Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	divine_a	humane_a	personal_a	3,580	5	9.3191	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B02484	Hebdomada magna, or The great weeke of Christs passion. Handled by way of exposition upon the fourth article of the Apostles Creed: He suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, buried. / By John Crompe, Master of Arts of C.C.C. in Cambridge, and vicar of Thornham in Kent. First preached in his parish church, and now enlarged as here followes for more publike use.	Crompe, John.	1641 (1641)	Wing C7027B; ESTC R175851	123,646	146

this present tract that He was the second Person of the sacred Trinity that tooke our nature upon him and in it suffered all these things under Pontius Pilate for our sakes why here may arise the greatest difficulty and doubt of all the rest whether He could also dye Whether He that is God of God yea very God of very God of the same substance with the Father and therefore equall to him as touching his god-head by whom also were all things made that were made and so is Lord likewise both of life and death whether this so great so good a person could be subject unto death himselfe because our Creed tels us not onely that He suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified but that he dyed too which to our naturall reason and humane capacities seemes I must confesse to have two absurdities if not impossibilities in it at the least The one that Christ should dye being without sinne seeing death is the wages onely of sinne as you have heard already out of the Apostle Rom. 6.23 The other that he could being the Sonne of God For the salving and solving of which latter doubt the former being sufficiently cleared before we must know that God in the person of Christ might dye though the God-head could not For being a mixt person consisting of two natures as of God-head and Manhood in one and the same subject the one passible and mortall and the other impassible and immortall that which was humane and passible might suffer and dye Citra ullam divinitatis injuriam ac detrimentum without any detriment or injury to the other Ser. 64. in Evang. Ioh. So that as Saint Austin saith Mortuus est filius dei sed secundum carnem mortuus non secundum verbum quod caro factum est The Sonne of God is indeed dead but it is onely in his flesh which he tooke from us not as he is the word of God which tooke our flesh and thereby dwelleth in us but in that he dyed De nostro mortuus est it is onely in what he had from us as in that we live de ipsius vivimus it is alone by that life which we receive from him Nec potuit mori de suo nec vivere de nostro So that as he could not dye in his owne nature so he could not but dye in ours unlesse he would still have been obnoxious and lyable to the accusation of the Devill and all other adversaries of not taking really and truly our humane dying nature upon him And therefore as in the birth of Christ humility was assumed by Majesty weaknesse and infirmity by power and mortality by eternity that so a perfect mediatour might be found to reconcile God and his sinneful creatures together so for the finall finishing of the sayd reconciliation and atonement and for the paying of our nature his due by death the inviolable and impassible nature of God is likewise united to our nature that is passible that so the said Mediatour may become able to performe all things requisite for our redemption by suffering and dying in our nature although otherwise he could neither suffer nor dye in his owne And not onely able to doe it but truely active also in the doing of it Compend Theol. p. ● c. 42. For passibilitas ad satisfaciendum vel merendum non sufficit sine passione in Actu as Aquinas speakes Passibility or a power to suffer is not sufficient to merit at Gods hands or make satisfaction for our sinnes without actuall suffering indeed No man being reckoned or accounted either good or evill by his ability alone to doe such and such things but onely because he hath or doth actuate and performe them Nec laus aut vituperium debentur potentiae sed actui as he goes on so that praise or dispraise is not properly due to powers but only to Acts. In regard whereof Christ tooke unto himselfe Non solum passibilitatem nostram ut nos salvaret not onely our passibility and power to suffer or dye but that he might perfect and accomplish our redemption to the full and stop the mouth of all accusers whatsoever whether wicked men or evill Angels he did truly and indeed both suffer and dye undergoing all things for us which by reason of our forefathers fall we should have undergone our selves the chiefe whereof is death ad quam omnes aliae passiones humanae ordinantur sicut ad ultimum unto which all other humane passions doe tend and are directed as to their last end Thus far Aquinas And thus you see beloved how Christ the Sonne of God consisting of two distinct natures aswell divine as humane should and could might and did suffer and dye Salva tamen proprietate utriusque naturae The property and propriety of each nature notwithstanding being stil preserved and reserved to it selfe intire As for instance by the vertue and power of his divine nature he caused the souldiers and band of men which came to apprehend and take him to goe backwards and fall to the ground whereas in the weakenes of his humane nature he was afterwards apprehended bound imprisoned carryed before severall Judges scourged spit upon derided buffered and at last condemned as guilty Againe by the vertue and power of his divine nature he converted day into night at the time of his passion and caused all the elements to tremble and shake for dread and yet in the weaknesse of his humane nature his hands were fastened with nayles unto the wood of the Crosse and his whole body stretched out upon it By the vertue and power of his divine nature he opened againe the gates of Paradise to the good theefe And in the weaknesse and imbecillity of his humane nature in the greatest depth and hurle of all his troubles he cryes out unto his Father My God my God why hast thou forsaken me By the vertue and in the power of his divine nature he offered up prayers and supplications with strong cryings and teares unto him that was able to save him from death and was also heard in that which he feared as the Apostle speakes Heb. 5.7 whereas in the infirmity and weaknesse of his humane nature hee yeelded up his spirit with commendations of it into his Fathers hands and gave up the ghost In all which passages of his Passion then yee see his divinity was never totally eclipst but still sends forth some beames of his might and majesty even in the midst of his greatest weaknesse and infirmity and all to let us see and know that though his manhood suffer and dye yet is his God-head still perfect and intire And therefore though wee heare much and often of the death of Christ the Sonne of God yet let us not be offended nor troubled at it considering the admirable efficacie of it In being as full of horrour and terrour to the wicked so of comfort and consolation to the godly So that in nothing is that saying

because Myrrhe was wont to be used in the sacrifices of the old Law but also because the body of Christ was so embalmed before his buriall as we may see John 19.39 40. Verses Or because the Jewes even just before his Crucifying dederunt ei bibere vinum Myrrhatum gave him Wine to drinke mingled with Myrrhe Marke 15.23 which as Cyrill saith Fellis instar amara est ●at●ei●●si 13 is even as bitter as gall But I must confesse that Mercerus a learned expositor upon the place doth not approve of the bundle of Myrrhe in this sense but acknowledging Quòd quidam nostrorum c. that some did so expound it upon the same reason yet concludes himselfe That Nil necesse est c. there was no need of such an interpretation But saith he simplex s●nsus est c. the plaine meaning of the place is that the Spouse saith her b●loved was most sweet and gratefull unto her even as a bundle of Myrrhe is pleasing and delightfull to the sent and he addes his reason too because Christus in ecclesiam odores spargit suavissimos c. Christ doth as it were strow sweete odours of his gifts and graces upon his Church and chosen But beloved the truth is it may safely be taken and expounded in both senses For Myrrhe may be said after a sort to resemble the Physitians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is it is both bitter and sweet sweet in the smell bitter in the taste And so is the sacrifice of ●hrist sweet in the offering bitter in the suffering sweet in the nostrils of God his Father that injoyned it that accepts it and sweet unto his spouse the Church i. e. the whole number of his faithfull ones wheresoever dispersed throughout the whole world for whom it was performed and to whose comfort it is applied in regard whereof she hath reas●n to say as followes in the text inter ub●ra mea commorabitur he shall lye all night b●twixt my brests in the same verse Yet it is bitter yea most bitter unto him that for his sake is content to sustaine and endure it Which diversitie of the apprehension and relish as I may so speake of the sacrifice of Christ is by one well exprest after this manner when he saies Patitur Christus ex hoc dolor patitur pro nobis ex hoc laetitia patitur ad suam mortem ut videatis hominem patitur ad nostram vitam ut ametis Deum patitur in cruce ecce miseriam patitur ut resurgat ecce gloriam And as well Englished by another a Divine moderne Poet of our own truely I am sure whether int●ntionally or no I know not in this sort Christ suffers and in this his teares begin C. Flet●●● Po●●● 〈◊〉 Ci● s● Triumph Suffers for us and our joy springs in this Suffers to death here is his manhood seen Suffers to rise and here his god-head is c. And thus you see how Christ our blessed Saviour may be said to be a bundle aswell of bitter as of sweet myrrhe A sweet bundle to his heavenly Father a●d his beloved spouse the Church but a bitter bundle to himselfe in regard of his continuall sufferings which were so knit and bound together throughout the whole course of his life that there was no intermission or release betwixt them and therefore justly termed and styled a bundle If therefore Solomon could say of man in generall That cuncti dies ejus del●ribus aerumnis pleni All his daies are sorrowes and his travaile griefe as Eccles 2.23 Then much more might the Prophet say of this man in particular that he was Vir dolorum sciens infirmitates Esay 53.3 i. e. A man so composed of sorrowes as that he had a taste and sense of all humane infirmities I meane all that were naturall not sinfull And that together with our nature he tooke all that belonged thereunto sinne onely excepted as all our weakenesses our wants our sicknesses our sores our griefes our sorrowes yea all our common infirmities though not Personall defects both of body and soule as is solidly discussed and plainely proved by a learned Tutor of mine preaching upon the same subject D. Sa. 〈◊〉 The Life and Death of Jesus Christ whither I referre you for further satisfaction in this point But I take the meaning of the Creed to stretch no farther then to those great and grand sufferings that went immediately before his crucifying on the Crosse because it sayes He suffered under Pon●ius Pilate that is in the time of his jurisdiction and by authority derived from and under him so that whatsoever things were publikely done and acted against him about this time and by this meanes are properly hereto be handled and no more For the name of Pontius Pilate is not here mentioned ad personae dignitatem S●● 81. de 〈◊〉 sed ad temporis significationem as Saint Austin speakes That is not for any honour or credit given or intended to be given to the person but onely to expresse and declare the time of Christs suffering here mentioned and set downe For hee was Judge Governour Deputy President Viceroy or whatsoever else you please to call such a Magistrate as had the supreame authority of life and death at this time in the land of Jury Judea and in the City of Jerusalem where Christ was to and did suffer death upon the Crosse for the sinnes of the whole World although indeed his said authority were but subordinate and derived from the Roman Empire For you must know beloved that Jerusalem at this time was in bondage with her children i. e. in servitude and subjection to the Emperor of Rome Who as he had under his government the most part of the neighbouring world and bordering countries round about him so among the rest this country of the Jewes in which Jerusalem stood commonly called and knowne by the name of Judea or the land of Jewry Now as our King of England hath his Deputies Presidents and Governours in Scotland Ireland Virginia and other places of his more remote Jurisdictions and Dominions where he is not personally resident himselfe so the Emperour at this time had the like in his severall Provinces abroad And amongst the rest Pontius Pilate in this City and Country where Christ now suffered and was put to death and therefore is it said He suffered under Pontius Pilate that is at that time when Pontius Pilate was the President of the place and before whom he was convented arraigned condemned and the like Which beloved was a very necessary circumstance to be known ne ex aliqua parte velut vaga incerta gestorum traditio vacillaret In lo●um saith Ruffinus Lest the mindes of men should stagger and waver at the report and tradition of their doings and Christs sufferings if in the smallest circumstance they were left doubtfull and uncertaine And therefore it was thought fit not to be omitted by

of the Apostle more true then in the death of Christ Virtus in infirmitate perficitur Power and strength is made perfect in weaknesse 2 Cor. 12.9 De duplici Martyrio For as Cyprian saith Ibi fracta est Satanae Tyrannis ibi devicti sunt inferi ibi triumphatum est de Diabolo ibi dejectus orcus coelum apertum c. Therein is the tyranny of Satan broken and the infernall powers overthrowne the Devill subjected the Principalities of Hell dejected and Heaven it selfe opened to all true and faithfull beleevers So that as hee goes on Quid homine mortuo contemptius quis enim vel Caesarem mortuum metuat sed Christi morte quid efficacius velum Templi scissum est terra concussa saxa discissa monumenta aperta c. Although nothing be more contemptible then a dead man no man fearing no not Caesar himselfe when he is once dead yet nothing is more efficacious and powerfull then the death of Christ whereat the vayle of the Temple was rent the earth did quake the stones did cleave and the graves did open of themselves so that many bodies of the Saints which slept arose as it is said Mat. 27.51 52. verses A reason of which powerfull effects is this that although the soule and body of Christ were separated asunder by his death à neutro tamen horum recesserit divinitas yet his divinity was separated from neither But Tam Dei virtus in Christo ex operibus quae fecit apparuit quam fragilitas hominis ex passione quam pertulit as Lactantius speakes Inst l. 4. cap. 14. The power of his God-head manifested it selfe in these his powerfull workes aswell as the frailty of his man-hood in those other things which he suffered So that Factus est homo suscipiendo quod non erat non perdendo quod erat as Saint Austin speakes Although Serm. 60. in Iohan. by being made man he tooke that which before he was not yet he did not loose nor let goe any thing of what hee was Sed manens Deus factus est homo But continued God although hee was likewise made man Accepit te non consumptus est in te as he goes on He indeed tooke thee unto himselfe O man but yet did not consume or spend waste or diminish himselfe in thee So that wee must hold and beleeve as that most Reverend Incarnat of Christ the Sonne of God learned and painfull Archbishop of Armagh well observes That there are two distinct natures in Christ God-head and manhood which are so distinct as that they doe not make one compounded nature but still remaine uncompounded and unconfounded together And yet though never so distinct in their natures they are as firmely and fully united againe in the person as can possibly be imagined and conceived seeing in him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily as the Apostle affirmeth Colos 2.9 that is by such a personall and reall union as doth inseparably and everlastingly conjoyne that infinite Godhead with his finite man-hood in the unity of the selfe same individuall person So that by reason of the strictnesse of this personall union of these two natures in the person of Christ whatsoever may be verified of either of those natures the same may be truly spoken of the whole person from whethersoever of the natures it be denominated so farre Doctor Vsher Which if it be so beloved then by this time I hope you are as well satisfied in the Quis as the Quid Who it is that suffered and dyed as what he suffered viz. even Jesus Christ the Son of God which was conceived by the Holy Ghost and borne of the Virgin Mary as you have heard out of the former Articles even he also is the He which suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead buried c. the worlds Creator and mans Redeemer the Almighty God himselfe Totus Christus though not Totum Christi whole Christ though not all of Christ was the Quis which was the passive Agent and active Patient in all these things for Jesus cryed with a loud voyce and gave up the ghost Neither let it seeme strange to any man that that should be predicated and spoken of the whole person of Christ which can be verified but of one of his natures seeing without any note or thought of strangenesse at all we do the like dayly in our owne and ordinary discourses even concerning our selves and proper actions For whereas the whole person and compound of man consists of two parts and those very different in their qualities and operations as of a soule and a body whereof the one is carnall the other spirituall and each hath his proper actions and imployments accordingly by themselves as the body to eate drinke sleepe walke runne ride suffer hunger thirst heat cold and the like and the soule to understand conceive remember forget to be chearefull or sorrowfull angry or well pleased and such like either of which cannot truly be verified of the different part as not the bodies actions of the soule nor the soules operations of the body And yet we usually referre both and all to the whole person and that without any incongruity or unpropernesse of speech considering the firme union that is betwixt them So by reason of the hypostaticall union and communion of properties that is betwixt the two natures in Christ Divine and Humane That which is proper but to one may safely be predicated and spoken and applyed to the whole Vigilius As also if man whole man may in himselfe have two such contrary qualities as to be able to dye and not to dye To dye in his body and not to dye in his soule as our Saviour himselfe hath taught us saying Feare not those that can kill your bodyes but not your soules Then much more may Christ whole Christ dye in one nature and yet live in another And in him God be said to dye too and Man to live for ever In him I say the second Person onely of the Trinity For to speak it of any of the other two persons whether Father or Holy Ghost it is no lesse then blasphemy and that which never came so much as in the thought of any orthodoxe Christian much lesse divine although some Hereticks there have beene called Patro-passioni which have seem'd to atribute suffering to the Father Dr Clarke But a learned Clarke of our owne calls it an unlearned heresie sprung of Scriptures misconstrued Christs speech especially I and my Father are one c. and therefore I will not so farre trouble my selfe or Readers as to goe about to confute it Sed his perplexioribus disputationibus praecisis as Chitraeus speakes but leaving all such intricate and perplexed discourses as Hereticks did usually beat their braines about we will fall to use and application Fides enim dum simpliciter proponitur intellectum illustrat dum autem altissima ejus mysteria