it was created except some great contrarietie befall to the hinderance thereof But man was created to know and to love God and to see his wisdome in the creature and to honour him therfore and doing thus to be happie for ever thereby yet nothing of this is done accordingly by any among all the sons of Adam therefore some great hindrance and contrarietie is come between But nothing that good is could be an hindrance to this great good nor yet any thing which is without the man himselfe Therefore mans sinne alone which hath infected all hath beene the onely hinderance of all this good 4. The holy Scripture shewes the truth of this in Iob 14.4 Who can bring a cleane thing out of uncleannesse not one And Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne hath my mother conceived mee Rom. 5.12 By one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Ephes 2.3 Wee re all by nature the children of wrath And this is that taint of originall sinne which being bred in every mans bones will never out of the flesh And concerning actuall sinne you may reade those Scriptures which are cited by S. Paul Rom. 3. They are all gone out of the way they are altogether become filthie there is none that doeth good no not one c. from v. 9. to 18. CHAP. XVIII That there is a restoring of Man to a better life and further hope than that from which our parents fell BVt if the whole world be thus become guiltie before God is it for this end that the whole world may bee subjected to eternall death God forbid but as sin hath abounded unto condemnation so hath the grace and righteousnesse of God abounded much more unto everlasting life for as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation so by the righteousnesse of one the free pardon came unto all men for justification unto life See Rom. 5. Chap. Therefore lest man at the sight of his owne perfections should sinne through pride unrecoverably as the devils it was permitted that Adam should sinne as hee did that a way might bee made for the justice and mercie of God to bee manifest and that man at the sight of his sinne might be humbled before his Creator and so received to grace The whole world then being liable to the justice of God by that sinne of our first father as hath beene shewed now it remaines in this place to prove that there is a possibilitie to returne to God in whose favour and acceptance onely is life and happinesse And for the more cleere proofe hereof let us first lay this sure foundation that all the workes of God and all the possibilities in the creature are knowne to him from all eternitie Secondly that to doe well and right and to withstand sinne and the temptations of the devill requires a positive strength and grace in the heart of man which grace man cannot take unto himselfe because no creature can be partaker either of being or of strength or any good but onely so far forth as it is imparted thereunto and where the want of strength is the effect of that want on all occasions must needs appeare So that since Adams fall man being not onely deprived of that strength to resist sinne which Adam had but also infected with a naturall corruption and inclination to sin which they call concupiscence man hath no helpe in himselfe to helpe himselfe upon which grounds the reason will follow thus If there be not a possibility of the restoring of man into the favour and grace of God from which hee fell by his sin then could not the justice of God be without great iniquity and injustice Let him be mercifull that we speake according to the manner of men that is according to that reason and understanding which he hath given unto men for the manifestation of his glorie and grace For if God in the infinity of his wisdome foreseeing that man being created would sin and yet would create him and for his sin utterly cast off the whole race of mankinde to destruction neither could any place of mercie bee found with him for which the creature could give him glorie neither could that justice be but with great injustice inasmuch as they that never were should without any desert be created to eternall punishment and they that had done the least sinnes nay they that had done neither good nor ill as they that die in their infancie should bee shut out to eternall death aswell as they that all their life time had followed all manner of sinne with greedinesse So also all the commandements of God tending to the amendment of life and all his threatnings and promises should be in vaine So also all the endeavours of holy and devout men who through his grace strive to the masterdome of their owne wickednesse and all the constancie of them who have suffered for the profession of his truth and service should be unrewarded So vertue should have no advantage over vice in the difference of the reward But all these things are impossible therefore there is a restoring of man to that favour and grace of God from which he was separate by his sinne 2. If there were not a restoring of mankinde to that estate from which he is fal'n then the sin of man a finite creature should be more powerfull to the destruction of the worke of God who made man to everlasting life than the power wisdome of God should to the upholding of the creature in that estate wherein he created it So ill and sin things not being shold have preheminence for mischiefe above an infinite power and goodnesse for glorie and happinesse But this is impossible therefore as by sinne there was a generall wrack of mankinde so it is necessarie that there be a generall restoring powerfull and sufficient for the sinnes of the whole world avayleable and effectuall to all that beleeve it and shew the fruit of their faith by their strife against sinne and doing such good workes as God hath created that we should walke in them 3. Faith hope charity temperance and all other Christian and morall vertues are the worke of Gods Spirit in man who of himselfe is not able no not to thinke a good thought But it is impossible that the Spirit of God should worke in vaine or to no end in the heart of man to beleeve the forgivenesse of his sinnes and to hope for everlasting life c. or that God should not accept his owne worke in his creature which is ever for the good of the creature Therefore there is a restoring of man to those hopes of happinesse which he had lost 4. The continuance of the world and the creatures therein by a being of infinite power wisdome and goodnesse must bee to an end exceedingly good therefore there is a restoring of man
August de Civitate Dei lib. 10. Cap. 22. 2. God might seeme towards man an accepter of persons and towards the Angels that sinned severe and mercilesse if hee should condemne them to the paynes of eternall fire and yet accept man to mercy when no satisfaction had beene made for mans sinne in the nature that had sinned But both these things are utterly impossible and against the justice of God therefore the punishment of the sinne of man must be borne in the nature of man 3. The iust Law and sentence of the most wise Lawmaker and just judge ought to stand sure and inviolable But the sentence of death was decreed and pronounced against man if hee sinned Gen. 2.17 Therefore by man is the expiation and satisfaction to bee made for sinne 4. Every restoring of any want or corruption in nature must be by that which is of the same kinde as if any flesh in man be rotten the member is not made whole againe but by the supply of sound flesh in stead thereof If a bone be broken the breach is not made up with a sticke nor a cut sinew by a catlin so the nature of man being corrupted by the disobedience of one could not be restored againe but by the obedience of one in whom the nature of man being restored all that are partakers of his in corruption may also be partakers of his immortalitie because mans nature doth not now stand absolutely condemned in Gods justice as before 5. This argument the Apostle urgeth 1. Cor. 15.21 For since by man came death by man also came the resurrection of the dead And againe Rom. 5.19 As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many bee made righteous You may yet see more reasons for this conclusion in the Chapter next following CHAP. XXI That the Mediatour for the sinne of man must bee God THat the Angels in glorie with such perfections as they had should sinne malitiously when there was no tempter makes their sinne without excuse and them in justice unpardonable and although the sinne of man in comparison of theirs may seeme much lesse and more pardonable in respect of that low estate of mens creation in comparison of the Angels that his sinne was not malitious nor without a Tempter yet when it is well thought on how hatefull a thing to God sinne is how His pure eyes cannot behold ungodlinesse and wrong how his infinite iustice is violate thereby and what iealousie so glorious and infinite a being ought to have of his owne honour so set at nought by so base and unworthie a thing as man who also by that sinne of his disordered the whole creature so farre forth as it was for his use and made it subject to vanitie and corruption it may well appeare of what man infinite difficultie it was to restore man to that favour and grace from which hee had fallen For in beings of which one is finite the other infinite there must bee an infinite difference and if they bee of contrarie conditions the one pure and righteous the other sinnefull and impure that contrarietie must needs likewise be infinite and an infinite contrarietie can no way be accorded or reconciled but by an infinite concord which cannot be but in Him which is partaker both of the finite and infinite being And because it hath before appeared chap. 18. That man was to be restored to the favour of God and to be reconciled againe unto him it must follow necessarily that this peacemaker must be both God and man For infinitie is with the greatest greatnesse of being and containes all the extremities thereof and such is the Being of God but the Creature being finite is set at an infinite distance from that which is infinite and therefore in a lessenesse of being as having no being at all of it selfe but only imparted by that infinite being from which degree of participation if it fall as man did by his sinne it still falls unto a further lessenesse or badnesse of estate and so becomes utterly desperate except it be upheld as man was by that hope The seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head And seeing the greatest greatnesse of being and the least littlenesse of being cannot bee accorded but by an equalitie of being which cannot bee but in that which doth equally participate both of that greatnesse and that littlenesse that is essentially therefore it is most necessarie that our gracious Mediatour bee essentially both God and man which will yet further appeare by these reasons that follow 1. That all mankinde by the sinne of Adam is deprived of the favour and glorie of God hath beene proved in the 17. Chapter and that there is a restoring of mankinde was shewed in the 18. Chap. Now if it bee not in the power of man or of any other finite being to restore man being fallen into the favour of God it followes of necessitie that the Mediatour or restorer must bee God But the first was abundantly proved in the 19. Chapter Ergo the second followes of necessitie 2. For every infinite offence an infinite amends must needs bee made or else there is no satisfaction The sinne of man was an infinite offence See Chap. 19. Answ to the 1. Object But an infinite amends could not be made by a finite creature Ergo the Mediatour for the sinne of man must bee God And although God cannot suffer at all yet because the punishment due to man for sinne was more than any man was able to beare it was necessarie that the manhood in that conflict should bee upheld by the Godhead that the sinne being balanced by the punishment the worthinesse of the person might make the suffering of infinite merit for the sinnes of of the whole world 3. No effect can bee eternall but by a cause that is eternall for whatsoever is this or that by accident must of necessitie be made such by that which is such of it selfe But the restoring of man is to an estate of life and happinesse which is to bee eternall as it will further appeare in the Article of Everlasting life therefore it is necessarie that it bee wrought by a cause which is also eternall But it is proved that nothing can bee eternall but God alone therefore the restorer of mankinde must be God 4. The enemie of mans everlasting salvation is the devill a most powerfull enemie whose power is yet greater against man because he pleades the justice of God against sinners therefore it was necessarie that the authour and finisher of our salvation should bee God and man that he might be able both to satisfie the infinite justice and by a greater power of his owne to withstand the great power of the devill 5. Contrarie causes must have contrarie effects and so contrarie effects must have contrarie causes and one of these is ever knowne and discerned by the other so that man by his sinne being subject
too much charity been blamed so long who art said though unjustly see the defence of Pamphilus for Oâ—igen and Ioh. Picus Mirandula de Salute Origenis to have taught that all sinners yea even the devill himselfe shall be saved at the last now thou art justified Sinne is not being it hath no cause of being but comes in by chance beside the good intent of the worker he answeres more directly elsewhere as you shall heare by and by It is strange that this Doctor who sticks every where so close to Aristotle should here depart so farre from him as to make privation in the number of things not being whereas Aristotle rancks it in the order of beginnings with matier and forme In the meane while understand things not being are either utterly not being or not being such In the first kinde you may account the second terme of contradiction Sâ—e Log. Chap. 9. nu 15 16. as not a stone not wise By the affirming of which no being at all is put to the subject as to say Thomas is not a stone The not being such which they call Non ens tale may hold all those termes which we call privative But privation may meane at large either the absence onely of any forme not due to the subject and thus it is in the number of things simply not being for seeing the presence of one forme shuts out all other formes unfit for that subject although all matier in the root of nature be subject indifferently to all formes successively the privation of other formes follow thereon necessâ—rily As the forme of iron in the matier of iron is a privation of the matter of gold so a horse naturally covered with haire is thereby deprived of a covering of feathers like a bird But this privation is not in the number of things that are ill seeing it is the law of nature that every thing be upright in that proper kinde in which it is Secondly privation may signifie the taking away of that forme which was in the subject as blindnesse in the eye which as it may be said to be not being in respect of the taking away of the sight yet in respect of the causes whence it may proceed it is in the number of things being yet ill in both respects that is of the want of that which ought to be in nature and the cause being such as ought not to be and so of all other sicknesses Thirdly privation may be in a subject in respect of the forme to which it hath not yet attained as Tartar or dreggs in the wine by the spirit of salt may be hardned into a hard stone and so the dispositions to other diseases before they shew themselves And this privation or want of forme is in the number of causes as drought is in a thirstie man to make him drinke Now sinne must be one or both of these two last orders of privation and not in any order of things not being absolutely for so first it should not be ill for that which is not at all is neither good nor ill Secondly it would bring upon God the greatest injustice that might be to punish the creature for sinne if sinne were utterly not being And thirdly if sinne were not being then our Lord should have died without cause but it is plaine that sinne was the cause of his death that thereby he might destroy death and the power of the devill over vs to which we were subject because of sinne but that which is utterly not being cannot be a cause Fourthly if sinne bee not being where is then the way which God doth weigh out to his anger Psal 78.50 when he doth balance the punishment with the sinne Are all the punishments of sinne all the sorrowes of this life and death at last both bodily and eternall nothing for if they be any thing they cannot be an answerable punishment to that which is nothing So many commandements of God so many threatnings by his Prophets and Apostles so many woes denounced by our Lord so many sacrifices and clensings from all the temporary punishments and at last the death of the Sonne of God himselfe for the eternall remission of sinnes and is sinne not being How much more true is it to say that our righteousnesse as farre forth as it is of our selves is nothing and to confesse with the Prophet that it is like a soiled ragge as S. Paul knew that in himselfe as a naturall man dwelt nothing that was good that hee had not power no not to thinke a good thought as our Saviour hath taught us that without him we can doe nothing And he that hath had experience of the combat that hath so often been foyled in the bickering must needs confesse the strength of sin and cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I say not as some hereticks heretofore that sinne is a substance either materiall or formall or as the author of that booke which is intituled Ratio Rationum that it came into mankinde by that poysonous slaver which the Serpent put upon that apple which hee reached unto Eve but yet I say that sinne is something but the worst of beings It is that pestilentiall contagion wherewith the devill hath infected the masse of all mankind it is that sicknesse of the whole man of which he languisheth unto death but principally the sicknesse of the soule whereto neverthelesse the body is also subject in fulfilling the unorderly lusts both of it selfe and of the minde for one of these works upon another both for good and bad Therefore to answer how God doth will that which is ill it is not nor can be denyed but that Gods punishments of all sorts being weighed with the sinne are just so one sinne as it is the punishment of another may stand with justice and both sinnes together in justice may bee punished When David was in plenty and ease at Ierusalem and had forgotten him that had delivered him out of all his troubles O treason of prosperity his eies wandered in the beauty of Bathsheba and led his heart to lust so sin conceived brought forth adultery that murder thus one siâ—â—e was the punishment of another which were altogether at last punished to every degree in the treason and death of his sonne Absalom So if you compare the sinnes and degrees thereof in the Aegyptians you shall finde one sinne the punishment of another and all together at last balanced in their plagues so that it is most truely observed by the Wise Sap. 11.13 that wherein a man sinneth thereby he shall be punished Now it is a cleere case that all the sinne of mankinde proceeds from the corruption of his owne nature after which wee are most justly suffered to wander because that knowing both the rottenesse of our owne hearts and the punishment due to sinne yet we doe not strive and and fight against our selves to subdue those wicked
imputed because there was yet no law whereby shee was subjected to her husband was that shee gave not firme credit to the word of her husband delivering the commandement of God but that shee suffered her selfe to bee withdrawne by the craft of the devill speaking in the serpent but that his sinne was in this that hee did unaduisedly eat that which the woman gave him not minding what it was as he pleads for himselfe before Him with whom he could not lye The woman gave me of the tree and I did eate And thus was there mercy reserved for man both in regard of that weake estate wherein hee was created in comparison of the Angels and in respect of the quality and measure of his sinne and of the meanes whereby he was drawne thereto whereas the Angels that kept not their first estate but wilfully sinned against God for their three sinnes and for foure could never finde any place of repentance But it is said Iob. 31.33 If I have covered my sinne as Adam By which it seemes his sinne was more than he confessed I answer The word Adam there used and so the word Enoch in divers places of Scripture doe signifie man in his sinnefull and wretched estate indefinitely as Psal 8.4 144.3 Iehovah what is Adam that thou knowest him the Sonne of Enoch that thou makest any account of him And therefore divers good translations reade that text of Iob If I have covered my sinne as Man who doth commonly excuse his sinne and lessen his offence But of what sort soever the sin of man was it is most certaine that he did sinne 1. For as the effect is manifest by the cause so the cause appeares by the effect Now death is the wages of sinne Rom. 6.23 so then sinne is the cause of that punishment And every punishment is for some offence But it is manifest that Adam was punished even unto death it selfe For otherwise hee had lived untill now and hereafter Therefore it is manifest Adam sinned 2. It is proved before that all the creature was good and upright in every kinde and that man was the prime and chiefe of all the visible creature and therefore that hee was created for the most excellent end which is to bee happy in Him who is the chiefest good of which happinesse hee could not have fayled if he had continued in the state of his creation For every thing ordained for an end by a cause that is powerfull thereto must bee furnished with meanes sufficient for the attainement of that end But it is manifest that Adam hath failed of that happinesse by the utter losse of life and present being Therefore hee continued hee continued not in the state of his creation but sinned against his Creator 3. Death is the punishment of some great offence in the reasonable creature who is able to make a difference betweene good ill But it is manifest that Adam was not created sinfull and therefore not subjâ—ct to death And againe it is manifest that that state of Adâ—m was changed because he is dead But that change was not made by God because it was contrary to his ordinance neither could it bee made by enforcement of any outward meanes For then Adam had not beene made sinfull thereby Therefore it was made by the willing act of Adam himselfe and hee thereby subjected to Sinne. 4. Nothing can be so inseparably in the whole off-spring which is not first in the originall as the fruit cannot be wholly poysonous if the root or stem bee not first infected But it is learned by lamentable experience that the whole masse of mankinde is wholly sinfull and corrupted and that no man can say his heart is cleane therefore it must needs bee that the root or originall from whence they are descended which wee have already proved to have beene one wis sinnefull and corrupt 5. Man with much care and government in his youth with much heed and warinesse in his owne carriage is hardly at last brought unto a course of a vertuous life and that not without many wicked desires and sinfull deedes But if the first man had not corrupted his nature all vertue and that alone had been naturall to all men But experience shewes the contrary Therefore Adam sinned and therby corrupted his whole nature But you will say If that sinne of Adam were onely a sinne of ignorance and that in so small a thing as the eating of an apple the punishment of death and that both of body and soule can no way seeme to be proportionable For shall not the judge of all the world doe right And if the least sinne deserve the greatest punishment what punishment can be left for the greatest sinne or shall wee say as the Stoiâ—ks taught that all sinnes are equall I answer That sinnes compared one with another are truly said to be lesser or greater one than another For it is a lesse sinne to thinke ill of a man undeservedly than to hate him And that than to maime him and that than to murder him and that than to defame him For most of these degrees hold in them all those sinnes that are under it So that as the Stoickes truely said every later exceeds by the multitude of sinnes that are therein Yet is there no sinne in it selfe how little soever it seeme but in the rigor of Gods Iustice deserves more punishment than al that which the sinner can beare because of his greatnesse who is dishonoured thereby For the greater any person is the greater is the offence whereby he is dishonoured As for a word of scorne spoken by a meane man against his equall a small acknowledgment may make amends for which offence against a Peere a Scandalum Magnatum may be brought and if it had beene spoken to the dishonour of the king it might iustly bee accounted high treason in the speaker How great then may wee hold that offence to be which is against the Majesty of God before whom all the nations of the earth are not so much as the drop from a bucket falling into a mighty river Es. c. 40.15.2 Moreover every commandement of his being a rule of infinite Iustice an infinite Iustice is offended by the breach therof And what satisfaction can a finite creature make to an infinite Iustice that is offended but because it cannot beare a punishment intensivè infinite or infinite in quantity therefore it is iust that it should beare it extensivè in the infinity of Continuance Now as it was necessary that God should givâ— a law unto man that he might evermore acknowledge that duty and obedience which he ought to his Creator so having enabled him both in body and soule to performe his law which was also so easie a burthen as that it stood not in doing any thing but onely in the forbearance of one fruit among a million it was most necessary that God in His iustice should require that breach of His law Which law the
to dwell in a creature that was finite and therefore I say hee thought that God should rather dwell in the being of the Angels and in their nature gather all things unto himself then dwelling in the tabernacle of the manly being in which hope seeing himselfe frustrate he became an unreconcileable enemy to mankinde whereas the holy Angels esteeming duely of the benefit and being well content with that meanes whereby God would bee seene of them 1. Tim. 3.16 expect with patience and desire the fulfilling of the number of the elect And thus our Lord hauing made mans peace through the bloud of his crosse hath reconciled all things both in heaven and earth unto God Col. 1.20 For certainely if the Angels be for man as it is said Heb. 1.14 then can they not possibly have the perfection of their blessednesse but by man Let us therefore with reverence and thankfulnesse come unto that great mysterie of our Religion That God was manifest in the flesh The incarnation of God is the dwelling of the Godhead in the manhood in one person wherein the being of the Godhead and manhood remaine together everlastingly without separation yet in cleere distinction of their severall beings and so without commixtion to cause a third being but that each continuing truly that which it is in it selfe the Godhead according to his eternall decree without any change of it selfe in time tooke to it selfe the manhood that by himselfe hee might reconcile all things to himselfe and bring them to that estate of happinesse and glorie to which they could never have come if God had not so manifested himselfe in the flesh The internall actions of the eternall Deity are all infinite eternall and necessary to be that which they are But whatsoever God doth worke without himselfe in the creature it is onely according to his owne holy pleasure and will But yet seeing his actions upon the creature are the expressions of those perfections which are in himselfe of goodnesse of wisdome of power of glorie c. and that to this end that the creature may bee blessed in him and by him according to that measure of happinesse which he of his goodnesse hath appointed thereto therefore those reasons which are drawne from the dignities of God are of no lesse force for the truth of God in the creature then they were for the manifestation of the truth in himselfe And therefore as by those dignities which by the authority of his word are due to him wee have approved that truth which the holy Scripture teacheth us to beleeve of him both concerning the unitie of his being and the Trinitie of the Persons so let us endeavour in the proofe of this great question And although the great masters in the schoole have given ouer these questions as utterly beyond all proofe or testimony of humane understanding See Thom. Aquin. praef in lib. 4. cont Gent. yet seeing this is that maine point in our most holy faith whereby it differs most from all infidelity and false worships seeing it is that one thing wherein the ground of all our future hope and comfort doth consist if ever the understanding of a Christian held it selfe bound to doe service unto his faith most of all it is bound to give attendance herein I may somtimes use the word of necessity in the conclusions following yet understand me not as if I laid any necessitie or constraint upon God to doe or to suffer but the necessitie that I meane is in the consequence of the reason when the conclusion doth follow necessarily upon the grounds that are laid downe before 1. For although happines be only in the enjoying of that which is good and the greater the good is the greater is the happines but if the good be not enjoyed and possessed it causes no happines at all yet an infinite good is no way to bee come unto or possessed by that which is finite except by the voluntarie motion and inclination of it selfe it doe apply and give it selfe unto that which is finite And because every good spreads it selfe acccording to the power of it selfe upon that which is capable of it the greatest goodnesse is ever with the greatest communication of it selfe therefâ—re the infinite goodnes doth also extend it selfe according to the possibilitie of the creature to be possessed and enioyed thereby which cannot be till it have applied it selfe to something in the creature of which the rest of the creatures being partakers may also thereby be partakers of the infinite goodnesse Now if God who onely is infinite goodnesse had dwelt in the being of the Angels though that had beene made knowne to man yet because man doth not communicate with the Angels in nature or by any merit or service towards them he had had no benefit thereby whereas the Angels by the appointment of their ministerie to mankinde in their continuall presence and succour and that helpe which the soule hath by them in the delivery thereof out of this prison of the body and in the conducting of it unto the Divine presence have in iustice a reward for their service sake and a kinde of interest in all that good whereof man by their ministerie is made partaker 2. Moreover when man had sinned the law of justice required that the satisfaction should be made in that nature that had sinned so that if the Mediatour had taken on him the nature of Angels the satisfaction therein had not beene avayleable for the sinne of man 3. Thirdly the whole creature hath interest in man and man in the whole creature so that God by taking on him the nature of man hath blessed therby the whole creature as you may understand by the answer which is made Cha. 17. to the 5 Object § 4. But if he had the nature of Angels neither man nor the other elementall creatures had had hope of any restoring See Rom. 8.19 c. to 23. 4. Lastly if the deliverance of man had beene made in the nature of Angels the restoring had beene as unsufficient so also man had lost of his dignitie and honour thereby for man before his sinne was bound and subjected to God alone but then had hee beene subjected and bound to the nature of Angels And although man by his sinne nay even our Lord himselfe by his suffering for sinne was made somewhat lower then the Angels yet being raised from the dead the manly nature is exalted far above all principalitie and power and might and every name that is named in this world or in the world which is to come Ephes 1.20.21 Whence it will follow necessarily that God would dwell in the nature of man not in the Angels as you may understand by these Scriptures Heb. 2.14 Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same ver 16. Hee tooke not on him the nature of Angels but hee tooke on him the seed of Abraham And for
thoughts from whence is the streame of all our sinne Heere you will question what strength wee have to fight and universall grace and free will but they are beside this present purpose whereby it is cleere that all our sins being but issues of our owne corruption against which we strive not it is just with God both to punish our carelesnesse and neglect of his commandement and our owne safety with sinne and to leave us in that corruption to be guided by him whom we chuse to serve having forsaken our true Lord and owner But because this corruption is from our birth and that we made not our selves such but that by the fault of Adam sinne and death reigne over all the summe of the question is knit up in that one sinne of our first father concerning whose fall wee are brought to this point If God so foresaw the fall of Adam that he will'd it it was impossible but that he should fall if he will'd it not it was impossible that he should To which doubt Thomas Aquinas in lib 1. Sen. Dist 46. q. 4. answeres wittily and modestly that although the proposition be true and necessary yet it is not necessary that the will should be carried to either side of the contradiction His reason as I thinke is because truth is not the object of the will but of the understanding onely and therefore he saith that God doth permit ill onely not because it is ill but because of the annexes or dependances thereon either precedent as because it is good that the creature should have the power whereby it may be enabled to doe ill or not to doe ill or consequent which is that good that is occasioned by the ill I reverence the judgement but yet Doctor the question is here concerning good and ill the proper object of the will and as the understanding cannot avoid it but must consent to a truth which it knowes so neither can the will in that which it takes to be good or ill but that it must chuse one and refuse the other For as the outward sences cannot refuse to be moved by their proper objects as the eare to heare a sound within a meet distance no more can the inward faculties of the minde Besides the question is here of the will of God an infinite will and convertible with an infinite understanding for in God there is not one being of his will and another being of his understanding as will appeare more large hereafter in the 8. and 9. Chap. Neither is the will of God as mans will which may sit still while his understanding workes but what he understands he wills it also to be or not to be as his promises are not yea and nay but in him all is yea and Amen Therefore to let passe those questions which are moved hereabout concerning the freedome of Adams will why God should forbid that to Adam wherein he saw that Adam would transgresse and so make his eating to be sinne for where no law is there is no sinne and such unnecessary questions I answer directly that it is utterly impossible but that God did foresee the fall of Adam the taint of all mankinde thereby all the sins and all the punishments wherunto any one particular person is lyable all the wandrings backslidings and wants which can be in the creature Neither will I blush to affirme with the Apostle Rom. 11.32 That God hath shut up all under sinne that hee might have mercy upon all But it followeth not hereupon that hee decreed our misery in Adam because he foresaw it yet such was his mercy that out of this great evill he wrought a greater good so that it may seeme by consequence we are rather gainers by Adams fall for though we lost by the sinne of Adam an inheritance of holinesse c. Yet that holinesse was like the morning dew that vanished at the heat of the first tentation it was a created holinesse it was in a low degree fit to his being in whom it was Is not the present inheritance of our holinesse more sure more excellent who are made partakers of his holinesse who is holinesse it selfe his knowledge was but of worldly things ours of eternall and though our naturall knowledge bee by Adams sinne corrupted or lost yet shall it at last be restored againe with endlesse advantage for the gift is not as the sinne Rom. 5.15 His life but a naturall life so that if Adam had not sinned he might have lived a naturall life till now and afterward free from sicknesse and want abounding in all the knowledge of nature and naturall blessings but that should have beene the end of his hope as farre as I can see though some there be that give us hopes of the same degrees of happinesse and glory which now we have although Adam had not sinned Yet because they see that that could not be brought to passe except God should take our nature that thereby we might be lifted up to that estate of glory they thinke that Christ our Lord should have come in the place of Henoch the seventh from Adam and that therfore Henoch was taken away in stead of Christ See Pastellus de Nativitate Mediatoris pag. 116. But wee are bound both by reason and authoritie of holy Writ to know and confesse that the first Adam was of the earth earthly and such should our happinesse have beene if we had continued in our created innocencie the second Adam is the Lord from heaven heavenly into whose image being renewed we are made partakers of his superexcellent and heavenly glorie The meanes whereby we come to this state of glory is also our assurance that it shall be fully accomplished God dwells in our flesh O unspeakeable mysterie he hath taken upon himselfe our sinnes O unspeakeable love he calls them his owne sinnes Psal 40.12 2. Cor. 5.21 He hath healed us with his stripes and is made unto us wisdome righteousnesse holinesse redemption life with an over-abounding waight of glory Is not the exchange well made with this advantage who would not lose himselfe that he might winne Christ with all his demerits who would not forfeit the life and happinesse of Adam in his innocencie that he might gaine the life and glorie of Christ in his eternitie And thus much briefly for the advantage Is it nothing to see the infinitie of the wisdome and goodnesse of God which out of the greatest ill could bring the greatest good The greatest ill on Adams part was his sinne which from him spread it selfe over all mankind to make it liable to eternall death on the devils part his malice and murder yea such a murder as could not be in the world beside in one man to murder the whole world of men Is it nothing I say that out of this great ill God could bring the greatest good that is our assured and everlasting righteousnesse and glorie is it nothing that he hath caught the wylie in his
us before the Father till the day of our redemption when he shall present us unblameable in his sight as it is said Heb. 2.3 Behold me and the children which thou hast given me see Ioh. 6.39 But see the reason of this heresie of Eutyches delivered by that second Synod of Ephesus called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which murthered the vertuous and faithfull Flavian and blasted with their stinking curs all them that should affirme that there were two natures in Christ forsooth because hee is the onely Sonne of God not two Sonnes not two Persons but one Sonne one Person Euagrius Hist Eccles lib. 2. cap. 18. And yet our Lord saith of himselfe whom doe men say that I the Sonne of man am Math. 16.3 And as often is hee called in the Scripture the Sonne of man the Sonne of David the Sonne of the virgin of the carpenter c. as the Sonne of God and yet but one Sonne and yet but one person of both natures divine and humane as I shewed before in the beginning of the 23. chapter I referre you thither But the answer of that wise Prince of the Sarazens Alamundarus was sufficient to stop the croaking of those foule birds of the Ephisine cage of whom some comming to tainte him with that bane he told them that he had received letters that Michael the Archangel was lately dead when they answered that it was impossible that an Angel should suffer either sicknesse or death hee replyed And if Christ have not two natures aswell the manly as the divine how could hee endure the paines and death of the Crosse For if an Angel cannot dye much lesse hee that is onely God Theod. Collect. loc cit And this may be sufficient for all the rable rout of Eutyches But if you desire more reasons against his opinion you may finde them in Tho. Aq. cont Gent. lib. 4. cap. 35. And although this heresie be imputed unto Eutyches as I have shewed yet it is plaine that it was an heresie before Eutyches was borne For Saint Athanasius in his sixt Sermon hath most wittily and plainely refuted it § 2. The heresie of Apollinaris is as wide from the truth on the other side and as it favours of the heresie of the Theopaschites which you shall heare anon so it favours that sottery of the Manichees that made the Godhead divisible into parts as you have heard before chap. 8. note 6. 5. 3. or rather yet worse than so if any thing can be worse than that which is worst or more false than that which is most false 1. For if any part of God became man then God in part of Himselfe must cease to be God and God must suffer detriment or losse when part of His being is either taken away or changed to the worse 2. So God also should bee subject to composition and accidents contrary to that which hath beene proved chap. 9 numb 3.5.6 3. Whereupon it would also follow that seeing his being is most simple and pure if any of his divine being were coessentiall to his humanity then also the whole 4. And moreover it would follow that God were neither infinite nor eternall For whatsoever is changed into another ceases to be that which it was before But this is contrarie to that which hath bin shewed c. 2 3. so then all these things are impossible And therefore the Scripture concludes against this opinion that God is eternally one and the same as S. Iames also saith c. 1.17 that in Him there is neither variablenesse nor shadow of Change 1. But see their arguments First The Word became flesh Ioh. 1.14 Therefore the Word was changed into flesh bones sinewes haire c. Answer The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was became or was made hath divers significations because a thing may be said to bee to become or to be made this or that by any property or accident that is therein as a man at 20. yeeres old is made or becomes able to guide a Ship Cicero became or was made more learned by reading the bookes of Plato But thus the Word was not made flesh when hee tooke our nature on him for so should we make God subject to accidents so also our mediator after the union of both natures should not be essentially both God and man which must of necessity fall into one of these two Gulphs either that the manly being in Christ was but fantasticall and in shew onely as the Manichees and some other hereticks held or else that Hee may cease to bee a mediator betweene God and the Creature which were to take away our hope of everlasting happinesse Againe a thing may bee said to be to become or to bee made this or that substantially as when the food is changed into the substance of that which is nourished thereby then it is made or become that which it doth nourish But thus the Word could not become flesh but rather flesh should have bin made the Word For in al manner of working to the change of one thing into another the more noble and powerfull agent must have the preeminence But this is neither affirmed in the Scripture nor possible to be true Thirdly a thing may be said to become or to be made this or that essentially as every particular matier and forme under every species become or are made one individuall as the body and soule in Plato essentially become the proper person which we call Plato But thus the deity and humanity became not essentially one individuall under any common species or kinde For the deity came not to the humanity as the forme thereof which had the full and perfect proper forme the humane soâ—le and understanding Moreover all formes are ordeined for their matiers and all matiers have in them a naturall appetite to those formes whereof they are capeable But nothing of this was in that above-wonderfull generation For neither could the humanity when it was not desire that the deity should dwell therein neither was the deity ordained for any such end as to dwell in man but of his owne onely holy will and love to man was he pleased so to blesse the creature Therefore the Word was made flesh onely by the This woâ—â—â— was made signifies an â—nion not a Câ—â—â—ersâ—on Aâ—â—â—na Serm. 6. uniting or taking of the manhood unto himselfe whereby both the divine and humane nature became in Him one subsistence one Mediator one Person one Immanuel to which union in natures nâ—thing in nature can be equal or like For this is that wonder of wonders which passes the understaâ—ding of men and Angels to conceive for which his wondrous conception by the Holy Ghost his wonderfull birth of a virgin were by which his glorious miracles his wonderfull resurrection and ascepsion and the wonderfull happinesse and eternity of his creature are wrought And although as the two natures so their proprieties are different in Him so that wee may truely say of Him according
to the severall natures that hee was dead and yet could not dye that Hee suffered and yet could not suffer or the like yet must all these contradictions of necessity hee understood of the distinct natures in the unity of that one Person indistinct so that the difference bee in the natures not in the Person And thus the Scripture hath taught us to speake as it is said Ioh. 1.10 He was in the world and the world was made by him which clauses though they may receive distinction by the differences of his being yet in the unity of his Person none at all For the same Person hath made the world and yet was in the world as another man For to respect the Sonne according to the perfection of his deity although nothing be essentiall unto him but that hee bee eternally begotten of the substance of the Father yet since he was pleased to take on him the office of our Mediator it was necessary that hee should take also our being wherein alone the satisfaction for us should be wrought For as it was necessary that our Mediator should be God that hee might be able to save and to support the manhood induring that punishment which might satisfie the infinite Iustice and raise it up againe to life lest being swallowed up of those torments Hee should not bee able to give life to them for whom Hee suffered for the State of the members cannot bee better than of the head So was it necessarie that hee should bee made flesh that is become truly and essentially man that the punishment being borne in the nature that had offended that nature might bee restored to the favour which it had lost Necessary I say but I meane not by any absolute necessitie on the behalfe of God for Hee is Debtor to no man nor on him can any necessitie bee layd toward the creature without which he is infinite in glory and perfection but yet necessarie with that necessity of supposition that seeing God for the praise of his Grace would by Himselfe restore His Creature that had sinned it was necessarie that hee should take on him the nature and being of that creature at â—east in part if He would restore it but in part but because the creature had sinned in the whole not in soule alone nor in body alone nor in the one without the other it was necessarie that He should become whole and entire man not to take on Him the soule of man onely but to become also flesh that he might redeeme both soule and body 2. But they object that out of Saint Iohn chap. 1.14 wherein it is said that He dwelt in us as in a tabernacle and againe it is said by Saint Paul Rom. 8.3 and Phil. 2.7 that He was made in the likenesse of man By which texts it may be gathered that he was made man in respect of some property or accident only For he that dwels in an house is not said to be one thing with his house and may goe out of it when he list and he that is like another can no way possible be the same For nothing is said to be like to but to be it selfe I answ that neither by the one speech nor by the other is it meant but that he was truely and very man of soule and body as we are but seeing the humane nature hath a certaine shew or resemblance of clothing to the deity because the Godhead is not seene or apprehensible of the creature in his owne being but onely as He is man Therefore by that Metaphore of his dwelling in us as in a tabernacle are we called to the meaning and true understanding of the Mâ—saicall tabernacle whereby his manhood was figured and the promises after a sort made visible to the Fathers as by those texts of S. Paul we are brought to remember that as Adam was created in the likenesse of God and lost it so the Mediator that second Adam to restore that first image was made true man in the likenesse of the first Adam For this is one immortall hope that as hee is truely and indeed partaker of our nature and one with us so shall we be truly partakers of the divine nature 1 Pet. 1.4 and one with Him Ioh. 17.21.22.23 3. A fourth being cannot come into the Trinity but if that being which was taken of the virgin doe still continue a manly being so that neither the Godhead be changed into the flesh nor that into the Godhead it must needes follow that a fourth being is taken into the Trinity and so we are bound to worship a Quaternity for a Trinity Answer This seemed no inconvenience to the ancient Fathers as it appeareth by Athan. epist de Incar dom nost Ie. Chri. contra Apollinar For to this objection hee answers that the humane body of Christ is the body of the increated word and therefore is adored lawfully And the first councell of Ephesus against Nestorius see can 7.8 13. doe not suffer the use of the word Coadoration or Conglorification of the body of Christ lest they should seeme to make two Sonnes or two Persons or any way to admit any kinde of division betweene the divine and humane nature as Nestorius taught but that with one adoration wee ought to worship Immanuel For the two natures therein make not two Persons but one Mediator in one Person in which person we adore the deity in the holy Temple of his humanity according to the commandement Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only thou shalt serve For neither is His humanity a person nor yet possible to be separate from His deity And seeing his humanity from the very instant of his conception never had any being but with the deity to part one of these from the other were to destroy the present being of his Mediatorship and to put Him in that state in which Hee was before his incarnation and that were to make void his sufferings and the glories which have hitherto followed thereon If you desire to intangle your selfe further in this question you may reade Athanas serm 6. epist ad Epict. and epist de incarnatione Dom. contra Apollinar and Epiph. advers Dimaeritas § 3. Now concerning that confusion or mingling of the two natures in Christ into one which the Timotheans imagined if neither the beings nor the proprieties of the beings divine and humane bee changed neither the Divine into the Humane as Eutyches imagined nor the divine into the humane as Apollinarius supposed it cannot bee inferred by any reason that any such confusion is or ought to be yeelded unto It is true which the Timotheans supposed that if any such mixture were the thing that did arise from that mixture must needs bee a third thing differing from them both For true mixture is the union of bodily parts changed by the mixture from their former being so that neither the being nor accidents of the things mingled is saved or kept
entire in the mixture but at least in part corrupted as in the mingling of wine and water of blacke and white colour neither the one nor the other remaine in their perfection And to admit this mixture in the union of the divine and humane natures in Christ as it is impossible in respect of the divine being which hath not any bodily parts So were it utterly to make void the comming of Christ which upon this mixture should have suffered in such a third being as had never sinned And if this foundation of the mixture of the two natures in Christ bee taken away all the Cage-worke of the Theodosians that the Mediatour is mortall and of the Armenians that hee could not suffer must needes bee rotten and unable to stand Therefore let us consent to that Antheme of the Church Miraâ—â—le mysterium Deus homo facius est id quod erat permansit id quod non erat assumpsit nec commixtionem passus neque confusionem O wonderfull mysterie God was made man Hee continued that which hee was Hee tooke to H mselfe that which Hee was not neither suffering commixtion to make a third being of them both nor confusion to change the one being into the other § 4. 5. 6. 7. Now it remaines to shew what were the holdfasts of Ebion Cerinthus Photinus and the rest of that ging For you may perceive how that although they had their private differences in their opinions yet like theeves they all conspired in this to robbe the Lord of glory of the Robe of His Divinity The reasons of their opinions after the long and wearisome reading of the Fathers which recite and answer them sometimes heavily and with much adoe you shall finde most briefly laid downe by Saint Thomas contra gent. lib. 4. cap 4. 9. 28. which in effect stand only in the misinterpreting of certaine texts of the holy Scripture For the better understanding of which let me remember you of these two rules First to hold stedfastly that the termes or attributes which are given unto Christ in the Scripture concerning His divine being belong unto him essentially and properly whereas the same termes attributed to the Saints belong unto them only by grace and appropriatly And by this difference you shall answer their cavils when being urged with such texts as this Heb. 1.5 Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee they answer the angels are also called the Sonnes of God Iob. 1.6 2.1 and magistrates Psal 82.6 yea all the Saints are called the Sonnes of God Phil. 2.15 and 1 Iob. 3.1 and this is only by a grace appropriate and imparted unto us whereas Christ is the Sonne of God according to his essence and true being as it is said Ioh. 10.30 I and the Father are one not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one Person but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one thing one being as Saint Paul interprets it Phil. 2.6 That he was in the forme of God that is in the most inward or essentiall being God for he hath no matier equall to God that every tongue may confesse that Iesus Christ is Iehova for so the word is there to be understood because the Greekes every where in the old Testament interpret Iehovah by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord. The second rule is that the proprieties of one nature in Christ doe not destroy or denie the other nature as where it is said that He was hungrie that he wept that he slept that He was ignorant of the Iudgement day and of the grave of Lazarus that his soule was heavie c. which belonged properly unto Him as man and prove that hee was truly man in bodie and soule yet doe they not at all take away the being of his Godhead but that with his manly being wee ought to confesse that hee is God blessed above all for ever and ever Amen Rom. 9.5 And by this difference well observed you may give a true answer to those texts which they falsly urge to their conclusion as where it is said All power is given unto mee in heaven and in earth Matth. 28.18 And againe Philippians 2.9 That God hath exalted him So where Saint Peter saith Acts 2.36 That God hath made the same Iesus which was crucified boil Lord and Christ By which texts and the like they would conclude that hee is not God by nature but for his merit and greater graces onely called God as it was said to Moses Exod. 7.1 Behold I have made thee a god to Pharaoh For say they Hee that receives of another to be exalted to bee made a Lord is not such of himselfe But this conclusion followes not but rather that which S. Paul affirmes Rom. 1.3 4. That Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh was powerfully declared to be the Sonne of God by his resurrection from the dead when he in is humane beeing received all power and was exalted above every name and manifestly declared to be both Lord and Christ both God and man The power therfore and glory was in him being God essentiall and eternall and in him being made man manifested by his resurrection to dwell in that manhood eternally And as that which these heretikes clatter is directly against the authority of the holy Scripture so is it utterly against all sense and reason For if our Saviour were onely man then our comfort which wee should have by him as being able to save because hee is God were utterly destroyed as a Father saith I would not beleeve in him if he were not God And this according to the Word of God Ier. 17.5 Cursed bee the man that trusteth in man Moreover if Christ were onely man excelling others onely by his progresse in vertue so that for his greater grace above others he might be made a Mediatour for others then many mediatours might be possible to bee seeing Noah Daniel Iob and Moses exceeded others in vertue and by speciall grace many others might exceed them but so our Lord should not be the onely Sonne the onely Mediatour contrary to that which the Scripture witnesseth as you heard in the end of the Chapter n. 10. Therefore concerning the Mediatour what he ought to bee let the followers of Ebion and Photinâ—â— heare Saint Paul Heb. 4.14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens Iesus the Sonne of God let us hold fast our profession And againe Verse 15. let the Eutychian heare and be ashamed for Wee have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sinne Therfore Jesus our Mediatour is both God and Man Here you may remember if you will that which you read before Chap. 20 21 22. More you may reade to this purpose in Iust Martyr his Dialog Triphon in Irenaeus also lib. 3. Cap. from 21. to 31. Tertul.
de Carâ—â— Christi Epiphan haeres 28. 30. And especially in Tertul. de Trinit if that booke be his Thus we have seene the falshood of the Monophysites now it remaines that we also take a view of their opinions that hold more natures than one in Christ and among them to see the heresies of Nestorius 1. and Arius 2. and then the late opinion of Postellus 3. § 8. Concerning the position of Nestorius it may seeme that all authors agreed not what it was For hee that made that addition of the Timothean Nestorian and Eutychian heresie unto Saint Augustine makes the heresie of Nestorius nothing else but a mingle-mangle of the Photinian and Timothean heresie That Christ was man onely not conceived of the Holy Ghost but that afterward God was mixt with that man Againe Socrates Hist Eccles lib. 7. cap. 32. writes that many supposed that Nestorius sought to bring in the Heresie of Photinus whereas saith hee it is plaine by the writings of Nestorius that he onely avoided this that the virgin should be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Mother of God But Tho. Aquin. contra gent. lib. 4. cap. 38. cites Damascen to this purpose We affirme that there is a perfect union of the two natures not according to the Person as the enemy of God Nestorius affirmed but also according to the Hypostasis From whence Tho. concludes that this was the position of Nestorius to confesse one person in Christ and two Hypostases If by Hypostases he meant the Divine and humane natures united in the one Person of our Mediator neither Damascen nor Thomas can blame him for it But if by the manly Hypostasis consisting of body and soule he must meane a humane person as Thomas in the same place out of Boâ—tius determines you may see how they made a quarrell more than needed For though Nestorius had beene madd yet would he never have held one Person of both natures and also two persons But it is cleare by the later Historians of the Church that this among other was the heresie of Nestorius that as in Christ there were two natures so there were also two persons which opinion might easily take the originall from Cerinthus Phoâ—iâ—us and such as stunk of that Pumpe For if God the Word came to dwell in Jesus the sonne of Mary being a perfect humane person of body and soule whether at his Baptisme as Cerinthus taught or from the very instant of his conception as the Nestorians of this time affirme the position of Nestorius must follow of necessitie that there be in him as two natures so two persons For the Godhead destroyed nothing of the humane perfection which it found So that if it came not to the humane nature but in the subsistence of a manly person then that humane nature must remaine in the perfection of a person as it was before Whence that followes also not unfitly which hee further affirmed that the things of infirmity which were in Christ as to eate to drinke to sleepe to gâ—ow in wisedome c. belonged to the sonne of Mary without the Sonne of God and all the glorious miracles which Christ did worke were done by the Sonne of God without the sonne of Mary But the supposition of Nestorius that the deitie came into the humanity when the humanitie had perfect subsistence in soule and body that is in the perfection of a personall beeing is most false For the Word taking flesh of the Virgin caused it to become one person with himselfe so that the body assumed was the proper and peculiar body of God and the humane soule the soule of God not of any other Person but the body and soule of the Sonne of God and this not onely while the soule dwelt in the body according to the naturall life but also while he was yet under the burden of our sinnes his body in the grave his soule in Hell as the Apostle cites the Scripture Act. 2.27 Thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell neither wilt thou give thy Holy one to see corruption So then the body in the grave was the Holy One of God for nothing else of him was subject to corruption and though it were for a time forsaken of the soule yet not of the Godhead which thing the words of the Angel doe confirme Matth. 28.6 Come see the place where the Lord lay So that our Saviour on the Crosse yea even in the bands of death as concerning his body was still the Lord and God of glory 1 Cor. 2.8 Aâ—d if it be most true that God is more inward and more neare unto every thing than can be expressed by any words of beeing of essence of nature substance moities forme proprietie or the like because he is the foundation unto all these and in him all things consist How much more shall hee bee inward and fundamentall unto that body soule and Spirit of Iesus which hee was pleased to make his own that by that body and blood of his he might redeeme his Church as it is said Acts 20.28 That God purchased his Church with his owne blood that is with the life and blood of that body which was proper and peculiar unto himselfe Thus then the word was made flesh not by any transmutation or change of the one or the other from their true and naturall being but because that by a secret and unspeakable conjunction the Word was made one with the flesh and the flesh with the Word So then the Sonne of GOD tooke the humanitie not that it might be another person beside himselfe but being in himselfe perfect God he would also in himselfe be perfect man taking flesh of the Virgin The differences of union you may see if you will in the principles of N. Byfield Chap. 16. This union of the Godhead and Manhood is manifest by divers Texts of the holy Scripture For evidence of which we will first put this infallible axiome That of two different persons one cannot possibly bee affirmed of the other as to say that Peter is Iohn or Iohn is Peter neither yet that the proprieties of the one can belong to the other as to say that the Gospell of Saint Iohn is the Epistle of Saint Peter Now it is said Ioh. 16.28 I came forth from the Father and am come into the world which belongs to Him as to the Sonne of God as Iohn expounds it 1 Epist 4.9 and then it followes Againe I leave the world and goe to the Father which is peculiar to him as man as it is said Act. 3.21 Therefore Iesus the Sonne of God and the Sonne of the virgin is one and the same person so Col. 1.16 that same He by whom all things were made v. 18. is the head of the Church and the first borne from the dead and Rom. 9.5 Hee who is of the Fathers concerning the flesh is God blessed above all This our Lord affirmed of himselfe Math. 26.63.64 to be the Sonne
effects of originall sinne is false For man being that creature in whom GOD would shew the superexcellencie of His goodnesse wisedome glory c. Ephe. 3.10 It was expedient that he being to be brought to that height of happinesse and perfection whereto no other creature can attaine should have experience of all infirmitie or weaknes first from not being to the meanest degree of being and so from state to state till he have at last arrived vnto that state of perfection when God shall be All in all And because it was necessary that our Lord should bee in every thing like His brethren except their sinne therefore tooke Hee on Him whatsoever was naturall unto man the substance not the sinne the perfections not the infections But sinne was contrary to mans nature the deformitie and poyson thereof wrought onely by the Devill in man after the worke of God was perfect in him And therefore our Lord did grow in wisedome and Stature like other men as all the sonnes of Adam should have done though hee had neâ—er sinned And thus Christ tooke on him our infirmities and that for this end that Hee might beare our sinne that is might set himse fe in our stead to beare the punishment of our sinnes thâ—t by His stripes wee might bee healed And thus the Lord laid on Him the burthen of vs all Reade Es 53. Object 2 But it is said 2. Cor. 5.21 that God made him to bee sinne for vs. Answere This text is cited as that text of the Psalme in Matth. 4.6 is cited by the Devill Say that which followes Who know no sinne and it cuts the throâ—t of the objection But I say that Saiâ—t Paul reâ—erreth vs secretly to that sacrifice â—or the sinne of the High-priest in Exod. 29.14 which is there called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chattach § Sin meaning an offering for sinne as Psal 118.17 the sacrifice is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chagh the feast or holy-day by a Metonymia meaning the sacrifice proper for the holy-day For the purpose of Saint Paul in that Epistle being to prove the end of the Law in Christ referres vs to that sacrifice which shewes that the High-priest himselfe needed another Mediatour For although hee did eate the sinne offering of the people and so did beare or take away their sinne Levit. 10.17 Yet his owne sin offering he might not eat And therefore that was to be burnt without the campe as Christ did suffer without the gate Heb. 13.11 c. Object 3 Moreover Iob saith 14.4 Who can bring a cleane thing out of an vncleane Not one Whereâ—y it is plaine that although Christ were conceived by the Holy-Ghost and so no staine or touch of concupiscence came to the body of the Virgin by that con eâ—tion yet seeing the Virgin her seâ—fe was conceived and borne as all man-kind it must likewiâ—e follow that if Christ had his whole manly being oâ—ely from her then as shee her selfe was stâ—ined in her whole being with originall sinne so likewise that which was conâ—erved of her Answere It is likewise written Deut. 4.24 The Lord thy God is a consuming fire And the propertie of fire is to separate all such things as are heterogeneous to part and divide Elements as experience sheweth Now although it bee plaine that the heavens are impure in His sight that Hee found no stedfastnesse in His Angels that no creature could bee a Tabernacle worthy His dwelling much lesse the body of sinfull man Yet seeing thâ—t glorioâ—s fire was able to purifie and perfit whatsoever body that was which He would vouchsafe to take unto Himselfe therefore although for the reasons in the Chapter following it was meet that Christ should bee borne of a Virgin yet not to take any holinesse from her For if it had seemed good vnto His wisedome to take His man-hood from a corrupted Rahab or a Tamar as hee did originally yet was Hee able to sanctifie and cle se it as He doth clense or take away the sinnes of the world And concerning that manly being which our Lord did take of the holy Virgin though it were the most pure in all man-kind though the vttermost puritie in all the creature as being without the sinne of the creature as I said before yet was it not of it selfe worthy to bee His pavillion but became a dwelling worthy of His presen e onely beâ—ause He by that assumption of it unto himselfe did make it worthy of Himselfe as Hee saith Iohn 17.14 For their sakes doe I sanctifie my selfe What is that His Divine being is perfect holinesse and thereby did He sanctifie His body which was Himâ—elfe contrary to the wickednesse of Nestorius that that likewise might bee Holinesse to the Lord and a sufficient sacrifice sanctified by that offering of Himselfe for the sinnes of the world And this sanctifying of that Tabernacle of His manhood was figured by the Cloud which filled the Tabernacle Exod. 40.34.35 and the Temple 1. Kings 8.10.11 into which seeing the Priests could not enter because of the Cloud the Holy-Ghost signified that when God should dwell in the temple of our flesh the ministerie of the Leviticall Priest-hood must have an end b No agent can worke beyond the power of its owne nature It were a wicked and Manichean conclusion from that text which is in Matth. 13.38 The tares are the Children of the Devill to thinke that any of man-kind should bee begotten by wicked sprights yet such fancyes hath the devill hatched in some mens mindes to dishonour this most glorious worke of God the Incarnation of his sonne And although it appeare by the manifest authoritie of the holy Scripture that man was that speciall creature of God whereabout to speake as a man Hee tooke most care Let vs make man in our image Gen. 1.26 Hee hath made vs not wee our selues Psal 100. Thy hands have made mee and fashioned mee Psal 119.73 and Psal 139. almost wholely to this purpose yet hath Postel in his Booke de Nat. Med. told vs of the Alani a people among the Tartars which saith hee was begotten by Spirits Thus also hath he disgraced the noble Nation of the Hungars beside other particular persons among whom our British Merlin But beside the generall truth of this rule doth not common experience shew that different kinds bring out that which is neutrall as the kindes of Horâ—es and Asses Mules which ingender not to bring out their like because nature will not endure so great a disgrace as to have her kindes multiplied contrary to kind Moreover seeing every thing brings forth the like as a Man a Man a Lion a Lion Fire Fire c. What possibilitie is there that a spirit should beget any thing but a spâ—rit as it appeares in the workes of the devill in our fantasies and affections by which secondly hee may also cause vs to worke on that which is in our power not in his I know that in the vegetable where much seed
wash't his hands Matth. 27.24 And was He innocent and just most vnjust and wicked Iudge ought not a Iudge aswell to defend and deliver the innocent as to punish the wicked If He be innocent Why doest thou most unrighteous Iudge betray the innocent to the power of His accusers Take yee Him and iudge Him after your owne Law Iohn 18.31 If He be innocent Why doest thou torture Him with scourges and thornes and the mockery of a purple robe Iohn 19.1 2 c. Why doest thou deliver Him to the will of His enemies Luke 23.35 Thus the wicked play in the credit and welfare of the righteous and account it no sinne if they can have any pretext to say they are innocent Thus our Lord was denyed His right to His Kingdome Luke 19.14 betrayed by His rebellious Subjects His life was set at nought to save a murderer vnjustly accused stript of His clothing And beside all this of losse which He endured He suffered all that paine and punishment which they could bring upon Him As first His base and scornefull apprehension as of a thiefe in the night 2. His being hurried from place to place from Iudge to Iudge 3. The most unjust sentences of Blasphemy of Treason of Death 4. His Buffeting Mocking Whipping Crowning with all kind of contempt and scorne and 5. That by a most unjust Iudge who still profest Him innocent He was betrayed to the will of His adversaries to be Crucified 6. And yet because nothing could glut the gorges of those bloody Priests in the agonyes of death behold a fresh onset of Scorne and Reviling Matth. 27 41. 7. Neither will the abjects be left out with their Gall and Vinegar 8. No nor yet the theeves in the same condemnation with their upbraidings O man of sorrowes and contradiction Behold and see all you that passe by if there were ever any sorrow like unto that which was done unto Him wherewith the Lord afflicted Him in the day of His fierce anger Yet were all these things but small afflictions in comparison of this that God had withdrawne the light of His comforts from Him For this cause alone were His roarings powred out My God my God why hast thou fo saken mee Yet may it not be thought but that He was still one with the Person of the God-head and that not onely in His agony on the Crosse but in death also when His soule was parted from the body So that although there was a dissolution in nature of the Soule and the Body yet the unity of the Man-hood with the God-head was still saved in the Person of the God-head See Acts 2.27 But although this acte of Pilate in himselfe was most unjust yet in God the Father whose Person Pilate in that iudgement did represent the act was most righteous and just That Pilate in his Iudgement represented God the Father it is manifest not onely by this That all power is of God Rom. 13.1 but even in this very case by that which our Saviour answered unto Pilate Thou couldest have no power at all against mee except it were given thee from above Iohn 19.11 In this act therefore of Pilate God did summon and judge the whole world to answere for their sinnes And because euery mouth was stopped and the whole world was found subject to the judgement and wrath of God for their sinne therefore was it necessary that the condemnation and punishment should fall on Him to the full that had set Himselfe to answere for us lest no flesh should be saved So through His sufferings as we were condemned in Him by Him are we also saved But it comes now to be enquired Why our Sauiour should be condemned to a death so infamous as to be 2 Crucified THere were foure kinds of death appointed for Malefactors by the Law of God Stoning Burning the Sword Hanging by the necke The particular offences you may finde gathered from the Hebrew Doctors by Henry Ainsw on Exod. 21.12 And although Hanging amongst all those was accounted the most easie death yet on that kind of death was the curse pronounced as you see Deut. 21.22 But if they that committed the least sinnes and therefore suffred the most easie death were accursed as the adulterer c. how much more they which sinned in higher degrees and were judged worthy of greater punishment This kind of death by nailing to a Crosse more cruell then any appointed by the Law of God was in common use among the Romanes after their first Kings especially for their slaves See M. T. Cic orat pro Rab perduell and Lips de Cruce lib. 1. cap. 12. over whom every Lord had power and vsed to crucifie them for theft and especially for running away After it grew in use for the baser sort of malefactors though free-men as theeues and such like and for their provincialls And when the lawlesse power of the Emperours had made all slaues then they that called themselues Free-men and Citizens of Rome were also crucified at the will of the Emperours as you may see Lips de Cruce lib. cap. 15. et lib. 2. cap. 7. But although this kinde of nayling on the tree by which our Lord did dye was not in use among the Iewes as Lip de Cruce lib. 1. cap. 11. supposes unduly confounding the staking strangling on a Gibbet or bough and nayling on a Crosse yet by the interpretation of S. Paul Gal. 3 13. did the curse directly belong to this suffering of Christ wherein He was made a Curse for vs. Now among those reasons why our Saviour should dye by this most vile and infamous death of the Crosse The first shall bee even from thence because it was most base and shamefull For seeing man-kind by his sinne had forsaken God his just and lawfull Lord and made himselfe a slaue to the Divell what manner of death but the most vile and shamefull could He be judged worthy of that had so falsly and basely transgressed And therefore was it necessary that He who had made Himselfe mans surety and put Himselfe in his stead to beare his punishment should also die by the most infamous death of the Crosse the punishment of slaves that had run away from their Lords 2. It is fit and necessary that the Sonne of God should be exalted to the highest degree of glory The greatest glory is not due but to the greatest humility The lowest degree of humility that can be is to be subject to the most shamefull death Therefore that our Lord the Sonne of God might be exalted to the highest degree of glory it was necessary that He should first be abased to the death of the Crosse Neither is this an argument of amplification but founded in the rules of the infinite Iustice and therefore urged by Saint Paul Philip. 2. verse 8 9 10. He humbled Himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Therefore God hath exalted Him and given Him the Name which is
68.20 That to Him belonged the issues of death both to passe out of death Himselfe and also to bring out His from thence Esay also Chap. 53. after He had declared His sufferings and death proves His resurrection by His dividing the spoile with the strong Our Lord also foretold His resurrection Himselfe in Mat. 12.49 and Luk. 18.33 and the b infidelity of Thomas made it certaine unto all Vpon all which texts we may firmely conclude with Saint Peter that it was impossible that our Lord should be held in the bands of death 8. And why the third day was appointed for His resurrection a reason or two are rendered Hee rose not before that none might doubt but that He was certainely dead See the 27. chap. for His death and buriall Neither was it fit to deferre the resurrection longer lest the faith and hope of His Disciples should faile Who trusted that it was Hee that should have redeemed Israel Luke 24.21 9. As Christ was man that He might suffer death Chapter 20. so was He also God the Lord and giver of life Chapter 21. But it was unreasonable that He which is one Person with the Author of life should be subject to death longer then that it might appeare that He was certainely dead and that by His owne life and power He had overcome death Therefore our Lord rose againe the third day from the dead 10. Although by the unseparable union of the humanity with the Person of the Deity the body of our Lord might have beene preserved uncorrupted for if the devills have power to preserue mans bodie uncorrupted for nine dayes Hom Iliad Ω or for a longer time as it appeares in the bodies of the Witches that die not by the justice of the Law much more might the body of the Lord have been preserued Yet because in Him and by His death the whole state of nature was to be restored the soule of Christ returned againe to the body before corruption in the course of nature could seaze on it 11. The signe of Ionas did prophesie as much Matth. 12.40 and Hosea in plaine and direct words Chap. 6.2 After two dayes He will revive us and in the third day He will raise up and we shall live in His sight For in as much as Christ our Lord doth now appeare in the presence of God for us we also are said to have risen with Him Colos 3.1 The word of Christ Himselfe is plaine to this purpose that He would rise againe Matth. 17.23 and 20.19 and Ioh. 2.19 and that even in the understanding of His aduersaries Matth. 27.63 And that it was the same Saviour that had suffered for us who rose againe from the dead the circumstances of the place doe make it evident For therefore was He buryed in a new tombe hewen out of a rocke wherein never any one had been laid because the hard-hearted and brazen-faced Iewes might have no pretext to say That any other had risen in His stead Notes a THen had it beene impossible that any of His beleevers c. Concerning the resurrection of the dead fitter place to speake will bee in the Article following Chapter 38. Here it shall bee sufficient to remember that the beleevers onely are raised up by the vertue and merit of Christs resurrection as it is said Iohn 11.25 but that the rest that shall be raised up in the last day shall rise by the power of the Father that according to the rule of Iustice and that sentence upon Adam and all his seed In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death they may re eive according as their workes shall bee b The infidelitie of Thomas made it certaine unto all God that brings light out of darknesse used the unbeliefe of Thomas for a most evident proofe of the resurrection of Christ so that although he would not beleeve the testimonies of so many witnesses as had seene him alive yet his owne tryalls according to his owne manner of proofe by his finger put into the print of the nayles and his hand thrust in his side might make him to beleeve yet was nothing of all this of any availe to them that aâ—e without For as Epiphanius nor obscurely signifies Haer. 28. and Aug. De Haer. cap. 8. directly affirmes Cerinthus that Hereticke and hiâ— followers tâ—ught that Christ was onely man and consequently that He was not yet risen from the dead But both the proposition Matth. 13.55 and the conclusion Matth. 28. fâ—om verse 11. to 16. were made by the blind-hearted Iewes before our Lords ascension and still is it their errour unto this day But if no man could doe those miracles that He did ex ept God were with Him Iohn 3.2 If God alone doth know the heart If God alone can forgive sinnes Mark 2.7 8. then their seared consciences were bound by their owne words to acknowledge that He was God Yet because they ever resisted the Holy-Ghost Actes 7.51 that their conclusion might stand that He was not risen from the dead therefore with large money hyred they the Souldiers that had watched knowne well to bee takers that they should say that His Disciples had stollen Him away whiâ—e they slept But this foule lie stinks to him that hath but halfe a nose 1. For if they slept indeed how could they say His Disciples stole Him rather then that Hee rose agaiâ—e of Himselfe 2. Besides when the Disciples themselves did not beleeve nor when they heard it understood that it was poss ble that He should rise againe Mark 9.10 and 31. Luk. 18.34 no nor yet after it was come to passe could they beleeve them that had seene Him Mark 16.11 and 13. to what end should they be the auctors of such a device 3. Moreover all other circumstances are against it For if they had stollen Him away wherefore should they offer themselves the second time to a needlesse danger as you reade Iohn 20.4 c. 4. Wherefore left they the fine linnen wherein He was wrapped which either respect to the corpes or covetousnesse or haste or feare of the souldiers or all together would not have given them time to plucke off when all places were full of feare the earth it selfe trembling and quaking Matth. 28.2 5. Beside all this the Priests having such power of themselves such favour from Pilate why did they not call the Apostles in question for the fact That the whole trueth if it were as they said might have appeared and wouâ—d easily by their wit and greatnesse have beene fish't out of silly fishers if they should have gone about to conceale it But male verum examinat omnis Corruptus Iudex And because they knew well enoâ—gh that by their further questioning the trueth of God and their lie would bee manifest to all therefore neither then nor at any time afterward durst they endeavour to disproove this trueth to which God Himselfe with so great power of miraâ—les and wonders and gifts
priviledges here mentioned of the forgivenesse of our sinnes resurrection and life but also having in Christ the adoption of sonnes wee have by Him an entrance unto God the Father a right and interest in the eternall inheritance of the Kingdome of Heaven and whatsoever may bee availeable to our eternall happinesse for the gift was not as the offence as you might see Chap. 18. § 2. For as we know that Christ our Lord the eternall Son was partaker of our nature and are likewise assured that the greatest actions of God in His creature are for the greatest good that can come neere the creature So ought wee to bee perswaded that we also shall be made the sons of God by that Spirit of God that dwelleth in us as it is said 1. Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit And these are the exceeding great and precious promises that God hath made unto us in Christ that by Him wee shall bee made partakers of the divine nature 2. Peter 1.4 this is that union and Communion for which our Lord prayes that it may bee made perfect in us Iohn 17.21 22 23. 1. For seeing the soule of man is a thing whose excellencie doth so farre exceed all things of this world it may not be thought that the happinesse and perfection of the soule can stand in things that are inferiour to it selfe as in riches honour worldly pleasure or the like But seeing it knowes that there is one onely infinite goodnes which because it is infinite must needs be eternall and able to satisfie all the desire of the creature that can bee partaker thereof therefore doth it aspire thereunto because in the injoying of that alone it can be made perfect And if this desire of the soule should be in vaine then the Holy Spirit of God which wrought this desire in the soule should have wrought in vaine then the infinite goodnesse which might satisfie the desire of the creature should be defective toward the creature and consequently not infinite then the promises of God made in His word should faile and the prayer of our Mediator cited even now from Iohn 17. without effect But all these things are impossible Therefore there is a Communion of the Saints with God and with one another as wee confesse in the article 2. If the merit of Christ bee infinite and that not for Himselfe but for His body which is the Church then it is necessary that an infinite reward be given thereto But the merit of Christ is infinite both actively and passively Therfore an infinite reward is due to us thereby So that by the Spirit of Christ which is in us we have communion both with the Father and the Sonne 1. Iohn 1.3 3. All the dignities of God are infinite and they are all to bee manifested in the creature so farre forth as the creature can bee made capable thereof Ergo. Now the foundation and originall of communion is in this that for as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood He also Himselfe tooke part of the same that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death Hebr. 2.14 and that to this end that wee might be partakers of His immortality and from that union of the divine and humane nature whereby our Lord of the seed of Abraham became one with all man-kind ariseth that spirituall and mysticall union of us with Him that howsoever we are absent in body yet being renewed by the Spirit of our mind we live unto Him have Him evermore abiding in us as we evermore abide in him daily more more grow up with Him into one mystical body as if we were flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones Eph. 5.30 and from this mystical union we have the assurance of that glorious vnion which shall be in heaven when we shal be joyned to our head inseparably and this is that vnion or communion which all the faithfull hope for whereof we have the assurance of His promises in His Holy word the signes and pledges of the Holy supper and the witnesse of the holy Spirit of God in our hearts And thus is Christ ours with His graces and His merits and thus according to the exceeding great and precious promises are wee made partakers of the divine nature not that wee participate of the incommunicable essence of the deitie but that by the renewing of the Holy-Ghost wee put off our corrupt desires and are transformed in our minds according as His Divine power doth give us all things that belong to life and godlinesse ARTICLE XI ⧠The forgivenesse of sinnes CHAP. XXXVII BEing is of God alone whose being because it is infinite therefore must it hold in it selfe all the excreamities of being so that nothing that is can possible be but by Him therefore seeing the soule the body and the abilities thereof are from God alone the devill can claime no interest in man in respect of any of these for none of these had their originall from him But because he was a murtherer from the beginning and inspired his inbred poyson into man even from the beginning the root of man-kind being thereby poysoned the venome spreads throughout all his race to corrupt both his understanding and his will that so his actions being corrupted by the ill which he wilfully committeth his being also may become abominable But as the Physicians make a difference betweene the body and the disease so He our gracious healer discernes betweene the being His owne worke and the corruption thereof the tares I meane which the envious man sowed thereupon to save his owne worke and to cast the venome and the effects thereof on the face of the enemy to the increase of his eternall damnation and first heales the understanding that it may see the sinne then the will that he may detest and avoid it And thus by the renewing of the mind are we transformed from the image of the devill and that stampe which his sinne did set upon us So that the satisfaction being made to the infinite justice both for our originall and actuall sinne the workemanship of God even our whole being may be glorifyed with that glory for which it was created which also it had in the eternall decree before this world was And because our great weakenesse caused of our inbred infection and our many sinnes ensuing thereupon doth every moment stand up as a wall of separation betweene our God and us therefore hath God given unto us such assured hopes of His mercy that although we fall we shall not be cast away because the Lord putteth under His hand Psalm 37.21 and sustaineth us with this confidence That although our sins be as red as scarlet yet they shall be made more white then snow Esay 1.18 And because this hope and confidence ought alwayes to be before our eyes as being the sure stay and anchor of our soules therefore is nothing
God should be in vaine Therefore the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together Esay 40.5 and from one Sabboth to another shall all flesh come and shall worship before me saith the Lord Esay 66.23 And I will powre out of my Spirit upon all flesh Ioel. 2.28 And seeing the flesh hath these holy promises therefore the flesh shall rise againe that as both the flesh and the soule have sorrowed so they may both reioyce together Object 2 Object 2. But the Prophets speake of the resurrection darkely and in figurative speeches onely Answer Not onely but oftentimes so as they cannot be otherwayes meant And though they use figurative speeches yet no figure is taken but from somewhat that is properly and truely such Moreover the words are often such as admit no other meaning as in Iohn 5.28 29. The houre is comming in which all that are in the graves shall come foorth they that have done good to the resurrection of life and they that have done ill unto the resurrection of condemnation Object 3 Obiect 3. If the same body shall rise againe of the same shape and lineaments some shall be whole men some maimed some halting blind c. Answer The qualities of the bodies shall be changed the substance shall not be lost For as it is against the justice of God that one substance should doe that which is pleasing to Him and another be rewarded therefore So if all teares shall be wiped away then also all cause of teares all hurts wants and deformity both of body and soule So that as the same body shall be returned to the same soule so shall it returne intire and whole Object But if the use of the members cease why are the members needfull Ans Though the naturall body shall be made spirituall and thereby be delivered from the necessities of those things to the use of which wee are now tyed as of foode clothes c. and so the members freed from their offices yet are they not therefore unnecessary For the tribunall of Christ requires a perfect man that he may receive in his body according to that which he hath done in his body Moreover for the perfection of beauty and glory the body must be intire the integrity of which stands not in the offices of the members but in their substance Neither yet shall all the offices of every member cease for the instruments of the voyce shall still serve for praise to God as this Father thinketh The objections which Thomas Aquinas brings from naturall doubts are of no force against the reasons which we have brought from the light of grace and knowledge of the Scriptures For it is yeelded that the resurrection of the body is beyond all the power of naturall causes to effect but that it is onely of the will and power of God as to make man at the first so to restore him againe out of his former principles into which he was resolved But that you may see how weake naturall reason is compared with the trueth of God and on what wretched hopes the Atheist depends which trusts that his sinnes shall never be brought to judgement I will propose the reasons and answeres as they stand Object 4 Object 4. That which is corrupted cannot be made the same againe as a naturall habit of the body or mind being deprived cannot be restored Answer The impossibilities of nature cannot limit that power which created nature especially in the resurrection of the body wherein the Author of nature hath professed that He can and hath promised that He will raise it up againe as you read before Object 5 Object 5. But the essentiall principles being lost it is impossible that the same thing in number should be restored Answer The essentiall principles in man are soule and body which being restored each to other in the perfection of them both nothing which is concomitant whether it be property or necessary accident can be wanting and that both these remaine in the state of being and consequently in the possibility of being brought together againe you may see Chap. 17. § 4. N. 5. Object 6 Object 6. Corruption is a change from being unto not being Therefore it is impossible that the being of man being corrupted the same being in number should be restored Answer This is in effect one with the former And it is true that the totall is destroyed in man by the separation of the parts But neither of the parts doe come to nothing but are in the hand of that power to bee conjoyned againe by which they were conjoyned at first Object 7 Object 7. If whatsoever hath beene essentiall to the body of man must in the resurrection be restored unto him then this bodily proportion shall be very uncomely in as much as the haire the nailes and whatsoever else is wasted away by the force of naturall heat were once as essentially of the body as that was which he carryed with him to the grave See the first supply to Logicke question 66. Answer As it was said before that whatsoever was wanting in the body should be made up So understand on the contrary that superfluities and deformities shall be taken away and that every one shall rise againe in that perfection which is peculiar to man-kind Object 8 Object 8. That which is common to all of any kind seemes naturall to the species But there is not any common virtue of any naturall agent to worke this Therefore it seemes that all men shall not rise againe Answer The resurrection of the dead is not by any naturall cause but it depends onely on the power of God to whose justice every man must give an account of his owne workes Object 9 Object 9. Death is the effect of sinne from both which wee are fâ—eed onely by the death of Christ Therefore it seemes that all shall not rise againe but they onely that are partakers of the merit of His death Answer It is true that such onely shall rise to eternall life the rest for justice unto judgement And because death is the wracke of nature in all men and the worke of the devill and that our Lord came to repaire nature and utterly to destroy the workes of the devill Therefore that it may appeare that Hee hath perfectly finished that for which He came all men must rise againe Object 10 Object 10. The last objection seemes a mighty one above the rest That if all men must rise againe perfect what shall become of the Canibals who have eaten one another nay if any of these Canibals eate onely mans flesh and beget children seeing their seed as their wisedome affirmes is onely the superfluity of the nourishment before it be conuerted into the substance of the fathers body here is the knot of Gordius who hath most right to this seed whether the sonne whose body was made of it or the father or he from whose body it was devoured by
had brought in death it was a mercy that all those enemies of life which accompanied death should shew themselues that man miâ—ht daiâ—y be put in mind of his mortalitie and returne unto H m whom he had offended Now if you shall aske from whence this change of estates from immortality to mortality did succeed in man I thinke even from hence that the pure soule the image of God dwelling in the body which was framed of the bodily creature which was yet pure and not subiected to the curse had power to sustaine the body in that perfect estate wherein it was created and sâ— should have preserved it for ever if it had held that dignitie which it had and hearkened onely to the ordinance of God and had reigned over the bodily affections and desires as it ought and had power to doe But when the soule would forsake God the guide thereof and that dignitie which it had naturally over the body and follow the lusts and appetites thereof and for that treason against God lost the power and strength which it had to support the body and moreover must seeke sustenance for the body out of the creature now accursed and deprived of her first strength it was impossible but that according to the curse corruption diseases and death should follow thereupon Yet seeing the merit of Chri t is so ful of satisfactioÌ„ to the justice of God and He so powerfull to restore all the decay of nature and to destroy all the wrack and mischiefe which the devill hath brought thereinto wee may firmely beleeve as we professe in this Article that wee shall at last be brought to the eâ—â—oying of everlasting life better than that to which wee were at first created 1. For although by the craft of the devill sinne entered into the world and death by sinne passed over all man-kind yet seeing man was made immortall and that neither the end which God purposed nor yet the infinite merit of the death of Christ can bee in vaine it is impossible but that man-kind at last should be brought to eternall life 2. The infinite goodnesse of God is the reason and the cause that he is good to all and that His mercy is over all His workes Psal 145.9 Therefore there is an eternall life reserved for man the most excellent of the visible creature and the will of man above all other things desires an eternall life in glory and happinesse according to His promises But if no such eternall life shall bee then the action of God toward His creature shall be in litlenesse and defect neither shall he fulfill the desire of them that feare Him So also the will of man should more desire the accomplishment of the divine goodnes upon the creature than the will of God should desire the accomplishment of it selfe But these things are impossible therefore there shall bee an eternall life in glory and happinesse 3. Virtue and the ready service of man unto God is that thing wherewith God in man is most delighted and which He hath commanded as it is said Be ye holy for I am holy Lev. 11.44 and the desire of this holinesse is found in them especially that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse and hate their sinnes whereby they displease Him But this seruice of man to God hath not hitherto beene duely performed by any living among the sonnes of men neither can be performed both in body and soule by the dead Therefore it shall be performed in the life that is to come wherein both Gods will and the desires of His shall bee fulfilled See Matth. 5.6 4. If there shal be an eternal life for man then man shall receive of the divine goodnesse and power a power whereby he may both bee and doe those things whereto the divine goodnesse and wisedome hath appointed him But if there be no life eternall then the end of mans creation should be onely to privation and not being But it were better never to have beene than after all the miseries of this life in the end to returne to an everlasting not being For so the effect that is man-kind should no way be answerable to the cause nor yet be any proofe or manifestation oâ— that goodnesse infinity eternitie and power by which it was made But this is impossible and against the conditions both of the prime cause and the infinitie of the dignities thereof Object But you will say that this reason doth no mâ—re prove that there is an eternall life for man than for beasts and other of the creatures which also ought to continue for the proofe of that wisedome and almightynesse of their cause Answere There is a difference betweene the end and those things which are for the end Man is the end of all the visible creature and therefore it followes that all those things are to bee in man as in the end so far forth as they can be worke or be glorified in Him And from hence also it followeth that man must bee for ever lest all these things which were for him should returne to nothing with him and the image of that infinite goodnesse and wisedome by which they were made should come to nothing eternally Therefore though they shall be in man as the idéa of them all yet not in their severall or distinct beings beside man 5. No naturall desire of the creature which is implanted in every individuall of every kind can bee in vaine because it is implanted therein by a superiour power which cannot bee frustrate But it is implanted in all men naturally both to desire and to hope for eternall life Therefore there shal be an eternall life For if after the resurrection man should not live for ever then there should be in God a will to raise him to life contrary to his will that hee should live for ever So His being should not be simple and one but this is impossible as it was proved Chap. 9. § 6. 6. The more powerfull that any cause is the more manifestly doth the likenesse thereof appeare in the effect And sith God is the first and chiefe cause of all and that the likenesse of man His worke shall be greater in his perpetuall welâ—-being than in not being at all therefore there shall bee an eternall life wherein the greatest likenesse of the effect to the cause shall be perfected that man may live in eternall Righteousnesse Wisedome and Glory Otherwise the infinite justice might seeme defective in reward and punishment if both good and bad should perish alike Moreover the word whereby the punishment was inflicted was neither so generall nor so without exception but that there was grace reserved And now lest he take of the tree of life and live for ever in his sin therefore the Lord God sent him forth of the garden of Eden the type of eternall happinesse till he had tasted of death the punishment of his sinne then should hee live for ever in joy 7. And these