wounds of the bodie Such trifles you take for triple engins when your conceits must be concluded all other mens arguments haue no shape of any reason with you so deepely you are in loue with your selfe and your owne inuentions be they neuer so ill-fauoured or mishapen h Defenc. pag. 96. li. 2. Lastly those holymen it seemeth hauing their thoughts wholly defixed on their vehement pittie towards the Iewes earnestly and constantly wished that the cuppe of Gods eternall wrath might come vpon themselues that the Iewes who deserued it might scape But Christ in his passion contrariewise desired that cuppe which he tasted to be to bitter and to violent for him might passe away from himselfe If your suppositions of Moses and Paule were graunted you which yet are no way true they make the stronger against you though you dissemble the sight thereof For if pittie towards the Iewes so farre preuailed with those two being the seruants of Christ that they yeelded their soules to eternall torments as you imagine to saue their Brethren how great reason then hath it that the Messias himselfe in whom was the fullnesse of all mercie might be mooued with such inward compassion for that whole nation that he most earnestly and frequently praied in the Garden to haue this cuppe that is this maner of death whereby the Iewes should perish to passe from him as Origen Ierom Ambrose and Bede expound those wordes and though your hellish humour be so hoat and so haughtie that you pronounce of euerie thing there is no semblance of reason in this yet the considerate Reader will find in those mens iudgments whom I haue named and produced more sap and pith then in your hell paines For seeing the affection of mercy hath beene so mightie in men that they were more then perplexed with this griefe what bring you but babling to shew that Christ might not feruently pray if so it pleased God not to make his death the meane of their vtter ouerthrowe and when he saw their pertinacie and infidelitie to be such that his praier did not preuaile for them to be troubled and agonized in mind for their wofull and willfull destruction Christ praid for himselfe not for them But these learned Fathers tell you he praied not against his owne death simply but respecting them by whose hands it should come and whose eternall ruine it should be Your cup of hell paines which you dreame Christ then tasted to be too bitter and too violent for him is a false and fond conceit of yours hauing neither trueth sense nor likelihood in it and yet forsooth both Scriptures and fathers must giue place to your deuices and semblances This I speake if your assertion of Moses and Paul were admitted howbeit indeed you are not able to prooue one word of all that you affirme in this case You take certaine verie obscure and much questioned words of Moses and Paul for your ground-worke and at your pleasure without all proofe you build thereon a whole world of falshood and confusion Out of which and the like darke and doubtfull places because the most of your hellish doctrine is drawen I thinke it needfull to let the Reader see how far and what those wordes inferre which you so much striue to abuse When the children of Israel had made them a Calfe of golde and feasted and plaied Moses prayer for the people examined before it as the God that brought them out of Egypt the Lord was wroth and said to Moses i Deuter. 9. v. 13. I haue seene this people and beholde it is a stifnecked people k 14. let me alone that I may destroy them and put out their name from vnder heauen and I will make of thee a mightie nation and greater than they be For this sinne when Moses prayed that the whole nation might not be destroyed he sayd to God l Exod. 32. v. 31. This people hath sinned a great sinne m 32. And now if thou wilt take away their sinne and if not wipe me out of the Booke which thou hast written To whom God answered n Vers 33. Whosoeuer hath sinned against me I will put him out of my booke The first thing here to be considered is what God
the time though it were after restored with greater glory This I did not put for the cause of his agonie as you idlely amplifie but noted it as a respect that might worthily lead Christ to dislike or abhorre death in respect of his perfection and communion with God aboue all men and Angels saue for the will of his father and the good of man which ouerruled this dislike in him g Defenc pag. 105 li 22. You say excellent well but by your practise in all matters so farre as I see you neuer meane to obserue it in Gods cause let Gods booke teach vs what to beleeue and what to professe shew me then where you read in Gods word any or all these to be effectuall causes of this strange 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 my part I shall neuer beleeue you If I did professe to bind mens faiths to these causes of Christes agonie as you doe to your new redemption by the paines of the damned I would shew you where I redde them in the word of God or els I would leaue â—…ch beleeuer to his libertie but I forwarned all men that the Scriptures directly and particularly speaking nothing of the causes of Christes agonie the safest rule that I could find or they could follow was not to depart from any knowen and receaued grounds of Religion and principles of pietie for the causes thereof For since the Scriptures keep silence and our Sauiour himselfe would not shew it to all his Disciples but chose three from the rest to goe with him and tooke the darke time of the night and left those three whose eies were so heauie that they could not forâ—…eare sleepe about a stones cast before he would pray because he would not haue thâ—…m 〈◊〉 to all that he said or did in that place I see no reason why any man should be ouer curious in searching that which the word of God hath not precisely reuealed specially seeing no demonstratiue cause can be giuen of secret affections and voluntarie actions such as these were in Christ. And your audacious and presumptuous boldnesse is the more chalengeable for that you not onely take vpon you to giue the right and exact cause therof out of your owne braine but you light on such a cause as hath no foundation in any part of the Scripture nor any coherence with the maine positions of the Christian faith vnfalliblely deliuered in the word of God Wherfore I haue not transgressed my directions when I teach what iust and waighty respects of feare sorow zeale our Lord Sauior had in the worke of our redemption which might be the causes of that earnest prayer agonie and withall shewed the iudgements and opinions of diuers ancient and learned Fathers concerning the same but you as insolent in your conclusions as in your conceits take vpon you to specifie the full and true cause thereof for which you haue no shew of Scriptures nor touch of reason And such is the cause which you yeeld that thereby you crosse the chiefe streames of faith and trueth most currant in the sacred Scriptures and with all learned and religious antiquitie The same rule then binding you which bindeth me shew you what Prophet Euangelist or Apostle euer taught or thought the paines of the damned to be inflicted on Christes soule in the Garden by Gods immediate hand and that without the paines of hell we could not be 〈◊〉 or els my not beleeuing you will not excuse your enterprise you must answere to God and to all the faithfull for innouating the very roots and branches of their redemption by the bloud and death of Christ Iesus which you auouch to be vnsufficient for the ransome of our sinnes except your hell be thereto added when the Holy Ghost who should best know the trueth being the spirit of trueth hath expressed no such thing in all the Scriptures h Defenc pag. 105. li. 32. Your sixt and last maine cause is that Christ by this his bloudie sweate and 〈◊〉 praiers did nothing but voluntarily performe that bloudie offering and Priesthood 〈◊〉 in the Law This we simply grant If you should truely repeat and conceiue any part The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agonie of my writings you should put your selfe to more paines than you are willing to take iustly to refute it Wherefore your course is either to misrecite or to misconstrue all that you bring In the oblations of the Law which prefigured the death of Christ I obserued that not only the Sacrifice was slaine by the shedding of bloud but that the person of the Priest was sanctified as well as the sinner presented by the Priest to God with earnest and humble prayer to make atonement for the trespasse And since the trueth must haue some resemblance with the figure Christ might in the Garden performe some points requisite to his Priesthood as the sanctifying of himselfe with his owne bloud and presenting his bodie to be the redemption and remission of our sinnes with most instant and intentiue prayer for the transgressours This if you simply graunt as in wordes you say you doe tell vs now which way you will conclude Christes suffering of hell paines in the Garden from his bloudie sweat It hindereth not our assertion Much lesse doeth it further it but yet if there might be a cause of Christes voluntarie sprinckling himselfe with his owne bloud and dedicating it to Gods pleasure for mans redemption besides and without your hellish torments you will come shorter than you recken to make good your conclusion i Defenc. pag. 106. The Scriptures which you cite prooue indeed that Christ now executed his office of Priesthood but will you diuide and exempt his death on the Crosse from his Priesthood Who besides your selfe restraineth Christes euerlasting Priesthood either to the garden or to the crosse But it was one thing for Christ with feruent and submissiue prayer to present and submit his bodie which was his Sacrifice to the will of his Father as he did in the garden and another thing to receiue and admit the violent and wicked hands of the Iewes executing their rage on his bodie with all reproch and crueltie as he did on the crosse Now what had his Priesthood to do with the paines of hell since he was to present and performe the bloudie sacrifice of his bodie prefigured in the Law which he did in the garden and on the crosse And forsomuch as you grant that Christes bloudy sweat and his vehement prayers in the garden were pertinents to his Priesthood prefigured in the Law which indeed is k Hebr. 5. confirmed by the Apostle as you can shew no figure of suffering hell paines or the second death in the sacrifices of the Law no more doth either of these performed in the garden concerne any secret death of the soule which Christ there suffered from the immediate hand of God l Defenc. pag. 106. li. 14. Why say you not aswell that his death
for saken of God whose cause to reconcile them 〈◊〉 then vndertookest and as a most skillfull Patron for seruants thou didest not disdaine to take the person of a seruant and SO FARRE thou didst compassionate the weake that thou wast neither afraid nor ashamed to be crucified and to dy leauing for a time thine owne higth and emptying the maiesty of thy glory that the dispersed might returne and the forsaken might take breath or comfort The forsaking which Cyprian here describeth in Christ consisteth in leauing of his diuine power and glory for a time and in abasing himselfe SO FARRE as to dy the death of the Crosse for their sakes but no farder And these wordes he saith Christ would haue vnderstoode to be a cause of their Reconciliation to God who had deserued for their sinnes to be forsaken of God and therefore he addeth presently f 〈◊〉 I consider thee Lord on that crosse where thou seemedst without helpe or forsaken how with an Emperiall power thou didst send the theefe before to thy kingdome by assuming of whom it is manifest how much thou hadst preuailed for those that were forsaken You would faine so wrest Cyprians wordes that he should say Christ vndertooke our cause and no more but he withall affirmeth that Christ tooke vpon him our person and that his carefull complaint were the wordes of his beloued If the wordes were spoken as well in our person as in our cause then we were indeed forsaken and Christ by laying downe his glorie for a time and obeying his fathers will did by those wordes declare that he reconciled vs to God when we were forsaken and in signe thereof with full power made the theefe partaker of his kingdome that had deserued and was condemned to die the death of a for lorne and forsaken malefactour g Defenc. pag. 109. li. 2. If you thincke they ment that Christ spake this by some strange metonimy naming himselfe but meaning his Church that can haue no good sense I shall not need to tell you The first sense of 〈◊〉 complaint on the Crosse. what I thinke let them speake themselues what they ment and when you haue heard their meaning out of their owne wordes you shall see how much you abused Cyprian to make him speake that he neuerment It is plaine enough which Athanasius saith h Athanaâ—…ius de incarnatione Christi Christ spake those wordes in our person for he was neuer forsaken of God and Austen is as euident i August epist. 120. why disdaine we to heare the voice of the body by the mouth of the head to me that is to my body my church and my litle ones So was it said why hast thou forsaken me euen as it was said he that receaueth you receaueth me No doubt we were in those wordes and the head did speake for his body And likewise Leo k Leo Serm. 16. de Pâ—…ss Dom. Christ spake those wordes in the voice of his Redeemed Neither are they alone in this opinion Theodoret satith l Theodoret. iâ—… Psalm 21. because Christ was the head of mans nature he speaketh for the whole nature of man So Bede m 〈◊〉 a in Psal. 21. Quare dereliquistime idestmeos ideo scilicet quia longè te fecerunt peccata esse à salute mea id est meorum Hec verbaplane innuunt caput non in persona sua hic loqui Quomodo enim derelictus vellonge à salute factus posset esse ille Why hast thou forsaken me that is mine because sinne did put thee farre from sauing me that is mine These words do plainly prooue that the head doth not here speake in his owne person For how could he possiblely be forsaken or remooued from saluation And Euthymius n 〈◊〉 in Psal. 21. The Lord taketh vnto him the person of mans nature as lincked to him and saith why hast thou forsaken me now a man that is the whole nature of man And Damascene o 〈◊〉 Orthodoxe fidei li. 3. ca. 24. Christ was neuer forsaken of his owne Godhead but we were those that were forsaken and despised Wherefore appropriating our person he praied in that sort And expressing what it is to appropriate or assume an others person he saith As when a man doth put on an others person of piety or charitic and in his steed vseth speach for him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which agreeth not vnto himselfe If then we take dereliction for the want of Gods fauour spirit and grace as these Fathers doe it is euident Christ could not so be forsaken and consequently these wordes in that sense which is proper to the Children of Gods wrath could not agree to the person of Christ though it were true in his members that they by nature were forsaken and destitute of grace till he reconciled them to God and diffused his spirite into their harts to make them partakeâ—…s of his holinesse And as for the strangenesse of the metonimy count you that strange which Christ vseth in one Chapter more then thirty times and find you no strangenesse in your conceits which are no where throughout the Scriptures either expressed or so much as coherent with the continuall speach and plaine rules of the Scriptures p Defenc. pag. 109. li. 5. That can haue no good sense For how can it be that we were forsaken of God when Christ was on the Crosse Nay euen then and there we were purchased vnto God not forsaken by God Doth any man vse when he would make reasons for his opinion to refuâ—…e himselfe as you doe we were purchased you say on the Crosse vnto God you must adde by the bloud of his sonne which was also God for that Saint Paul in the plâ—…ce which you cite nameth as the true and right price of this purchase God purchased his Church with his owne bloud and not by the direfull paines of hell as your braine hath lately broched Now if we were purchased on the Crosse then till we were purchased we were enstranged from God and so forsaken of him And what hindreth this complaint or prayer of Christs to beare witnesse that we were now reconciled and purchased vnto God which before were forsaken and separated from God For those words doe not imply that we still continued forsaken but that formerly without Christ we were vtterly forsaken and now by him restored to fauour And the goodnesse of this sense I doe not thinke but any man of meane capacitie will soone conceaue and iudge it more fruitfull for vs to know that by Christs mediation and oblation on the crosse we are now no longer strangers vnto God nor forsaken of him as before we were for our sinnes then that Christ suffered the direfull and infernall paines and death of the damned in his Soule before we could be freed from our sinnes For of the first there can be no question and of the second you neither haue nor euer shall be able to bring one
but he clearely confesseth before hand that all which himselfe will say touching the second death of Christes soule on the crosse is apparantly false doctrine and euidently repugnant to the sacred Scriptures Thou wilt maruaile much at this and so doe I but that Liars are often so earnest to serue their turnes and not the trueth that they forget their former tales whiles they inuent newer As here for example He that would before allow to Christ on the crosse NO SENSE NOR FEELING OF COMFORT OR IOY in spirit soule or body Now vrgeth to promote another purpose Christs EXCEEDING GENERALL AND CONSTANT IOY euen at the same time when he spake these wordes My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and not content with this he addeth that Christ euen then IN HIS MIND SPAKE TRIVMPHANTLY OF HIS CONSTANT and CONTINVALL IOY in GOD and prooueth it by the words of the holy Ghost where Dauid being a Prophet spake concerning Christ on the Crosse that he l Acts 2. beheld the Lord alwaies before him at his right hand that he should not be shaken And therefore did Christs hart reioyce and his tongue was glad Vnderstand you sit faith-maker the difference or repugnance betweene NO SENSE NOR FEELING OF COMFORTOR IOY in spirit soule or body A most shamefull contradiction and EXCEEDING GENERALL CONSTANT and TRIVMPHANT IOY in GOD in the mind of Christ can you read this and not thinke you reele as your reasons doe to and fro can you salue this sore without sweating or make vp this breach without blushing and I pray you since the ground of these wordes is true in that it is the holy Ghosts and you may not flie from your owne inference which you presse so violently against the fathers to beate downe their exposition how could Christs Soule on the crosse IN THIS EXCEEDING GENERALL CONTINVALL CONSTANT and TRIVMPHANT IOY OF MIND suffer also the paines of the damned and the second death wherein IS NO SENSE NOR FEELING OF ANY COMFORT OR IOY IN body soule or spirit Can you hang these gymmoes together that the one shall not crie shamefull and intolerable falsehood against the other the best excuse that I can make for your to saue you from ebriety or frensie is that these things were posted ouer to you from diuers that saw not each others fansies and so without due perusing or remembring where they crossed ech other you patched their papers together with more hast then good speed How beit surely I take it to be a iust iudgement of God when you are diuided from the trueth to diuide either your tongues from your harts or your harts from themselues that all men may learne to take heed how they dally with the Christian faith or delude the Scriptures I thanke God I hate you not so much but for your owne sake I could wish you had beene silenter or circumspecter And see how euill you lucke or at least your cause is For heere haue you spoken enough to confute all that you formerly haue said and afterward will say and yet you haue brought nothing to infringe that which I said For a naturall seare and mislike of death as also griefe and sharpnesse of paine in the body may well stand with a continuall and constant comfort in God yea where grace is present and preuaileth the m 2 Cor. 4. perishing of the outward man bringeth the renewing of the inward man and bitter affliction maketh vs seeke after God and call vpon him the more earnestly for his assistance in which case it is most true that Gods n 2. Cor. 12. power is perfected in our infirmity For when I am weake saith the Apostle in body then I am strong in spirit And if Paul could o 2. Cor. 12. delight in reproches persecutions and anguishes for Christes sake and yet feele the smart of them could not Christ retaine comfort in his afflictions though his flesh were pressed with extreame paine Many thinges more may be strongly alleaged against this opinion With such strength as you haue already shewed whereneither words nor matter shall hang together p Defenc. pag. 110 li. 37. As first that seeing he perfectly knew that as his flesh should now quietly rest so his soule should enioy perfect glory and comfort more then before it did That doth not quench the detestation Was there no comfort in all this which mans nature hath of death euen by Gods ordinance though it comfort and courage the soule in hope of future blisse to indure the paine and horrour of death S. Austen saith q August epistola 120. Nemo vnquam carnem suam odio habuit et praeterea non vult anima vel ad tempus abeius etiam insirmitate descedere quamuis 〈◊〉 se sine infirmitate in aeternum recepturamesse confidat Tantam habet vim carnis animae dulce consortium No man euer hated his owne flesh and therefore the soule is not willing to depart euen from the weakenesse of the body for a time though she beleeue that she shall receiue her flesh againe for euer without infirmity Of so great 〈◊〉 is the sweet 〈◊〉 betwixt the soule and the body And so againe r 〈◊〉 tract in 〈◊〉 123. This affection of mans weakenesse whereby no man is willing to die is so naturall that age could not take it from blessed Peter to whom it was said by Christ when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 old thou shalt be led whither thou wouldest not And to comfort us our 〈◊〉 himselfe assumed and shewed this affection in himselfe when he said Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me So that these respects made Christ the more comfortable in death but by no meanes did vtterly quench the naturall dislike that Christes manhood had and lawfully might haue of death knowing it to be the punishment of sinne and dissolution of our creation though by Gods goodnesse it be now made a passâ—…ge in his to a better life Your next reason is of the same stamp The resurrection of the body maketh no man willing to die if he could with Gods liking decline death but obedience ouerruleth the naturall instinct that God hath impressed in vs to abhorre death And where you take it for a mighty'pillar in your building that Christ s Pa. 111. li. 6. would not so extreamly mourne and complaine only for this cause as my fansie importeth you build but on sand which will haue the greater fall For I shew you many more causes and senses of those words then this only all which you kindly skippe and pretend this only which I neuer professed calling it my fansie that I cited out of auncient and reuerend writers t Defenc. pag. 111. li. 8 Further he knew perfectly that this was the very appointment of God for the obtaining of his most desired purchase of our health for the more aduancing of Gods glorie and for the aduancing of his very manhood Finally it was
yet will I looke againe toward thine holy temple Thou hast brought vp my life from the pit ó Lord my God z Ibid. ver 7. When my soule fainted I remembred the Lord and my praier came vnto thee into thine holy temple So that Ionas sainted with feare of death but not with the paines of the damned who I troe do not pray in their paines much lesse trust in God or are heard of him as Ionas was a Trea. pa. 46. Dauid wanted not the like in his manifold and fearefull agonies many times Though I exempt neither Dauid nor any of Gods saints here on earth from b 2. Cor. 7. feares within and sights without and troubles on euery side as the Apostle speaketh of himselfe yet is there no proofe that Dauid euer suffered the paines of the damned his words conuince no such thing Sheol which you would now turne to signifie hell though in the words of Dauid applied to Christ by Peter in the acts you stiffely refuse it standeth indifferent to note the pit prouided for the body which is the graue or prepared for the soule which is hell So that out of a word admitting this double signification you can neuer inferre which sense you please but by some other sound and sufficient circumstances Againe there are but two places which cleerly confesse that Dauid was compassed or ouertaken with the snares dangers or troubles of Sheol the 18 Psalme and the 116. In the first of which it is more then euident as well by the occasion of the Psalme as by the variation and coniunction of other words that Dauid ment the danger of death which often beset him vnder the persuit of Saul and other his enemies as the manifest words of holy writte do witnesse For this is the inscription of the Psalme c 2. Sam. 22. Dauid spake vnto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord deliuered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul So that the snares and ropes of death which he speaketh of in that Psalme were apparantly the manifold dangers of life which his enemies and chiefly Saul put him in Secondly the titles that he there ascribeth vnto God proue that in his persecutions Dauid neuer doubted of Gods goodnesse towards him but in all his troubles held that for his chiefe hope and help d Psal. 18. v. 1. I will loue thee deerly saith he ô Lord my strength e 2. The Lord is my Rocke and my fortresse and my deliuerer my God my Rocke in him will I trust my shield the horne of my saluation and my refuge f 3. I will call vpon the Lord which is worthy to be praised so shall I be safe from mine enemies Thirdly the words there declaring his dangers and yet at last the destruction of his enemies argue as much For he saith g Ibid. vers 4. The ropes of death compassed me the floudes of vngodlinesse that is of the vngodly made me afraid The h 5. ropes of Sheol enuironed me the snares of death ouertooke me And so for the persons of his enemies he saith i Ibid. vers 18. They preuented me in the day of my trouble but the Lord was my stay the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousnesse because I kept the waies of the Lord. His seuering his enemies from God and iustifying himselfe not in the sight of God but in respect of them proueth all his intention in that Psalme to be touching his enemies whom by Gods aide and might hee k vers 37. persued and consumed wounding them that they fell vnder his feet and whose necks were giuen him that he might destroy them that hated him l vers 41. They cried vnto the Lord sayth he but there was none to deliuer them This no way concerneth the diuell nor his tentations much lesse any paines of hell from the immediate hand of God but most euidently the plots of men that were his enemies and sought his destruction The other Psalme maketh the like profession vpon the like occasion and affirmeth that God heard Dauid and inclined his eare vnto him when the m Psal. 116. snares of death compassed him when the straights of Sheol found him out when troubles and griefe tooke hold on him In other places where Dauid saith that his life or Soule was deliuered and saued from n Psal. 30. Sheol and euen from the o 86. lowest Sheol it is indifferent which sense wee follow since no doubt he did ascribe the euerlasting Saluation of his Soule from Hell vnto Gods goodnes and mercie no lesse then he did the preseruation of his life from the Graue And therefore I shall not neede to discusse any of those places which admit both constructions and yet bring not your hell-paines into this life any whit the sooner Againe when Dauid speaketh of feares ropes snares of hell if it were graunted that Dauid intended as well the inward assaultes of Satan to subuert his soule as the outward perils of his life to shorten his daies it helpeth not your cause For the gates euen of hell that is the power thereof preuaile in this life against all that are not of Christs true church and often compasse and besiege the faithfull and p 1. Pet. 5. the roaring lion that goeth about seeking whom he may deuoure is neither idle nor vnable to take hold of mens soules by sundrie sinnes tentations deceits and snares if he be not stedfastly resisted by faith and to make them the children of hell not by the present suffering thereof but by preparing and obliging them to the wrath to come Of the Scribes and Pharises Christ saith q Matth. 23. vers 15. You compasse sea and land to make one Proselyte that is a nouice of your profession and when he is gotten you make him filium gehennae the child of hell double to your selues Shall we hence conclude that the Scribes and Pharises and all their Proselytes were heere on earth in the true paines of hell and of the damned because our Sauiour who can not erre pronounceth them THE CHILDREN OF HELL or shall wee rather accept Christes owne Exposition where he saith r Ibid ver 33. O Serpents generation of Vipers how should you escape the future damnation or iudgment of hell Lastly as the name of God is added figuratiuely to manie things to signifie the beautie and excellencie thereof in their kindes as the s Psal. 36. hilles of God and the t 80. Ceders of God for faire and goodlie hills and trees so the name of hell is vsed in detestation for that which is fearefull and intolerable as the sorowes of hell and straights of hell and such like Whereby it is euident that you may dreame of Dauid as you doe of others that he felt in this life the paines of hell or of the damned but if you sett your selfe to prooue it
lachrymas modo oculis sed sanguinis guttas è corpore exprimit seria deuota oratio vt in trepidatione Christi est cernere Serious deuote praier doth not onely draw teares from the eyes but a bloudie sweate from the bodie as we see in Christes Agonie And surely the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrewes must either not collect this from the Scripture but report it besides the Scripture which is somewhat dangerous os else by the sweate of Christes face trickling downe to the ground he collected that in that in entiue and vehement prayer teares ran downe as fast as sweate and ioyntly with sweate and other sound gathering it from the Scriptures there is none And this collection if you graunt that the Apostle from the vehemencie of Christs prayer obserued the cause of the one to be the cause of the other since it was not possible the face should runne with sweate through the feruencie of prayer and not the eyes with teares then graunt you that it may soundly be gathered from the Scriptures that zeale of prayer and not heate of paine was the cause of Christs bloudy sweate z Defenc. pag. 132. li. 34. The Apostle in all reason may be vnderstoode to haue respect to all the woefull times and cries of our Sauiour as on the crosse and in the 12. of Iohn There is no reason to extend the Apostles wordes to Christs praier in the 12. of Iohn for there the Scripture doth not mention either strong cries or teares which are the Apostles words On the crosse he vsed a loud voice but teares he shed none neither was the sense of his prayer there to be freed from death but rather to hasten his death to which he had now wholy submitted himself according to his Fathers will And therefore your stretching the Apostles wordes to all those times to make Christs agonie if you could tell how to continue on the crosse wanteth all reason His paine most increased on the crosse and his sorow rising thence could not decrease but neither his astonishment nor that which the Scripture calleth his agonie accompanied with his bloodie sweate continued on the crosse You thinke it vnreasonable to say that Christ on the crosse had persistance in ioy and beheld God alwayes fauourable and faithfull vnto him a Defenc. pag. 132. li. 38. without intermission or obscuration though his flesh in which sinne was condemned and his body where he bare our sinnes were subiected to most shamefull and cruell torments fâ—…om the hands of the wicked what vncoherence is there in those wordes or what disagreement from the Scriptures I saw the Lord alwayes before me said Dauid concerning Christ. For he is at my right hand that I should not be moued If this beholding of God were b Sermon pâ—… 116 li. 25. alwayes then was there no intermission if before his face then was there no obscuration These are my words which why you should dislike or how you can refute I doe not see You can touch nothing which you one way or other turne not out of his right course Firmenesse of faith and assurance of hope I giue vnto Christ on the Crosâ—…e and either of those bring with them inward ioy of mind how much soeuer our outward state be troubled or our flesh afflicted Neither are these such contraries as cannot stand together since they are both in diuers parts and for diuers respects S. Peter saith c 1. Peter 1. we reioyce in the faith of saluation though for a season wee are in heauinesse through manifold temptations S. Iames saith my d Iames 1. brethren count it an exceeding ioy when ye fall into diuers tentations S. Paul saith e Rom. 5. we reioyce vnder the hope of the glory of God neither so onely but also we reioyce in tribulation knowing that tribulation bringeth foorth pâ—…tience experience and hope which maketh not ashamed Then as it is no absurditie that the spirit should be readie and the flesh weake nor that the inward man should be renewed when the outward man perâ—…sheth no more is it any repugnancie that Christ should haue ioy in the holy Ghost and in hope when he found and felt exceeding affliction in his flesh and as the Apostle teacheth f Hebr. 12. for the ioy set before him endured the crosse and despised the shame thereof If then there be ioy in hope how could Christ want ioy if he wanted not hope and hope if you take from him you leaue him in despaire which is the losse of hope which whether you will adde to the rest of your vnsound faith I leaue it to your choice Notwithstanding your selfe in this very booke allow to Christ on the crosse and in his agonie by reason of the very same wordes which I cite page 116. not onely g Defenc. pag. 110. li. 28. 34. constant and continuall ioy in God but exceeding and generall ioy with which whether your hell and perpetuall extreme agonie as well on the Crosse as in the Garden may stand I referre it to the sober and wise Reader h Defenc. pag. 133. li. 3. 1. How vaine is this consequent how false are these sayings and contrarie to the Scripture in the circumstances that his astonishment must continue eighteene houres from his entering into the garden to the ending of his life the next day at three of the clocke afternoone Indeed it is most absurd and openly repugnant to the Scriptures and to all the circumstances thereof to defend that Christs agonie which you say was the cause of his astonishment or his astonishment which was the effect thereof continued on the Crosse and yet such is your error that you make Christs spirituall paines on the crosse to be greater then in the Garden and his astonishment to be lesse because you doe not find that on the crosse where his paine was present and most sharpe he prayed ought against the knowen will of God as you auouch he did in the Garden Your supposing and presuming without all warrant of holie Scripture that God with his immediate hand inflicted the paines of the damned on the soule of Christ i Defenc. pag. 133. li. 9. 10. sometimes more sometimes lesse and sometimes more suddainly then at other times and sometimes staying it and this variablenesse of Gods hand to be the true cause of Christs astonishment is a saucie senselesse and shifting imagination aggrauating easing and iterating Gods hand at your pleasure and yet such is the folly and fâ—…lshood of your doctrine that without this desperate deuice euery child would crie shame on you For where on the Crosse by your owne confession Christes meere spirituall paines most increased euen there his astonishment was none at all and though you teach it not possible for Christ not to sinke and k Treat pag. 54. li. 28. not to be confounded vnder the burden yet when he l Ibid. pag. 63. li. 15. came to
all his Disciples to feare him euen God y Luc. 12. who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell Shall we thence inferre by your diuinitie that God will cast all the faithfull into hell because he hath power so to doe which they must feare z Philip. 2 Finish your saluation with feare and trembling saith the Apostle Shall we therefore neuer be saued because we must alwayes tremble and feare vnder the mightie hand of God Vnder the same hand of God migh Christ feare and tremble not doubting of his saluation nor distrusting his Fathers loue but knowing that the hand of God was Almightie and able to impose farre greater paine on his bodie then his humane flesh was able to beare It is therefore due to Gods power from all the faithfull and was likewise from Christes manhoode for men to be afrayd of the strength of Gods hand when he ariseth to punish sinne though when and how he will doe it we may not or cannot determine And if we should graunt that Christs flesh euen thus feared the power of Gods hand that was able to keepe him from death and to inflict what paine pleased him you are no whit the nearer to your new found hell or to your second death of Christs soule which you labour to deriue from these words of the Apostle to the Hebrewes But to let the reader see how rashly rudely you conclude what you list out of the Apostles words without any sure ground The word which all this while you haue taken to import a coufused and perplexed feare in Christ hath no such signification in the Greeke tongue and in this place of the Apostle by the iudgement of the ancient and best learned interpreters of all ages that are not infected with this new fansie is taken for reuerence or a religious feare of God Of which signification there can be no question with any man that is meanely learned And albeit some fauouring your fansie haue sough farre and neere for examples where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might signifie a painefull and amazing feare yet find they none neither in prophane nor sacred writers but only a carefull feare to decline euill or a religious feare honoring God to be the true force of that word How prophane men vse the word with that I haue elsewhere sayd this may suffice Diogenes Laertius deliuering the decrees and opinions of the best philosophers saith of them they affirme a 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 carefulnesse is contrary to feare as being an honest and reasonable declination of euill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that a wise man is neâ—…er amazed with feare but wary to decline euill Saint Ierom confesseth as much among Christians b 〈◊〉 li 3 〈◊〉 5. â—…pist â—…d 〈◊〉 He that feareth hath paiâ—…e and is not perfect According to which signification of feare seruants haue the spirit of bondage in feare There is another kind of feare named by the Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and with vs it may be called 〈◊〉 though this doe not fully match the force of the word The Prophet Dauid knew tâ—…e 〈◊〉 of the perfect when he said nothing wanteth to them that feare the Lord. Of Simeon that tooke Christ in his armes when he was brought to the Temple by his mother Saint Luke saith he was a iust man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and one that religiously feared God So of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. that buried Steuen the Martyr he saith d 〈◊〉 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certaine mâ—…n Fâ—…ARING GOD caried Steuen to bee buried And in the twelfth of this Epistle the same Apostle vseth the very word which he applied before to Christ for the common duetie of all the godly e Hebr. 12. Let vs haue grace by which we may serue and please God with reuerence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a religious feare Which is M. f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 12. ca. epistolâ—… ad Hebreos Bezaes owne interpretation of that place howsoeuer he swarue from it in the formâ—…r words of the same Epistle Neither doth the Syriack translation any thing helpe him since the word dechalta which in the fift Chapter is affirmed of Christ in the 12. Chapter of the same Epistle and indiuers other places of the new Testament is by the same translator referred to al Christians as expressing a generall duty belonging to God And therfore there is no need why any man should translate the one otherwise then he doth the other specially the whole Greeke and Latin Church concurring in one and the same signification and exposition of the word which is a better precedent to follow then any one mans translation And where some others would take aduantage of the Greeke preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifiâ—…th for as well as from signifying alwayes from and not for it is an euident ouersight in them abusing their skill to maintaine their will more then trueth enforceth For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the new Testament and with the Septuagint noteth vsually as well for as from In the 14. of Saint Matthewes Gospell when the disciples saw Christ walking on the waters at the fourth watch of the night and approching the ship wherein they were they cryed g Matth. 14. vers 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for feare The souldiers likewise that kept the Sepulchre when they saw the Angell that rolled away the stone and sate on it they were h Matth. 28. vers 〈◊〉 astonished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for feare and became as dead men Zacheus by reason of his low stature could not see Iesus i Luc. 19. v. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the multitude or presse that was about him The Apostles that cast theiâ—… net into the sea at Christs commandement could not draw it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the number k Ioh 21. v. 6. of fishes that were in the net Paul reporting the maner of his conuersion how he was stroken to the ground with a great light that suddenly shined on him from heauen sayth When I could not see l Acts 22. ver 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the glory of that light I was led by the hand to Damascus The Sâ—…ptuagint in many places vse the same proposition in the same sense Israels eyes were dimme m Gen. 48. v. 14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for age My bones sayth Iob are drie n Iob. 30. v. 30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for heat You shall crie o Esa. 65. v. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for griefe of heart and houle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for affliction of spirit sayth Esay of the Iewes reiected Where the Septuagint doe make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equiualent to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an accusatiâ—…e which noteth the cause of any thing Infinite are the examples that might be brought out
God and chiefly Christs soule when it descended to hell not only to be brought thence but euen there by gods hand assisting to destroy the strength of Satans kingdome and to triumph ouer all the powers and Principalities of darkenesse If those wordes did alwaies import a present possession and fruition of heauenly glorie then could Dauid with no truth haue spoken them of himselfe so long before his death when as yet no part of Gods promises to him touching his kingdome were perfourmed But the soules of the faithfull are alwaies in the hand of God whiles heere they are protected by him and after this life receaued in rest though they come not as yet to be inuested with the fulnesse of heauenly glory Yea the words properly pertaining to our Sauiours person and condition after death ` Thou wilt not leaue or forsake my soule in hell doe shew that Christs soule was then in Gods hands and compassed round with the power and glory of God when hell and Satan trembled at his presence and were both vanquished and spoiled by him Your adding that this sentence may be fitly applied to Christ prooueth nothing For though I haue no doubt but Christs soule was with farre greater honour and fauour ioy and blisse receaued into the hands of God to whom it was committed then the soules of all his Saints yet that doth not prooue his present entraunce after death into the glory of heauen and continuance in the same except you will say that at his resurrection and till his Ascension his soule was out of his Fathers hands because during that time it was on earth and not in heauen which were a strange position in diuinity The soules of the righteous were in the hands of God long before Christs comming as the wise man witnesseth and yet were they not in the glory of heauen but in Abrahams bosome as our Sauiour teacheth And so the wise man expoundeth himselfe adding No torment shall touch them they are in peace and in the time of their visitation they shall shine reseruing them to a time appointed when glory shal be reuealed on them though in the meane whiles their spirits were kept in rest and ioy vnder the mighty hand of God The Thieues being in Paradise with Christ the same day that he died concludeth no such thing as you conceaue For first no words there or els where euince that Christ spake this of his humane nature Saint Austen resolueth The sense is much easier and freer from all ambiguities if Christ be vnderstood to haue said this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise not of his manhood but of his godhead And in his 111. Tractate vpoÌ„ Iohn vpholding the same exposition addeth He that said to the thiefe painfully hanging yet healthfully confessing this dâ—…y shalt thou be with me in Paradise according to his manhood had his soule that daâ—…e in hâ—…ll his flesh 〈◊〉 the graue but according to his godhead vndoubtedlie he was in Paradise Titus Bishop of Bostra in Arabia somewhat elder then Austen sheweth how these words may be verified of either of Christs natures How was this promise of our Lord made to the thiefe this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise performed Christ takâ—…n dâ—…wne from the crosse was in hell according to his soule and neuerthelesse by the power of his diuinity brought the Thiefe into Paradise Happily he first caried the beleeuing Thiefe to Paradise before he descended to hell Damascen is of Austens mind The same Christ is adored in heauen as God together with the Father and with the holy Ghost and he as man lay in the Sepulchre with his body and abode in hell with his soule and gaue entrance to the thiefe into Paradise his diuinity which cannot be comprehended in any place euery where accompanying him And so is Euthymius How said Christ this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise because as God who filleth all places he was euery where at one instant in the sepulchre in hell and in Paradise and in heauen But admit the words to be ment of Christs humane soule what reason call you this Christs soule was in Paradise that very day that he died ergo neither that day nor any day els before his resurrection his soul did or could descend to hell You must amend these reasons before any man will yeeld you to haue reason or sense Christ might that very day that he went to Paradise subdue and subiect all power in hell vnto himsâ—…lfe he might doe it the next day he might doe it the third day when he rose from the dead the time is not the thing we striue for which we must leaue to God but the reall and actuall performance of the Apostles words He spoiled powers and principalities and made an open shew of them triumphing ouer them in himselfe which in other words Peter expressed when he said Christs soule was not left or forsaken in hell but God raised him â—…p loosing the sorowes of death or hell that euery knee of things vnder earth should â—…ow vnto him as well as of things in heauen and earth and that euerie tongue euen of the damned and Diuels for there are none other vnder earth should confesse either willingly or constrainedly Iesus Christ to be Lord vnto the glory of God the Father This conquest ouer hell and Satan being acknowledged whereby all power in heauen and earth and consequently in hell conteined in the earth was yeelded vnto Christs manhood after his death and before or at his resurrection we shall not need to be curious about the time and manner thereof The compilers of the centuries at Magdeburge doe well admonish Descendisse Christum in infernum articulus sidei est verum quanam ratione ibi omnia sunt gesta non est expresse traditum That Christ descended to hell is an article of the faith but in what sort all things there were donne is not expressely deliuered Happilie it is enough for vs to hâ—…ld the generall and a more exact declaration of this mysterie wee shall heare in another life The eternall and generall ordinance of God is shewed Luc. 16. to be such that none can goe out of heauen downe to hell nor come from hell vp to heauen You boldly presume after your maner that Abrahams bosome was heauen of which many learned men do make great doubt For if the soules of the righteous were in heauen before Christes death and biâ—…th then were they equall vnto the elect Angels before the resurrection which Christ saith shall be when they are the children of the resurrection and so not before And how were the wordes of our Sauiour true which he spake in his life time No man ascendeth vp to heauen but he that descended from heauen the Sonne of man which is in heauen If all the Saints deceased were in heauen or how had
either the prophesie which sayd Thou wilâ—… not leaue my soâ—…le in hell which lesâ—…â—…y man should dâ—…e otherwise interpret Peter expoundeth in the Acts of the Apostles nor the words of the same Peter where he affirmeth that Christ loosed the sorowes of hell in which it was impossible he should be held Who then but an Infidell will denie that Christ was in hell All that you haue to say against this is that Iewes and Pagans to wit wicked Rabbins enemies to Christ and Poets ignorant of all trueth vsed the words Sheol and Hades otherwise than the whole Church of Christ without exception till our age receiued and beleeued them from S. Peters mouth and S. Lukes pen that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth the foule and hades importeth hell put you from this shiâ—…t and you fall â—…ull within the compasse of S. Austens challenge that is of plaine infidelitie and theâ—…e be simple Sidemen to cleere you from that crime q Now I assume this and by Gods helpe shall make it manifest that there is in all the Scripture no one place whereby it may be prooued by any shew of reason that Christes soule after this life went locally downward from hence or diuersly from the soâ—…les of â—…ll good men deceased Though the opinion you hâ—…e of your â—…lfe be great yet when you come to condemne the whole Church of God â—…s ignorâ—…t of the Christian faith or altering the same you should vse some more modestie than to say they had not one plat â—…all the Scripture nor any shew of reason to beleeue as they did You preâ—…ume much of your Rabbins and Pagans preferring theiâ—… enuioâ—…s and friuolous iâ—…aginations before the iudgement and faith of the whole Châ—…ch of Chrâ—…st yet take good heed lest the better and elder sort euen of your owne Deponents receiue you not and so you test conuicted in the â—…ares of all good mâ—…n to be rather an insolent affecter of nouelties than any regarder of sobrietie or pietie Only there are two or thrâ—… places sonsibly wrested to this pâ—…rpose First that Ephes. 4. where Christ is sayd to hâ—…e come downe into the lowest parts of the earth If that place be wrested from his right sense the Church of Christ from the beginning must be charged with that wresting Ireneuâ—… citeth thoâ—…e very words of the Apostle that Christ descended to the lower parts of the earth and maketh them equiualent with the words of Dauid touching Christ Thâ—… hast deliuered my soule from the nethermost hell saying Hoâ—… Daâ—…id in câ—…m prophetâ—…s dâ—…xit so much Daâ—…id in his prophesiâ—… spake of him Tertullian alleaging the very same wordes of the Apostle concludeth Habes regionem Inferâ—…m subterraneam credere by this thou art to beleeue that the region or place of hell is vnder the earth Cyprian Descendens ad inferos captiuam ab antiquo captiuitatem reduxit Christ descending to hell brought backe the captiuitie that of old was captiuated Arnobius Postea vidit inferos longe factus est non solum à câ—…lis sed ab ipsa Terra in abyssi profunda descendens c after his crosse he visited hell and became farre off not only from heauen but euen from the earth it selfe descending into the depth of the bottomlesse pit Chrysostom Christ descended to the lower parts of the earth after which there are none other And he ascended aboue all higher than which there is nothing Ambrose vpon that place of â—…aul After death Christ descended to hell whence rising the third day he ascended aboue all the heauens afore all men Ierom out of those words of the Apostle Christ descended to the lower parts of the earth first concludeth Infernum sub terra esse nemo iam ambigat Let no man now doubt but hell is vnder the earth And expounding the rest he sayth Qui descendit cum anima in infernum ipse cum anima corpore ascendit in coelum He that descended to hell in soule ascended to heauen with bodie and soule Primasius vpon the same words of Paul maketh the like collection Ergo sub terra est infernus Qui descendit cum anima in infernum ipse cum anima corpore ascendit ad coelos Therefore hell is vnder the earth And he that in soule descended to hell ascended to heauen in soule and bodie Photius To the lower parts of the earth after which place there is no lower he meaneth hell Dorotheus What is He led captiuitie captiue By Adams transgression the enemie made vs all captiues and had vs in subiection Christ then tooke vs againe out of the enemies hand and conquered him that made vs captiuâ—… Erepti sumus igitur ab inferis ob Christi humanitatem We were then taken from hell by Christes humanity Theophylact At quem in locum descendit In infernum c. To what place did Christ descend To hell which he calleth the lowest parts of the carth after the common opinion of men Haymo First Christ descended to the lower parts of the â—…arth into hell and after he ascended to heauen He descended to hell in his soule alone and then he ascended aboue all the heauens in body and soule It must be noted by this that he sayth Christ descended to the lower parts of the earth he sheweth hell to be vnder the earth whence it is called Infernus because it is lower than the earth or vnder the earth Zanchius repeating diuers Expositions of this place addeth in the end The Fathers for the most part are of this opinion that Christ in his soule came to the place of the damned to signifie not in words but with his presence that the iustice of God was satisfied by his death and bloudshed and that Satan had no longer power ouer his Elect whom he held captiue that himselfe was made Lord ouer all and all power ouer heauen and earth giuen him and a Name aboue all Names that in the name of Iesu euery knee of things celestiall terrestriall and infernall should bow neither that he came thither only to signifie this in such sort as is sayd but also that he might câ—…ie all the diuels with him in a triumph as it is Coloss 2. He spoiled powers and principalities and made an open shew of them leading them as captiues in a triumph by the vertue of his crosse by which he had purged sinnes and appeased the iustice of God Could he not haue done this without any such descent of his soule He could but he would be so farre humbled that his soule should descend into that most darke and wretched place though not there to suffer any thing but to beginne thence his triumph ouer the power of the Diuell And this opinion of the Fathers I dare not condemne since it is not repugnant to the sacred Scriptures and hath likely reasons The consent of the Fathers when it is not contrary to
soules of the dead are receaued to corruption or destruction so called for that they are neuer satisfied but alwaies expect more euer since man was adiudged to death for sin and though in the great conceit of your owne skill you tell me that my not considering or not caring for the vse and manner of the Hebrew tongue causeth my mistaking as in these places so likewise in all or most of the rest and causeth mine error in this maine question Yet I hope I shall let the Reader see in the end that proud ignorance leadeth you so rashly to resolue as you doe both of the words and places in question and likewise of my positions Mercerâ—… a man of no meane skill in the hebrew tongue as appeareth by his paines therein taken in his additions to Pagnines Lexicon perused and published by Ceallere and Betrame two learned hebricians of our age obserueth that hoc nomine generaliter locasubterranea tendendo centrum versus appellantur the places vnder the earth euen to the middle or center thereof are generally called by this name Sheol as by another name of the same signification it is elswhere called Erets tachtith the lower or lowest earth Ezechiel 31 and often with an adiect sheôl tachtijah for explanations sake Proprie insernum dixeris ita vt locum significes Hinc cum verbo descendendi passiâ—… iungitur Properly you may call it hell or the place below for which cause it is euery where ioined with a Verb of descending Forstere in his hebrew Dictionary repeating what others thought of the sense of the word Sheol as that some tooke it for the pit others for the graue some for death it selfe some for the state of the dead plurimi vero inferum id est locum damnatorum and the most tooke it for hell euen the very place of the damned addeth in the end I am of this opinion that I thinke it importeth in the Scripture most often the place where the dead are vnder the earth so called for that it cannot be satisfied as Lactantius in certaine verses of his seemeth to render that Etymologie of the word Inferus insatiabiliter caâ—…a guttura pandit Hell opcneth wide his vnsatiable throat Et aliter verti commodè non potest quà m nomine infernus and cannot be otherwise conueniently translated then by the name of Infernus hell or the places below Deuter. 32 A fire is kindled in my wrath and hath burned to the nethermost hell So doth Ezechiel vse another word of the same signification ca. 31. Thou shalt be cast downe erets tachtith to the lower earth Pagnine vnknowen to no man that is learned for his labours in the hebrew tongue saith Sheôl sepulchrum infernus Gehenna Sheol signifieth the graue hell Gehenna Munstere Sheolidem quod sepulchrum fonea infernus Sheol is as much as the graue the pit and hell Auenarius Sheol sepulchrum item infernus id est locus inferior sub terra St de impijs dicitur significat perditionem Sheol is the graue also hell that is the lower place vnder the earth When it is spoken of the wicked it signifieth perdition Lauater Sheol non tantum significat locum damnatoruÌ„ sed etiam foueâ—…m vel sepulchrum Sheol doth not only signisie the place of the damned but also the pit or graue And before them all Lyra well learned in the Hebrew tongue if not a Iew borne sayd Accipitur infernus in Scriptura dupliciter infernus which is the Latin translation of Sheôl is taken two waâ—…es in the Scripture one for the pit where the Carcasses of the dead are put the other for the place whither the soules of the damned descend The trueth of their iudgements that Sheol signifieth the places vnder the earth where the bodies and soules of the dead are receaued will appeare by the very confession of the Rabbins themselues as well as by the direction of the Scriptures Touching the situation of Sheol Rabbi Abraham saith Sheol mâ—…kom aamakhephec bashamaijm shehu marom Sheol is a deepe place opposed to heauen which is on hie And againe Sheol is the lowest place of the whole earth opposite to heauen Rabbi Leui. Sheol hi mattah bemuchalat vehi markez Sheol is absolutely below is the center of the earth And that with them it importeth hell I meane Gehenna the place appointed to torment the soules of the wicked there can be no question Rabbi Iehosuas the sonne of Leui deliuering the names of hel that are occurrent in the Scripture saith there be seuen names of Gehenna and these they are Sheol Abadon destruction Bor Shachath the pit of perdition Bor Sheon the lake of ruine or roaring Tith haiauen the bottom of the myre Zal-maueth the shadow of death Erets tachtith the lower earth In the exposition of the 11 Psalme there are repeated as places of abode for the wicked in Gehenna Sheol Abadon Erets tachtith Dauid Kimchi commenting on these wordes of the 9. Psalme sinners shall be turned to Sheol saith Vuederash lishola hu gehinnam and in derash Sheol is Gehenna Elias the Leuite in his Caldaie Lexicon sayth Veiesh Sheol Methurgemim gehinnam Sheol with the Translators or Interpreters is Gehenna The Caldaie paraphrase expressing those wordes of Dauid The shape or beautie of the wicked shall consume in Sheol but God will redeeme my soule from the hand of Sheol thus rendereth them Their bodies shall wax olde in Gehenna but the Lord will redeeme my soule from gehenna Rabbi Salomon likewise expoundeth Sheol in that place by Gehinnam So in the sixth Psalme it is sayd Whosoeuer is not circumcised iored Gehinnam goeth to Gehenna as Esay threateneth Sheôl hath enlarged it selfe Rabbi Moses Hadarsan vpon the first of Genesis Gehenna is sayd to be deepe as it is in the ninth of the Prouerbs In the deepe of sheôl are the ghests of an harlot The Hebrew glosse vpon those wordes of God vttered by Moses A fire is kindled in my wrath and shall burne to the nethermost Sheol sayth In my wrath that is in the midst of Gehenna as it afterward followeth and shall burne to the lowest sheôl Rabbi Ioden expounding the wordes of Dauid Thou hast deliuered my soule from the nethermost Sheol sayth The way of Adulterers leadeth to the deepe of hell and therefore he sayth Thou hast deliuered my soule from the nethermost sheôl With whom Rabbi Selomo concordeth The way of Adulterers is to be in the deepe of hell and thence hast thou delinered me sayd Dauid when Nathan sayd vnto me The Lord also hath taken away thy sinne And lest we should doubt what they meane by Gehinnam Elias the Leuite sayth Kareü Rabbothenu mekom ônesh hareshaim achar motham gehinnam Our Rabbins call the place of punishment for the wicked after their deaths Gehenna Neither want these Iewes that auouch Sheol
and specially the nether most Sheol to be below in the deepe of the earth to be opposite to heauen to be the place of punishment for the wicked after their deaths warrant in the sacred Scriptures to vphold these assertions For though Sheol extend to any place vnder earth that by Gods ordinance requireth or receaueth the bodies or soules of the dead in that respect to the godly it can be no more then the graue the losse of all things in this life consequent to the graue in that sense we must interprete Sheol when it is applied to the bodies or persons of the Saints whose soules are in rest and blisse with God not vnder the earth where Sheol is yet the ful force of that word wheÌ„ it is threatned to any or affirmed of the wicked noteth the pit of destructioÌ„ for their soules aswel as of corruption for their bodies the consequents of either the nethermost Sheol expressely designeth the place of torment appointed for sinners that die out of Gods fauour receaue the iust reward of their vnrighteousnesse The way of life saith Salomon is aboue to him that knoweth to decline from Sheol that is below Where first it is euident that as heauen is aboue in which is true and eternall life so Sheol which is the pit of death for bodie and soule is below vs which must needes be in the earth vnder vs. This partition of celestiall terrestriall and infernall persons and places the Apostle warranteth by this authoritie when he saith Euery knee of things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in heauen on the earth and vnder the earth should and shall bow at the name of Iesus And since the whole world is by the word of God in the creation conseruation and alteration thereof sufficiently deuided into heauen and earth the place of hell must of necessitie be either out of the whole world created by God and so no where or in heauen which is an impious absurditie and monstrous contrarieâ—…e or else it must be within the compasse of the earth and not being vpon the earth where men liue it must needes be vnder the earth whither the wicked descend when they die This distribution also Saint Iohn ratifieth when he saith None in heauen nor on earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor vnder the earth was able to open the booke Wherefore the booke of Iob to expresse the infinitenesse of Gods perfection and wisedome vseth these foure comparisons The heauens are high what canst thou doe there It is deeper then Sheol how canst thou know it the measure thereof is longer then the earth and broder then the sea Where if we bee not wilfully blâ—…nd wee cannot choose but see that Sheol is not onely deepe but the deepest place in the world euen as heauen is the highest To compare the wisedome of God with the graue which is sixe foote deepe or not so much were most ridiculous since we commonly digge to that depth and deeper vpon diuers occasions And therefore Sheol is the deepest place in the earth to which no man liuing euer pearced to make report of the deepenesse of it Moses confirmeth the same when he saith sire shall burne to the lower Sheol and shall eate through the earth and inflame the foundations of the hils As the situation of Sheol is below vnder the earth that is in the bottome of the earth so is it a place threatned to the soules not onely to the bodies of the wicked though at length it shall receaue both Dauid putting a difference betwixt himselfe and the wicked saith Like sheepe shall they be laid in Sheol but God will redâ—…eme my soule from the hand of Sheol Dauid neuer drempt that his soule should bee in the graue nor that the soules of the wicked should there be laid much lesse that his bodie should be freed from the graue more then the bodies of such as knew no God at all Sheol then here as in sundry other parts of Scripture signifieth somewhat from which the godly shal be saued and whereto the wicked shal be euerlastingly adiudged But that is not the graue which is common to all men good and bad It was therefore the Sheol of soules from which Dauid hoped to be deliuered and which the wicked shall not auoyd And so are his very words The Lord will deliuer my soule from the power of Sheol Againe the full reward of wickednesse is not the graue whereto the godly come as well as the godlesse But Sheol is threatned in the Scriptures as the full and finall wages of all impietie neither is there any other note or name sor hell except metaphoricall throughout the Old Testament Wherefore when Dauid saith sinners shall be turned to Sheol and all nations that forget God he doth not threaten them with that which is generall to all Gods children but with that which is peculiar to all Gods enemies which must needes be hell and not the graue And so much Caluine himselfe who otherwise ouermuch vrgeth the right sense of Sheol to be the graue confesleth to be the true meaning of this place The Hebrew word Sheôlah to Sheol which was ambiguous I doubted not to translate by the name of hell For though it displease me not that others translate it the graue yet it is certaine that somewhat heere is noted by the Prophet besides the common death Otherwise he should say nothing of the wicked that should not indifferently agree to all the faithfull Obserue this rule which indeed is true that when the Scriptures threaten the wicked with Sheol they meane not the graue which is common to all the godly but that Sheol which is appointed for the wicked from which the faithfull shall be freed and you may spare all your figures and phrases wherewith you loade both your selfe and your Reader in this place to no purpose For there is a Sheol as Salomon noteth that shall swallow men aliue and whole which cannot be the graue where there lyeth but one part of man and that after his death And since the Scripture in exact tearmes maketh a lower Sheol which cannot be but in comparison of an higher with what face can you elude the lower Sheol to be nothing but the graue whereas one and the same thing cannot bee by any meanes both lower and higher in respect of it selfe And therefore howsoeuer you could shuffle with the name of Sheol without addition against both learning and trueth yet to auouch the lower Sheol to be onely the graue is onely a point of your accustomed impudencie which regardeth neither reason nor sense so long as you may ourface all with your priuate and witlesse fansie Come now to the place of Esaie the fourteenth where you so premâ—…rily pronounce that whatsoeuer others thinke the circumstances doe conuince the graue onely is there ment and see your owne follie if pride haue not so closed your eyes
the perfection of their celestiall glory Otherwise against you and all that out of this place surmise that iust mens soules shall not be deliuered out of Sheol till the resurrection the sense and words of Dauid in this are pregnant enough For Dauid putting a difference in thâ—…se two verses betwixt himselfe and the wicked and that with an aduersatiue coniunction since the soules of the wicked are in Sheol presently vpon their deaths if Dauids must be there also what distinction doe his wordes make betweene himselfe and those others of whom he spake before Againe he saith God will deliuer his soule from Sheol ki cúm or quia when he shall receiue me or because he will receiue me Take which you will it is plaine by the Scriptures and by these very words of Dauid that so soonâ—… as God receiueth the soule of man it is deliuered from Sheol But hee receiueth the soules of his Saints instantly vpon their deaths they are therefore presently deliuered out of Sheol and stay not there by any force of Dauids wordes vntill the resurrection Lord Iesus sayd Steuen euen as he was stoned receiue my spirit The begger died saith the Gospell and was caried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome This day shalt thou be with mee in Paradise said Christ to the theefe He that beleeueth in him that sent me saith Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is already passed from death to life If the faithfull passe so soone to life they bee as soone deliuered from Sheol by Dauids owne confession against which I will heare neither you nor any man liuing Againe that Psalme sheweth it also where it is thus written My soule is filled with sorrowes and my liâ—…e draweth neere to Sheol by his life he meaneth his soule the proper cause and fountaine of life in him which also in â—…e first part of the sentence hee nameth By these rouing and licentious glozes builded on the sands of your owne saying you thinke you may prooue what you will and all shall be expresse Scripture if you say the word Life you will haue to be soule drawing neere to be abiding in The graue to be the generall condition of soules deceased and to warrant all this your selfe is the soothsayer By his life he meaneth his soule which also in the first part of the sentence hee nameth as the manner of phrase in the Psalme is in the second part to speake of the same things that are in the former Many verses in the Psalmes doe illustrate the selfe same generall with diuers parts adiuncts and consequents but that the words be of all one force or signification in euery such verse this is an other of your new found methodes which is nothing else but a meere confusion of all things For will you see with your manner of phrase as you finâ—…ly furbish it what consequents hang on these kind of collections This life of which Dauid speaketh continueth not in Sheol because it is vtterly exstinguished by Sheol ergo the soule likewise is mortall and wholy perisheth in Sheol for so doth the life mentioned by Dauid which you say is all one with the soule Againe if both these parts import one sense then the iust in Sheol are filled with sorrowes for so are the former wordes of Dauid And if that be true how much hath the spirit of God deceiued vs who bad S. Iohn write blessed are the dead which hereafter die in the Lord euen so saith the spirit for they rest from their labours But that was the spirit of trueth and therefore the spirit of error in you sucketh these absurdities out of the Psalmes by your misconstruction of them Indeede I denie not but life may signifie heere the whole person of man and so may nephesh the soule also very well and then Sheol and Hades signifie not peculiarly and distinctly the graue which is only for the car casse but the condition of the whole man after he hath no being in this world And per aduenture so it is vnderstood heere in thâ—…se places in which sense Sheol and Hades are farre from signifying hell yea or heauen either yea or onely and meerely the graue but it signisieth destruction out of this world and not being heere any more as aforetime to the whole person that is both to the bodie and to the soule The idle deuices of this wild-gooseracer who would spend either time or paines to tracke when he reeleth to and fro like a man pot-shotten with it may be and per aduenture it is so and closeth vp all in the end with a dangerous destruction which he maketh to be iust nothing Boyes meanely Catechised can soone conceiue that death or the graue bringeth with it an end of all earthly things from which the wicked are loth to depart as hauing no farder nor better hope after this life and therefore to them death is a destruction indeed that is a ceasing of all their pleasures and an encreasing of all their paines To the godly who put not their hearts to the things of this world but desire to bee dissolued and to bee with Christ and in comparison of his presence account all earthly things to be base and burdenous death is a gaine and no destruction because they renounced the loue of all these worldly thinges before hand and sought for the permanent citie whose founder is God Wherefore to them this bodie is a burden this life is a warefare and this world is a desert full of snares and pits Wherein they wander as pilgrimes and strangers If then to lay aside these troubles and trifles and to be freed from all labours and dangers and to come home to the countrcy and citie which God hath prouided for the faithfull be in any wise mans sense a destruction then haue you some reason to call the generall condition of death as well to the iust as to the wicked a destruction but if that thought and speech be void of all religion and reason then doe you houer in the midst betweene heauen and hell and huddle saluation and damnation in one generall condition or state as you call it and when you sce what inconuenience will follow thereof you make it nothing but a meere priuation or an end of things past And this you would applie as well to the person of Christ whose soule you say was in no Sheol but this as to al his members whose soules shall not be freed from this destruction and Sheol till the day of resurrection Did you speake of the nature of death in it selfe or as it taketh hold on the wicked I would allow the word destruction which if it be well vnderstood is more then a mâ—…re priuation but when you presume to peruert the Scriptures with peraduentures and to sow to them what sense you list as may best fit your monstrous fancies lâ—…t no man be offended if I often thinke it fit to reiect your
bodies of wilde beasts must returne to earth as to the place by the tenor and trueth of Gods iudgement appointed for all men Thou art dust and to dâ—…st shalt thou returne that is to the earth out of which thou wast taken and to which Iacob would descend mourning all the daies of his life for the losse of his sonne not meaning in Sheol to haue ioy with the soule of his sonne as you peruert his speech and sense for then he would haue gone to Sheol not mourning but reioycing Againe to follow our purpose good Ezechiah also looked for Sheol to be his habitation likewise after this life This cannot bee vnderstood of his carcasse rotting and wasting away to nothing in the graue and therefore endureth not as the word Dori my mâ—…nsion signifieth Therefore he meaneth it of his soules abiding els where Againe Ezechiah was a godly man therefore hell was not fit for him and he seemeth to insinuate that in the Land of the dead he might see the Lord whither he was to goe and that must needes bee in the place of blessed soules euen that which heere is noted by the word Shâ—…l You stumble still at the same stone that none of those thinges can be ment of the graue because the body rotteth and wasteth to nothing in the graue You must leaue these falshoods if you will but seeme to be a Diuine The bodies of the Saints can not bee raised from their graues if they be wasted wholy to nothing in their graues And if you follow this argument well whatsoeuer your name be that by this meanes vndermine the resurrection of the dead your wordes will broach an open heresie though you slily vrge them to establish your new found Sheol Wherefore I omit this desperate cauill as fighting rather against the faith then against the name of Sheol wherein mens bodies after death though turned to dust yet not to nothing doe still remaine Your next reason that the graue can not be called Dôr an habitation or a continuance is idle and vtterly mistaken by you as all the rest is For Dôr is the time of mans life heere on earth as well as a place of abode And what should hinder Ezechiah to say the time of my life is ended or the place of mine abode heere on earth is remooued or passed away Must it needes follow that he shall haue a time to liue in Sheol or a place for his soule to abide there as you absurdly vrge or that this habitation may not be said to be in the graue where his body lieth knowen to God though vnknowen to man These be miserable shifts to hale in your priuatiue positiue generall speciall station state place without place of your first found Sheôl For where before you auouched that Sheol signified indeed no positiue thing properly but a meere priuation of this life you be now come vpon confidence of these rather riots then reasons to resolue in plaine tearmes that the place of blessed soules where they see God is euen that which heere is noted by the word Sheol The place of blessed soules where God is seene I hope is first speciall to the godly not generall to good and bad Next it is positiue and not meerely priuatiue Thirdly it is peculiar to the soules of iust men not imparted as yet to their whole persons Fourthly it is not destruction it is saluation And lastly it is heauen or Paradise a part of the third heauen which you neuer thought to be Sheol These many contrarieties you haue contriued in lesse then two leaues hauing none other ground for all this but onely that the dead bodies of men turned to ashes and wasted to nothing as you defend can not be said to be any where and so not in Sheol and since there is somewhat of iust men in Sheol as the Scriptures witnesse it must needes be the soule and this erroneous and perfidious position that the body of man hath no being at al after it is turned to dust is the sole foundation of your late made Sheol for iust mens soules It is a most vaine reason that you giue that Sheol heere is taken for hell because death to the wicked is the passage to hell which death Ezechiah was not neeere vnto I doubt not but you wil be as bold with me as you are with others to corrupt or peruert euery word you light on so you may seeme to say somewhat My words were that death in his owne nature was a passage to hell as we find yet by proofe in all the wicked though the faithfull be freed from it by the mercies of God in Christ. And therefore Ezechiah in the bitternesse of his soule might well call death the gates of hell euen as our Sauiour said The gates of hell should not preuaile against his Church though they should persue it on earth calling sinne error and persecution the gates of hell albeit in the godly they worke not so much but in the wicked only And in death denounced by Esaie to Ezechiah the king did not so much feare the passage out of this life as the suddaine change of Gods fauour towards him who not long before with a mightie hand from heauen and by a miraculous slaughter of his enemies saued him and his city from the rage of Senacherib and on the suddaine about that very time as the Scripture noteth strake him with sicknesse and sent him word to putt his house in order for he should die which message the king feared was a signe of Gods displeasure against him as iudging him vnworthy to enioy so great a deliuerance And this might make Ezechiah otherwise a good king to tremble at that which in Gods secret counsell he was not neere vnto though in the feare and gâ—…iefe of his own hart he might feele in some fort the bitternes of death in that short pangue Another obiection of yours is as weake where you say Sheol heere must be the graue because it is said afterward sheol doth not confesse thee death cannot praise thee for it is euident that Ezechiah meaneth not absolutâ—…ly there is no praising of God in shâ—…l but onely be vnderstandeth the outward frequenting of the Temple and publishing of Gods goodnesse to others If you can shift of one circumstance or make a shew with some ambiguity you thinke your selfe safe neither care nor conscience leadeth you to looke to the rest that is written either in the same or in other places of the sacred Scriptures This comparison made betwixt the liuing and the dead that the liuing confesle and praise God which the dead cannot doe belongeth in the liuing to the whole man that is chiefly to the soule the maker and directer of our praiers but associated with the body whose parts and affections she guideth and composeth euen as she doth the tongue to serue so good an action In the dead this ioint deuotion of body and soule
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades below was stirred to meete thee So likewise he citeth and alloweth Platoes words When death draweth neere the tales that are told 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of things in Hades how he that heere dealeth vniustly shall there be punished and were laughed at then trouble the soule least they prooue true Irâ—…us saith Heerein Christ legem mortuorum seruauit did as other doe that diâ—… and conuersed three daies vbi erant mortui sancti where the dead Saints were And this he calleth locum inuisibilem the vnseene world What meaneth thiâ—… but Hades as we take it yea a little before he expresly calleth it Paradise Neuerthelesse I grâ—…nt that he thought this vnseene world was indeed beneath in the earth Wherein his proofes doe vtterly faile him as you your selfe doe fully grant and professe in this point as well as we In time you may learne some skill to alter and counterfait the Fathers writings but as yet your cunning faileth you You doe not marke or will not see that Irenaeus in this Chapter expresly confuteth a number of your positions and subuerteth the whole frame of your meere priuatiue Sheol and not Irenaeus but your sense put to Irenaeus his words against his manifest meaning is all the hold you haue in thisplace Irenaeus condemneth two of your assertions as erroneous the one that Christes soule after death went vpward to heauen and descended not downeward to the lower parts of the earth The next that the soules of the Saints as soone as they die ascend to the highest heauens Haeretici simulatque mortui fuerâ—…t dicâ—…t se supergredicaelos Hereticks as soone as they be dead say they ascend aboue the heauens They will not vnderstand that if this were so as they say the Lord himselfe surely would not haue made his resurrection on the third day sed super crucem expirans confestim vtique abiâ—…sset sursum relinquens corpus terrae but giuing vp the ghost on the crosse would no doubt haue straightwaies gone vpward leauing his bodie to the earth But now he staied three daies where the dead were As he refelleth your imaginations so he nothing relieueth your assertions though you touch nothing of his which you turne not awrie with corrupting his sense or his sentence Christ kept the law of the dead saith Irenaeus that is say you he did but as others that die and conuersed three dâ—…es where the dead Saints were The lawe of the dead which Irenaeus heere speaketh of is to expect the resurrection of their bodies till the time prefixed by God His wordes are As then our Master non statiâ—…â—…lans abiâ—… did not straight after death ascend vp but staied the time appointed for his resurrection by the Father so we ought to endure the time of our resurrection prefixed by God and so to be assumed as many as the Lord shall count woorthy You make a new law of your owne for the dead which Irenaeus neuer thought of and the iâ—…sible place appointed for their soules vntill the resurrection if you will haue it to be the same which Irenaeus saith Christ had must be the lower parts of the earth which I trust is not Paradise If therefore saith he the Lord obserued the law of the dead and staying vntill the third day in the lower parts of the earth then rose in his flesh and so ascended to his father how should they not be confounded who say their inward man leauing the body heere in supercelestem ascendere locum ascendeth to the highest place of heauen Touching the place where Christs soule seuered from his bodie was as the transcriber or printer before you mistooke the word sanctorum in Irenaeus for sanctus so you the second time corrupt the same in saying Christ conuersed three daies where the dead Saints were in steed of Vbi erant mortui where the dead were This place is twise before alleadged by Irenaeus where the word sanctus is referred to God and not to the dead Commemoratus est dominus sanctus Israel mortuorum suorum qui dormierant in terra sepultionis The Lord the holy one of Israêl remembred his dead which slept in the earth of their buriall and descended to them So in his 4 booke and 39 chapter he repeateth it againe Recommemoratus est dominus sanctus Israel mortuorum suorum qui prâ—…dormierunt in terra defossionis The Lord the holy one of Israel remembred his dead which before his comming had slept in the earth digged to lay them in that is in their Graues Iustine Martyr citeth the Greeke words to like effect The Lord God out of Israel remembred his dead that slept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their graues This being the true tenor or translation of this sentence it is euident that the transcriber or printer of Ireneus mistooke Sanctorum for Sanctus and you more wilfully presume to put the word Sanctus to the former period of purpose to imply that Christ went no whither but where the souls of his Saints were But you vtterlie peruert Ireneus meaning for Christs going to them doth not exclude his goinge els whither and in those generall words Christ conuersed three dayes with the dead are comprised not only the graue and place of buriall where the Lords dead were but as appeareth by Ireneus proofes following the Heart and lower parts of the earth euen the nethermost Infernum hell where others were which were no Saints and the souls of the Saints were not except you mind to establish Limbus out of these words Now what hath your priuatiue Sheól and Hades to do with these words heere are places described in the earth and vnder the earth where if you set the soules of the Saints vntill the day of resurrection you empty Paradise and quite deny the Saints deceased to be in any part of heauen since heauen is aboue and not vnder the earth And though you say Ireneus proofes doe faile him for his purpose they are plaine and full as that Christ was in the heart of the earth and descended to the lower parts of the earth and that of Dauid applied by him to Christ Thou hast deliuered my soule from the nethermost hell There is therfore nothing in these words of Ireneus that fauoreth your new found hades though the souls of Christs disciples after death be granted to go to an muisible place prepared for them by God which whether it be Paradise or heauen or a place vnder earth for thither â—…aith Ireneus Christ descended but he doth not say that the souls of his Disciples shall thither goe till the resurrection as you falsly collect it cannot be your hades which is a meere priuation of this life and hath no positiue thing in it much lesâ—…e a certaine and defined place for the soules of his Saints And where you presume as your manner is that Ireneus a little before calleth this
vnder earth And because Chrysostome is quoted as one of the Patrons of these pretences I am content to let you see that Chrysostome is abused as well as the rest For howsoeuer Chrysostome be vehement and sometimes figuratiue in his speeches yet shall you not be able to prooue that he euer vseth Hades after Christes death and resurrection for the place of iust mens soules Before that time some of the Greeke Fathers supposing the soules of the iust to be kept vnder the earth you may perchance finde heere and there a sentence where the iust are said to be in Hades but you shall neuer be able to euince that after Christes resurrection Hades is either the common condition or place of soules departed good and bad as you and some others would seeme to obserue out of the Greeke Fathers I speake of no more then I haue read in Greeke but for so much as is extant of theirs and I could get I dare assure the Reader he shall finde my saying to be true As for the Homilie of Chrysostome which you cite it can doe you no great good The Greeke to my knowledge is not Printed and therefore you can conclude nothing for Hades since the Grecians haue and vse many words for Inferi besides Hades Cyril of Ierusalem expressing in Greeke that Article of the Creed descendit ad inferos saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ descended to the places below or vnder the earth to redeeme thence the iust But graunt the worde Hades be vsed in that place of Chrysostome what prooue you more then that Chrysostom was of opinion the soules of the iust before Christes comming were not in heauen or Paradise but in Hades vnder the earth neither shall we need for witnesse thereof to goe any farder then the same Homilie which you produce for your purpose His wordes euen there are these Simulque consider andum quod Abraham apud inferos erat Nondum enim Christus resurrexerat qui illum in Paradisum duceret Antequam Christus moreretur nemo in Paradisum conscenderat nisi Latro. And withall we must consider that Abraham was yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud inferos with those that were vnder the earth For Christ was not yet risen who should bring him into Paradise Before Christ died no man ascended to Paradise but the thiefe No man could enter into Paradise which Christ had shut The thiefe was the first that entred with Christ. The crosse of Christ is the key of Paradise the crosse of Christ opened Paradise Abraham is yet vnder the generall condition of death though his soule be in Paradise but Abraham is no longer in Hades where he was before Christs comming by Chrysostoms opinion Hades therefore is neither Paradise nor the generall state of the dead after Christes death and resurrection which cannot be strange to him that with any moderate paines peruseth Chrysostom Nec mors tollere nec infernus potuit hanc animam tenere qua iubente tremens etiam vinctas animas quas tenebat amisit Christo moriente dâ—…tione Tartarus perdidit quos tenebat abiecit infernus ius potestatis antiquae Neither could death take nor â—…nfermis or Hades hold Christs soule at whose coÌ„mandement hel or Hades trembling let go the soules which he held bound Christ dying hell lost out of his dition or custodie whom before it held Infernus or Hades threw of the right of his former power And after his eloquent manner speaking in the person of Christ hee saith amongst other things I should haue left vngratefull men to euerlasting punishment but mercie I confesse preuailed with mee I sent not an Angel but I my selfe came downe for thee I suffered my selfe to bee slaine sic ad istos Inseros veni and so came to these lower places Goe out now you that are bound rise vp yee that are wretched breath your selues yee prisoners Behold I shine on you as light vnwoonted behold I breake all your cordes and chaines Ecce Tarteareas sedes noctemque profundam faetidumque chaos extermino Beholde I abolish to you these infernall seats this darke mist and stincking chaos Here is Chrysostomes hades which I trust is not the generall state nor place of all mens soules vnder Christ specially since Chrysostom in plaine speech sayth Christ abolished and ended all these things to them that were in hell or hades If you stand on the Greeke word as not expressed in Chrysostoms Latine copies out of these Latine translations your Leaders by their leaues gathered their obseruations for these parts of Chrysostom are not yet printed in Greeke and therefore rightly may they berefuted by the same But though it be no small defect that we want as yet the most of Chrysostoms works in Greeke neuerthelesse by part you shall perceiue what he meaneth by the word Hades wheresoeuer it is occurrent in his writings In his homilie of the resurrection which I before cited lying in the New Colledge Librarie in Oxford he hath these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord came on his crosse and payed a death for man who was held of the diuell that he might free him from the bands of hades Where the bands of hades are those wherein man was deteined of the diuell And elsewhere speaking of the crosse of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If the crosse of Christ brake vp the gates of hades and set wide open the arches of heauen and renewed the entrance into Paradise what maruell is it if it ouer came deadly poisons and cruell beasts And so againe God by Christ abolished the curse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and brake in pieces the gates of hades and opened Paradise And shewing a generall consent of all nations in this vse of the word hee sayth The Grecians Barbarians Poets and Philosophers and all sorts of men consent with vs in this though not after the same maner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and say that there are certaine iudgements or punishments in hades Which Theodoret likewise confesseth to betrue These speeches sayth he are sit for Philosophie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to send the soules that haue liued here well to heauen and those that haue followed the contrary downe to hades And of Plato he sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In many places he affirmeth tortures in hades And least I should be thought to be lead with a desire to contradict without cause or vpon some conceit to oppose my selfe against such learned men as haue leaned that way supposing hades with the Greek Fathers to import the place and state of good bad after death I am not vnwilling good Christian Reader if it be not tedious or troublesome to thee to set downe part for the whole would make a new volume of that which in reading I haue obserued touching the vse of the word hades with auncient writers that were Christians who vse not
speechlesâ—…e in that which you should prooue With as little skill you say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the wordes of Orpheus are to bee construed together and not separately as I reade them but why can you tell What shall become of the coniunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 betweene them if the construction must bee aither aides as you set it the interpreter a man well learned doth render it thus in Latine O Rex caeli inferni O King of heauen and of hell And the coniunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often copulatiue with the Poets and standeth for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as your Lexicons will teach you Besides Orpheus purpose is to confesse him whom diuels doe tremble at and Angels doe feare as his wordes presently following doe declare And therefore his meaning was rather to celebrate the Lord of all that is of heauen and hell sea land then of part You expressely collect and confesse page 371. that within Plutoes kingdome vnder the earth which they call Hades as well the places and pleasures for the good as the prisons and punishments for the bad are in their coÌ„ceit prepared setled That the Pagans so thought I doe not denie yet they neuer called Hades heauen as you doe but confessed heauen to be on hie ouer their heads where the Gods immortall were as they supposed not vnder the earth where hades was And can you be so sottish as to say I contradict my selfe because I vouch they limited hades to a place euen vnder the earth and to darknesse in respect of the light of the Sunne which we heere enioy Againe you confesse Hades with them was the Ruler or place of soules were they in rest oâ—… paine Were you euer prentice to learne to lie or haue you this facilitie by nature You can not touch a place which you doe not falsifie I said with them speaking of Infidels Hades was the Ruler or place of soules that were beneath vnder the earth were they in rest or in paine How is this repugnant either to my selfe or to the trueth You make a strange answer that Christian Religion will assure this place must needs bee hell What that place where some good mens soules deceased are in rest Is this hell Is it hell in Christian Religion who then will henceforth care for hell if some soules haue rest and pleasures in hell Know you not who rideth you when you breake your spurres on a bench and thinke you be on horse-backe That hades is beneath vnder the earth as the Pagans confessed and must needs be hell since Christian religion acknowledgeth no place vnder the earth for soules deceased besides hell I auouched what then what fault findeth your mastership therewith are any there in rest you aske The Pagans so drempt and therefore I say with them it was so that is they supposed it to be so but Christian Religion I replied assureth vs there is no place vnder the earth for soules but only hel Where are now your quicke thicke punctilioes easie hell that you so plea withall The Pagans were of that minde if you list to be one of them you may hope for rest in hell but Christian religion to which I appealed assureth vs that it is a place of torment Cannot your heauy head discerne when I report and refute Pagans opinions and when I propose points of Christian religion But you say also that those heathen Greeks did thinke this place of soules was vnder the earth It is true they thought so indeed and it was their error Then haue you all this while out-faced the trueth when you deriued from them a world of soules without limitation of place and your exposition of the Creed according to their sense must needs inferre that Christes soule after death descended vnder the earth for there is hades by the maine consent of the heathen Greekes as you now confesse And if you place heauen or paradise where the soules of the righteous now are vnder the earth to vphold your Greeke conceits you shall deserue a garland in your new made hades but I dare promise you no rest in your heauen vnder earth except you restore it to the place where God set it that is aboue vs and not beneath vs. That Hades was the proper name of a person and secondly of the place this is not materiall nor to any purpose yet it is questionlesse vtterly vntrue Is it vtterly vntrue that the Pagan Poets for of them I speake tooke Hades chiefly for the ruler of the dead and in that respect called his kingdome vnder the earth also Hades I omit what Diodorus Siculus reporteth as well of antiquitie as of the Poets that they tooke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades the third sonne of Saturnus to be the inuentor of graues and funerals which was the cause that he was thought to be the God of the dead Antiquitie attributing to him the beginning and care of these things To goe beyond the surmises of the Grecians who tooke their learning and antiquities from the Aegyptians as appeareth by Orpheus Homers iourneyes thither to increase their knowledge the wise men amongst the Chaldeans called with them Magi who were farre more ancient then the Aegyptians as Aristotle and others witnesse taught two chiefe authors of all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A good God and a bad spirit the good was called Zeus or Oromasdes the other was named Hades or Aremanios And to this giue testimonie Theopompus Eudoxus Hernippus ancient writers among the Grecians besides Aristotle who concurreth with them and Plutarke who saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is the opinion of the most and the wisest Yea Zoroastres himselfe was of that opinion who liued some thousands of yeeres before the battell of Troy as Plutarke writeth and is taken for Cham the sonne of Noah by our Historiographers Plinie maketh him elder then Moses by many thousands of yeeres Shew me now as auncient testimonies that the place was called Hades as I shew you that the person was so named and I will yeeld If you can not prate not so presumptuously that questionlesse this is vtterly vntrue To my assertion there is no one place in trueth common to all soules departed this life but some are in heauen and some are in hell you answer yet neuerthelesse As they are some where within the compasse of the created world so are they in a common place This As doth so haunt you that you can doe nothing without it As they are in the created world so they are in one common place Then hell and heauen with you make but one place and consequently Christ sitting at the right hand of God is with all the elect angels in the same place with the diuell and the damned and we liuing heere on earth since we are in the created world are both in the same place with Christ
to heauen as Dauid likewise foretold of him and there sitteth at the right hand of God vntill all his enemies in the rest of his members be made his footstoole and thence hath he shed forth this which you now see and heare euen the promise of the holy Ghost receaued of the Father for all his Know ye therefore for a suertie that God hath made him both Lord ouer all in heauen earth and hell and Christ euen the annointed Sauiour of all his elect Against this illation neither all the miscreants in earth nor all the Diuels in hell can open their mouths Where first we may see that Peter resteth more on the manner and power of Christs resurrection then simply on this that his soule was reunited to his body from which by death it was seuered Secondly he bringeth the words of Dauid to shew that either part of the Messias submitted to death for the time was to returne againe to life with greater glory the flesh free from all corruption the soule superiour to all destruction Thirdly that these things neither were nor could be verified in Dauid since Dauid saw corruption as his sepulchre prooued remaining to that day and Dauid was not as then ascended to heauen much lesse made Lord ouer all his enemies Heere is no such prerogatiue mentioned If this were common to Christ with Dauid and others of the faithfull how could Peter hence conclude that this was not spoken of Dauid but onely of the Messias Againe if this were no prerogatiue what need was there that Dauid should be a Prophet by speciall reuelation to know this much and that which Dauid knew was not onely this that Christ should rise to life againe but the words are that God would raise vp Christ after death to set him on his throne that is to giue him an euerlasting kingdome euen all power in heauen and earth subiecting all his enemies vnder his feet So that simply to rise from death was no prerogatiue nor proper to Christ but to rise Lord ouer all death and hell not excepted this was peculiar to Christ and not common to him with Dauid and therefore must needes be a speciall priuiledge to the manhood of Christ which is expressed chiefly in these words Thou wilt not forsake my soule in hades but bring me thence conquerer of all mine enemies You adde no flesh dead was euer free from corruption but onely Christes what then ergo his soule was in hell Why winch you where no man toucheth you doth any man say Christes soule was in hell because his flesh saw no corruption or rather that Dauids wordes are as plaine and peculiar to Christ in the one that Christes soule was not forsaken in hell as in the other that God would not suffer his flesh to see corruption and both being affirmed of Christ by way of speciall prerogatiue why should not both be likewise performed in Christ were not some being dead raised to life againe before their flesh putrified The promise of God to Christ that his flesh should not see corruption doth not onely assure a speedie resurrection but an impossibilitie that any corruption could preuaile against his flesh since the returne of his flesh to dust to which all others are iudged would bee the dissolution of his person for the time which by no meanes might befall him his Godhead being vnited vnto flesh and not vnto dust In these words therefore of Dauid the soule and bodie of Christ were appointed to be superiour to all contrarie powers that is the soule to hell the flesh to the graue and from both was Christ to rise as subduer of both that he might sit on his heauenly Throne as Lord ouer all not by promise onely as before but by proofe also as appeared in his resurrection And yet so many dayes as Christ did lyeth no man in his graue without some taint of corruption which in Christ was vtterly none It is a strange absurditie still to abuse your Reader calling this word hell which indeede is nothing but death in effect Againe to presume that we take it for Paradise or heauen or hell when wee referre it alwayes to the generall state of the dead and no farder immediately Then when you expound the wordes of the Creede Christ descended to hades your meaning is nothing in effect but that Christ died which was before deliuered in plained and shorter wordes and so your exposition is an idle and obscure repetition Againe hades in the new Testament is neuer taken for the death of the bodie since it is annexed to bodily death as a consequent after it and so your acception of it is repugnant to the trueth of the Scriptures And where you will at no time haue Hades taken for Paradise Heauen or Hell as here you pretend when you thereby note the place of soules deceased meane you they are neither in Heauen Paradise nor Hell are you not a wise man to talke so much of an inuisible place and when you come to the point you will haue it no place at all but you referre it alwayes to the generall state of the dead and no farder immediately An inuisible place you referre immediately to no place and thus when you will be frantike or foolish words shall loose their proper and plaine signification and containe no more then pleaseth you Shew vs a place where soules deceased are besides Paradise Heauen and Hell and wee will graunt you may exclude these three by some pretence when you spake of the place of hades but if you cannot then topos aides a place vnseene which you haue so much bowled at will be a place in spite of your heart and that immediately and consequently will bee Paradise Heauen or Hell whatsoeuer you presume or dreame to the contrarie Christ had another inestimable cause to reioyce that he was raised to life againe namely that he might fulfill his whole worke for our saluation which before his resurrection and ascension he could not accomplish When I told you that Christ after death was to conquere Hell and to free vs thence you would needes defend that Christ on the Crosse perfited our redemption and wrought our saluation and now you say which I take to bee the truer though you meane not to bee constant therein that before his resurrection and ascension hee could not accomplish the worke of our saluation The text saith God raised him vp loosing the sorrowes of death because it was impossible for him to be holden fast of it Will you conclude from hence ergo there were present sorrowes in the place where Christ was there is no strength in this reason There is more strength in it then either you will acknowledge or can answere The sorrowes of bodily death are all dissolued by the separating of the soule from the bodie Then after death there are no sorrowes of bodily death But God raised vp Christ loosing the sorrowes of
any trueth in it that hades is the priuation of this life or power of death had the stones of Capernaum euer any life that they might be depriued of it and come vnder the power of death It is not so often applied to other things notwithstanding we may find it applied to other things as where Plato which you stumble at sayth in hades were birds beasts trees flowers fruits I deny not but they had toyish cōceits but wise mē may see how their meaning was these vnreasonable creatures being once brought to destruction they yeelded hades to them also Is it not enough to draw the Scriptures to Platoes fabulous conceits but you must grosly falsifie Plato to fit your new made hades Where Plato saith there were trees flowers fruits and beasts in hades doth he not there also say there were men that liued long and without sickenesse and temples in which the Gods dwell familiarly and that to see these things is the sight of the blessed Was this ment of destruction as you expound your hades or was it a Pagans imagination of an earthly heauen farre aboue vs in which he described all things heere found with vs but in greater perfection and excellencie then here on earth thus wrest you not only the words of our Sauiour from their right sense but you force other writers directly against their words and meaning that you may seeme in them to haue some shew for your licentious exposition of the Scriptures as heere you plainely peruert Plato to make a preface to your mistaking destruction in steede of perfection The like wrong you offer to Plutarke whose name you abuse without either word or syllable sounding towards your intent as if you ment to ouerthrow the whole world to enlarge your hades Thus it seemeth Moses also vseth Sheol when he saith men women children and cattell aliue yea houses and riches went to Sheol If Moses had sayd so calling that vast and deepe gulfe of the earth into which the tents and stuffe of Corah and his companie fell Sheol yet vnlesse you can prooue that the citie of Capernaum was in like sort swallowed vp housen and implements aswell as men in the same deepe gulfe of the earth Moses Sheol maketh nothing for the ruine and destruction of cities where the buildings thereof fall to the ground and lie on the ground as in decayes they doc But though you were both with Plato and Plutarke thinking it no sinne to father your fansies on them you may not doe the like with Moses without more blame then you will willingly beare Moses hath no such wordes that houses and riches went to Sheol but they were swallowed vp in the cleft of the earth as well as the rest yet nothing went to Sheol saue what was liuing because the Scripture saith they descended aliue to Sheol Now if you can proue tents and houshold-stuffe to be aliue you may chance to say somewhat though not much for your destroying Hades but if that be false and absurd then haue you no words in Moses to proue that riches went to Sheol or Hades The words of Moses are plaine enough and exclude as well your cattell as your cofers from Hades If the earth open her mouth and swallow them and all that they haue and they descend aliue to Sheol you shall know that these men haue prouoked the Lord. Themselues descended aliue to Sheol the rest was swallowed vp by the earth For the ground brake vnder them and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them and their housen or families and euery man that belonged to Corah and all their substance And they descended and all the men that pertained to them aliue to Sheol Who pertained to them the Scripture expresseth before namely their wiues their children and their families All their goods were swallowed vp in the gulfe of the earth but of the men that were liuing and belonging to them and not of their cattell the Scripture saith they descended aliue to Sheol That they had any cattell at this time saue for sacrifices it cannot be prooued they did eate no flesh of beasts nor bread garments they changed not on foote they trauelled seruants they had to do their workes and to beare their burdens and yet were it granted they had some cattell for carriage they kept them not in their tents which were swallowed vp in the cleft of the earth These are Moses wordes to the people Depart I pray you from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs least you perish in all their sinnes For their tents with all that was in them fell into the earth and the persons descended aliue to Sheol Now that they descended aliue to hell not only the auncient Fathers Cyprian Ierom Basil Austin Epiphanius and others teach but our new writers therein agree with them as namely Pellican in Numerorum ca. 16. vers 32. Aretius in his problemes de inferno loc 162. Bullingere in 28. cap. Mat. de morte aeterna Gualtere homil 89. in Esaiam homilia 158. in Lucam Lauatere in ca. 15. Prouerb vers 24. So that you must seeke farder for your Sheol and Hades of vnreasonable beasts since to descend aliue to Sheol is the terrible iudgement of God against seditious rebels and not against sheepe or oxen After this maner also those sheepe in Sheol which you turne to the worst may be vnderstoode If you can prooue there be sheepe in Sheol we will giue eare to it but if you tell vs nothing besides your seeming and saying you shew your selfe to be like a sheepe out of Sheol And here the Reader may see how certaine a leader he shall haue of you for in the halfe of this one side you deliuer six or seuen expositions resolutions with no better warrant then It seemeth this may be and yet with these you patch vp your predicament of Hades to containe all things euen stones cattell and sheepe But hath this any seeming worth the speaking of that because Dauid saith of the wicked like sheepe they lie in Sheol you should conclude ergo there be sheep in Sheol you need not feare my turning of this to the worst I cannot well turne it to worse then it is The wise man saith be not like a Lion in thine owne house Doth that inferre euery man to haue Lions in his house Thy children saith the Psalmist shal be like oliue plants round about thy table Hath euery good man therefore Oliue plants about his table The wicked be in Sheol like sheepe that is either bound hand and foote and cast into vtter darkenesse as sheepe are bound by all foure when they are prepared for the slaughter or voide of reason and vnable to helpe themselues like sheepe That the word Sheol standeth next to sheepe in the Hebrew and the verbe commeth
recenseri insernum siue gehennam mortem peccatum legem In the meane while thou must see our enemies heere numbred in order hell or gehenna death sinne and the law Christ hath gotten the victory ouer all these and the fruit of that victory redoundeth to vs. Bullinger The Apostle declareth that the victory ouer sinne death and hell is gotten by the might and merits not of the saints but of Christ to whom the saints must yeeld all glory praise and thanks And this explanation hath very excellent degrees First â—… hell to wit the excrlasting punishment whereby the dead are condemned to the second death the second is sinne which is the force of death and hell For by sinne came death The third is the law the strength of sinne The law being then taken away the force of sinne decaieth sinne being abolished the power of death ceaseth death being disarmed hell is ouerthrowen Hyperius If death shall then haue no more rule it followeth that neither hell shall preuaile against the godly For this must be vnderstood of them since the wicked shall not be deliuered from the power of hell In these words ô death where is thy sting ô hell where is thy victory either God as conquerer or the saints as giuing the praise of the conquest to God in a sort reproch death and hell with the losse of their power and strength And very aptly is death put first and then hell For men die before they be cast into hell in which the wicked tast the second or eternall death Moe might be brought but with wise men there can be no question that the Saints at the last day being then fully freed from all their enemies may giue thanks to God for the victory purchased by Christ against them all hell and Satan not excepted Also we are to note that the Apostle heere plainely alludeth to that of Hoseah O Sheol o kingdome of death I wil be thy destruction not ô hell The Prophet speaketh this to comfort Israel in their captiuity against their continuall destruction and raizings out of this world You will soone brest other men that will beard the Apostle in this matter so boldly as you doe Indeed you and some others thinke it a glory to take part with the Iewes contradicting all that the Euangelists Apostles alleage out of the law and the Prophets touching Christ and his kingdome and you vouchsafe to yeeld to the holy Ghost speaking in them no more skill or vnderstanding of the old Testament but to allude to it and as it were to play with it when the true literall sense of most places as you thinke is farre from that which they intend But this Iudaizing whiles you would seeme more then others to smatch of a little Hebrew I for my part detest and professe to the world I take that euery where to be the true and direct meaning of Moses and the Prophets which Christ and his Apostles collect from their words And therefore Ierom saith of this very place as I say of all others That which the Apostle referreth to the resurrection of the Lord nos aliter interpretari nec possumui nec audemus we neither can nor dare interprete otherwise Yea so well learned you are in the circumstances of the Prophets speach that you pronounce The Prophet speaketh this to comfort Israel in their captiuity shewing that now the Lord would stay his iudgment that way and death should now destroy them no more Whereas Israel was then in no captiuity as appeareth by the 16 verse of the same chapter Samaria shal be desolute And God had no meaning to tell the people he would now stay his hand and they should be destroied no more because in the two next verses he threatneth They should be spoiled dried and desolate they should fall by the sword their infants should be dashed in pieces and their women with child should be ripâ—… Wherefore except you will haue the holy Ghost to speake contradictions as your manner is you must acknowledge that amidst the fearefull troubles destructions and desolations then and afore denounced by the Prophet against the whole kingdome of Israel God doth comfort his elect amongst them that whatsoeuer became of their bodies in this affliction approching he had his time when he would vtterly destroy the power of all their enemies not onely freeing them by death from tyrants and persecutors but sauing them from death and hell by his annointed Messias who should be a death to death and a destruction to hell And as this was the greatest comfort and onely hope that Gods children in their miseries could expect or desire so the Apostle keepeth right the Prophets meaning and sheweth the time when all this shal be performed that is when all teares shal be wiped from the eies of Gods elect and all their enemies sinne death and hell troden vnder their feete In this comfort and promise as hell was the chiefest enemy so of all others that must be conteined within the limits of Gods assurance and their deliuerance In vaine are all other promises of grace whiles that enemy standeth vnuanquished And therefore as we most needed so God most promised and Christ most performed the destruction of hell aboue and afore the death of the body which you so much talke of and from which you giue to the reprobate a resurrection as well as to the godly which is but a cold comfort to him that duely considereth it Next we come to the Reuelation First I haue the keyes of Hades that is of destruction or of the kingdome of death and of death Or we may take them as two words for oâ—… and the same thing That is both of them for death What shew of reason haue you to bring in here Christs power ouer the damned soules in hell because there is mention else where of the key of hell therefore the key of Hades here is the same What colour of reason is there in this Euen so much as you can not resist For if it be certaine which the Scripture confirmeth that Christ hath the keyes of both that is as well of hell as of death and gate them both by submitting himselfe to death And Hades in the new Testament is taken for hell as hitherto we haue seene and euen with Saint Iohn the writer of this Reuelation it is a different thing from death what can Hades be here but hell That Christ by his obedience vnto death had all power in heauen and earth and hell giuen him the Apostle is very plaine Christ became obedient to the death euen the death of the Crosse. Wherefore or for which cause God highly exalted him and gaue him a Name aboue euery name that at the name of Iesus euery knee of those in heauen on earth and vnder the earth should bow and euery tongue confesse that Iesus is the Lord. As he himselfe also witnessed when he said
doubtlesse he went not thither You profere vs reasons very seldome but when you push them forth they want all things that should support them Your maior heere hath no force in it your minor hath no trueth and so your conclusion is like a forward bud that shrincketh before it bloweth That Christ should triumph ouer powers and principalâ—…ies and all knees of those in heauen earth and hell bow vnto him was aswell for his soueraignty as for our safety Your maior then must haue both those parts in it that if Christs descent thither were neither for his glory not our good then was it needlesse But it was both He was to rise superiour to all his and our enemies that as in the crosse he submitted his life to the rage fury of Satan his members so when he rose he might be made Lord ouer heauen earth and hell It was therefore his right to haue the keyes of death and hell wherby Satans kingdom aswell in hell as in earth should be subiected to the power of his humane nature which could not be but beneficiall for vs whose redeemer and Sauiour he was Againe what need is there that you should know the depth of Gods counsels and reason of Christs doings in euery thing as though you were to take an account of him what cause he had to doe as he did If the Scripture beare witnesse that Christs soule was not left in hell though we could not discerne the precise purpose of his descent thither we may not therefore reiect it as superfluous But what say you to those two maine points expressed in Scripture the destroying of Satan and deliuering of vs from feare of death which Christ performed by his death The benefits all and euery one which you euery where rehearse I most vnfeinedly and religiously beleeue but what is this to his locall being in hell You acknowledge the words but not the deeds of Christs destroying and spoiling Satan through but not after his death and so in name but not in proofe you make him Lord ouer hell as where he neuer shewed the power and prerogatiue of his humane nature but onely by taking his body from the graue Now this doth not answere the reall and actuall subduing of Satans strength and kingdome mentioned in the Scriptures with so magnificent and euident words as the Apostle vseth that Christ led captiuity captiue and made an open shew of powers and principalities and triumphed ouer them in his owne person You call these blasts of vanity because I say they were performed on euery part of Satans kingdome and euen in the place where his chiefest strength and power was which was hell but your replies are rather beesoms of infidelity which would sweepe away whatsoeuer the Apostle saith of Christs most glorious triumph ouer Satan and his whole kingdome with the taking of his flesh out of the graue where it lay dead and ascribe no more to Christs conquest ouer death and hell then you doe to all the faithfull when they shal be raised from the earth to the fruition of eternall life This I say is not sufficient in Christs person For he must not onelie be free himselfe and the freer of all his from death and hell but all infernall places and powers were to stoope to him as Lord of all when God would bring him to the glory of his resurrection This conquest you say Christ purchased by his Passion but hee did not execute it till his resurrection If hee executed nothing till his resurrection and purchased all by his Passion then he did nothing in hell For his resurrection was distinctly after his supposed being in hell The Apostles wordes are plaine that Christes crosse was his humiliation Christ humbled himselfe being obedient to death euen the death of the crosse Then Christes Passion and death were parts of his debasing and not his triumphing ouer death or hell After death must his triumph beginne and not before nor at the time of his breathing out his soule but when the time of his resurrection came God loosed the sorrowes of death before his humane soule which was not left destitute of glory soueraintie in hell and raised his bodie from the graue restoring him to life as the subduer and Lord of all his enemies that is as well of hell as of death You would calculate the minutes and see what distance of time there was betwixt the returne of Christes soule from hell and the raising of his bodie from the graue but this is like the rest of your vanities to be more then audacious in blasing your owne deuises and curious in searching Gods secrets reserued to himselfe What time the soule of Christ ascended to Paradise or descended to hell we doe not know we must leaue that to God it sufficeth vs that Christes Soule by the witnesse of holy Scripture was not lest in hell nor his flesh in the graue but both restored to life as conquerers of death and hell Christes resurrection therefore containeth the bringing of hissoule from hell and the ioyning of it to his bodie that both might be restored to celestâ—…all and perpetuall glory and consequently the subduing of hell as his soule returned to his bodie is iustly reputed a part of the glorie of his resurrection I would willingly beleeue you but alas who sayth so besides your selfe or onely such as can tell no better then you If auncient Fathers and later writers if prouinciall generall Councels did not professe the same that I doe you might beleeue as you list but if they all concurre that this is testified in the Scriptures which you labour to elude with phrases and figures then pitie your selfe as stretching and shrinking the Scriptures at your pleasure pitie not me who haue the maine consent of all ages and Christian assemblies from the Apostles to this very time wherein we liue to interpret the wordes of the holy Ghost as I doe and to make Christes subduing of hell consequent to his death and precedent to his resurrection Neither can the Apostles wordes that Châ—…ist through death destroyed him that had power of death and deliuered all them which for feare of death were all their life long subiect to bondage haue any full or effectuall performance if Christ after death and before the raising vp of his bodie did not in that part of his humane nature which lay not in the graue shew himselfe the conquerer of Satan and his Infernall kingdome that by Christes subduing eternall death and taking the whole power thereof into his hands we might be assured of our deliuerance from that which we most feared which was not the death of the bodie but the destruction of bodie and soule in hell fire This Conquest we both beleue neither may we much differ about the time since it must be through his death and so after he was dead and before his resurrection the manner is all that is
Ephesus which the Councels of Chalcedon and Constantinople doe fully approoue Now what Cyrill meant by spoiling hades appeareth in these words Our Lord Iesus saith Cyrill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hauing spoyled death and loosed the number of soules that were detained in the dâ—…nnes there rose the third day We must not say that the Deitie of the onely begotten returned from the denns vnder the earth but his soule descended to hades and vsing his diuine power and authoritie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shewed it selfe to the soules there and said to them in bands come forth and to them in darkenesse receiue light This Cyrill tooke from Athanasius whom he much followed and often cited Those wretches the diuels did not know that the death of Christ should giue vs immortalitie and his descent to Hades should procure our ascent to heauen For the Lord rose the third day from the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hauing spoiled Hades hel troden the enemie vnder foote dissolued death broken the chaines of sin with which we were tyed and freed vs that were bound saying arise let vs goe hence Being therefore freed from the bondage of the diuell let vs acknowledge our redeemer and glorifie the Father c. So elswhere What neede had Christ that was God of the crosse of the graue of hell to which things we were subiect but that in them he sought vs quickning vs in this manner agreeable to vs For if the Lord had not bene made man wee had neuer risen from the dead as redeemed from our sinnes but had remained dead vnder the earth neither had we beene exalted to heauen but had laine still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hell For vs therefore and for our sakes it is sayd God exalted him and gaue him the dominion of heauen earth and hell By which places as by infinite others in Athanasius it is euident that Christ conquered and spoiled hell and Satan for vs and deliuered vs thence aswell as those that were formerly deceased to whom as to vs hell had a chalenge till the Sauiour of the world freed both them and vs thence And this is the true meaning of those prouinciall and generall Councels which say Christ rose the third day hauing first spoiled hell The same I affirme of that Allegory in Luke which sheweth Christs ouercomming binding and spoiling of Satan indeed but not by his locall being in hell Christ expressely applieth it to his dispossessing of Diuels out of mens bodies I did not alleage this parable to prooue Christs going to hell in soule after death but to shew what parts Christs conquest ouer hell and Satan must haue to wit that he must subdue bind and spoile Satan before his conquest ouer Satan could be perfect Other places of Scripture applied these parts to Christs rising from the dead and spoiling the kingdome of Satan for this parable it did suffice that these things heere mentioned must be fully performed by Christ before he did fully conquere Satan Now that these things were throughly performed by Christ whiles he liued on earth is repugnant to the Scriptures For so Christ should neuer haue died since death was a part of Satans power which Christ was to spoile It is therefore certaine that Christs ouermastering of Satan began here on earth when he cast him out from such as were possessed but Christs conquest ouer Satan had not his sull and complete higth no not in his owne person till he rose from the dead and ascended to heauen leading captiuity captiue That therefore it began before Christs death I doe not denie but that it was not finished till his resurrection and ascension the Scriptures auouch Christ saith Origen hauing bound the strong man and by his crosse conquered him went euen to his house to the house of death and into hell and thence tooke his goods that is the soules which he possessed And this was that which he spake by a Parable in the Gospell saying Who can enter a strong mans house and spoile his goods except he first bind the strong man So Ierom. The strong man was bound and tied in hell and troden vnder the Lords foote and the Tyrants howsen being spoiled captiuity was led captiue And Zanchius The Apostle to the Ephesians the 4. where he speaketh of Christs triumph and saith he led captiuity captiue that is he led the Diuel captiue and triumphed ouer him doth not there say this triumph was made on the crosse but then performed that is perfected when Christ ascended to heauen Christ then obteined it on the Crosse but performed it afterwards Of euill spirits subdued and spoiled the Sonne of God triumphed Whither pertaineth that parable of Christs when a strong man keepeth his house his goods are in peace but when a stronger then he commeth vpon him he taketh his spoiles from him Remember I pray how God shewed his displeasure against your wresting of his word by that strange terrour that happened euen then when you were descended intâ—… he depth of this vncouth doctrine at Paules Crosse. Indeed it may be that you and such others were in a strange terror at that time otherwise there was no cause nor harme but the breakeing of an old rotten forme which men desirous to heare had ouer loaden and so where they stood halfe a yard aboue ground before they were then faine to stand on their feet But Sir by what authoâ—…ity doe you take vpon you to interprete Gods will by the cracking of an old stoole Are you of late become a Southsaier that you professe to declare Gods meaning by the breaking of an old borde in sunder What say you then to those Coronations of Princes and other assemblies where many haue been slaine What say you to S. Pauls Sermon where Eutychus falling downe from a third lâ—…ft was taken vp dead Will you say his doctrine was vncouth because the hearers were a while troubled with that accident had there any thing indeed fallen out as God be thanked there did nothing you would haue plaied the false Prophet apace to presume of Gods purpose when by your owne foolish feare vpon the cracking of an old forme you proudely and prophanely take vpon you to pronounce of Gods pleasure Where you charge me in the end arrogantly and absurdly to falsisie the Synod of this Realme it is but what your selfe doth in effect I said our Synod corrected King Edwards Synod You acknowledge and professe that in the later words of that former Synod now left out are three things that cannot be iustified by the Scriptures If a man would hire you you cannot leaue this outfacing and falsifying no not when you goe about to cleare your selfe of it which whether it be absurd or arrogant I leaue to the Reader Our Synod you said corrected King Edwards Synod Said you no more did you not lustily conclude Therefore our Synod
Contradictions Saint Marke whom you would oppose to the rest omitting the particular circumstances of Christs temptation saith in generall words that Christ was in the Wildernesse fortie daies was tempted of Satan Hence you would infer that after these forty daies Christ was not tempted but which way can you tell The Euangelist whose words you pretend deuideth these two which you ioyne together as the point betweene them in all our Greeke Copies doth cleerely conuince And were they not diuided thence perhaps you might prooue that during the time of fortie daies he was in some sort tempted but that he was not tempted after the end of fortie daies those words doe no way imply Besides you take foolish and irreligious paines to conclude by a lame consequent out of one Euangelist that which two others directly and expresly refute as if you would trippe the holy Ghost in his Tale. Saint Mathew saith m Matt. 4. v. 2. Christ fasting fortie dayes and fortie nights 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afterward began to be hungrie S. Luke is plainer n Luk. 4. v. 2. Fortie dayes sayth he was Christ tempted of the diuell and he did not eat any thing in those dayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and those fortie dayes ended afterward he began to hunger So that apparantly Christ fasted fortie dayes eating nothing and at the end thereof began to be hungrie which occasion the diuell tooke first to tempt him openly and so spight of your cauilling conceits Christ was tempted after the end of fortie dayes whatsoeuer he was before Now those words in Saint Lukes text Fortie dayes tempted of the Diuell Eusebius and Cyrill two ancient Greeke Fathers o Cyril de recta fide ad Reginâ—… li. 2. de Sacerd. Christi reade disioyned referring the fortie dayes to Christes being in the wildernesse o Euseb. demonst Euang. li. 3 cap. 2. He was ledde of the Spirit in the wildernesse fortie dayes where the text which they alledge maketh a point being tempted of the diuell How beit it is not materiall to me whether we say that Christ abode those fortie dayes in the Wildernesse or he was tempted those fortie daies in the Wildernesse since it is plaine that Saint Luke speaketh of other Temptations during those fortie daies then those three which himselfe and Mathew exactly note begun after the end of those forty daies Euthymius obserueth that Marke and Luke doe say p Euthymius in 4. ca. Matth. Christ was also tempted in the fortiâ—… daies so that it is manifest the Diuell tempted him in those daies a farre off by sleepe sloth heauinesse and such like But after he knew him once to be hungrie then he set vpon him propè manifesté neerely and openly q Defenc pag. â—…3 li 23. Chiefly when the Diuâ—… shewed him all the kingdomes of the world and the glorie of them and that in the twinckling of an eye how could that possibly be done really actually and externally The two things that stumble you are the shortnesse of the Time and the largenesse of the world all whose kingdomes were shewed to Christ which you suppose could neither be viewed in one place nor in the twinckling of an eye For the Time Saint Lukes words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r Erasâ—…i Anâ—…ot in ca. 4. Lucâ—… by which Prouerbiall speech saith Erasmus the Graecians expresse a short time The Syrâ—…ack Translation importeth as much For that saith Satan shewed him all the kingdomes of the earth in a small time Neither doth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which S. Lukevseth necessarily signifie an indiuisible time but a short time As where Plutarch sayth s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our whole life is but a touch or small stay of time And likewise Phauorinus t Phauorinus in verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In a point is a good pause or time to breathe The Apostle vseth the word u Gal. 6. v. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the spots and scarres of the stripes which he receiued in his bodie for the Gospell of Christ. Howbeâ—…t let the word haue his full strength it can signifie but that part or point of Time in which we may see or speake as punctum doth in Latine x Philip. 2. Hoc punctum temporis quo loquor This point of time wherein I speake sayth Cicero And Lucretius y Lucret. li. 4. Temporis in punctâ—… rerum simulachra feruntur In an instant of time the resemblances of things are caried to the eyes So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not enforce such an insensible time as you pretend though the diuell tooke no long time to shew those things and Christ tooke lesse to beholde them for he knew better then the diuell did the vanitie of that worldly glory which Satan so much magnified and since for our saluation Christ had layed aside the brightnesse of his diuine Maiestie during the time of his humilitie I verily thinke he would not vouchsafe all earthly pompe any longer view then the turning of an eye to it and from it not that he doubted any temptation in it but that he despised it as not worthy of his sight who was Lord of all heauenly power The manner also how those things were shewed to Christ may seeme to haue some question yet that doth not prooue it an imagination because the waies were many by which it might be truely performed Some thinke the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Satan shewed him all the kingdomes of the world includeth no particular inspection of euerie place but a generall direction to the coasts and parts of the earth where those kingdomes lay the rest being supplied by speech and not by sight So the author of the exposition vpon Matthew vnder Chrysostoms name z Hoâ—…l 5. in 4. â—…a Matth. Satan shewed those things not so that Christ saw the kingdomes themselues or the cities people gold and siluer in them but the parts of the earth in which euerie kingdome and the chiefe citie thereof stood For Satan a Ibidâ—… might most directly point with his finger to euerie place and in words expresse the state and honor of euerie kingdome So Euthymius b Euthymius in 4. ca. Matth. Satan in a moment of time as Luke saith that is in a small tyme pointed with his â—…inger to the parts of the earth in which the kingdomes of the world were This exposition c Musculus in 4. ca. Matth. Musculus a man of no meane learning amongst our new writers followeth Satan also might shew and Christ might see the places themselues and the pompe thereof for Satan being an Angell had another maner of sight euen in the bodie which he assumed then we haue and Christ when pleased him could see whither and what he would That the Angels of God heare and see the particular words and actions of all men here on earth S. Paul is a witnesse where he
sayth d 1. Tim. 5. I charge thee in the presence of God and of the Lord Iesus Christ and of the elect Angels that thou obserue these things without preiudice or partiaâ—…tie And againe we are made a e â—… Cor. 4. spectacle to the world to angels and to men And likewise s The woman ought to haue power on her head because of the Angels that is she ought to couer her head in signe of subiection to the power of the man because the Angels beholde this as all other actions of men either in the Church or in the world From this power to heare and see what is sayd and done on the face of the earth euen in the secret and darke places thereof the diuell is not excluded in that he is an Angel though fallen from heauen and cast vnto the earth yet an g Reuel 12. accuser and so a beholder of good whom he impugneth and of badde ouer whom he ruleth And what maruell that Angels who by their creation excell vs in power and might haue this incident to their condition when as men God opening their eyes can see things done in heauen and earth which naturally they can by no meanes see When Dothan was besieged by the Aramites to apprehend Elizeus and his seruant was afrayd at the sight of them the Prophet encouraging his seruant sayd h 2. Kings 5. Feare not for they that be with vs are moe then they that be with them and prayed God to open his seruants eyes which the Lord did and h 2. Kings 5. he looked and beholde the mountaine was full of â—…ierie charets and horses round about Elizeus i Mark 1. Assoone as Iohn was come out of the water where he baptized Iesus in Iordan Iohn saw the heauens cleaue asunder and the Holy Ghost descending on Christ like a Doue Steuen likewise not only had his face changed in the Councell k Acts 7. as the face of an Angell but looking stedfastly into heauen saw the glory of God and Iesus standing at the right hand of God Which though the incredulous Iewes did no wayes beleeue but stopped their eares when they heard him so say and ranne vpon him all at once and cast him out of the citie and stoned him as a blasphemous liar yet can he be no Christian Christ might see what he would that doubteth whether Steuen saw this with his bodily eyes or no the Scripture being so resolute for it how impossible soeuer it be to our eyes This power to beholde things farre distant notwithstanding all impediments interiected not onely Christ had when he would as appeareth by his words to Nathaniel l Ioh. 1. v. 48. Before Philip called thee being vnder the figge tree I saw thee for which Nathaniel acknowledged him to be the Sonne of God but he promised his that they should see greater things m Vers. 50. Because I sayd to thee I saw thee vnder the figge tree beleeuest thou Thou shalt see greater things then these n Vers. 51. Verily verily I say vnto you henceforth you shall see the heauens open and the Angels of God ascending and descending vpon the Sonne of man Since then Christ could and o Luke 10. vers 18. did see Satan like lightning fall downe from heauen I make no doubt but he could open his owne eyes to see the remote parts of the earth when it pleased him though vsually he did it not by reason he needed it not for he knew all things and euen what was in man which the Angels doe not and therefore needed not any such vse of his eyes but when he saw his time which in this case he might like lest the dâ—…uell should despise him as hauing greater power and cleerer sight then Christ did or could shew himselfe to haue For which cause also Christ would stand on the pinnacle of the Temple without the diuels helpe to let him know that he wanted not power to doe greater things then the diuell vrged him vnto but onely that hee would take his owne time and do nothing at the diuels instigation or motion nor repugnant to the will and pleasure of God A third way the diuell had if Christ would permit it to set these things before our Sauiours eyes Satan is able not onely to assume what shapes he will and to transforme himselfe into an Angell of light but also to make specters and shewes of any thing in the aire and to deceiue the eyes of men when he is suffered by God so to do which not onely experience of all ages but the Scriptures themselues confirme wherein all p 2. Thess. 2. false woonders and signes are ascribed to the operation of Satan By this meanes Simon the Sorcerer so bewitched the whole citie of Samaria that q Acts 8. they all from the least to the greatest gaue heed vnto him and sayd This man is the great power of God The Sorcerers of Pharaoh r Exod 7. turned their rods into serpents and changed the riuers into r Exod 7. bloud and brought s Exod. 8. frogs vpon the land of Egypt as Moses and Aaron did and other miracles could the diuell haue done as we see by killing of Iobs t Iob. 1. sheepe and seruants with fire from heauen and the u Iob. 2. smiting of Iobs bodie with sore boiles had not the hand of the Almightie stopped him and thereby made the Sorcerers confesse that x Exod. 8. v 19 there was the finger of God It was therefore no hard thing for Satan to frame the appearances of kingdomes and cities and shew the similitudes of them from euery part of the earth since they are but the figures and semblances of things that we see with our eyes which Angels good and badde haue in their power when they are sent of God to do his will Howbeit Satan could not delude the eyes of Christ without his knowledge and leaue though Satan did not so thinke And therefore all these wayes being possible yet I thinke the second most agreeable to the words and see no cause why we should measure Christs sight when pleased him by mans reason when as he did so many things heere on earth aboue all humane power and reason For he often y Marke 4. walked on the sea and z Iohn 20. came and stood in the midst of his disciples when the doores were shut and made the ship that receiued him in the sea of Tiberias a Iohn 6. to be by and by at the land whither they went besides many thousand miracles which he wrought with his word and hand whiles he conuersed amongst men Of which if no Christian may make any question why flie you to imaginations or visions so long as Christ had power enough with his eyes to behold whatsoeuer Satan could shew him It was Satans act you will say to shew them and not Christes Satan as an angell might see
your skilles to bring Articles of the Creede to be phrases as if the Apostles and their followers which were the first planters of Churches had ment to teach the simple people not principles of faith but certaine Greeke or Hebrew phrases He that will suffer you to turne his faith into a phrase let him take heed that insteed of heauen he light not on hel which is one of your chiefe phrases But you neuer said that Hades signified heauen You may saue this from a lie if you be not he that wrote this part of your booke as by the crossing and changing of your owne assertions it is euident to euery wise man you did not but otherwise if the quoting of other mens authoritie to prooue Hades to be heauen may conuince you to be of that mind with them whom you cite for that purpose you haue most plainely auouched hades to import and containe heauen Whose words are these I pray you in your Treatise This most singular place sheweth that Hades with them is not properly for hell but for the world of the dead and SOMETIMES AS NAMELY HEERE EVEN FOR HEAVEN So in the next page Againe he saith of heauen that it is an vnseene estate EVEN HADES AS IT IS COMMONLY CALLED Wherefore it is plaine by Plato Hades sometime may bee vnderstood for heauen yea and with the Grecians it was a common phrase And Stephan â—…iteth Plutarch concerning the godly departing being in hades that is in heauen he meant I thinke and not in hell Infinite places might be brought to like purpose but these may suffice which whether they you by them auouch hades to be taken for heauen or no I leaue to the iudgement of the Reader as also whether this be not impudent facing and worthy of other wordes at which you take so much offence Yea this very Article Christ dâ—…scended to Hades you expound by pretence of Bullingers wordes he did goe to Abrahams â—…osome that is into heauen That you auouch Philip. 2. for it is more strange where we haue not one word of his locall being in hell And that the Coloss. 2. should prooue it passeth all the rest Where though we graunt you your reading yet the expresse text referreth that triumph to Christes crosse which you openly deny You doe well to make an Apologie for your impudency and facing the next sentence before but if you reclaime those tâ—…ades of yours you renounce the most part of your obiections and probations in this your defence For doe I cite either of these places in the Pages which you quote to prooue Christes descent after death to the place of hell When you in your proud and scorneâ—…ull humour mocked at Christes actuall conquest and tâ—…iumph ouer hell in generall and called it a woorthie priuiledge surely and very honâ—…rable 〈◊〉 to â—…iumph and insult vpon the â—…ice miserable wofull wretches in their preâ—…t vnâ—…eakable damnation adding All the world knoweth it is the most in glorious and vilest debasing to represse this disdainfull and proud conceit of yours I told you The Apostle made it a part of Christes high exaltation that euerie knec as well of things vnder earth as of things in heanen should bow vnto him and did you thinke it a matter to be mocked and derided and of the place to the Colossians I said What lâ—…iteth then since these wordes were not verified on the crosse but they did take place in his resurrection and therein as by the effects it was most euident and apparant to the eies of all men he did spoile powers and Principalities and made a shew of them openly and triumphed ouer them in his owne person When I speake of things euident and apparent to all mens eies I speake not of things done in hell where no man liuing was present but prooued against you as well by your own wordes as by the Apostles that this triumph was not perfourmed and executed on the crosse though there deserued and purchased For you your selfe debase Christs triumph on the crosse with woorse wordes then I doe you say it was a miserable triumph yea a piteous triumph it was indeede where himselfe remained in such woefull torment where appeared no shew of conquest I say not so but that on the crosse Christ humbled himselfe euen vnto death and thereby merited to be exalted aboue all names and sorts of creatures which God after death most gloriously perfourmed vnto him when euerie knee of those in heauen on earth and vnder earth bowed vnto him and confessed him to be their Lord. This was all I said in those places which you traduce and yet if I had said more and applied them to the actuall triumph of Christes soule after death I wanted not better authoritie so to haue done then you haue any for so many cart-loades of concâ—…its as you haue brought vs. But of both these places I haue spoken before what may suâ—…ce and he that will see more thereof may read what Zanchius hath learnedly and soberly written of those places Ephes. 4. vers 9. and Coloss. 2. vers 15. Where he likewise affirmeth Patres serè sic explicant ex nostris non pauci neque vulgares The Fathers for the most part doe so expound it and of our writers not a few nor the meanest That of the Councels how Christ rose againe hauing spoiled hell I easily yeeld seeing that prooueth not his locall being there Then first you yeeld that Hades with all these generall Councels signifieth hell Next you yeeld that hell was spoyled by Christ before he rose for he rose hauing spoyled hell Thirdly you yeeld that this was done by Christes manhood since his Godhead can be said in no wise to rise from the dead and consequently by his soule since he spoiled hell before he rose when yet his bodie was dead in the graue There remaineth no more but this question whether the soule of Christdid this absent from the place or present in the place which was spoiled And since the scriptures auouch that Christs soule was in Hades which was spoiled as these three generall Councels assirme it is without question that Christes soule present in hell spoiled hell before his resurrection and so returned to his bodie which is the very point you all this while denied and with so much lost labour impugned And least this cause should depend on your slipper turnes and returnes we must vnderstand that not only the generall Councell of Ephesus confirmed and allowed these wordes in the Synodall Epistle of Cyrill to Nestorius but the Councell of Chalcedon and the second Councell of Constantinople ratified the same So that what sense Cyrill had in these wordes the same did the Councell of Ephesus follow Cyrill himselfe there sitting and declaring his owne meaning Yea the Treatises of Cyrill expounding these wordes are inserted into the Acts of the Councell of