on him sundry waies and that directly from Gods proper wrath for our sinnes he felt his whole humane Nature for the time left all comfortlesse and alone without any ioyous assistance of his Deitie Doe you enforce all this from the word for saking or would you adde it to those words which Christ spake either way your ignorance or impudence is cleare and manifest For if you dare adde so many circumstances of so great importance to those words you are not a tolerable expounder but a notable peruerter of Christs words If you would conclude so much from the word you shew your selfe most ridiculous against all the rules of Diuine Doctrine and humane sense to deduce all those sequels from that one word For neither infinite paines nor from Gods proper wrath nor in Christs whole humane Nature nor all comfortlesse are necessarie consequents to that word and yet graunt all these so farre as any truth or experience conuinceth them to be felt in this life they no way amount to the second death or to the true paines of the damned which is the thing you should and would inferre from this complaint r Defenc. pag. 108. li. 7. I meane his Godhead as it were withdrawing and hiding it selfe from him for that season of his Passion gaue him no sense nor feeling of ease comfort or ioy Your owne mouth testifieth against you that you doe not expound but corrupt the Scriptures to serue your conceits Begin with the last Doth not the Apostle in plaine words say that Christ s Heb. 12. for the ioy set before him endured the Crosse Who could set any ioy before him in that case but God alone then apparantly did his Godhead set before him assurance of ioy and that euerlasting in the highest degree which was so great that it led him with patience to endure the Crosse. He had no present feeling thereof you will say So you must say or else in exact words you shew your selfe to contradict the spirit of God But if God did propose it and Christ did most certainly know it and expect it had faith and hope in him no present sense nor feeling had not Christ farre certainer and fuller knowledge and sight of Gods presence fauour and promises then any faith or hope in vs can haue t Rom. 5. If then we reioyce vnder the hope of glory did not he did not he know that he u Luke 24. was to suffer those things and so to enter into his glory when he called them fooles and slow of hart that beleeued not all that the Prophets haue spoken by the spirit x 1. Peter 1. forewitnessing the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow Did the spirit of God by Dauid beare false witnesse when he said of Christ and in Christs person I y Acts 2. beheld the Lord alwaies before me at my right hand that I should not be shaken therefore did mine hart reioyce and my toong was glad and my flesh shall rest in hope Ease from paine he felt none ne would he feele till by death he determined his sufferings but comfort in his afflictions he could not want because he was not onely patient and obedient to the will of God and so not void of comfort when he had done the will of God to receiue his promises but euen in the midst of his sharpest paines he saw the counsell of God for his glorification and our redemption and beheld God as his Father most highly pleased with him though iustly displeased with our sinnes the smart whereof he must feele in his flesh That therefore Christes whole humane Nature on the Crosse was all comfortlesse and alone is false doctrine and repugnant not onely to the words of Dauid that Christ z Psal. 16. beheld God alwaies at his right hand that he should not be mooued but euen to the manifest assertion of Christ himselfe who said to his Disciples a Iohn 16. the houre is come that you shall be scattered and leaue me alone but I am not alone for the Father is with me Now if God were alwaies present with Christ that he should not be shaken God was alwaies well pleased with him Yea God was ioyned to him not ingrace alone as he is with vs but in nature and person as he is with no man else nor Angel If then we haue comfort from Gods grace and spirit in our afflictions how much more did consolations abound in Christ euen as sufferings did for since God is b 2. Cor. 1. the God of all comfort who comforteth vs in all our troubles that as the sufferings of Christ abound in vs so our consolation should abound through Christ how is it possible Christ should comfort vs if he were himselfe all comfortlesse in his paines shall we deriue that from him which he had not or rather is it impietie so much as to thinke that any inward comfort wanted vnto Christ who was personally vnited to God and on whom the c Esa. 11. Spirit of God rested that is alwaies continued with all fulnesse of grace and truth c Esa. 11. euen the spirit of wisedome and vnder standing the spirit of counsell and strength the spirit of knowledge and of the feare of the Lord If this spirit neuer departed from him he could want neither peace nor ioy in the holy Ghost and so no comfort incident to mans nature afflicted as he then was and would be yea that was the least degree of his comfort which was common to him with vs who yet deriue all our comfort from him he had the nearest surest highest and plentifullest spring of comfort in his owne person that any creature was capable of To make therefore his whole manhood all comfortlesse without any inward peace or ioy from Gods spirit is a detestable doctrine subuerting the communion of both Natures in Christ and so dissoluing the vnion of his person if neither part of his humane nature had any sense or feeling of his Godhead d Defenc. pag. 108. li. 5. I say not he wanted now all assistance of his deitie If he wanted peace and comfort in the holy Ghost if he had no longer any certaine knowledge nor vnderstanding of his fathers will and if he felt inwardly in his humane soule no perswasion apprehension nor expectation of his fathers presence fauour and promises tell me what assistance he had of his Godhead when all these things failed in him ioious assistance Christ found no ioy in his pâ—…ine but comfort in his hope he had none Is it fit for such a wrangler as you are first to dishonour the sufferings of Christ with the leauen of your fansies and then to sprinkle them with the holy water of your Phrases how often hath it beene told you that for obedience to the will of his father the sonne of God would vse no power to repell his paines nor to diminish his sense thereof but only
contemning or despising of the Fathers But you will proceede to the speciall examples wherein I charge you with despising the Fathers and I will not be long after you First where you say out of certaine Fathers that Christ in his dying gaue vp his spirit miraculously no violence of death wresting it from him as it doth ours but when he saw his time he euen at an instant laid it downe of himselfe Contrarie to this I alleaged the Scripture HE VVAS LIKE VS IN ALL THINGS sinne onely excepted To answere this you reply was he like vs in his birth Can we lie in the graue without corruption as he lay Or raise our selues from death as he did Which poore answere I wonder to see comming from you As well you might shew farder he was not like vs in that he walked on the water nor in that he fasted fortie dâ—…s nor in that he knew the secrets of mens harts nor in that he turned water into wine and with a word healed all diseases These things done by his manhood yet were they the proper effects of his Godhead they were no naturall but spirituall things You may wonder at what you will and though your proofes and replies be not worth the paper you wast yet you so powder them with figures and fansies that you thinke them very pretious Where I obserued out of Augustine Ierome and Bernard that the manner of Christs death was not like ours though his death were the same that ours is I meane the separation of the soule from the body by reason he had perfect sense and strong speech euen to the very instant that of his owne accord when he saw his time he breathed out his soule whereas both speech and sense doe faile in vs before we die and our soules are taken from vs we can not breath them out when we will to impeach this obseruation you cast out first reprochfull words and then vntidy proofes such as your store could best affourd Here a fine fable is offered vs say you a Paradoxe in nature and contrary to the Scripture which saith HE VVAS LIKE VS IN ALL THINGS sinne onely excepted This scornefull speech and bare pretence of Scripture misapplied to your peeuish conceite is all the answere you vouchsafe to those auncient and reuerend Fathers I meane Saint Austen and Saint Ierome To repell this pride of yours and to make you perceaue the misconstering of the Scriptures I shortly replyed Was Christ like vs in his birth in his graue or in his resurrection If he were vnlike vs in these and yet those words must stand true then might he also be vnlike vs in his death and no proofe out of those words could be made to the contrarie At this poore answere you wonder but you and your adherents lay your wits together as you haue done your heads you shal neuer refell this answere as poore as it is without confessing the weaknesse of your owne proofe For if you restraine the text which you brought to naturall humane properties and infirmities as now you doe then most apparantly his birth and his graue must in all things be like to ours for they are in vs naturall humane properties or infirmities To be borne of a Virgin not to rotte in graue and to rise from the dead Those Diuine effects you say are iustly beleeued to haue beene in Christ because of the expresse Scripture that witnesseth the same But then the text which you vrged he was like vs in all things must haue an other meaning then you made shew of And so it well may for euen in his birth in his graue and in his resurrection he was like to vs though not in euery circumstance thereof His body was made of the seede and substance of his mother as ours is though she a Virgin and we were begotten by our Fathers It also lay senselesse and dead in the graue as ours doth though it could not returne to dust as ours shall He rose from the dead to a celestiall and immortall life and so shall we but not when we will nor of our owne power as he did So that he was like vs in all things that is in euery part of our nature and in euery kind of humane infirmities but not like vs in euery action circumstance or consequent of all humane properties and infirmities For so we should depriue him of that fulnesse of wisdome grace and power wherewith his humane soule was indued farre vnlike to ours not only if we respect naturall properties and infirmities in vs which are vtterly voide of these gifts but if we compare our measure of knowledge grace and strength with the abundance of his spirit Then might he be like vs euen in death also which parted his soule from his body as it doth ours though he were vnlike vs in power to dye when he would which we can not and retained full force of sense and speech to the very moment of giuing vp his Ghost which we doe not Againe the words following in the Text He was like vs in all things SINNE EXCEPTED are a sufficient exemption of Christ from our manner of death as well as from our kind of birth and rotting in the graue For we are borne in sinne which he might not be therefore was to be borne of a Virgin to auoid all concupiscence as well of a Father as in his Mother without whom he could not be made our flesh So rotte we in the graue by reason of sinne dwelling in our bodies which must be changed into dust whence we were taken in reward of our first fathers sinne from whose loynes we come with like infection of sinne This Christs body might by no possibilitie admit though you in the margin of your booke make a false note to the contrarie First for that no part of his person might vtterly be dissolued or corrupted after it was once vnited to his Godhead but must remaine for euer inseparable from his Diuine nature and so incorruptible because God was vnited not to dust or ashes but to humane flesh which so must still continue Secondly for that all Christs sufferings for sinne must haue in them exact and perfect obedience and so precisely sense and will in euery passion to submit himselfe to the hand of God which in death he might doe and did but in rotting iâ—… the graue where sense and will wanted he could not doe Lastly the Apostle extendeth Christs obedience in suffering no farder then to the death of the Crosse after which could follow no fatder humiliation and so no corruption to dust but a sure confirmation of his death by lying three daies in the graue and a plaine pledge of his resurrection because he could not see corruption The same words exempt Christ from our manner of death For where death entred not but by sinne and the soule of ech man to this day by a naturall instinct sheweth her secret abhorring of death and open
and to taste of death that he might in the end abolish them both For as Christ would be Circumcised and Baptised though there was nothing in him needfull to be pared or washed away but rather that fulfilling all righteousnesse he might commend both the one and the other with his person and presence so would he obserue the ceremonies of the Law not tied like a Seruant vnto them but content to vse them as Lord ouer them till he saw his time which he did not sticke to professe of himselfe when occasion was offered The Sonne of man saith he of himselfe is Lord euen of the Sabboth And so likewise I say vnto you that here is one greater then the temple By which words of his it is euident that he was not bound to the Law who called himselfe as he was the Sonne of Man Lord of the Sabboth and so of all the Law but as he laide downe his life when the Law could not take it from him and was obedient vnto death though death were in his power so would he subiect himselfe to the carnall commandements of the Law though he were free from them as being the truth and end of the Law For the Law was our Schole-master to Christ to whom when we were come by faith which made vs the Sonnes of God we were no longer vnder a Schoole-master How much lesse then could Christ himselfe who freed all that beleeued in him from obseruing the Law be bound or of necessitie subiect to the Law which neede not lead him to himselfe nor could not force him that was personally the Sonne of God to be a seruant vnder the types and figures of the Law farder then his owne wil induced him I made a reason that Suerties bound to the law to pay other mens debts might not looke to haue all referred to their liking and power as Christ had to his but to answer the penalties of the law to which they were obliged â—…es forsooth such a Suertie as he was might worthely be a gratious Mediator he was no ordinarie Sucrtie You labour to binde Christ to the thraldome of condemnation by the similitude of humane lawes which subiect the Suertie to the â—…arre condition that they doe the debtour and now when you see that resemblance to faile you exempt him from the seruitude of Suerties because he was no ordinarie Suertie Doe you now finde there is great difference betwixt a Suertie and a Redeemer and howsoeuer the speech may be true that Christ was a kinde of Suertie for vs yet may we not make him a seruant obliged to vs or with vs but a willing and free Redeemer For after our transgression committed and iudgement giuen vpon Adam and all his posteritie by Gods owne mouth a Suertie commeth to late a Redeemer is not too late before execution and therefore the Scriptures doe euerie where giue vs a Redeen er to note that we were condemned and reserued vnder feare and danger of euerlasting punishment till the Redeemer interposed himselfe and offered such ransome and restitution as should more content and satisfie the holinesse and iustice of God then out condemnation could doe The person that vndertooke our redemption was not Christes humane nature which as then was not but the Sonne of God in his owne person assumed on him to make ful satisfaction for our disobedience not by suffering euerlasting death which was due to vs but by giuing a better and more pretious recompence then we were woorth And this he would doe by submitting himselfe to obey and serue in our nature and in our steed and so offer the most acceptable Sacrifice of humilitie and obedience vnto death that Gods holinesse might be honored which we dâ—…spised and his iustice satisfied which we prouoked Let all men therefore aduise themselues how they binde the person of the Sonne of God to their obligation or condemnation it was he and none other that vndertooke for vs and by whose fauour power dignitie sanctitie and humilitie ioyned in one person with our weake and fraile nature the worke of our redemption was performed You say he could not be bound to the Law because he was aboue the Law He was aboue the Law in his Godhead but in his manhood he became for vs vnder the Law If you speake of Christes manhood apart from his Godhead you vtterly ouerthrow all our saluation For set aside the personall vnion of man with God in Christ Iesus and his humane nature could do vs no good Since therefore his Godhead was from euerlasting and a perfect and distinct person in the Tâ—…initie before his manhood was created which had neuer any existence by it selfe but in coniunction with his Deitie from the first instant of his conception when we speake of the person of Christ we must speake either of his Godhead which was before his incarnation or ioyntly of both after his assumption of man into God Then either we had no Surctie for our redemption the foure thousand yeeres that Christes flâ—…sh was vnmade of his mother or els the Sonne of God in his owne person was our Suretie So that our Suretie for foure thousand yeeres could not be bound to the Law by your confession and when the same Sonne of God tooke vnto him our humane nature into the vnity of his perfon HE that is the Person could be no more bound to the Law then he was before For the Godhead was of more power to free the manhood of Christ in that Person from the Law then our flesh in Christ was to subiect the Godhead vnder the Law Wherefore the person remained free and vnbound yet would he submit himselfe to obserue the signes and sacraments of the Law as he did humble himselfe to the death of the Crosse to neither of which the person was bound by any legall seruitude but only by voluntarie submission that his obedience being no way tied might be the more precious in Gods sight For as the Lord of glorie was crucified and we are reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne so God sent his Sonne mâ—…de of a woman and made vnder the Law to redeeme vs and giue vs the adâ—…ption of children but as he was made flesh by no compulsion nor obligation no more was he subiâ—…ct to the Law by any other meanes then by his owne loue and liking for vs. Neither doth the Scripture binde the manhood of Christ vnto the Law For the Law was not giuen to the righteous sayth the Apostle Which if it were possible to be true in any it was most true in the manhood of Christ who had neither in birth life nor death any taint of sinne If ye be led by the spirit sayth Paul ye are not vnder the Law for against such there is no law Whether you thinke the manhood of Christ was endued and guided with the spirit I referre it to your owne conscience If it were then
against him was no law though in loue to vs which was the fulfilling of the law he would humble himselfe not vnder the law only but vnder the worst of men to be the contempt of men and reproch of the people If the Sonne shall make you free you shall be free indeâ—…d sayth our Sauiour For the seruant abideth not in the house for euer but the Sonne abideth for euer If then when we are made the sonnes of God by faith we can be no longer seruants to the law because the law ingendreth bondage which is repugnant to the libertâ—…e wherewith Christ hath made vs free how much lesse could the manhood of Christ which not only freeth vs but was personally borne the Sonne of God be a seruant and in bondage to the law sauâ—… onely because he would humble himselâ—…e to serue in our steads This Paul learned of his master and followed in his maâ—…ter when he sayd Though I be free from all men yet haue I made my selfe seruant vnto all men and am made all things to all men that I might by all meanes saue some So that by your leaue it is a plaine errour in you because Christ submitted himselfe willingly to the lâ—…w to conclude his manhood was bound to the law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not of â—…m else in his manhood bound to the law for vs but freely and voluntarily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods gratious eternall decree appointing him so he became bound to the 〈◊〉 The â—…eader will finde in the end that your greatest strength is the mistaking oâ—… oâ—…her mens words and abusing of your owne For when you haue wrangled foure leaues to â—…e Christ to the true curse of the law and to hang him by the iust sentence of the same law because he stood bound with vs as a Suretie to pay our debts now at last long lingering you say he did freely and voluntarily vndertake to redeeme vs yet loth to let go you adde and so became bound to the law Sir you should tell vs Wâ—…o did â—…ely and voluntarily vndertake our redemption and WHEN For if it were vndertaken by the Sonne of God long before Christes manhood was borne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you the Sonne of God to the law which before you disclaimed And did â—…od thiâ—…ke you eternally decree and appoint his Sonne to be bound to the Law 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 if you appoint any of the persons in Trinitie to be one bound 〈◊〉 thâ—…n another with any manner of bondage or seruice Then as the Sonne coâ—…ld not â—…e boâ—…nd because he was God No more would the Father binde the Sâ—…nne whose loue to vs ledde him to vndertake our Redemption and to binde him that was willing was to distrust him which suspition I hope you will not impure to the Father against the Sonne The Father therefore in the same loue to vs wherewith his Sonne offered to be the person that should redeeme vs accepted the offer of his Sonne and gratiously decreed with one consent of the whole Trinitie as well the manner as the meane of our redemption which decree did not binde but accept and approoue the loue of the Redeemer And when the time came that the Sonne of God would execute this decree made as well by himselfe as the other persons in Trinitie he tooke an vndefiled humane bodie and soule into the person of his Godhead which he so repleâ—…ished with the woonderfull light and supported with the infallâ—…le strength of his spirit that it most willingly embraced and most earnestly affeâ—…ted the same submission and obedience which the diuine nature of Christ was pleâ—…sed to yeeld for our redemption So that the manhood of Christ neuer hauing any subsistence by it selfe apart from the Godhead of the Sonne it neuer had any humane action or pasâ—…ion in birth life or death which pertained not to the whole person consisting of God and man And in that respect the Scriptures say God sent his Sonnâ—… maâ—… of a womâ—…n and made vnder the Law and we are reconciled to God by the death of hiâ—… Sonne the 〈◊〉 crucified the Lord of glorie and God purchased his church with his owne bloud Which speeches could haue no trueth in them as likewise our saluation no certaintie if the manhood of Christ could haue had any action or passion asunder from the Godhead The person therefore of God and man after his incarnation was subiect to the Law and euen the same person that from the beginning vndertooke our redemption and so not the manhood of Christ as you would shift the matter off but the person of God and man must be bound to the Law if our Suertie were bound May not God be bound by his promise Then must you say that God is bound to giue vs grace mercie and glorie because he hath promised euerie one of these and hath sworne to performe them and so you turne the whole Scriptures vpside downe and put your selfe in Gods place and make him your attendant and seruant because by an immutable decree he hath promised to heare vs when we call and helpe vs in time of need By this Diuinitie like to the rest of your deuices the loue fauour compassion bountie mercie trueth and maiestie of God shall be not onely a necessitie but euen a bondage vnto him which blasphemie no Christian eares I hope will enduâ—…e God therefore is a most mercifull promiser a most gratious giuer and a most faithfull performer his promises are assurances that he will giue what he saith but they are no bands that he must yeeld what he oweth because we haue neither meanes to deserue them nor â—…ight to chalenge them nor power to exact them but onely need to receaue them praier to entreat them and thanks to acknowledge them He is content to make himselfe our debtour by promise to let vs see how much we are bound to him that deseruing nothing we are yet by his mercy assured of all things Though he who ordinarily Redeemeth a prisoner from the Enemie be not bound but content so to doe yet a Suertie being content becommeth bound and so Christ our Redeemer became bound as a Suertie to pay our debt for vs. Though the Scriptures euerie where calling Christ a Redeemer and no where a Suertie to God for vs to pay our debts but Gods Suertie or assurance to vs doe by the verie name giue vs to vnderstand that God must needs be lesse bound then men which are not bound but content to redeeme others from their enemies yet you will haue your will in spite of Scriptures and Fathers and make Christ no Redeemer indeed by taking his freedome from him but biâ—…de him with your similitudes to doe that in thraldome which in loue and meâ—…cie he was content to doe for vs. And where Gods decrees and promises which aâ—…e most faithfull and firme assurances can not be called bonds in him without blaspheâ—…ie yet you will haue him bound to saue vs because he
Whereupon Pilat maruailed that Christ was so soone dead And the Lord himselfe said None taketh my soule from me but I lay it downe of my selfe I haue power to lay it downe and power to take it againe To which it pertaineth that is written he bowing downe his head gaue vp his spirit for other men first dye and then their heads hang but Christ first laid downe his head and then voluntarily rendered his soule to his Father Many moe might be brought of all ages and places confessing the same but if these suffice not what may be enough I doe not know To decline the Scriptures and Fathers that make against him the Discourser hath deuised two shifts very like the rest of of his tenents that is void of all truth and iudgement I deny not saith he but Christ might shew some strange vnusuall thing apparantly to the beholders in vttering his last voice which might very much mooue the beholders and hâ—…arers Adde hereunto that experience sheweth as Phisitians say how some diseases in the body bring death presently after most strong and violent crying Namely in some excessiue torments as of the stone Things reported and expressed in the Scriptures touching the strange and wonderfull manner of Christs death you deny and dreame of things there no way mentioned to coulour your matter and cosin your Reader That Christ did render his soule into his Fathers hands when as yet neither speech sense memory nor motion began to faile is diligently obserued by the Euangelists and was greatly marueyled at by the Centurion which saw the manner of his death As also that he breathed out his soule of his owne accord when he had spoken those words without any former or other degrees or pangs of death appearing in him is likewise witnessed by the Scriptures and constantly auouched by all the Fathers Saint Luke saith and speaking these words he breat hed out his soule Saint Mathew and crying with a loud voice he dismissed his spirit Saint Marke and sending a strong voice from him he blew out his Soule This did he of his owne accord and power None taking his soule from him as in death they doe ours but declaring himselfe by laying of his soule when he would and as he would to be Lord and master of life and death This is fit for all Christians to confesse least they dishonor the death of Christ by depriuing his person of that power and glory which he openly shewed in the eyes eares of all his persecutors This you shift of and instced thereof imagine some strange and VNVSVALI accident in the manner of Christs death which neither the Scriptures report nor you can expresse wherein you shew your selfe forward to inuent what is not written and backward to beleeue what is written which is the trade of such men as meane to make a shipwracke of their faith That a man may dye crying as Christ did you haue found at length if not from Diuines at least from Phisitians for I perccaue you haue sought all sorts of helps both farre and neere to vphold your fansies Pâ—…rchaunce Phisitians may tell you when a painefull disease possesseth the parts which are no fountaines of life or sense a man may cry till sense and strength begin to faile and so hasten his death by the violent spending of his spirits but that a man may by any course of nature retaine perfect memorie sense motion and speach to the very act of breathing out his soule I assure my selfe no wise Phisitian will affirme And if any more humorous then learned will wade so farre without his Art he must vnderstand that his word may not ouersway the Rules of Diuinitie and Principles of nature For what are the powers and faculties whereby the soule is conioyned with the body but life sense and motion so long then as they last the soule by nature neither doth nor can forsake the body But when sense and motion first outward and then inward are oppressed and ouerwhelmed then life also perisheth and the soule may no longer abide in her body the vnion by which she was fastened vnto it being wholy dissolued Wherefore death which is the priuation of life by Gods ordinance for the punishment of sinne by degrees surpriseth and in the end quencheth all sense and motion and so forceth the soule to forsake her seate which by Gods appointment is violently parted from hir body whether she will or no but neuer till the effects oflife which are sense and motion be first decayed and abolished A sowne is the suddainest ouerwhelming of the powers of life which any natural experience doth teach vs and yet therewith though outward sense and motion doe faile at an instant and the inward be very weake and almost insensible the soule doth not presently depart but stayeth a time till all sense and motion without and within except the partie be recouered be vtterly extinguished Wherefore in all men by necessitie of nature the powers and parts of life decav in some sooner in some later before they die and therefore in Christ on the Crosse it was MIRACVLOVS and aboue nature that hauing full perfect outward and inward sense speech and motion he did in a moment when he would and as he would render his soule into the hands of his Father without any farder decayes or other degrees of death precedent then the very act of breathing out his soule which left his body presently and perfectly dead Thou hast gentle Reader the causes and prooses that mooued me to obserue the manâ—…r of Christes death to bee different from ours which whether they be consonant to the Scriptures and rightly conceiued by those learned and ancient Fathers which I haue named vnto thee I leaue to thy discrecte iudgement assuring thee there is nothing to hinder the maine consent of so many old and new writers in a matter of so great consequence but onely the headdinesse of this discourser who vpon a bare pretence of one peece of Scripture not well vnderstood and worse applied thinketh he may worke wonders and conclude all these graue and sound Expositours to be so ignorant of the sense of that place and so vnable to reach to the depth of those words Christ was LIKE VS IN ALL things that with one accord they would affirme a sine fable a Paradoxe in Nature and contrarie to Scripture Howbeit it is no newes with this man to defend that Christ was distempered ouerwhelmed and all confounded both in all the powers of his soule and senses of his body He boldly auoucheth it was so with Christ before his death in the Garden and on the Crosse and therefore hee presumeth it might much more befall him at his death But let him keepe these secrets to himselfe I doubt not Christian Reader but thou wilt be well aduised before thou put the Sauiour of the world and the Sonne of God out of his wits or senses to make way for
a new compasse of hell that shall containe all that the wicked doe suffer in this life or elsewhere be it neuer so little If you will fall to creating of new helles shew your commission otherwise you may create your selfe a woorse condition than you are ware of Thinke you that any wise or godlie Reader will rest himselfe vpon such inuentions or such conclusions as these be Who can say how little or how small the paine was which Christ suffered You onely can tell how great it was for you say Christ suffered a sense of Gods wrath equall to hell it selfe and to all the torâ—…ents thereof For this if you would spare vs as well proofes as words we might at length perhaps beleeue you meant some trueth Why presume you to determine a iust equalitie in Christes sufferings to the very paines of hell vpon your owne head What Scripture teacheth you so to say Nay who can say you declaâ—… or comprehend the infinite greatnesse of it You haue comprehended and declared the iust measure of it for you make it equall with hell And yet as constant in this as in all other things you presently adde that Christs anguish might very well be and was no doubt infinite euen in those bodily stripes and wounds whose paines otherwise were finite Where if you take infinite for great or aboue mens reach and knowledge as sometimes the word is vsed then speake you nothing to the purpose For Christes paines may be great and intolerable to vs though nothing neere the paines of hell But if you take infinite as contrarie to finite which you do in this place by opposing it to finite then infinite indeed is more than hell for the paines of hell are finite in degree though infinite in hauing no end Howbeit in the meane while you wrong the Godhead of Christ in whom nothing is infinite besides his Diuine Nature and the force thereof So that if Christ did suffer paines truely infinite his Godhead must suffer which is infinite blasphemie by reason his manhood being a creature could not nor might not suffer but that which was finite both in waight and end Such speculations you broach out of your owne brest without any likelihood of trueth or concurrence with the sacred Scriptures and then you aske Who can limit or measure the furie of Gods seuere iustice against sinne As if God who is truely infinite as well in power as in all other points did his vttermost against Christ and the creature in Christ were able to beare the brunt of the most that Gods iustice and power could inflict vpon him Such desperate vntrueths well become your sobrietie who will say any thing so you may haue some shift of words to shrowd your selfe vnder but the Scriptures will teach you that Christes sufferings were of infinite price in respect of the person who was God and man not of infinite paine which exceedeth the power and strength of all creatures I aske do you grant that Christ suffered Gods wrath in spirit as the Apostle 1. Thess. 5. distinguisheth the spirit and the soule I answere do you heare that you grosly mistake the Apostle if you make the soule and the spirit two seuerall substances in man otherwise if they be but one your question is very childish For the immortall substance of mans soule suffereth whether it be by her sense affections vnderstanding or will And this is no Sophistrie deceiuing you with the word soule but it is the recalling you to conceiue rightly of the soule of man which is an immortall and spirituall substance subiect to paine as well by her vnderstanding and sense as by her affections and will and by what other meanes soeuer it pleaseth God to punish her As for the wrath which you would haue suffered in Christs spirit when you tell vs what you meane by wrath whether the apprehension of Gods wrath against our sinne or the absolute impression of paine from the immediate hand of God or the due consideration of the case wherein Christ stood when he suffered for our sinnes which might iustly breed feare care and sorrow in his soule besides the affliction of bodily paines and anguish which his immortall and humane spirit must needs discerne and feele you shall receiue a fuller answere Till then holde vs excused if we spend not time to guesse grope after your blinde and hid fansies Howbeit whatsoeuer Christ suffered in his soule it was religious and meritorious in him I meane euen the feare sorow and smart which hee humbly obediently and patiently suffered as from the hand of God whosoeuer were the meanes and other wrath than that you shall neuer be able to proue was inflicted on Christs spirit or soule Who can say but that this was as hot and scorching as hell fire it selfe We see then your forwardnesse to haue it so but withall your foolishnesse that daunting all others as vnpriuie to Gods secrets and Christes sufferings you only take vpon you to tell vs out of your casting boxe how great and how hot the paine was which Christ suffered in soule euen as great and as hot as hell fire it selfe What dreames be these to mocke men withall and to fraight the Christian faith with As if you had of late receiued some Reuelation from heauen that Christes paine was full as hot as hell fire I will not diminish the paines which the Sonne of God suffered for our sakes but am well content to aggrauate them to the highest so farre as the Scriptures giue me any light or leading but you that extenuate his paines described in the Scriptures and deuise other paines for him as hot as hell fire no where testified by the Holy Ghost what defence can you bring for your doings Who can say no Nay who can say yea that doth not rush headlong into Gods secret counsels as you doe Be these the proofes whereon you pinne the paines of hell suffered in Christes soule Who can say they were not as hot and scorching as hell fire it selfe Frie in your follie I wish you no worse fire if I knew not your vaine I should thinke you sicker than you are I haue no doubt but Christes paine on the Crosse was proportioned to his patience which God meant to proue though not to ouerpresse otherwise the measure of his paine saue that it exceeded not the strength of his manhood as I do not know no more doeth any man liuing except hee will deceiue himselfe with his owne dreames as this Discourser doth For though we may by nature in some sort coniecture how grieuous it was for Christ to hang three houres by the woundes of his hands and feet all his bones being vnioynted yet know we not how farre the power and iustice of God made way to that paine who can by any meanes as well as without all meanes increase paine to what degree he will For my part therefore I will not meddle with
spoyler to be spoyled and for the wrongfull and spitefull inuasion that Satan made against his Lord and Master to loose all the Dominion and power that otherwise he claymed ouer Christs elect And so the Price of our Redemption whatsoeuer you trifle to the contrarie did not onely discharge the guilt of our sinnes and our debt to Gods iustice by Christs willing obedience to God euen vnto death but the furious and iniurious intermedling of Satan therewith so closeth his mouth that he seeth and knoweth our deliuerance and his destruction to be iust I am out of doubt that the Fathers doe but play with figures or if they meane indeede to teach such a Doctrine we are to learne by their good leaues how to speake and thinke more wholesomely then they doe out of the Scriptures Whether they play with figures or no I referre it to the Iudgement of indifferent Readers that will take the paines to peruse the places It is a good signe they speake in earnest when they double it and treble it in their open Sermons and writings and render the causes thereof pithâ—…ly and plentifully as Theodoret and Leo doe and chiefly Saint Austen in foure whole Chapters of his Booke de Trinitate whose learning and iudgement though you set light by because they sort not with your fansies I confesse I reuerence for that the whole Church of Christ hath done the same before me and I see nothing in the word of God repugnant to their Doctrine truely conceaued But you haue learned to speake more wholsomely as you thinke out of the Scriptures I pray you then let vs heare your wholesome speech I vrge that the enemie must haue a price for his Captiue I pray who is that enemie which must be satisfied the Diuell God forbid Gods Iustice onely is that offended Enemie to whom our Ransome was paid the Diuell was but Gods slaâ—…e and Executioner There is no man for ought that I know which saith the Diuell must be satisfied it is your partiall humor that leadeth you so to surmise my Sermons professe it were an Iniurie to Christ for vs to thinke his bloud was shed to satisfie the Diuell but the enemie to Christs elect which is the diuell and not God must be conquered and spoyled though not satisfied And that as S. Austen rightly obserueth God would haue done first by Iustice and then by power Because the Diuell by his peruersenesse was a desirer of power and a forsaker and impugner of Iustice and men did so much the more imitate him how much the more neglecting or hating Iustice they did studie to be mightie and were either inflamed with the getting or delighted with the hauing thereof It pleased God that for the taking of Man out of the diuels power the diuell should not be conquered by power but by Iustice and so men imitating Christ should seeke to ouercome the diuell by Iustice and not with power By him that dyed and was so mightie to vs that were mortall and altogether weake both Iustice was commended and power promised Of these twaine the one Christ performed dying the other rising For what is more iust then to come willingly to the death of the Crosse for righteousnesse And what is more mightie then to rise from the dead and ascend vp to heauen with the same flesh which was slaine First then by righteousnesse and after by power Christ Conquered the diuell It is no hard matter to perceaue the diuell to be conquered by power when Christ who was slaine by the diuell rose againe that is harder and deeper to be vnderstoode that the diuell was conquered when he seemed to himselfe to be the Conquerer to wit when Christ was slaine For then Christs bloud because it was his that had no sinne was shed for the remission of our sinnes that whom the diuell iustly detained and tied to the condition of death as guiltie of sinne those he might iustly loose through Christ whom being guiltie of no sinne he vniustly put to death With this Iustice was the Diuell vanquished and with this bond was the strong man bound that his things should be taken from him which were with him the vessels of wrath and bee turned to vessels of mercie And after proofe made out of the Scriptures that we are translated from the power of darknesse and of the diuell to the kingdome of God and of his beloued in whoâ—… we haue Redemption for remission of sinnes then follow the words which you so highly chalenge In this Redemption the bloud of Christ was giuen for vs as a Price QVO ACCEPTO which being taken that is wrongfully pursued and vsurped as the diuels manner is to take things which are not his and not willingly offered or lawfully receaued as God did accept the same at the hands of his Sonne the diuell was not enriched but fast tyed that we should be loosed from his bands The bloud of Christ patiently shed vnto death was the Price of our Redemption by the witnesse of the whole Scriptures which Christ obediently and voluntarily offered to his Fathers will for the full remission of our sinnes and our perfect reconciliation with God This bloud could not be iustly shed by any because it was innocent and holy They must therefore be iniust and wicked that should shed the righteous bloud of that vndefiled Lamb. Wherefore the secrete counsell and iustice of God deliuered Christ being thereto willing into the hands of sinners and permitted him to the power of darknesse with all reproch shame and torture to take his life from him This obedience and patience of the Redeemer in suffering the rage and violence of Satan and his members God so highly accepted and recompenced that not onely his wrath was appeased and our sinnes remitted but all power in heauen and earth as well ouer Satan as ouer all his kingdome was giuen vnto the manhood of Christ to take from the power and feare of the diuell whom Christ would and to adiudge that cruâ—…ll and bloudie tyrant with all his adherents to euerlasting destruction For though the Diuine nature of Christ in that hee was the Sonne of God were a rightfull and powerfull Lord ouer Satan and his whole kingdome sinne death and hell not excepted to dispose thereof at his pleasure yet the humane nature of Christ had of it selfe no such right or prerogatiue in respect it was a creature and so lower and weaker then the condition of Angels sauing for the personall vnion thereof with the Godhead of Christ. And therefore as the wisedome of God thought it no match nor honour for the diuine Maiestie of Christ to spoyle the diuell that was but a base and vile seruant in comparison of his Almightie power so the iustice of God would not aduance the manhood of Christ to the heigth of his kingdom to rule all things in heauen earth and hell till hee had humbled himselfe to the death of
Fâ—…st the dislike of God refusing them the sting of sinne defiling them the sting of death excluding them from all ioy and peace râ—…st and ease of soule and bodie for euer Applie this to Christ and his members and we shall presently finde by the rules of our Christian faith how farre they agree to either No true curse can be ascribed to Christ which shall seuer him from God without apparent impietie for neither the fauour of Gods fauour towards his manhood nor the fulnesse of grace and trueth in his soule nor the stedfast and most assured expectation of euerlasting ioy and glorie set before him euen in his greatest afflictions and temptations may be doubted of by any that will retaine the name of a Christian besides the perpetuall and personall vnion of his manhood with his Godhead to which was consequent such a communion with God and fruition of God as no elect man or angell euer had or can haue Wherefore you must either defend that the true curse of God did not seuer him from God but that one and the same nature in him might be truely blessed and yet truly accursed of God at one and the same time which are monsters meet for your doctrine or els you must wholly forbeare to affâ—…rme any true curse of Christ that shal separaâ—…e him from God and what other true curses you will attribute to him I would gladly heare The like though in farre lesse measure I yeeld to the membeâ—…s of Christ for since they were before all worlds beloued elected and blessed with all spirituall blessings in Christ and the foundation of God standeth sure hauing this Seale the Lord knoweth who are his yea the gifts and calling of God are without repâ—…ntance And the Apostle is fully perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels â—…r principalities nor things present nor things future nor heigth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus but that whom God did predestinate those he called and whom he called those he iustified and whom he iustified those he glorified I see no true curse no not sinne it selfe that can fasten on Christes members to their destruction but howsoeuer by nature tâ—…ey were the children of Gods wrath as well as others yet by grace they are saued and all things shall woâ—… for the best to them that loue God and are loued of him They may want theâ—…e gâ—…ft and graces for a time and so not feele the fruits of Gods election and vocâ—…tion but with God they are truely blessed because they are surely setled in hiâ—… fauour and fore-appointed to be heires of Saluation though they lie censâ—…ed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a while in the masse of Adams condemnation The loue and 〈◊〉 then of God is the originall of all true blessing and since that is vnmoueaâ—…le towards the â—…lect how much soeuer they be sometimes plunged by sinne and Satan into feares and doubts of their saluation all that is to humble them and not to destroy them and with God who is trueth it selfe they are truely blessed as being adopted in Christ though in mans iudgement and euen to themselues they seeme neuer so much accursed What curses you aske then may be on the godlie Gods loue which is the ground of all true blessing can not varie towards them it is euerlasting and immutable like himselfe All other blessings saue this they may want for a season in this world as before they are lightned and called to the knowledge of God they haue no blessing in them more then the very Reprobate haue After they are engrassed in Christ they may be tosâ—…ed and turmoyled with the very same eâ—…ernall and corporall plagues and punishments that the wicked are and often times with greater and thaâ—…-per but then they are supported with inward grace and comfort which others are not and when by ignorance feare or infirmitie they fall they shall not perish Where then in the Curses of God inflicted on the wicked in this world and the next three things must be marked their Dâ—…PRIVANCE of his blesâ—…ings of all sorts their COHERENCE together and CONTINVANCE for euer the godly communicate with the wicked in some part of the first that is they may be sequestred from such externall and corporall blessings as this life requireth but of spirituall they can not vtterly be depâ—…ued because they must be regenerated and renued in the inward man to the Image of God and sealed by the holy spirit of promise that they may be partakers of Christ here in this world in whom they haue Redemption euen the Remission of sinnes according to the riches of his grace In the rest they may not communicate with the wicked For where the Curses of God doe FOLLOVV one another vpon the Reprobate and abide for euer in the highest degree from this the godly are wholy free as DELIVERED by the mercies of God in Christ from this present euill world and from the wrath to come If then we be saued from these things by Christ how much more must Christ him selfe be saued from them before he could saue others So that Christ as I said at first by submitting him selfe to a part of the curse of the Law which depriueth vs of all earthly and bodily blessings and of life it selfe quenched the whole Curse of the Law and by his shamefull wrongfull and painefull death quited vs from euerlasting death which was the iust reward of our sinnes You say if by the Resurrection of Christ the Nature of death were changed then till Christ was risen death was a punishment to the faithfull themselues I wonder what meaning there is in this Argument As well you may say that none were saued till Christ was risen Wonder then at your owne conceits reasons and Authorities For if the nature of Death were changed as you suppose it was since it was first inflicted on Adam I asked you how and when before the change you doe not doubt but it was a punishment you must graunt to the godly for Christ neuer changed the Nature of Death to the wicked Then if the change were made by Christs dying and rising from the dead how thinke you doth it not follow vpon this confession that death BEFORE it was changed in the godly by Christs Resurrection was a punishment euen to the godly And to this end you bring the Catechisme in this very Section Death which BEFORE was a punishment is now by Christ become a vantage If death were neuer but a vantage to the godly euen when it was first inflicted then the change that you dreame to be made of death in the Godly is but a fansie If NOVV it be so which BEFORE it was not then BEFORE what else could it be to the godly but a punishment of sinne My Resolution was and is that Christ was first promised by Gods
might and did punish properly Christes soule also and yet neuer deuide his Godhead nor his loue from it The one standeth with Gods iustice and with the nature of man in Christ as well as the other A wanton colt when he winceth with his heeles thinketh he can batter walles and beate downe trees with a blow when yet the skittish thing doth but hurt it selfe Is this the reason which weakened all that I said in so manie sides against the death of the soule for of that I speake in all those pages which you quote Neede you a paire of spectacles so see the difference betweene the death of the soule and the death of the bodie that you so falsely idlely and foolishly match them together A verie drone would soone discerne that the death of the bodie innocently obediently and patiently suffered could no way separate Christ from the fauour and loue of God nor hinder the worke of our redemption though it depriued hiâ—… of life sense and motion in the bodie for the time which are the good blessings of God when they are vsed to his glorie and yet the death of the soule which leaueth neither action affection nor communion of grace trueth or faith in the soule seuereth both Soule and body quite from God and maketh them hatefull vnto God and altogether vnapt to reconcile others vnto God when they themselues are disioyned and parted from God And therefore notwithstanding your Crakes that you can blow mountaines afore you with your breath and your craft that shift the death of the Soule whereof I speake in all those places into a proper spirituall punishment of your owne framing you haue not auoyded any one Reason there nor offer so much as to come toward the matter in question but roue after your wonted manner with generall phrases proper to your selfe and then thinke that no man seeth you there are other punishments in the Soule besides death but none that can reconcile vs vnto God For b Rom 5. We were reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne c 1. Cor. 15. I declare vnto you saith Paul the Gospell which I preached vnto you and whereby you are saued For first of all I deliuered vnto you that Christ died for our sinnes according to the Scriptures Then you and whosoeuer else that preach or beleeue Remission of sinnes by any thing else but by the death of Christ you preach not the Gospell which the Apostle deliuered neither can you looke for saluation in Christ that leaue the maine ground thereof which is the death that he tasted for all and through which he destroyed him that had the power of death euen the diuell So that to step to any other spirituall punishments for the satisfaction of our sinnes and reconciliation to God then to that which the Scriptures call the death of Christ and the death of the Crosse is to renounce all that God hath ordained or reuealed for our Saluation and to create you new Sauiours after your owne conceits You must therefore be directly and plainly brought to this point whether Christ suffered for vs the death of the Soule by the Scriptures and not such giggers of proper punishments nor straines of improper speeches as you and your friends hunt after but fairely and fully according to the direction of the sacred Scriptures which must be heard and preferred before all your fansies as well touching the death of the soule as the trueth of our redemption by the bloud of Christ Iesus Wherein though I exclude not the sense and affections of his soule which felt the paine knew the cause and beheld the counsell of God in all those sufferings vndertaken for man through the tender loue that he bare to man yet none of those feares sorrowes nor paines which the soule discerned and receiued did any whit diminish the power of Gods spirit and grace in him nor the perfection of his faith hope and loue whereby the soule cleaued fast to God without any separation and consequently the innocence obedience and patience of Christes soule in his sufferings both outward and inward did confirme and manifest the life of his soule But of this more in due place d Defenc. paâ—… 90. li. 27. Then you addresse your selfe against another euen one of the chiefest reasons of mine which I make from the strange and incomparable agonies of Christ in the time of his passion You make no reasons from Christes agonie but assuming that for a shew which you do not vnderstand you inferre what you list by your rash presumptuous and manifest contradictions both to your selfe and to the Scriptures e Ibid. li. 30. These inuaded him as we reade principally at three times First in the foretaste of his passion Ioh. 12. secondly in the Garden a little before his apprehension thirdly in his very extreame passion it selfe on the crosse The Scripture mentioneth one agonie and you multiplie that to three In the twelfth of Iohn when some of the Grecians that came to worship on the feast of Easter were desirous to see Christ of whom they had heard much and made their desire knowen to Philip and he to Andrew and they both to Iesus Iesus answered them f Iohn 12. The houre was come euen at hand that the Sonne of man should be glorified by his death This therefore was not a time to shew himselfe when his heart or soule was troubled with other matters euen with the meditation and preparation of his death Now except you be so wise that you will make euery affection in Christ an agonie there is no cause to conceiue this to be an agonie He often times thought and spake of his death before where no man besides you doth dreame of agonies and this verie word is in other cases ascribed aswell to Christ as to others where no colour of an agonie doth appeare When he tolde his Disciples that one of them should betray him g Iohn 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was troubled in spirit and meaning to raise Lazarus from death when he saw Mary the sister of Lazarus and the Iewes that were with her to weepe h Iohn 11. he groned in spirit and troubled himselfe insomuch that he wept which yet was no agonie but a touch of humane compassion shewing the loue he bare vnto them The complaint on the crosse besides the words had no shew of an agonie and what sense they beare we shall after examine Verily he that would not suffer his owne Disciples to beholde his agonie in the Garden would neuer in the eyes or eares of his enemies with his owne deeds or words verifie their reproches and taunts against himselfe as if he were forsaken of God which was the thing they vpbraided him with And therfore you may deuise not three but threescore agonies if you will The Scripture expresseth one and that you neither rightly conceiue nor rightly vse i Defenc. pag. 90. li. 35. To all that
patience whereby we might be assured that he felt his afflictions on the Crosse with quicker sense and greater paines then we are able with any patience to endure And is this all that now you would say that Christ found no ioy in his paines what Cow-keeper doth not know that paine is paine and not ioy but was Christes paine such that it excluded his soule from the remembrance or sense of all Gods graces so richly powred on him and promises so faithfully made vnto him you were best come in with your mooueable fittes of astonishment and tell vs that in one and the same sentence when Christ said My God my God he was in full and perfect assurance and assistance of Gods fauour whom els he could not call his God if he felt no comfort in him that is the God of all comfort and when he pronounced the next syllable why he presently fell into a sudden pangue where he was forsaken and left all comfortlesse and alone according to your deuices And if any man be so wise to let you lead him through such thornes as to graunt in Christ on the Crosse sometimes hope of glorie and sometimes feare of confusion sometimes comfort and suddainly distrust of his saluation sometimes Gods fauour and full assistance as in affliction and by and by the second death and the paines of the damned he may dally with faith and infidelity with heauen and hell with Christ and Beliall as you doe But if it were not possible for Christ crucified being the wisdome and power of God to be tossed and tumbled with such contrarie blasts then hath the forsaking which he complained of an other manner of sense then you imagine And whatsoeuer meaning you ascribe vnto it you may not with a word that admitteth diuers interpretations impugne the plaine and open wordes and deeds of our Sauiour in which is no question As when the high Priest asked him e Mar. 14. art thou Christ the sonne of the blessed Iesus said I am and ye shall see the sonne of man sit at the right hand of power and come in the cloudes of heauen And when the Theefe that was crucified with him said vnto him f Luc. 22. Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdome he answeared Verily I say vnto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise As also breathing out his soule he said g Ibidem Father into thine hands I commend my spirit If to be the sonne of God and to sit at Gods right hand in glory if to dispose of Paradise at his pleasure and to commit his spirit into his Fathers hands be no signes nor proofes of comfort and ioy then let your exposition beare some shew but if these be more then arguments of most excellent honour and glory not onely reserued for him and confirmed vnto him but assumed and professed by him euen when he was condemned and crucified who that had any care of trueth or respect to reason would auouche that Christs h Defenc. pag. 108. li 9. godhead gaue him for that season of his passion no sense nor feeling of comfort and ioy neither in spirit soule nor body i Defenc. pag. 108. li. 16. This was that extreame humiliation and exinâ—…nition of nature wherein God spared not his sonne and wherein Christ spared not himselfe If you may sit iudge not only ouer Prophets and Apostles but ouer Christ himselfe you will soone appoint him to suffer what pleaseth you but when you come to make proofe thereof you betray the violence of your spirits that must haue all thinges giue way to your wills and the weakenesse of your iudgements that discerne not humility from infidelity nor religious patience from hellish astonishment k Philip. 2. Exinanition and humiliation the Apostle nameth in Christ but either voluntary and either in comparison of his diuine glory and maiesty wherein being equall with his father he tooke on him the forme of a seruant and Christ emptied himselfe of glory not of gracâ—… humbled himselfe becomming obedient to the death of the crosse The Apostle neither saith nor meaneth that Christ emptied himselfe of all grace or comfort in his whole humane nature but laid aside the vse and shew of his diuine power and honour whiles for loue to vs he performed the worke of our redemption in the shape of a seruant and became obedient vnto the death of the crosse which was painefull and shamefull but not astonished with the paines of the damned nor subiected to the second death This is your yarne which you would faine weaue into the Apostles words but truth and falshood haue no fellowship no more haue your dreames and the Apostles doctrine As much it maketh for you that God spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for vs all whence you may as well conclude that God adiudged his sonne to euerlasting destruction and damnation for that were indeed not to spare him as that he inflicted on him the true paines of hell least he should seeme to spare him The Apostles wordes expound themselues God spared not his sonne but gaue him for vs This giuing him into the hands of sinners for our sakes was Gods not sparing him otherwise that God spared him in nothing which either his power was able to impose or our sinnes did deserue this is doctrine for him that meaneth to be an Apostata from all faith and trueth to set the father at as great enmity with his sonne as our sinnes did deserue or could prouoke The higth of Christs not sparing himselfe was as the Apostle teacheth his obedience vnto the death of the Crosse if you will haue Christs obedience stretch to the second death of the damned you must get you some new Scriptures these that are already written witnesse no such thing How beâ—…t you will lacke no Scripture For rather then you will acknowledge your want in that behalfe you will make euery Chapter throughout the Bible to speake of your dreames For euen * 〈◊〉 pag. 〈◊〉 heere you quote Deutero 10 17 and Luc 16 17 in the first of which places the Scripture saith l Deut. 10. 17. The Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords a great God mightie and terrible which accepteth no persons nor taketh rewards What is this to Christes sufferings or to the paines of the damned was it after noone or after midnight when you quoted these places you knew not why nor wherefore So play you with Luc 16 17. where it is said m Luc. 16. 17. It is more easie that heauen and earth should passe away then that one tittle of the Law should fall Will you hence inferre which is the thing that you should prooue ergo Christ was forsaken of all outward and inward comfort and ioy besides you no man hath the grace to make such faire and cleare demonstrations of your doctrine n Defenc pag. 108. li. 21. This forsaking or
to all that obey him but that he must be God aswel as man to be able to suffer the paines of hell the second death that is a new deuice of yours not conuerting the Godhead of Christ to the infinitenesse of his merits but abusing it to the infinitenesse of his paines to make place for your new-found hell from the immediate hand of God where Scripture mentioneth no such thing in the worke of our redemption but plainly and fairely teacheth vs that we are k Rom. 5. reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne who l Coloss. 1. by the bloud of his Crosse procured perfect peace in heauen and in earth and restored vs to the fauour of God through death in the bodie of his flesh in which he m Rom. 8. condemned sinne that we might be n Heb. 10. sanctified by the offering of his bodie once made on the altar of the Crosse. And this doctrine so euidently and frequently deliuered by the Holy Ghost in the sacred Scriptures is so sufficient that I see no cause nor need of your hell paines besides no warrant nor witnesse of them except we dreame that the spirit of God did not well vnderstand or could not aptly expresse your hellish mysteries which he alwaies ouerpasseth with silence when hee speaketh of the purgation of our sinnes and our redemption by the precious bloud of the Lambe vnspotted and vndefiled If therefore it be not lawfull in the highest points of faith to adde ought to the word of God nor to thinke that the spirit of Trueth faileth or defecteth in his instruction vnto trueth I do not see with what dutie to God you and others may be so bolde with the Sonne of God as to subiect his soule to the second death and to the paines of the damned when the Scriptures offer vs no such part or point of our beliefe o Defenc. pag. 121. li. 36. You seeme to grant vnto Christ all naturall sorrow and feare neither doe we seeke any more but you trust the paine of the damned is more than a naturall oppressing and afflicting of the heart with humane feare and sorow For sooth it is not It is no more than a very naturall humane feare and sorow It proceedeth immediately and principally from God himselfe who is the Nature of Natures Also mans nature is apt to receiue such sorow and feare from him Thus the very paines of the damned are meerely naturall If you make vs many such conclusions you will proue your selfe a meere Naturall For if all things be meerely naturall to man that God either bestoweth or inflicteth on man then grace and glorie are meerely naturall to man yea heauen it selfe is as naturall to man as hell and the Holy Ghost himselfe shall become meerely naturall to man for God doth giue and we p Rom. 8. receiue the spirit of adoption whereby we crie Abba Father yea the second person in Trinitie is inseparably ioyned to mans nature and as well the â—…ather as the Sonne q 1. Ioh. 4. abide and r 2. Cor. 6. dwell in all the Saints So that the coniunction communion and inhabitation of the godhead in man is meerly naturall vnto man by your doctrine and not only God but the Diuell is as naturall to man and so are those things which are most vnnaturall and most repugnant to mans nature For man doth and suffereth them by and from God or the Diuel As corruption and incorruption mortality and immortality righteousnesse vnrighteousnesse saluation and destruction eternall life and eternall death are meerly naturall to man by your learned discourse which if you persist to defend take heed least men doubt whether frensie be naturall to you or no. Natural I called not whatsoeuer is any way incident to men in this life or the next but that which is generall necessary to all men in that they are men Wherfore I make neither hell nor heauen naturall vnto men since the one God giueth by his power and grace aboue our nature for our nature is not to be as the Angels of God and in the other by iustice and wrath God worketh against our nature For that fire should euerlastingly burne and flesh euerlastingly dure therein and soules be extreamely tormented therewith are to my vnderstanding farre beyond nature except you beâ—…eaue God of his almighty power and will which the Scriptures confesse in him and call him by the name of nature which is no more but the condition and operation that he hath assigned in this world to euery creature If you would needs know whence I tooke the word naturall read either Fulgentius or Damascene and you shall soone see what they and I meane by nature s Tulgentiâ—… ad Trasimundum li. tertio Because Christ saith Fulgentius tooke vpon him to be a true man ideo cunct as naturae humanae infirmitates ver as quidem sedvoluntarias sustinuit therefore he sustained all the infirmities of mans nature truely but voluntarily and so Damascene t Damas. li. 3. ca. 20. We confesse that Christ vndertooke all naturall and sinlesse passions Naturall and sinlesse passions are those which entered into mans life by the condemnation of Adams transgression as hunger thirst wearinesse labour weeping shunning of death feare agonie and such like which are naturally in all men So that what is geneâ—…all and necessarie to all men in this life is naturall to man which I trust neither hell nor heauen is though by iustice or mercie all men after this life shall feele the one or enioy the other u Defâ—…nc pag. 122. li. 6. Supernaturall I graunt they are if we meane this that they are aboue our natures state to beare or to comprehend them If your rule be true that men naturally receiue the paines of hâ—…ll why should not mans nature as well beare them or compâ—…ehend them as receiue them except you meane the bearing of them with patience or comprehending the end of them what punishment men receiuâ—… that they beare x Gala 5. He that troubleth you shall be are his condemnation whosoeuer he be And againe y Gala 6. euery man shall beâ—…re his own burden And so elsewhere z Ephes. 3. I bow my knees vnto the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ that he will grant you that ye may be strengthened by his spirit in the inward man that ye may be able to COMPREHEND with all Saints what is the breadth length and depth and height and to know the loue of Christ which passeth the knowledge of man And if men shall feele the paines of hell why shall they not comprehend that which they feele They shall apprehend no end nor ease thereof but feeling is a comprehension of the paine though it shall be so great that they cannot endure it with any patience And yet since you striue for the paines of hell in the soule of Christ aduise you whether Christ shall
be principles of the Christian faith and that in so euident and pertinent manner that I know not how to lighten or strengthen their wordes Thou hearest them with one voice affirme that Christ died not A DOVBLE but A SINGLE death for vs which they likewise aâ—…ch was the death of HIS BODY ONLY AND NOT OF HIS SOVLâ—… and THâ—… DEATH OF THE SOVLE HE DIED NOT. The death of the soule they truely deriue from the Scriptures to be either sinne or damnation sinne by which men are depriued of all grace and so of the life of God and damnation which is a perpetuall reiection from all blisse addicting the wicked to eternall and intollerable miserie in the torments of hell fire Which of these things will this dreamer denie will he say that Christ died moe deaths then ONE and as well the death of the soule as of the bodie So he must say if he will vphold his new redemption by the death of Christs soule and so he doth say but whether there in he crosse not the full consent of Christs whole Church I leaue it to thy censure Will he shift as hee hath hitherto done with the name of flesh that it compriseth as well the soule as the bodie and therefore by the death of Christs flesh onely the Fathers doe not exclude the death of Christs soule but the death of his Godhead they prooue indeed against the Arians that the Sonne of God could not die in his Diuine nature but onely in his humane flesh And this as we now see is one of their maine reasons The soule of Christ died not nor coulde die much lesse then his Godhead And therefore the most of them do expresse that argument vtterly denying that Christes soule died any kinde of death but onely his flesh Besides a number of them not onely expresâ—…e by circumstances and consequents of burying and rising againe what the rest meane by the flesh but they vse the word 〈◊〉 which can not be taken for the soule and with like zeale and truth auouch that Christ died in his body onely So that these three stand for cleere and sounde conclusions with all these Fathers First that Christ died BVT ONE KIND of death Secondly that HE DIED ONELY IN HIS FLESH OR BODY and thirdly that THE DEATH OF THE SOVLE HE NEITHER DID NOR COVLD DIE. Will hee shuâ—…e with the name of death and say they ment not his kind of death that will nothing relieue him For first if Christ died but one kinde of death and of his bodily death no Christian may so much as doubt then by maine consequent out of their wordes Christ died no death of the soule let him take it how and which way he will Againe if Christ DIED ONELY IN BODY as they likewise witnesse then apparantly he died not any death of the soule neither in your sense Sir Defenser nor in theirs Lastly what death of the soule can you shew mentioned in the Scriptures without the compasse of their diuision that is which is not sinne or damnation Of sinne the Apostles wordes are plaine p Rom. 7. Sinne seduced me and slew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and I died as likewise that q â—…hes 2. q Coloss. 2. we were dead in our sinnes This death men liâ—…ing may die as the Apostle saith of wanton widowes r â—… Tim. 5. lyuing she is dead and of all the Gentils s â—…phes 4. walking in the vanitie of their minde they are strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the hardnesse of their heart who being past feeling haue giuen themselues to worke all vncleanesse euen with greedinesse Where the hardnesse of mans heart voide of all feeling or 〈◊〉 of God and so running on in all wickednesse is by the Apostle defined to be the death of the soule which is a depriuing or â—…anging from the life of God The second death as I before haue shewed is the laâ—…e burning with fire and brimstone into which the diuell and all the wicked shall be cast Shew now a third death of the soule not in your extraordinarie fansie and folly but in the word of God to which these Fathers proportion their speeches If there be no such thing there then directly earnestly and truely do these Fathers auouch that Christ dâ—…ed no death of the soule Of Fathers it may be your Mastership maketh small account and will not sticke in the high perswasion of your great and deepe learning to reiect them all as ignorant of the principles of their faith and so fitter to be taught then to teach but that proud peeuishnesse to giue it no worse words I leaue to the sober to censure for an vpshot the Reader shall haue a cleere conclusion out of the sacred Scriptures that the soule of Christ neuer was nor could be dead and consequently that these learned and ancient Fathers deliuered sound and true doctrine touching the soule of Christ and The soule of Christ liuing by graâ—…e could no way be dead fully build their asâ—…ertions on the maine foundations of the Diuine Scriptures It is euident by nature sense and trueth that priuatiues can not concurre at one and the same time in one and the same subiect For the one expelleth the other and so can not be found both together Yea since the one of them cleerely remooueth the other they can no more stand together then may contradiction For that which liueth is not dead and that which is dead liueth not I meane alwaies the same time and the same part But the soule of Christ by the manifest and manifold testimonies of holie Scripture did alwaies liue in the fulnesse of faith of hope of loue of grace of trueth of spirit It is euident therefore that the soule of Christ neuer died nor could die Which of these assertions will you encounter that Christes soule may be aliue and dead both at one time You would seeme the leafe before to shunne the shame of t Defenc. pag. 140. li. 25. this absurditie that Christes soule died and died not will you now come plainely and grossely to it by auouching that Christes soule was at one and the same time LIVING AND NOT LIVING DEAD AND NOT DEAD that is both ALIVE AND DEAD If you doe there is no man in England that hath either eies or eares to see or heare but he will reprooue you for a manifest beliar of his sense as well as of Christs soule Will you smoothly set yourselfe to one side and say that Christs soule was not aliue so many parts of life as I haue named in the soule of Christ so many pregnant proofes are there in holy Scripture that Christes soule was not onely liuing but as full of life as of grace during the whole time of his passion Neither is there any one of those things named by mee concerning the life of Christes soule which you can take from Christ without apparent blasphemie For if
God and chiefly Christs soule when it descended to hell not only to be brought thence but euen there by gods hand assisting to destroy the strength of Satans kingdome and to triumph ouer all the powers and Principalities of darkenesse If those wordes did alwaies import a present possession and fruition of heauenly glorie then could Dauid with no truth haue spoken them of himselfe so long before his death when as yet no part of Gods promises to him touching his kingdome were perfourmed But the soules of the faithfull are alwaies in the hand of God whiles heere they are protected by him and after this life receaued in rest though they come not as yet to be inuested with the fulnesse of heauenly glory Yea the words properly pertaining to our Sauiours person and condition after death ` Thou wilt not leaue or forsake my soule in hell doe shew that Christs soule was then in Gods hands and compassed round with the power and glory of God when hell and Satan trembled at his presence and were both vanquished and spoiled by him Your adding that this sentence may be fitly applied to Christ prooueth nothing For though I haue no doubt but Christs soule was with farre greater honour and fauour ioy and blisse receaued into the hands of God to whom it was committed then the soules of all his Saints yet that doth not prooue his present entraunce after death into the glory of heauen and continuance in the same except you will say that at his resurrection and till his Ascension his soule was out of his Fathers hands because during that time it was on earth and not in heauen which were a strange position in diuinity The soules of the righteous were in the hands of God long before Christs comming as the wise man witnesseth and yet were they not in the glory of heauen but in Abrahams bosome as our Sauiour teacheth And so the wise man expoundeth himselfe adding No torment shall touch them they are in peace and in the time of their visitation they shall shine reseruing them to a time appointed when glory shal be reuealed on them though in the meane whiles their spirits were kept in rest and ioy vnder the mighty hand of God The Thieues being in Paradise with Christ the same day that he died concludeth no such thing as you conceaue For first no words there or els where euince that Christ spake this of his humane nature Saint Austen resolueth The sense is much easier and freer from all ambiguities if Christ be vnderstood to haue said this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise not of his manhood but of his godhead And in his 111. Tractate vpoÌ„ Iohn vpholding the same exposition addeth He that said to the thiefe painfully hanging yet healthfully confessing this dâ—…y shalt thou be with me in Paradise according to his manhood had his soule that daâ—…e in hâ—…ll his flesh 〈◊〉 the graue but according to his godhead vndoubtedlie he was in Paradise Titus Bishop of Bostra in Arabia somewhat elder then Austen sheweth how these words may be verified of either of Christs natures How was this promise of our Lord made to the thiefe this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise performed Christ takâ—…n dâ—…wne from the crosse was in hell according to his soule and neuerthelesse by the power of his diuinity brought the Thiefe into Paradise Happily he first caried the beleeuing Thiefe to Paradise before he descended to hell Damascen is of Austens mind The same Christ is adored in heauen as God together with the Father and with the holy Ghost and he as man lay in the Sepulchre with his body and abode in hell with his soule and gaue entrance to the thiefe into Paradise his diuinity which cannot be comprehended in any place euery where accompanying him And so is Euthymius How said Christ this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise because as God who filleth all places he was euery where at one instant in the sepulchre in hell and in Paradise and in heauen But admit the words to be ment of Christs humane soule what reason call you this Christs soule was in Paradise that very day that he died ergo neither that day nor any day els before his resurrection his soul did or could descend to hell You must amend these reasons before any man will yeeld you to haue reason or sense Christ might that very day that he went to Paradise subdue and subiect all power in hell vnto himsâ—…lfe he might doe it the next day he might doe it the third day when he rose from the dead the time is not the thing we striue for which we must leaue to God but the reall and actuall performance of the Apostles words He spoiled powers and principalities and made an open shew of them triumphing ouer them in himselfe which in other words Peter expressed when he said Christs soule was not left or forsaken in hell but God raised him â—…p loosing the sorowes of death or hell that euery knee of things vnder earth should â—…ow vnto him as well as of things in heauen and earth and that euerie tongue euen of the damned and Diuels for there are none other vnder earth should confesse either willingly or constrainedly Iesus Christ to be Lord vnto the glory of God the Father This conquest ouer hell and Satan being acknowledged whereby all power in heauen and earth and consequently in hell conteined in the earth was yeelded vnto Christs manhood after his death and before or at his resurrection we shall not need to be curious about the time and manner thereof The compilers of the centuries at Magdeburge doe well admonish Descendisse Christum in infernum articulus sidei est verum quanam ratione ibi omnia sunt gesta non est expresse traditum That Christ descended to hell is an article of the faith but in what sort all things there were donne is not expressely deliuered Happilie it is enough for vs to hâ—…ld the generall and a more exact declaration of this mysterie wee shall heare in another life The eternall and generall ordinance of God is shewed Luc. 16. to be such that none can goe out of heauen downe to hell nor come from hell vp to heauen You boldly presume after your maner that Abrahams bosome was heauen of which many learned men do make great doubt For if the soules of the righteous were in heauen before Christes death and biâ—…th then were they equall vnto the elect Angels before the resurrection which Christ saith shall be when they are the children of the resurrection and so not before And how were the wordes of our Sauiour true which he spake in his life time No man ascendeth vp to heauen but he that descended from heauen the Sonne of man which is in heauen If all the Saints deceased were in heauen or how had
to the enemie The diuell therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thinking to kill one lost all and hoping to carie one to Hades hell was himselfe cast out of hades hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hades hell is abrogated death no more preuailing but all being raised to life neither can the diuell stand vp any more against vs but is fallen and indeed creepeth on his brest and bellie And therefore of the Saints he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in fine they saw Hades hell spoiled Epiphanius in sundrie places expresseth the parts and purpose of Christs descending to hell or hades He was crucified buried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee descended to the places vnder earth in his diuinitie and in his soule he tooke captiuitie captiue and rose againe the third day What here he calleth places vnder the earth whither Christes soule went after his death that elswhere he calleth Hades The Godhead of Christ would performe all things that perteined to the mysterie of his passion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and would descend together with his soule to the infernall places to worke the saluation there of such as were before dead I meane the holy Patriarcks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that he might performe the things he would against hades in the forme of a man euen in hades that the chiefe Ruler HADES and death thinking to lay hands on a man and not knowing his Deitie vnited to his sacred soule Hades himselfe might rather be surprised and death dissolued and that fulfilled which was spoken Thou wilt not leaue my soule in Hades Basil Death is not altogether euill except you speake of the death of a sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because their departure hence is the beginning of their punishments in hades againe the euâ—…s that are in hades haue not God for their cause but our selues the head and root of sinne is in vs and in our willes And againe Dathan and Abiram were swallowed vp of earth the gulfes and clefts thereof opening vnder them Heere were not they the better for this kinde of punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for how should they be so that went to hades to hell but they made the rest the wiser by their example And writing on the 48 Psalme Because man turned himselfe from the word of God and became a beast the enemie caught him as a sheepe without a shepheard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and put him in hades hell but when he sayth God will redeeme my soule from the power of hades he doth plainly prophesie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the descent of the Lord to hades who would redeeme the Prophets soule with others not to abide there Nazianzene in his second Oration against Iulian the Renâ—…gate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stop thou thy secrets and wayes that leade to hell hades I will declare the plaine wayes which leade to heauen And of Christ he sayth Christ died but he restored to life and with his death abolished death He was buried but he rose againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He descended to hell hades but he brought backe soules and ascended to heauen Macarius When thou hearest that Christ deliuered soules 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of hell hades and darkeneâ—…se and that the Lord descended to hades and did an admirable worke thinke not these thinâ—… to be farre from thine owne soule And thus he maketh Christ to speake to death and to the diuell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I command thee hades and darkenesse and death restore the soules inclosed And so the wickâ—… powers trembling refund man that was inclosed Cyrill of Alexandria In olde times before Christ the soules of men departing from their bodies were sent to fill the receptacles of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in dennes vnder the earth But after Christ commended his oâ—…ne soule to his Father he renewed the same way for vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And now we goe not to bades from any place but we follow him rather in this and committing our soules to a faithfull Creatour we rest in excellent hope Yet of Christ he aâ—…firmeth The soule which was coupled and vnited to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 descended into hades and vsing the power and force of the Godhead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shewed it selâ—…e to the spirits or soules there For we must not say that the Godhead of the onely begotten which is a nature vncapable of death and no waâ—… conquerable by it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was brought backe from the dâ—…es vnder the earth Cyrill of Ierusalem like wise in his Catechismes vpon those words of the Psalme If ascend to heauen thou art there if I goe downe to hades tâ—…u art preâ—…ent sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If tâ—…ere â—…e â—…ing higher than the heauens and hades be lower than the earth he that compreâ—…â—…eth the â—…owest doth also touch the earth And to those that were baptized he sayth When thou renouncest Satan thou hast vtterly abrogated the couenant had with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. euen the olde couenant â—…ith hades hell and the Paradise of God is opened to thee In the Homilies which Leo the Emperour made for the exercise of his stâ—…le and confession of his faith it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is risen bringing Hades prisoner with him and proclaiming lilibertie to the capitues He that held others bound is now in bonds himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is come from hades with the ensigne of his triumph the sowre and heauie lookes of those that are vtterly ouerthrowen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as of Hades death and the hatefull diuels Damascene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The soule deisied descended to Hades that as to those on earth the Sonne of righteousnesse was risen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so to those that sate vnder the earth in darkenesse and in the shadow light might shine The brazen gates were torne the iron barres were broken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the keeper of Hades hell did shake for feare and the foundations of the world were laid open Cydonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there is in hades hell vengeance for all sinnes heere committed not onely the consent of all wise men but also the equalitie of the Diuine iustice confirmeth and strengthmeth this opinion Aeneas Gazeus He that in a priuate life committeth small sinnes and lamenteth them escapeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the punishments that are in Hades hell Gregentius Christ tooke a rodde out of the earth which was his pretious crosse stretching his right hand strake all his enemies conquered them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Hades death sin and that wilâ—…e serpent Theophylact. The rich man dying is not caried by the angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but